Shakespeare Sonnets

I’m an actor and I’m exploring Shakespeare’s sonnets one at a time, beginning with rhythm, looking closely at the language, and trying the words aloud.

These are my questions, choices and discoveries along the way.

Image by Gordon Dylan Johnson via Openclipart CC0

MY WAY IN

I found Shakespeare difficult. It made me curious.

I grew up in Hong Kong and began learning English from a young age. English has been part of my everyday and professional life for as long as I can remember, but Shakespeare was not part of my childhood or early education.

As I trained as an actor, I became increasingly interested in Shakespeare’s language and verse. The more I worked with it, the more curious I became about how the words work. What makes a line move in a particular way? Why does one word seem to carry more weight than another? What happens when I say it aloud?

The difficulty became part of the attraction. There is always something else to notice, discover, and try. This project is me continuing that exploration, one sonnet at a time, and sharing what I find in the hope that Shakespeare might feel a little more approachable for someone else too.

WHAT I LOOK FOR

01

Rhythm

I start by listening to the iambic pentameter of the line. Where does the rhythm follow the pattern? Where does it ask me to hear something different? I look at stresses, pauses and changes, and consider what they might reveal about the thought.

iambic pentameter

02

Language

I look closely at the words themselves. What catches my attention? A repeated sound, a particular word, a turn in the sentence, or a pattern I might not have noticed at first. I follow these details and see where they lead me.

word · sound · pattern

03

Performance

I take what I have discovered in the rhythm and language and try it in performance. I want to see what happens when these discoveries become choices in my voice and body.

voice · body · practice

A CLOSER LOOK

But these perticulers are not my measure.

Take the word ‘perticulers’ in Sonnet 91. I particularly like it here. It sums up everything mentioned before: birth, skill, wealth and so on, yet most of its vowel sounds are schwas, which makes the word feel quite muted to me. It makes me wonder if the things listed before are already losing their weight.

EXPLORE THE SONNETS

91

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill

138

When my loue sweares that she is made of truth

What should I explore next?

Is there a sonnet you’d like me to explore?

Would you like to hear when I publish a new exploration?

Send me an email ↗︎

lokkylau.com · hello@lokkylau.com