The Bard's Blog

  Juliet is probably one of our students' favourite characters. Here's a letter that Sonta from IISS "Peano - Rosa" has written as Juliet to tell a special friend about her first meeting with Romeo.    

  Who knows how many girls have sooner or later found themselves in the same situation as Juliet, dreaming with open eyes about someone they have just met? Take a look at how Giulia A. (IISS Peano-Rosa) imagines this moment in this passionate diary entry.  Dear Diary, It's morning and it feels like spring. The weak rays of the sun kiss my face, I am starting to see the first flower buds and I understand that winter is over now. But it is better to start from the beginning. Last night, my family organised a royal party in the hope I could marry the noble Paris. But when I arrived, someone unexpected caught my attention. He was wearing a gold mask and when I saw him, I felt like it was love at first sight, at “last” sight, at “ever and ever” sight. We danced together all night long. When he touched me for the first time, I knew I was born to be his. At the end of the party, he took me by the hand and led me to the royal gardens. There he pulled me close to him and gently broug...

  The following entry shows us how Elisa from IISS Peano-Rosa imagines the thoughts that Helena would note down on her journal after an eventful day.     Dear diary,    I'm so confused! Yesterday, Hermia told me about her plan to escape into the woods during the night with Lysander, but, like a fool, I confessed it to the man I am in love with, Demetrius, who is Hermia's betrothed ... I think she will never forgive me!    Returning to us, today a very strange thing has happened: both Lysander and Demetrius said that they are madly in love with me! How is it possible? Weren't they both in love with Hermia? I don't understand if Demetrius, who has refused me all this time, is making fun of me to make Hermia jealous or has really understood that I am the woman of his life. Maybe he has finally opened his eyes and realized that he shouldn’t run after a woman who doesn’t reciprocate his feeling when he has one next to him who loves him more than herse...

This time Rebecca from IISS Peano-Rosa has turned into Puck for one day and has explored the fairy's feelings.     Athens Dear Diary, today I feel a little guilty and sad because I’ve made a mess. Last night my King, Oberon, gave me an important assignment and I totally failed. I had to squeeze a little of a magic juice into Titania’s eyes and I managed to do that, but then I made a terrible mistake. I poured some of the juice into Lysander’s eyes, but he was the wrong person. Demetrius was, in fact, the boy my King referred to. Obviously, most of the fault is mine, but Oberon was unclear when he described the couple. So, Lysander fell in love with Helena. Then Oberon worked his magic on Demetrius. Thus, both Lysander and Demetrius loved Helena. With my mistake I made Hermia miserable because Lysander, with his words, broke her heart. Then, because of me, Helena was annoyed by Demetrius and Lysander’s behaviour. Moreover, these two young boys almost killed each other. Luckil...

  Giulia L. from IISS Peano-Rosa has put herself in Macduff's shoes and has written a journal entry from his perspectives.   Today I'm over the moon. I've just returned home from a long battle against Macbeth and his troops. I finally killed the cruelest man I've ever known. I can't believe that he betrayed us killing Duncan to become his successor. In addition to this, I'll never forget the feeling of having killed him to avenge my beloved wife and my poor children who have died unjustly. But finally Scotland is safe, and we are ready to welcome our new king, King Malcom.

      In class we decided to perform two different plays of Shakespeare. To do that we have had to divide our class into two groups. Each person had to choose between Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. I decided to act the second one, so I wrote my name on that list and I joined the group. First of all, we started dividing all the acts in Christmas. My partner and I agreed to summarize the first one, and when everyone finished their part, our teacher told us that we had to start writing the script. I would say that this part was the hardest because sometimes we were not very creative. In that moment we talked about how we would like to write the story and finally we decided to update that play, I explain: The characters of the play are the same as in the original story, but what we did was explain Much Ado About Nothing like if it would have happened in the 21st century and we agreed in changing a little bit of the story too. We have not finished yet, we have...