<p>everyone in our class is going to have to do a dramatic reading of the shakespeare sonnets we have.. we all have different ones</p>
<p>we will have the sonnet in front of us</p>
<p>the problem is i dont want to make a fool out of myself...
i know if i do make a fool of myself that it wont have any effect because everyone else is doing it... but i just cant bring myself to that..
how do i do it? should i just practice the reading a lot?
dramatically reading something is just something i never knew how to master. i would just do it regular-voicedly.</p>
<p>What I would do is read it with passion. Whenever you present something that everyone else is doing, you always stand out if you seem (almost overly) enthusiastic about it. Bring some damn energy into those sonnets! Punch out the dull atmosphere of a Shakespeare reading with words! Put some passion into it! Everyone else is going to just read their sonnet-BORING. Act it out and present the content to get attention and get points for presentation. At worst, people will think that you're being intentionally funny by being boisterous--another tactic to take.</p>
<p>Basically, imagine that you are Leonidas speaking to his men before the final charge begins. How would you say what you have to say? You would be POWERFUL and INSPIRING in your delivery. Do this appropriately and your teacher/fellow peers will appreciate it greatly.</p>
<p>I totally see where the OP's coming from. We had to recite poems in my sophomore English class once, but it was more about memorizing the poem than anything else. But if I had to do a dramatic reading, I'd be terrified too. Up until this year, I hated participating in class (particularly in English classes), and I hated doing anything in public that could be construed as stupid or undignified (still uptight about that).</p>
<p>I second the suggestion of listening to other readings of sonnets and maybe watching some videos on Youtube. Otherwise, good luck. I sympathize.</p>
<p>Do NOT listen to other readings and try to imitate them. I guarantee you, they will come out as flat and affected. It'd be easier to help you if I knew what your sonnet was, but there are some basic tips I can give you that apply to any performance. The paramount thing is you have to convince yourself that you earnestly believe every single word that you're saying. If you're in the mindset that this is a recitation, it may take some mental training to break out of that. Once you do, you can play with your delivery all you want. Imagine like your beloved (I assume your sonnet is a love poem) is standing in front of her, and you've handpicked each of these words to win her affection.</p>
<p>That's about all the coaching I can give over the internet. Most of all just try not to worry about it and focus on being genuine. That's going to be a lot more memorable than overblownness or imitation.</p>
<p>Honestly: Just don't overthink it. Just read it with a natural speaking rhythm (it's what Shakespeare had in mind when writing it anyway), and make good eye contact w/ the audience.</p>
<p>A dramatic reading of a Shakespearean sonnet is not a big deal; at least you know he was a good writer... it's not very personal. Now what would be scary, would be having to do a dramatic reading of your own sonnet... I would die from embarrassment :(</p>
<p>take your sonnet and "translate" it into modern english, things you actually might say, and read it as if you're saying that to someone. it totally doesn't matter who it's to or what the relationship is; find your own personal significance. then apply that emotion, the emphases you found, etc, to the performance of it.</p>