The Prologue: A New Introduction

"Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies in motion of no less clarity than that of thought." This Prologue from Shakespeare's Henry V is one of the first assignments I received in a voice class. As I began attempting to memorize the piece, frustration consumed me.  The grueling 32 lines were laughing at me on the page and teasing my brain. Although some of my other classmates struggled with the text, they had managed to memorize the prologue verbatim. As we sat in class and discussed the text, there were students who enjoyed the text immensely and I thought, "what in the world are they talking about?" I sat perplexed in my room trying to sing the lines and rap them, yet this was by far one of the most difficult texts that I had ever been given. However, my voice professor made a valid point in class when he said, "There are too many people today who don't take thier time. What is the rush?" After reflecting on that comment made by my instructor, I realized that I had been rushing. But for what? Approval. Reassurance. Acceptance. Maybe even praise. Which, are natural human desires. That night after class, I sat up right with the text, carrying the text line by line, practicing the iambic pentameter rhythm. I didn't worry about getting it memorized in an hour, or before any of my classmates, I just took it step by step. I stopped trying to give each line a permanent form of delivery and I actually looked up the words that I did not understand. In due time, I began to relax and do something I had not done in a long time, be kind to myself. When there is love   from within, then it will be emitted from yourself and to everything that you do. It is a simple lesson such as this, that affirms the power of theater not only as a craft, but a vessel for life skills.