We all know that the New Year is a time of reflection and anticipation – and even inspiration! At the start of each year, we at Shakespeare For Our Children think about different ways to bring the Bard into the daily lives of young actors, parents, and teachers. And as we, indeed, reflect on past posts, we realized that there was a running theme: To thine own self be true.
This line comes from one of the most famous monologues in Hamlet, in which Polonius gives his son, Laertes, words to guide him on his travels. We have explored the speech itself in the context of back-to-school advice – and also New Year’s resolutions, no less!
But we can also see the golden thread of holding to one’s dreams, hopes, and values running through our numerous topics: from daring to try a role that seems impossible to learning your lines thoroughly for the good of the play; from lighting a little candle of community to encouraging young actors to learn more about themselves through the parts they play.
At the end of each session of the programme, we always give our students a special copy of the play that they have worked on across the year. And for our “graduating” students – young people moving on to different schools, for example – we use Polonius’ words as the inscription. To thine own self be true: words to live by, at any time of the year.