Dr. Hilary Donatini’s Eighteenth-Century English Literature course gathered at the Eagles’ Landing on campus, on Friday, October 12, to transport themselves back to 1713, when Joseph Addison’s Cato was first performed. Students in attendance brought Addison’s language to life, as they each took on roles in a read-through of the entire play. This is only one example of the many creative approaches to understanding literature found in AU’s English Department.
Below are some reactions to the experience:
Participating in the dramatic reading of Cato broadened my understanding of the tragedy. Hearing the words come to life evokes different feelings that reading doesn't provide. As I read Marcia's lines, I found myself connecting to her character, her values, and most importantly, her emotions. The further into the play, the further I fell into the role of Marcia. Being a part of the reading helped me better understand and make a personal connection to the characters that I didn't have from only reading it in class. The reading experience was very useful for making personal connections to the reading material from class, and I am glad that I was a part of it.
--Sarah Norris
Reading my character (Marcus) aloud, as well as hearing the other characters in the play read aloud, gave me a better understanding on the range of emotions and reactions experienced by these characters throughout the text. From Marcus' (almost heated) passions of love, to the scheming of Sempronius -- all this read aloud helped make the play that much more memorable to me.
--Andreas Cook
I found the experience helped me find out more about the values the characters had. This will help me with my paper immensely. I also found it more entertaining, since we had all these people playing the roles instead of just reading it.
--Andrew Potosky
It was easier to tell who was on stage depending on who was reading at that time. Hearing it out loud made the play easier to understand. By this I mean that the characters had more life simply because an individual was speaking as a specific character. It was fun to read it aloud as well.
--Cassie Shaffer
The read-through really helped me get a better grasp of the content of the play. It was so helpful in allowing me to hear the words of each character and really understand their meanings.
--Alyssa Ferrell
I think that the group reading of Cato helped immensely in understanding the text better. First of all, it helped me be able to distinguish between the different characters within the play because different students in the class were reading the different parts. Secondly, it was helpful because I was able to see the exaggeration put into different phrases that the characters were exclaiming as the students in the class were reading through the lines.
--Skylar Roberts
For me, the experience showed how performance can affect meaning, as we recognized how a character’s tone of voice could create an interpretation of the words on the page. This was especially important when we were assessing the nature and extent of Cato’s heroism.
--Hilary Donatinix
