Mimi Werdegar has a love for Shakespeare like no other.
Brooke Hammarskjold | Print Editor
While many claim to love the great bard, William Shakespeare, his impressive way with words and understanding of the human condition and psyche, few surpass sophomore Mimi Werdegar. I was able to sit down with Werdegar and ask her a few questions about her Shakespeare knowledge and interest.
COA: How did you first get into Shakespeare?
MW: In seventh grade, we read Romeo and Juliet and it was the worst thing in the entire world. But they had us act in it, and I got cast as Mercutio, who’s an amazing character. He’s hilarious and so that experience made me learn to love it.
COA: What is your favorite thing about Shakespeare?
MW: I think he has a way with words, that no other author has, and the way he can inexplicitly depict so many things in so little words is something I don’t find anywhere else. I think that’s truly amazing.
COA: How many Shakespeare plays have you read?
MW: 12 at this point but I’ve acted in five, and most of the ones I’ve acted in I haven’t read.
COA: What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?
MW: My favorite is Titus Andronicus. It’s also Shakespeare’s most violent, so it wasn’t allowed to be preformed until about 100 years after he wrote it, for fear that the audience would be too afraid, but it’s amazing.
COA: What’s your least favorite play?
MW: There’s not one that I absolutely hate, but I’m very tired of As You Like It because I think it’s very overrated and overused.
COA: How many soliloquys and speeches have you memorized?
MW: About 30.
COA: What’s your favorite?
MW: Probably the Edmund speech from King Lear, it’s one of the most famous villian monologues in Shakespeare.
COA: What’s your favorite Shakespeare quote?
MW: Probably from Sonnet 116: “love’s not time’s fool,” its’ really short but I think that’s four of the greatest words he ever said.
COA: What’s one thing you hate about Shakespeare?
MW: Well, he steals a lot of other people’s ideas […] and he’s also a little repetitive, because I can take three monologues from three different plays and they sound almost exactly the same.
COA: What is the weirdest/most interesting thing about Shakespeare that most people don’t know?
MW: I think something that’s very interesting and controversial to explore is […] Shakespeare’s sexuality because I think there are a lot of very explicit love poems written to a man but there’s controversy over if that’s […] sexual love […] or if it was just his way of expressing his platonic love.
COA: Do you think Menlo does a good job of teaching Shakespeare?
MW: Well so far, I’ve only had one experience which was Othello in ninth grade, I had Ms. Stubbs and I thought that was an amazing experience, she did a great job of explaining all the little things that people usually miss. I’ve also spent a lot of time talking to [Shakespeare teacher, Peter Brodie,] and he seems very educated about it.
