Jasmine Loke - Helena

Name:
Jasmine Loke

Age:
16

School:
Chinese International School

Past experience:
Nerissa in Merchant of Venice, Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (s4a), etc. 

Fun fact:

I’ve been acting since I was 9, having been influenced by my mom and sister. I saw my sister in Shakespeare4All’s production of Macbeth, and fell in love with theatre. I thought it was really creative, so I joined Shakespeare4All myself.  

Why do you enjoy acting so much?
I get to be someone else and not myself. I get to live another lifestyle.

What is your role and how would you describe your character in the play?  

I play Helena. She likes to pity herself and thinks herself inferior to Hermia even when others say she isn’t. This is especially because Demetrius likes Hermia, and Helena herself is crazy about Demetrius. So she is jealous of Hermia. 

Do you see yourself in your role?

I don’t see myself as Helena at all, because I’m not desperate for other people’s attentions.  She constantly seeks Demetrius’ attention, and I definitely won’t do that.

If you are such a different person from your role, does that make the role challenging?

Definitely. Helena is a drama queen. There’s a part in Act 2 when Demetrius kisses Helena, and she is in complete shock. She also swoons. I’ve never acted this way inside or outside of any character I’ve ever played. So it’s really hard to get into character and not be hard to show these dramatic experiences.

Having been in quite a few production of Shakespeare’s plays, how would you describe Shakespeare?

He’s astonishing. He writes in iambic pentameter, and this play in particular, there are many couplets. I find it astonishing how he can do that. His plots are always creative and he always manages to produce a lot of different plots, for each of his thirty-seven plays.

What is love to you?

Love is about self-sacrifice and not desperately chasing after someone. As the bible says, love is not selfish and not boastful.