NAPLES, Fla. — Shakespeare’s lead female character in “Much Ado About Nothing” is talkative, witty and probably too sarcastic for her own good.
“A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours,” Beatrice says.
Memorizing and reciting the lines from the 16th century comedic play is a feat in itself.
“Scratching could not make it worse an ’twere such a face as yours were.”
But for 16-year-old Jocelyn Lyon of Naples, who is rehearsing the role of Beatrice for her high school play, the task has an added difficulty.
Jocelyn is an ordinary teenager— she wears combat boots and Converse, likes haunted houses, steampunk and sketching characters, and says “yo” casually in conversation.
But when she speaks, Jocelyn sometimes has difficulties keeping up with everybody else.
“Sorry, words,” she says, for the moments when she can’t exactly say what she wants.
