Monologues

As we are fast approaching to audition at drama schools, or in some cases a university which will require an audition, we each have to prepare two contrasting speeches. One being classical e.g ; Greek plays or Shakespeare,  and one being modern/contemporary which must have been published post the year 1960. I chose to perform the pieces of ; Twelth night by William Shakespeare and Eight by Ella Hickson. They are both strong characters from strong plays. They are very different characters to play , but I would say the characters are both the same in age but their objectives are different and setting in which they are in are both dissimilar. 

Jude - Eight 

In Ella Hickson's play there are eight monologues which are performed in sequence, forming the whole play. They each have a completely different character in the scenes , and each monologue has a different story to tell. The way the play is performed , before it even begins the audience all choose which monologues they would like to watch. The character who I will be portraying , Jude, speaks about the fact his dad sent him to the south of France to better himself in masculinity. His father is shown to be quite bigoted because it always seems to be what he wants for his son, and his views  seem to grate on his son rather Jude agreeing with him. As the monologue goes on, it is clear that Jude enjoys his trip to France even if he is reluctant to admit it because he doesn't get on with his father. As much as he dislikes his father, the reasons Jude's father sends him to France was to find a level of maturity , and he mentions about France having great women. All these points that Jude knocks his father down for , he ends up making these pointers his ambitions without realising that's what his father has been telling about. He wants to be "independent" and find "great women". This is a good portrayal of how teenagers typically don't want to listen to their parents as some view their parents as being old , but sometimes their points are valid. But I enjoy playing this character as it shows his resentment of his father and then straight away into comedy - its a level distribution of both. 

Sebastian - Twelfth night 

 Sebastian is described as quite a self righteous character. It is evident when he is wondering where Antonio has got to because he needs his problems consoled. In the scene he is trying to prove his sanity and believes the only logical reasoning to his deliriousness is the accident he had when we woke up on the shores or Illyria. Yet, everyone seems to believe he is mad so his objective is to prove that he is not. The way I play him , is that at the beginning, he is obviously ecstatic when he believe that he isn't going mad, he then composes himself and speaks about how Antonio has an eye out for him and the shipwreck has blinded him to the fact the he could be possibly going mad , and the others believe this too. Then he realises this isn't the case , and is now dumfounded because the whole situation is confusing to him still. The character is interesting to play because there is a combination of excitement and frustration emotions which he experiences and I find it fun to completely show the high energy that his is feeling to the change of emotion through the speech.

15/11/2019 - Monologues performed at Young Actors Theatre Islington

I performed the monologue from Twelfth Night playing Sebastian. I thought it went quite well, I performed it to my best ability. The constructive criticism I received from David Schaal would be to play the states higher. I really need to embody and take in what's happened. I have a good intellectual understanding of the text and what is happening, but I need to build a closer emotional connection with the character and bring more energy. It was quite an interesting experience because, even if it was a relaxed, than that of a professional audition - it gave us all a taster of what will come if we audition at drama school, and it actually was less daunting than I had imagined.