Today, we performed our monologues we found ready for this lesson. The monologue I chose was Pax's monologue from Dreams In Captivity.
We, first, were asked to read out our monologues to the class and were asked why we chose them. I chose mine because I felt like it had a very motivational message and I also looked into the plot of the play and found Dreams In Captivity very interesting.
After this we were split into pairs (Rob and Lorna/James and Ollie/Charlie and Lewis) and performed our monologue to each other, making notes on how the other did with comments on how to improve. When Charlie performed his monologue, I thought he needed to slow his down a tad as he could of added a bit more emphasis to some of his lines to make them more effective. However, he did use very good facial expressions throughout and his tone was perfect for the scene.
Charlie's notes on my monologue were I had good diction and my tone was very good, however I should've slowed down at the beginning a bit as I could've made my point cut deeper into my wife in the piece.
We then were asked to swap monologues and perform them to each other, putting our own notes into practise. After watching each other perform, we both were very impressed and took note of how to improve. For example, as my character is from America, Charlie performed my monologue in an American accent. I wasn't too sure about whether I should do one or not at first but after hearing Charlie do it, I was much more confident in trying one as it made it a lot more authentic to the story.
Next, we were asked to highlight all words/phrases we'd put emphasis on when speaking. These choices are very important as to how we'd want to portray our character as the slightest change in emphasis can change the whole mood of the piece. Below is my script highlighted:
Finally, we all grouped together and performed our monologues to the class. When performing mine, I took the following notes:
After this we were split into pairs (Rob and Lorna/James and Ollie/Charlie and Lewis) and performed our monologue to each other, making notes on how the other did with comments on how to improve. When Charlie performed his monologue, I thought he needed to slow his down a tad as he could of added a bit more emphasis to some of his lines to make them more effective. However, he did use very good facial expressions throughout and his tone was perfect for the scene.
Charlie's notes on my monologue were I had good diction and my tone was very good, however I should've slowed down at the beginning a bit as I could've made my point cut deeper into my wife in the piece.
We then were asked to swap monologues and perform them to each other, putting our own notes into practise. After watching each other perform, we both were very impressed and took note of how to improve. For example, as my character is from America, Charlie performed my monologue in an American accent. I wasn't too sure about whether I should do one or not at first but after hearing Charlie do it, I was much more confident in trying one as it made it a lot more authentic to the story.
Next, we were asked to highlight all words/phrases we'd put emphasis on when speaking. These choices are very important as to how we'd want to portray our character as the slightest change in emphasis can change the whole mood of the piece. Below is my script highlighted:
Finally, we all grouped together and performed our monologues to the class. When performing mine, I took the following notes:
- My accent wasn't too bad but on certain words I lost the accent as I found it very challenging; if I were to choose an American monologue again, I would need to make sure my accent was better to make it sound much more authentic.
- My movement was very awkward as I'd be standing still for a while then feel like I'd have to move so I'd then move quite a lot but then I'd feel like I'd be moving too much so I stopped moving entirely. This was a continuing cycle throughout the piece.
- My tone during the piece was very good and I felt like I had the audience captivated at all times.
I was then given props (a group of chairs in a pile on the floor) and Lorna to interact with as Pax's Wife. I was told to make my monologue more realistic as opposed to making it a performance, as if the audience wasn't there and I was just talking to Lorna, cleaning up the chairs.
After performing it in this style, I feel like my eyes are more open to performing Realism as opposed to Naturalism. The scene looked a lot more realistic and the situation was far more believable.
For next lesson, we were asked to find two more monologues, one of which must be from a classical play. The monologues I chose were:
- CLASSICAL - "As You Like It" (Jacques): http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_030.html
- CONTEMPORARY - "The Seagull" (Treplev): http://www.notmyshoes.net/monologues/treplev.html
Next lesson we will work with our chosen monologues.
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