3 Speeches I did Not Choose

Alistar - Posh

• This speech is about Alister who is a high class, stuck up, Oxford University student who, along with other students are part of the Riot Club. As the lads get more and more drunk and riled up with the fact that the prostitute wont suck them off. They wreck the entire room, enraging the landlord Chris who they then beat up and leave unconscious. Alistar's speech takes place just before they smash the place up, giving the members a piece of his mind on what he thinks about poor people.The reason why I did not choose this speech is because, although I enjoyed the story, I have two characters that are of high class already and wanted to play someone from a completely different nature. I also didn't enjoy the story or the character as a person as much as I did with Bert in first light. I also believed that Bert was a dynamic side that I have not done before and so I want to prove to myself I can act in that way and also show the panel that  I can be dynamic and differentiate between a variety of characters.

Two Gentlemen of Verona - Launce

• Launce is the Shakespearian fool in this play and he delivers a comical speech full of over exaggeration, tears and silliness. I did not have a comical monologue even though some of my monologues have aspects of comedy within. This appealed to me because Launce was a really funny and over the top character. The reason why I did not choose this speech however is that, I heard that drama schools like people to do speeches that are lesser known and I was told that Launce was quite a common speech for auditions. This and the fact that I liked the other speeches more than this for their stories and dialog and the language meant this one is on the side lines for another day.

Antony and Cleopatra - Antony

All is lost;

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me:
My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder
They cast their caps up and carouse together
Like friends long lost. Triple-turn'd whore! 'tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart
Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly;
For when I am revenged upon my charm,
I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone.
[Exit SCARUS]
O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more:
Fortune and Antony part here; even here
Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts
That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd,
That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am:
O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,.
Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home;
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,.
Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.
What, Eros, Eros!

• Antony is the poor man who falls in love with Cleopatra in this Shakespearian tragedy and ends up being betrayed with his army's leaving him for his enemy. The speech is a soliloquy with Antony questioning why he has been betrayed with in anger and dismay and pleading to the gods. I did not choose this speech for I already had enough speeches to audition to drama school as the required number is 3 and I now have 6 so this definitely in the library for a back up speech if I need one for a later date.

First Light - Bert

Bert is from Salford in Manchester. He is young soldier fighting in world war 1 in the battle of the Somme, France, famous for being 'one of the most savage assaults in the history of human warfare' - Mark Hayhurst. The story is about Bert and his best friend Alfie going to fight in the war, their journey of desertion and the effect it has on them and their family. Bert's monologue takes place in a British army prison cell. He has been imprisoned by the British for deserting his battalion on the front lines, trying to escape to America on a cruise ship where Alfie and himself are caught. He has just been trialled in court and sentenced to death by firing range. He is talking to his close friend Conker who he fought along side in the trenches. Conker is in tears so Bert, trying not too cry himself, decides to reminisce about home.

Why Enlist, Bert? - Link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/shot_at_dawn_01.shtml




When enlisting to join the army, men knew that they were signing a contract to fight for their country, it's King and it's people. They were expected, without question, to face any mortal danger that came like men, honourably and courageously with out hesitation. The ultimate sacrifice. 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing' - Edmund Berk. By understanding that this was the mind set of my character before going to war I learned that by being young and naïve made it easy for the government to advertise war as an appealing way of gaining honour as a man, not forgetting that during this time, there was still this stereotypically masculine agenda that men had to be warriors and courageous fighters and protects as if they were still in the medieval ages.
I believe that it was an easy and obvious thing for Bert to join the army at his age when it has been so positively advertised by his own country. Knowing this was the start of my research into this monologue and figuring out how each emotion that Bert is feeling in the speech has been forged by his journey from enlisting to knowing he has been sentenced to death. This was the task I set myself before I started rehearsing to make sure I could portray Bert in the most truthful and realistic way possible.

Examples of WW1 Propaganda


Themes






Friendship, Respect, Courage in light of Cowardice, Sacrifice, Family
Contrary to the pictures above that I thought would have been the real reason that Bert deserted the army, the main reason and theme of this play is that Bert and Alfie are so close, that when Alfie propositions Bert into leaving, Bert feels inclined to go with him. It's the sort of friendship where to people can't do something without the other one being present down to the fact they have so much love for that person they might as well be brothers.

Bert We cant do it....
Alfie Course you do. They love you.. And I love you too, and that's why you should come with me.
Bert Where would we head?

This scene shows this as it tells of how Alfie is set on leaving. He has planned it all out pretty thoroughly and with lots of imagination. Bert tries to tell Alfie that people will notice their desertion and will report them missing and tries to convince Alfie that they should stay. But eventually, understanding that Alfie is hell bent on leaving, he decides to go with him. It shows Bert is a loyal friend and values other peoples goals more than his own. It shows he is rational and optimistic and trustworthy. Knowing this is important as during the speech Bert says how his dad is like his role model and that he is proud of his him for being a caring father that doesn't turn to violence like the other men in the neighbourhood;

'He was a giant in my eyes'

This shows Bert's respect for his father.

'One night he were taking a thrashing from his dad'

Bert is describing how their neighbour beats his child; Robert and how his dad never once hit him and actually took Robert in to protect him from being hurt again;

'He got up out of his seat and the door went, we knew where he were going. Anyway the sound stopped. Such silence like when the guns stop here ya know. And in a minute he comes back with Robert and mum takes him in that night and protects him...'

Knowing that Bert has the up most respect for his dad and finding out that Bert is staying loyal to Alfie even though it goes against what Bert wants to do, knowing that his life is at risk. I think that Bert is a really good, respectful human being and I think that he does everything knowing that his father would be proud of him. What hit me hard about this speech and is why I decided to chose this is because of how Bert admires his father, he realises, at the end of the speech, that he thinks he has let his father down;

'I think he should know what has happened to me'

and how he feels disappointed, failed and un-deserving of his fathers respect leading him to feel empty and lost inside and yet never ever giving up his loyalty to his friend.

'I am with you Alfie... forever'

To conclude the themes I found in the amongst the speech, there's an infinitely strong friendship between Bert and Alfie which never broke during the harshness of war or nor the tearing loneliness of death. Bert's upmost respect of his father and how he feels like his actions have disappointed him. How Bert has sacrificed his position in the army and the way his father will look at him all in the name of friendship. And last but not least, what would seem like cowardice to the inexperienced that can be seen as courageous respect for Bert to follow Alfie to first light.

Putting this Knowledge to Use
The first thing I did was stand in the front centre of the stage, focusing on a point in the back of the room, keeping my feet still, hand movement to a minimum and made my facial expressions show emptiness by barely doing anything. I read the speech like this to see where that level of expression worked the best and found that it suited the last line;

'I think he should know what has happened to me'

I found myself feeling lost and lonely and felt the need to hold in a tear which I think Bert would do. I started saying the first line;

'He never hit us, Dad'

in a remising way and was telling the story as if I had already planned out what I was going to say. After doing it this way it didn't feel right and I was redirected by a teacher to try again and instead of having Bert tell a story that is already planned out, make it seem like Bert was thinking about his dad, then he remembered that his dad never hit him, then he remembered a lad across the back called Robert who's dad hit him and then he remembered that his dad did this and that... I tried the speech using that thought process and I found my body started to encompass subtle hand gestures every so often that showed a new thought, my face would lighten up with every new thought;

'Must of been a Sunday I suppose, so there were no smoke in the sky to spoil it.(New thought where the energy would increase slightly) / The bloke had sobered up and he was no longer angry...'

By making me think about my character's thought process in a different way I have been able to show how Bert is reminiscing and how thinking back to the past is making him remember a proud event that happened allowing him to momentarily forget about being shot at dawn.

I thought that my monologue was ready but then realised it was very similar to my other two. I decided to change the staging so that it contrasts which is what the drama schools require. To do this I sat on a chair back a bit from the front of the stage and pictured Conker to my diagonal left. I looked at Conker and spoke my dialog facing him looking out to the sky when hitting a positive thought and looking down at the floor when hitting a negative thought like;

'Through what? not pity, shame I suppose'

where Bert's saying how he didn't do anything to help Robert next door, they just acknowledged it happened. I think these actions really attributed to the truth of the speech and helped direct the language with visuals that will hopefully be interesting for the panel. I also found it natural to say the line;

'He was filling the doorway my dad, but it were like his spirit were filling the whole street, the whole universe aha'

out to the audience giving it the appearance of Bert talking out to the sky. I think that this action helps amplify the dialog and make the meaning behind it more powerful.

To conclude, I went to see this play in the Minerva theatre in Chichester as it premiered and had instant rapport with me. It was really powerful and dramatic which is a side of my acting ability I wanted to test and to be able to prove I can do to in my audition. I think that this is a speech that the audience will enjoy and hopefully remember me for.

Angelo - Measure for Measure

Angelo is deputy to the Duke of Vienna who has mysteriously disappeared leaving Angelo in charge of the town. Angelo has noticed an uprising of sexual activity in Vienna lately such as prostitution and whore houses. To stop this from happening Angelo resurrected an old law stating that any type of fornication is against the law and punishable by death. Claudio is a man who has been sentenced to death under the new law who's highly religious sister, Isabella, has tried to negotiate with Angelo to get him to free her brother. Instead, Angelo propositions her, and states that he will set him free if she sleeps with him. She refuses and before Angelo can act, the Duke, who has been hiding as a prier and watching over Angelo to test his loyalty, comes out of hiding to set everything straight.

Speech

What's this? what's this? is this her fault or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most?
Ha! Not she, nor doth she tempt; but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness? Having wasteground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou? or what are thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,
And feast upon her eyes? what is't I dream on?
O cunning enemy that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook: most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet
With all her double vigor, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now,
When men were fond, I smiled and wondered how.

Themes and Rehearsal Process
In this monologue, Angelo is confronting his confusion with this situation he has found himself in, being that he has fallen for Isabella and has the desire for lust for the first time, something Angelo has previously disagreed with enough to make it illegal and punishable by death. I know this because Angelo is constantly asking questions in the soliloquy and lots of answered questions can mean the lack of knowledge and experience in that specific subject and therefore leading to confusion.

'What's this, what's this?... What dost thou, what art thou Angelo... What is't I dream on?'

By understanding that Angelo is feeling confusion, I had to figure out how I was going to portray this in my performance. I started with the first line;

'What's this, What's this...'

This line is the opening of my monologue and therefore has to be instantly engaging and truthful to capture the attention of the audition panel. Firstly, I asked the question out too the audience in the way I would naturally ask a question to someone. This gave me a basis that I could build on. I then thought of Angelo as being panicky and nervous as I know this can be a good way of showing the confusion of a person. I added heavy breathing and a shakiness to Angelo as I stood and used my hands a lot to rustle through my hair and cover my mouth. By acting in this way, I nor my teachers felt this was a truthful portrayal of Angelo at all and decided to scrap the nervous confusion idea and made me think in a very different direction. I researched more carefully into Angelo's personality and the things he has done like sentencing a man too death for a crime he may not have committed. I decided to see Angelo as devious, well thought out and took away any guilt or conscience I portrayed him to have in my first rehearsal. I stood in the centre front of the stage and spoke calm and rationally, pausing and taking my time to ask the questions. This felt a lot more real and I believe that I was feeling confused as to why I'm feeling like this but yet being calm and collected to show how Angelo is someone with a lot of power and responsibility and control. To further enhance my performance I focused on movement. I noticed that my feet have lots of nervous energy and my hands touch my face a lot. As an exercise to get rid of this nervous energy I put my hands behind my back and kept my feet in place and focused on using the language to tell the story. What I felt this do was give me so much more control of my diction, pronunciation and the language devices Shakespeare has used in his writing like metaphor and imagery;

'O cunning enemy, to catch a saint with saints doth bait thy hook...'

To add another layer to my performance, My teachers taught me how to picture myself in the room the character is in during the soliloquy and interact with objects in the room. I decided Angelo is in the privacy of his private quarters where he is free to express himself without judgement and let loose. I pictured a door behind him, a window to the left of him and a wall to the right and the audience in front who  could represent a mirror. I experimented by walking to the window and saying a line, then looking back to where the audience would be, and then face the wall and then turn and look at the door. By saying;

'What do I love her that I desire to hear her speak again and feast upon her eyes?'

to the window, showed Angelo was dreaming and feeling desire and love for Isabella. By saying;

'O fie fie fie, what dost thou, what art thou...'

to the imaginary wall shows how he is having conflict in his mind between trying to stay close minded and disagree with sexual desires or accepting his new emotions of his feelings for this girl and how this has made him angry.

During my rehearsal period of this audition speech, I have been taught, experimented and implemented different techniques and devices that have helped me characterise Angelo, filter out the things that were damaging my performance and hopefully made my interpretation of this Shakespearian speech one that the audition panel will like giving me the highest chances of a successful audition.

Why I have Chosen this Monologue
I have chosen this speech because it caught my eye when reading the play, Measure for Measure. It caught my eye as Angelo is a high class character who has a lot of power and wealth and responsibility and has chosen to use it in a controversial manor. He can be looked at as a man who is quite evil and wants an easy excuse to kill people in order to achieve a clean, sex free town. Or, he can be seen as a man who has not experienced the feeling of lust yet and therefore disagrees with it and is punishing a man who has broken the law as it is his job to do so.
In my opinion, Angelo, although being a high class character too, contrasts really well with Edgar as Edgar is someone who is from a high class background who has renounced his own name, becoming a crazy beggar in order to survive loosing everything he once was. I am playing Edgar as in shock, fearing the worst, scared and thinking of an escape plan, where as Angelo is calm, collective and wanting to understand about his scenario by asking questions and trying to figure out how he can get this girl he likes as evidenced above.
This piece will be used as my back up piece when auditioning for drama schools which are as followed;

• Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
• Central School of Speech and Drama
• Guilford School of Acting
• London academy of Music and Dramatic Art
• East 15
• Drama Centre London
• Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• Bristol Old Vic
• Rose Bruford

These schools all require me to perform 1 classical and 1 contemporary and ask for one classical piece to be called upon if necessary. I have chosen Angelo's monologue as my backup monologue as I have performed the character type before and Edgar is a completely new type of character that I have never had the experience of playing which has given me the challenge of learning something new, and been a great learning curb during the rehearsal period. I really believe that both classical monologues are rehearsed to the best possible standard for my level of experience as I have used all of the devices and techniques taught onto me to analyse, research, characterise and understand the text hopefully making my performance of Angelo's monologue; if called upon too do so, one that hits the criteria of the panel.

Angelo being portrayed by other actors - http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03358/measure_for_measur_3358995b.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/9f008dd1866c30c9669da902469e35cf1a870639.jpg

Edgar - King Lear

Edgar is the legitimate son and heir of the Duke of Gloucester. He has a half brother/bastard called Edmund who wishes to claim his father's position as Duke to gain power and wealth. Edmund is a bastard and therefore; unlike Edgar, is not a rightful heir. In order to obtain what he wants, he writes a letter in Edgar's name stating that Edgar is planning to murder his father to steal his position and then shows this letter to Gloucester. Gloucester responds with utter surprise and confusion, feeling betrayed by his son who he loved and trusted and sends mercenaries to hunt and capture him, bringing him back to the castle where he will face his punishment; death, for his treason. Edmund then lies to Edgar saying how he is being hunted by the Duke causing Edgar to flee into the woods where the monologue takes place.

Fear
Edgar is on the run. If he gets caught he will die. He's scared and worried about these consequences.

'I heard myself proclaimed... No port is free...'

This line shows his fear as he has heard men shouting his name and he cannot escape Gloucester because there are mercenaries everywhere looking for him. He is stuck in the woods with know where to go. With this information, I decided to experiment with different energy states to find the right energy to accurately portray Edgar's fear. I started of walking around a room at normal pace and then pictured someone walking behind me in the dark but at a reasonable distance that would make me uneasy but not scared for my life yet, walking slightly faster and checking behind my shoulder. I than sped my pace until I was running around the room and pictured myself in a paranoiac scenario which was set in a dark woods where I envisioned voices coming from every direction closing in on me. This really helped increase my heart rate and I felt myself breathing heavily constantly checking my shoulders and rapidly moving my eyes around. I thought this was very powerful energy and slightly to in realistic for my Edgar so I toned it down from a 10/10 to around 8/10. With this emotional energy I had just created, came the ability to remember it and use it during my monologue. In my opinion, I believe doing this exercise helped me instantly remember the energy I need to be in during the first section of the monologue quoted above which will hopefully make my performance much more believable and one that will make my audition hit the right criteria.

Survival
As a human, when being hunted, fear is instinctual. Fear is a chemical that exists to spark the survival instinct in our minds. Edgar is experiencing this in this speech. He is in fear which is now triggering these ideas he is having of how he will escape the hunt and stay alive.

'Whiles I may 'scape, I will preserve myself, and am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape that ever penury in contempt of man brought near to beast. My face ill grime with filth...'

He is coming up, on the spot, with a plan. As he thinks in the moment, these ideas come to him and he eventually, at the end of the speech, successfully devises this plan of how he will survive;

'That's something yet, Edgar I nothing am'

So, to find this instinctual emotion, I used the exercise used to find fear, and pictured; in this dark wooded scenario of being in danger, salvation in the distance. A way out, a road with traffic, people and light but the only way of getting over to this salvation was to overcome my personal fear of spiders. A dark forest where I can hear voices and the only way out is past some giant river of creepy arachnids. What I experienced next was my first instinctual reaction to surviving, my first idea was to become invisible to the spiders and simply walk among them to escape. In reality this is a very far fetched idea that is only possible in the minds of our imaginations and may seem very naïve. But what I learned from this interesting exploitation of the human mind, was that invisibility is exactly what Edgar is trying to achieve but in a real way. He is becoming invisible by changing his smell, appearance, voice and personality and becoming someone else, a 'poor Tom' which is a homeless beggar. He is hiding in plain view. I believe by understanding that he is coming with a plan on the spot, by understanding the energy and emotions Edgar is experiencing through a simple exercise that exploits my own mind, I have learned how to naturally and convincingly portray someone who is in a survival situation and therefore my audition will hopefully hit all of the right criteria.

My Exterior Vision

Edgar is from a high class and privileged household as he is the son of the Duke of Gloucester appointed by King Lear himself, a position that makes the Duke on of the most powerful men in the country. I have chosen Edgar to be 19 as there is no information that directly tells me his age but he is very naïve being easily manipulated by his brothers evil plan and later on in the play I found that he and his father meet under the disguise of 'poor Tom' under accidental circumstances and yet he does not tell his father that it is him. I have pictured Edgar to be wearing pretty much nothing at all during this scene as I think, during his escape from home, not had time to get changed into any thing. As the speech progresses, I picture him slowly becoming Poor Tom by rubbing dirt on his body, messing his well groomed hair up into knots and cutting his arms with things he has found on the forest floor;

'And with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky. The country gives me proof and president of Bedlam beggars, with roaring voices strike in their numb and mortified bare arms, pins, wooden prick, nails, sprigs of rosemary...'

With this research of how I think he looks I decided to use some actions against some dialog. For the line evidenced above, to symbolise Edgar thinking about cutting his arms up to look like a crazy man, I would gently lead the audience to look at my left arm by moving my right hand over my forearm. Also, at the start of the line I decided to lift my head and arms and body up to the 'sky' so that the audience can understand that Edgar is thinking of how he will survive facing everything that God throws at him. This is evidence that I have used hand movements and types of actions and gestures alongside certain lines to enhance the importance of the story the language is telling.

Reasons for Choosing - link to Central speech list - https://www.cssd.ac.uk/content/audition-speeches-ba-acting-courses

Before my research into classical speeches started, I was delving into every drama school website I planned to audition too to cream as much information possible. To sum my findings up, I need to have prepared two classical speeches from the Jacobean/ Elizabethan era and on contemporary piece after dates which varied from school to school. For one of my classical pieces I chose this speech. Now it didn't come to me in a dream, actually from Central School of Acting's website which contains a large list of male classical monologues that the school would like candidates to use. I found that Edgar's speech was amongst one of the most interesting speeches on the list, and one of which had a pace that I have never acted to before which I thought would be a good way to show my adaptability as an actor.

The speech is a high energy and fast pace speech which I am physically able to do with the help from acting exercises such as stretching and relaxing my bodies tensions. This monologue also challenges my vocal ability in a positive way as I have discovered new things like the stage whisper which appears to the audience as a whisper even though I still have to project loudly out.

To conclude, I believe that with my research into the play and the character, exploring context, characterisation and experimenting and developing everything in rehearsals has added truth and believability to my performance hopefully making it memorable and criteria hitting giving me the highest possible chance of being selected out of the vast amount of candidates. With virtuous practice and direction I do believe I am ready to use this monologue as my audition piece.

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Actors Blog

My personal discovery of Shakespeare's language, my theory behind it's meaning and how I have decided to imaginatively and creatively interpret, respond and develop it in rehearsals

Shakespeare has used many linguistic devices in  this play. Some of these include prose, blank verse and imagery, iambic pentameter, rhyme and metaphors and similes. During the rehearsal process I had to fish out all of these devices used so I could understand the descriptive power of the lines, what they mean, how they should be presented to the audience, where I should take my breathes, add my movements and characterise in order to illuminate my performance on stage. Bellow I shall analyse such diverse linguisticisms.

Prose - Link to this information; http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/verseprose.html

Prose is ordinary dialog in the play that does not consist of a regular pattern nor have any sort of rhythm. For example;

'What is Pyramus? Is he a kindly man? Oh hello there, such kindness coming from me, kindness coming from above...'

The fact that this line is Prose means that I did not have to follow a pattern when speaking it. Therefore I had freedom of choice in the pace and energy of my speech. In rehearsals, I chose to experiment with confusion having Bottom not know what the line means nor who Pyramus was. This felt unnatural so I played the line eager and with lots of excitement with Bottom not knowing who Pyramus is but with utter ignorance of Peter Quince's direction, diving head first into his own characterisation. In my opinion, Prose gave me the positive ability of imaginative experimentation with certain lines like the one exampled. I think that Shakespeare has done this to make the actor work and search within myself and the character to choose the perfect delivery of the line without the help from rhythm's and rhymes and therefore illuminating my performance.

Blank Verse and Iambic Pentameter - Link - http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer006.html
Blank verse is verse without rhyme yet differs from Prose by containing a fascinating poetical charm, iambic pentameter. This marvellous dignitary follows these rules;

• Each line contains 10 syllables with certain irregularities including the addition of extra syllables
• Consists of 5 iambs which are equal to the metric 'foot' measurement and contain two syllables
• A stressed syllable is always followed by an unstressed syllable - da DUM da DUM

An example of this in the play is here;

'if I were fair Thisby, I were only thine'

Bottom has not been given much blank verse in the play. He speaks in blank verse when he is playing the part of Pyramus in their play they're putting on for the Duke and Queen. I believe Shakespeare has done this to make it clear to the audience that the character Bottom is performing a another character; a play within a play. I found the way Bottom's dialog changes when he is acting out his part to be more poetical and un-Bottomly and therefore I took from this, the fact that Bottom is not smart enough to speak in such a well thought out way allowing me to imaginatively and creatively experiment with Bottom's level of stupidity and how it balances with his arrogance to create over confidence and the blundering acting he does in my rehearsal process hopefully making my performance illuminating and engaging for the audience.

Imagery
Imagery is the figurative or visual description of any given subject being objects or scenario's. When analysing the play during the rehearsal period. It has been used allow the audience to see what is being described in their minds as if it were unfolding in front of their eyes and has a powerful effect on how the audience reacts to the atmosphere of the setting, the characters, objects and subject matter in the play. For example;

'Most radient of Pyramus, most lily-white of hue, of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier...'

This line that fellow Thespian Jack Colin's had to yak shows this imagery Shakespeare used in this play. I believe Shakespeare has used imagery for this scene particularly to add comedy. I think this because the line before that is of Pyramus saying how Thisby's perfume smells nice. They are meant to be in love and Pyramus is whooing Thisby with his charmful comments and Thisby is reacting rather flattered returning the favour. What makes this scene hilarious is other than the Bottom physically turning into a Donkey is that he messes up the line which comes out as;

'Thisby, your perfume, you smell of sweets... Thisby, your perfume... Onions!'

My point is that Shakespeare has used the once emotionally investing imagery that showed the audience a charming man trying to flatter his lady, turned it completely on it's head and made it seem like Pyramus is saying Thisby smells of onions when in reality it's Bottom messing up and Flute actually smelling of onions which is obvious humour meant for the audience. Knowing this, I understood that I had to portray this scene in a comedic way creatively and imaginatively experimenting with slapstick comedy by dropping to the floor when Bottom takes a drag of Flutes onion body odour, testing out giving Pyramus a brummy accent and assigning some purposely forced facial expressions such as over excessive winking, squinting, awkward smiling. After trying and comparing different ways of performing Pyramus and interacting with Thisby, I decided to have him pull these funny facial expressions and gave him a slightly tyrant like accent which Bottom is quoted to having desired;

'My chief humour is for a tyrant'

I believe that by using Shakespeare's imagery and playing around with different ways of characterising in the complete opposite way of what the imagery used to describe Pyramus and Thisby is, and understanding the comedy that Shakespeare is wanting the actor to uncover will give my Bottom and Flute's relationship on stage a hilarious edge and therefore making my performance illuminating.

My Shakespeare
I was given the character of Shakespeare. This character was not conceived by the man who shares the same name, but instead, is a modern device used to enhance and adapt the play from a classical piece to a children's theatre piece without loosing the 'magic' of what a Midsummer Nights Dream is all about.
Shakespeare is an up beat, highly energetic positive narrative character who's role is to follow the story along and simply narrate and explain what is happening in the classical scenes to the children to help them understand and learn about Shakespearian language and to keep them engaged in the story. Without this character, the children may not learn anything about the basic meanings behind lines such as;

'You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart'

They may not understand that that means that Helena is in love with Demetrius and wants Hermia to tell her what makes Demetrius like her so much so she can be loved by him herself.

'Helena wears her heart on her sleeve, you see she wants to marry Demetrius'

With this knowledge of the character Shakespeare I decided he must be easy to understand, have clear movements that direct the young audiences eyes to what he is explaining and he must be engaging, friendly and smiley so he is liked by the audience, gaining their trust and therefore; unknowing to the children, start the subtle education of Shakespeare's language in the most exiting way possible, a play. To make sure I hit this criteria I had to imaginatively and creatively experiment during rehearsals with my voice, movement and expressions. With the staging we decided to position Shakespeare centre back stage sitting on a block where he will stay for the whole performance near enough. This ensures he is in a good position to be seen at all times and will be above, looking down slightly at the play as it unfolds allowing for directive narration. With his voice, I did some research on children's TV shows and realised that everyone speaks in a really over exaggerated 'cheesy' way but very friendly and welcoming to any kid in the audience and therefore I chose to go with this voice. Learning about over exaggeration, I practiced using my hands and arms more when I spoke my lines which at first, to get it to feel natural was hard, but over time it became easier and more necessary to do to the point of which it felt like it was working really well in amplifying every sentence and should hopefully make me more engaging whilst narrating the plot. A very difficult part of the character Shakespeare was learning the songs and keeping everything I have learned about exaggeration of voice and gestures. An example of this is the opening song;

'Hello there I'm William Shakespeare, I'm very very busy, I'm writing a play here'

I thought was a hard song to learn as I came across the challenge of balancing timing with projection and acting. I think this was because I have never done anything like that before. To get used to the timing of the songs, I listened to them at home on YouTube and sang along to the backing track we were supplied with. Then, once I got more confident with the timings I started to mark on my script movements and actions next to each section of dialog and practiced listening to the song, singing and acting until it felt more natural. As I grew more confident I then started to focus on my projection. From having singing lessons I know that to project well I need to breath into my diaphragm, expending my stomach and lower back whilst keeping my shoulders still and take strong deep breathes then singing my lines allowing more air to pass through my vocal chords with lots of control, directed out to the front of the stage. After practicing some vocal warm ups like lip rolls and pumpkin and raisin face where you open your mouth and jaw wide and stretch, then pinch your mouth shut to increase flexibility of the mouth, and using everything I have learned during our class rehearsals I eventually overcame the difficulty I had before and by the last rehearsal periods, I found myself acting much more confidently alongside song and therefore learning a completely new skill, a very stressful experience but an opportunity that I am very thankful for.

Shakespeare also interacts with Sparks and Gaffer which are meant to be the technical crew and yet are totally in experienced and have no idea about any thing much really. They are a slapstick comedy element added in by the modern adaptors. Shakespeare has these funny and exciting confrontations with this pair when they constantly stumble on the word Athenian and there daft antics during the scene change song where Sparks accidently hits Shakespeare with the mop that most definitely is not on the bloody list!

'What, no no mop! OW! Right come on, off quickly.'

When looking at this line I understood that I had to experiment creatively and imaginatively with this comedic relationship between the trio of children entertainers. To achieve this, Katrina, Jack Ashley and I created some actions that would happen as the play progressed. We tried things like me looking disappointed in them, Katrina blowing a party blower, Jack and Katrina falling asleep on me, them being totally over excited, myself eating popcorn, looking impressed when they got something correct and all three of us laughing when something funny happens in the play to encourage the audience members to laugh along with us. We chose to do all of these actions throughout the play as we decided they really the character building between the three of them, found that adding some funny facial expressions between us and mannerisms like eating popcorn and looking intrigued and interested in what the Athenian characters are saying filed in a once empty and dull space with lots of well timed, naturally comedic elements which should stop the three of us from seeming out of place or un interesting preventing the purpose of Shakespeare's story telling presence of engaging and educating the young audience.

To conclude my personal discovery of Shakespeare's language, my theory behind it's meaning and how I have decided to imaginatively and creatively interpret, respond and develop it in rehearsals, I have found there to be many powerful devices that Shakespeare has used in A Midsummer Nights Dream that by learning the meaning behind why he has used them has allowed me to experiment vastly with concepts created in rehearsals and choose my character decisions that will enhance and illuminate my performance.

Character Study; Bottom

Bottom is part of the Rude Mechanicals is A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Rude Mechanicals are skilled workers from Athens who want to put on a play for Duke Theseus of Athens and Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons. There are six members of this group:

• Peter Quince the Carpenter- The leader of the group who has chosen the play and assigns the roles to the other Mechanicals. Quince has taken the role of the director.
• Snug the Joiner
• Nick Bottom the Weaver
• Francis Flute the Bellows Mender
• Robin Starveling the Tailor
• Tom Snout the Tinker

My Exterior Vision

• He wears a white shirt with a fancy but well worn and torn, long red coat and short trousers. Maybe something he made to make himself look like royalty but  he still had to work in them as at the end of the day he was a weaver, a working class man.?
• Well groomed hair to make him look a handsome, attractive man whilst he has a hairy body and dirty and course hands. A mirage of his ego?

Bottom holds his self esteem very highly and never looks down an opportunity to perform, always believing his acting is superb and above all of the other Rude Mechanicals. Little to his knowledge, his ego betrays him as the other Mechanicals and the audience are instantly shown that this is not the case. The case being that Bottom is actually rather stupid and not very good at all.

'What is Pyramus? Is he a kindly man? Oh hello there, such kindness coming from me...'

I retrieved this evidence from the script from this line here. It's the perfect example of Bottom taking on the role with utter confidence of his abilities and instantly delving into his many interpretations of the character Pyramus whilst not having received any back story of the character what so ever. My opinion of this quote is that from the evidence that Bottom divulges when he dives into the instant characterisation of Pyramus without even reading the part shows he has no idea of what is actually  required by the actor during the rehearsal period of a play therefore showing me that he lacks any theatrical education but also by him participating in something new that he has never done before, it tells me that his confidence is nothing but an eager excitement to start.

Bottom and Peter Quince share a very interesting relationship with each other I have found. Peter Quince is the; yet new and in experienced, director of their play and therefore is in charge of the group. Bottom is an over confident fool who is eager to do everything; including directing. The relationship arises from the first scene of the Mechanicals with Bottom's first line;

'You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the script'

This shows Bottom is trying to be the director and take over every aspect of the play; a one man band as you will, as his excitement and ego prevent him from restraining from trying all of these new, fun experiences he is finding the theatre to present. Peter Quince is much more subdued and has a much lower self esteem than Bottom and ends up in a scenario where they are trying to be in control but lack any power or presence which leads them to having an awkward and nervous air about them. For example;

'If we offend, it is with our good will. That you should think, we come not to offend, but with good will'

With misplaced punctuation and muddled sentence structure that doesn't really make any sense, I decided to use this muddled mess and make Bottom react to anything that Peter Quince says in an endearing and patronising manor. The relationship here being that during rehearsals I realised that Quince reacts to Bottom in a slightly frustrated and annoyed way as too show them being over shadowed by Bottoms energy and ownership of the directing role due to his confidence.

To conclude the end of my Bottom study, I found Bottom to be an overly excited donkey that wants to do everything and be everywhere and have the most attention whilst at the end of the day, is a simple and un-sophisticated creature. I think Bottom has a ton of energy, confidence and presence who has little to no idea what he is doing when it comes to acting in a theatre. He is totally oblivious to how ridiculous he looks and sounds when he performs his ideas of what his characters might be and overrides the stage with his arrogant presence obscuring the other mechanicals. I think he is a large comedic element of the play and there are times where he is trying to be funny but there are also times, un-aware to him, where the audience are laughing at him and not with him making him a bit of a fool character within A Midsummer Nights Dream.