For this assignment I have to go through several researched monologues and choose 3 contrasting ones for a mock audition, so I have to find the best ones to show off my abilities while considering the overall appropriateness of the speech for a drama school/university audition since they often have varying rules and criteria. The first of my three chosen speeches is the character of Gerald from "A Woman of no Importance" by Oscar Wilde.
Why I chose the speech:
When looking for speeches one thing I really wanted was a speech to show off my strengths as a comedic actor. It is recommended that students choose contrasting pieces to show off any potential range so I really kept that in mind when searching for some. As soon as I read this speech my mind started planning it out and I got a very good impression of what the character would be like just from the scene context and the dialogue. Reading it out in anything other than a sort of heightened rebellious brat didn't seem to work although I wouldn't not describe him as whiny. My first impression was that the movement would be very energetic and fairly heightened and due to feedback I've received for other projects I had confidence that with some work I could nail his body language which in turn would help my vocals. So I think this is with in my range since I usually show a good degree of body control as well fast movement and quick posture changes.
Quite a few drama schools such as RADA require you to choose a classical and a contemporary piece so I first went for a classical first although prioritised something that wasn't Shakespeare. I immediately saw potential in the speech for it to be funny so kept it as an option since I knew the humour would come from the performance, not from the dialogue since the text on it's own could be viewed as bitter if you put it in a different style or context.
One thing drama schools often ask is that you pick characters that you can see yourself being cast as meaning they have to be similar in age, have the same gender, ethnicity etc. Thankfully he's very close to me in that regard. Due to his Naive attitude and the fact he still seems dependent on his mother and that he's only just now rebelling yet considering marriage there's no doubt in my mind that he's a young man around 20 years old where as I'm 18.
The speech is also fairly short. When I did a timed run of it, it was 1 minute 50 seconds. This is good since quite a few drama schools such as East 15 only want a speech to be between 1 and a half and two minutes so it's a fairly adequate length so it meant on top of the suitability and strengths of the speech already, I don't have to cut any of it out since most places would consider it a good length.
I believe that taking all that into account it would be a good audition since I'm showing off what I believe to be some of my best skills and keep with in the limits and criteria of the drama school auditions.
Context of the speech:
The speech is a young, 19th century upper class man called Gerald having a rant at his mother. He wants to go and work for a man called Lord Illingworth as his secretary and since Illingworth is a rather high ranking member of society, working for him would be considered quite a step up on the social ladder. He also wants to use this to ask an American woman called Hester to marry him since he feels that if he asked her now he would be laughed at or it would be considered insulting to do so. His mother was perfectly OK with him to take the offer but has changed her mind due to knowing that the man he intends to work for is his real father although no one knows that. She doesn't tell Gerald this so her actions just seem stubborn to him so he tells her how he feels in what can be described as a release of frustration.
Development of the speech:
16/9/16:
- My first attempt at the speech went very well and I started having a little brainstorm of the moments and ideas I could inject into it. I feel I had enough although still limited information to make a start. My first of the ideas was to give Gerald an extremely posh accent since the synopsis says the play is focusing on upper class 19th century society and any piece of fiction representing anyone of that kind of status (especially comedies) always make them very articulate so considering that it's a comedic scene I feel it's best to go almost over board with the accent and make it almost over the top to add to the comedy of the situation.
- The other is his posture, since it's a scene where he's seemingly standing up to his mother for what's probably the first time then I want his stance to denote that meaning. At points I want it to seem as if he's trying to make himself seem bigger or more in control than he actually is. This is an outburst but I feel that the naivety of the character should still come across as well as his blind admiration and ambition. To do this I've put moments in (Although not specifically marked in the script) where I attempt to look taller and I'll even put my head a little further up so that I have a longer neck to give off a more uptight and possibly feisty feel. I'm quite pleased with these two elements for now and I feel they do actually bring out the comedic side of the scene quite well.
- The actual dialogue is very clear to me in how it should be said with the exception of a few lines such as "If I had prospects, I could - I could ask her to." It took me a while to figure out what he actually meant by this. After a few awkward readings I came to the conclusion that he's saying if he has prospects he can love her and that it would be OK to ask her to do the same. Those brief little moments I had a bit of trouble with but just found the way to say them that best suited his character, someone with blind aspiration. I bring this up because it stressed the importance of figuring out how the lines are meant to be structured and how they should flow. This line in particular showed me that I have to consider that, it's meant to flow from the last line and not stop other wise it could possibly confusing.
- My first attempt at the speech went very well and I started having a little brainstorm of the moments and ideas I could inject into it. I feel I had enough although still limited information to make a start. My first of the ideas was to give Gerald an extremely posh accent since the synopsis says the play is focusing on upper class 19th century society and any piece of fiction representing anyone of that kind of status (especially comedies) always make them very articulate so considering that it's a comedic scene I feel it's best to go almost over board with the accent and make it almost over the top to add to the comedy of the situation.
- The other is his posture, since it's a scene where he's seemingly standing up to his mother for what's probably the first time then I want his stance to denote that meaning. At points I want it to seem as if he's trying to make himself seem bigger or more in control than he actually is. This is an outburst but I feel that the naivety of the character should still come across as well as his blind admiration and ambition. To do this I've put moments in (Although not specifically marked in the script) where I attempt to look taller and I'll even put my head a little further up so that I have a longer neck to give off a more uptight and possibly feisty feel. I'm quite pleased with these two elements for now and I feel they do actually bring out the comedic side of the scene quite well.
- The actual dialogue is very clear to me in how it should be said with the exception of a few lines such as "If I had prospects, I could - I could ask her to." It took me a while to figure out what he actually meant by this. After a few awkward readings I came to the conclusion that he's saying if he has prospects he can love her and that it would be OK to ask her to do the same. Those brief little moments I had a bit of trouble with but just found the way to say them that best suited his character, someone with blind aspiration. I bring this up because it stressed the importance of figuring out how the lines are meant to be structured and how they should flow. This line in particular showed me that I have to consider that, it's meant to flow from the last line and not stop other wise it could possibly confusing.
20/9/16:
Today I had to perform my speech to show what developments I've made although it didn't go too well.
- First of all I wasn't fully prepared and was rather nervous which lead to my throat drying up and affecting my volume on stage, it wasn't loud enough although still audible. It didn't have the appropriate volume for the character. I was shaking a fair bit too due to my uncertainty although that didn't matter any due to my next point.
- I performed the piece in the wrong style although this was easily explained. We had been shown videos about drama school auditions and probably due to remembering them wrong they seemed to prefer you to go as natural as possible regardless of the speech and that less is usually more. However that was more just in only a couple aspects of the performance where as mine was completely wrong with the exception that I maintained the accent. As a result of the nerves and misunderstanding I performed it like a contemporary piece which I know it's not but in the confusion I just panicked a bit. Just from assumption my piece seems more along the lines of a comedic melodrama although I'm going to have to look up and confirm if that's true when I can.
- One other minor issue I have with how I handle speeches is that when I make a mistake or pause I usually say "Sorry" which I really shouldn't do since it shows a lack of control and to an audience or panel it can take them out of the performance and can create a bad first impression of you as a performer.
- I had realised at this point I still had not looked up the actual style the play is performed in so I did just in case I have missed any details of it. Up until now I'd mainly been rehearsing based on assumption which is not really a good thing since I could've horribly misrepresented the style. I said I assumed it was a comedic melodrama but this turned out to be partially incorrect, it's actually a style called "A Comedy of Manners". It's a style of play that satirises social classes and their ways, it uses a lot of dialogue to get across the point of the humour but also uses heightened body language to make every (Or at least most) character of the specific class look like a fool and make their lifestyle and attitudes seem farcical and stupid. After looking it up and finding it listed on "Drama Online" it confirmed this play combines this style with a hint of melodrama but only in terms of the characters actions since they do simply covey what their feeling but the combination of both styles makes a slightly more heightened and hopefully funny result. So thankfully even though I assumed I did make the right judgement calls on how Gerald would act in this style overall.
- After reading the synopsis and exerts from the script, the mother's motivations became clear as to why she's not letting him go ahead with his planned job for Lord Illingworth. It's because Gerald is the illegitimate son of Lord Illingworth and for anyone to find that out could potentially shame all of them. The problem is Gerald doesn't know this so he really can't sympathise with her decision and it just comes off as controlling and irrational. This is what's enraging him and when he finally decides he's had enough. I found this helpful because now I have more of an idea how Gerald's reaction should play out. He isn't frustrated at her because she isn't telling him why, it's because he thinks there isn't a reason at all and that she's just being stubborn for the sake of it or to uphold some authority. Or at the very least due to his naive attitude this is the wrongful conclusion he jumped to. This has made me realise I need to play up that element of the frustration a little more for example in my face I had an idea of looking as the speech starts off like "How dare you do this to me". I feel that if I had that face just looking at her then it would immediately communicate my emotion before I start talking. If I pull that off I think it would be a simple but effective thing to show off in an audition.
- So as of now I think I'm doing justice to the style in my rehearsals of the speech. I feel that the character is coming across as comedically over the top and makes him seem a little foolish and I think the naive attitude is coming across. I still think I can develop it and I'll probably need some feedback for it soon so I'll show it off when I can.
27/9/16:
- Today we didn't get to show off anything, instead this was just a rehearsal session which was great. I tried out my ideas from last time and I do feel I'm making some progress since I got to try it within the theatre space I was able to put as much energy into it as possible. I couldn't really get any feedback but I felt more like the character. Something I forgot to mention was that the style features the characters having sappy dialogue so today I decided to play that up a little and make some sentences such as "I don't believe it mother" I made that line come in a little faster than I did before. This is so it adds to the spontaneity of the speech and the fact that he's releasing his anger without the possibly of being interrupted until he's finished his point. That was the major edition to it today and I think it's fitting and in keeping with the style. Just need to show it off now.
10/10/16:
- I feel the speech is getting better, I feel that I am getting to grips with his physicality the more I rehearse it, it's now coming to me naturally and his voice I feel is becoming more fitting. There were very few issues with it before such as in retrospect the accent I was doing didn't seem posh enough. Before it turned out I was just being articulate instead overly articulate which is the approach I've gone with for now since it fits the style of making him look pompous and a little over the top and silly.
- I also made a decision to make certain lines (Such as the ones where he mentions Hester) a little more tender since he is very much in love with her and really I think it keeps with the style since I'm doing it in a way that's overly tender with some gestures such as putting my hand on my heart. This will add more variety to the speech and ensure that the emotional tone of whatever Gerald is feeling fluctuates so it displays more of a tender side and doesn't make him seem completely spoilt although he still shows it to his mother. I must stress though when I say tender I don't mean along the lines of a hopeless romantics like Romeo or Lysander from "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Nights Dream" respectively. I mean that he still keeps his usual tone but is said in a way that's a bit softer before he snaps again when addressing his mother directly.
- I have added that to also see if I can make the speech funnier because the moments where he's angrier will stand out more and the performance won't seems one note so throwing some varying degrees of emotion I feel can give moments more identity and therefor more likely to find funny.
11/10/16:
- Today we had the option to show one of our monologues if we wished, I felt I was ready so I decided to show the developments on the speech. I wanted to show the change in physicality and voice that I've been working on. Overall my feedback was very positive, they found it to be quite funny. I believe it represented the satirical, camp and heightened style of the play. I was told that there are a few moments I still need to heighten and I agree since there are a couples of moments that need the importance to be emphasised such as when I first mention being Lord Illingworths sectary. That moment needs to be played up by slowing it down possibly saying his name loudly with a sense of awe to establish his desire for the opportunity. Other moments such as when I'm telling mother about loving Hester need to have extra layers as well. That moment needs more to establish my relief or feeling towards letting her know. My idea is that it should have a sort of a "There! I said it! What you think of that?" as if he knows she thinks he's being naive but wants to prove her wrong or overrule her. Although that will mainly be summed up in a look and the words "Far more" at the end of the sentence.
- I will say for most of it I did a good job keeping this up with the exception of the few aforementioned moments. I will say something I need to improve is my projection. My articulation and breath control is mostly very good from what I can tell but I do think I'm leaning more on the quiet side. This is probably because it was in a smaller room and I don't recall a full vocal warm up although I did do a couple of my planned exercises in the moments I had. Just need to do more of them and then rehearse it in the theatre and hopefully they'll be an improvement since projection is a key skill and I know that being quiet will be a bad sign for the auditioners.
18/10/16:
- Today we took part in a workshop that was conducted by an ex student of the college called Lloyd. This was so we can get a better idea of what drama school auditions are actually like in a more practical sense, it's been explained a lot but I think this is the best idea we'll have until we do the real thing. I volunteered to do the speech since I had developed it a little since last showing it and I heard he done the speech before so would be the ideal person to get some constructive criticism from. Since last performing it had heightened the moments I highlighted such as mentioning Lord Illingworth for the first time and the brief looks to establish the relief and wanting to tell the mother. My feedback was very positive for the speech although he did want to add two things which I thought were great. First was to put a chair on the stage but only as a means to interact with slightly to show my frustration such as I could lean on it and points and squeeze the chair but in a way that subtly conveys my mood. When I tried that out it went very well it did add something I feel, it made me come across as angrier which was great although one flaw with it was the chair itself really, it was too short and I had to lean downwards slightly to reach it which was noticeable although that's a fault with the prop not the idea. The other note was to add a little more context, in this case make it seem as though someone has just left the room and I'm finally alone with her to release my anger like I've been holding it in for ages. This did change the opening moments quite a bit and made it seem like more of an outburst so this
- This made me think about how I've stage the piece so far. To be honest whenever I ran the scene I would naturally pace to certain points in the room such as when I start talking about Hester I always walk to the front of stage left and look away from the mother. The sort of improvised staging seems to have work for the most part, initially it was static but I really felt the need to change it since it felt like staying still was draining the energy of the scene. Besides these moments thankfully providing the right mood for the moment (Such as at that moment it's because he's slightly uncomfortable with admitting his love to this degree), it adds more visual variety which I feel is key. Quite a few monologues I've watched have always been very static and not appealing to look at despite being well acted. So adding these little moments where I move around in a variety of ways that conveys my current emotion seems to have paid off from the feedback so I'm very happy with it.
20/10/16:
- I decided to do a rehearsal of it at home and I came to the conclusion that I think I'm ready to perform the speech. I feel I've got to the point where I perfectly represent the style of the play and .ave reached more or less the full potential of the speech in terms of it's comedic nature. I feel the only way I could improve it would be to actually get into a costume but that would hardly be appropriate so in terms of pure acting and embodiment I think it's worthy to be shown. I honestly don't see anything I could add to it myself.
- One thing I will note is something I researched and found but didn't write about until now. It's the vocal exercises that are specifically for the demands of this performance. For this performance I need to accommodate the heightened vocal tones to indicate the humorous anger and the pompous level of articulation. The exercises most important to this (Although I do all of them listed below) are "What a to do", "Lines with finger in mouth" and "Why fly so high" to warm up the resonators and to make sure my T's and D's come across extremely clearly. I wanted the sounds to come across in the sentence like "Well I Don'T believe iT mother" but keep the pace which doing these exercises will help since the muscles of the mouth are warmed up and more able to move.
- Here is my routine which benefits all three of my speeches and will do before every rehearsal and will use for auditions:
"What a to do" is a commonly used tongue twister that helps to improve articulation and with practice, any potential stutters that may happen, depending on the actor. You must say "What a to do to die today at a minute or two to two. A thing distinctly hard to say but harder still to do. We'll beat a tattoo at two to two. A ratatatatatatatoo and the dragon will come at the beat of a drum at a minute or two to two today at a minute or two to two." It can also help with a problem some actors have of making their T's and D's sound different so that the words in them are easily understandable. I find this to be quite useful when I use it before any show I do as it helps me to warm up my mouth and make it more loose in order to form specific sounds.
"Lines with finger in mouth" is something that we got taught to do to help with articulation. You pick a line or tongue twister or simply something to say and then say it but with either one or two fingers between your teeth. You must then say the line with as much articulation as possible. Since you have the fingers between your teeth it means you won't be able to form certain sounds if just talking normally so you must exaggerate and over pronounce these sounds in order to make them audible using this. so using this combined with what a to do is in my opinion a very useful and great exercise to use to warm up your mouth muscles to make them more loose and speech more fluid.
"Why fly so high?" is an exercise that helps to open up the resonators. There are four parts to it with a specific resonator in mind. You say "Why fly so high" in a high pitched voice to help with opening the skull Then you say "Said naughty Nora" while massaging your upper nose to help open the nasal cavity. Then say "Whilst eating an apple" in a deep and projected voice in order to help open and open up the glottal and finally say "With Zoe the zebra in the zoo" while beating your chest to help chest
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" is an exercise where you repeat those six numbers over and over again for as long as you can on just one breathe. This is something to help you try and regulate breathe control since you have to increase the amount of times you can do it but keep the same amount of articulation, projection and pace. It teaches you to keep these and helps you keep a sense of rhythm which makes you get to grips with how you breathe and teaches you the capacity you have and how to improve.
"Pumpkin/Raisin" is a brief exercise to warm and stretch your facial muscles. You must open your mouth and eyes as wide as they can go on their own and then close them as much as you can on their own. doing this slowly then quickly will help with warming up your mouth and making it more flexible for better clarity.
"In for 4, out for 4" is an exercise where you breathe in for a fixed amount of time, hold the breath for a longer time and then breathe out for the first amount. Inhaling through the nose, holding the breath for about 6 seconds and exhaling though the mouth. This is to warm up your lungs and open them up a bit to give make their capacity to hold aim higher than not doing this. It's also a way to relax and release some possible tension just before performing or doing anything physical so you could be more energetic and able to do the set task.
Character profile:
- WHO AM I?
My characters name is Gerald Arbuthnot, he's 20 years old and is an upper class 19th century man. He doesn't have a job as of yet although his family is fairly wealthy. He is considered very naive but has a sense of determination although isn't extremely well respected by most people since he's an illegitimate child although he is not hated by any means . He lives with his mother but has no father, he has no idea who is father is or if he's still alive. He is an only child. He's quite lively and when he gets angry his body language looks almost silly and child like, people could easily think he's spoilt since so many children were during these days but he isn't he's just stubborn.
- WHAT TIME IS IT?
It is Wednesday, the 6th of august, 1890. It's about 6;30 pm.
- WHERE AM I?
The location is Hampshire, England and Gerald is in the drawing room of his house standing by the chair looking at his mother.
- WHAT SURROUNDS ME?
In the drawing room there's the furniture which consists of a few sofas, a table with four chairs, a few family portraits and ornaments such as vases. There are quite a few candles although they're not lit because it's still day time. The only person in the room with him is his mother.
- WHAT ARE THE GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES?
Gerald has been offered a job by a highly respected man who he hugely admires called Lord Illingworth. He wants to take it to climb up the social ladder and gain the respect to ask a woman called Hester to marry him. He is supported in taking the job until his mother finds out who offered him the job. It turns out lord Illingworth is Gerald's biological father but he doesn't know that. The mother never wants him to know and doesn't tell him but insists he doesn't take the job but gives him no reason. This means her actions just seem stubborn.
- WHAT IS MY RELATIONSHIP?
Gerald usually loves his mother but is he starts to hate her when she refuses the best opportunity of his life with no reason what so ever. Since his big chance is being objected to for what's seemingly just stubbornness that really anger him and he explodes in an almost childish rage. Even though he does not know Hester all that well he is very much infatuated with her and wants to marry her and this chance will help him do that, so besides being denied respect and a potentially great job he is denied love so all the more reason for a young mind to snap. He really admires Lord Illingworth and even defends him by calling him a successful or fashionable man
- WHAT DO I WANT AND WHAT IS IN MY WAY? ?
He wants to take the job offered to him since it hopefully garner respect from the community and provide him the chance to ask Hester to marry him without being laughed at or looked down upon. He wants to go out into the world and become a well respected gentlemen however as mentioned his mother will not let him or at least not with lord Illingworth due to his relation to him and if it got out what had happened then they could be shamed since in those days it was very frowned upon to have illegitimate/bastard children.
- WHAT DO I DO TO GET WHAT I WANT?
He tells her exactly what he thinks, about the good side of the chance he's got and how he's rejecting all his teachings. He is trying to overpower her mentally and possibly even guilt trip her since he would be deprived of so much if he rejected the chance so he has a full on rant at her giving her no real chance to speak. He asks questions but rhetorical ones that she wouldn't even have time to answer if she tried since he's talking very quickly and would cut across her. If she still won't listen then he will ignore his mother and take the job anyway since he seems to value his status and popularity in the community more than the decision of his mother.
Links:
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/trsanders/units/comedy/comedyofmanners.html
http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/a-woman-of-no-importance-iid-15177
http://www.thedramateacher.com/comedy-of-manners/
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