Contrast of monologues

I am contrasting two monologues they are The chocolate affair  and forbidden planet.

The chocolate Affair is written by Stephanie Alison Walker, who plays a middle age women called Beverly, that is having a mid life crisis, she is sick of performing the same routine every day, get dressed, cook breakfast for everyone, get her daughter ready for school, watch her husband leave for work, then start the house work.
I picked this play due to it reminding me of my mum, as there are a range of objectives in this monologue that reminds me of my mother, and due to seeing my mother perform this, I knew how she would react while saying/ performing her every day tasks.
I felt with this Monologue I could characterise this a lot more and I would feel less nervous.

In chocolate affair I am playing a middle age women, roughly the age of 35 describing her every day task, the emotions for this piece when acting is to show the frustration and anger Beverly is having, this would be shown through the tone of your voice, due to describing but having a rant while physically explaining the vocals would be loud, speaking fast when counting her tasks. However in Forbidden planet, my Character was the 'scientist' therefore I played a professional character which was well spoken, and a male.

In comparison for Both plays, they were completely different due to Chocolate Affair being about a mother who all she does is looks after anyone else, and once everyone has gone from the house, she raids the cupboards all day long, and when her family return, she acts all casual like nothing has happened.

Forbidden Planet is a well known Jukebox musical, created in the 1956 based on Shakespeare. Therefore from this there is a contrast in the difference between each play would have been spoken. The Chocolate Affair, is a short 10 minutes play, however the Forbidden Planet is over an hour long Shakespeare,  Physically I would say that Forbidden Planet is more professional due to the amount of characters there are in this play, yet in Chocolate Affair only 3 are mentioned. Throughout both Plays I needed to interpret completely different sex characters as one was a middle age lady and the other was a middle age man, because of this my physicality on vocals needed to change, as I was using formal communication by speaking directly casual about myself, but In Forbidden Planet, I was a scientist therefore needed to act and speak very formal and clever. I felt this was hard for me to get into a Scientist character, due to never speaking directly to one before, therefore I researched scientists to see how they looked and spoke, the research helped and I felt when I dressed up in character this helped me a lot.

Historically Forbidden planet is much more well known, due to being published in 1956, with Shakespeare connections, therefore Forbidden planet has been performed in a range of Theatres, and is well known to the public, offering a range of copies, dvds, as well as online and in real theatres. Alternatively Chocolate Affair is more comedy, explaining a mothers every day life, were other mothers watching this play can relate to. This was published in 1990 due to the change in society, as in the later century's women started to become more independent, were they would not rely on a man and it was common for the mother to become a single parent.

I felt when learning both Monologue I felt that Chocolate Affair I spoke more casual in connection of how I physically speak now in real life and because this was the impact I found it more physically to learn my lines and remembering them for the day of the assignment, However with the Forbidden Planet I needed to speak some words in Shakespeare which I had not performed before, by this it was a lot harder to remember verbally, but by improvising movement with this helped and by making it a more physical play helped, therefore with both plays because their was a lot of words in relation with movement I found it easier to remember and relate to.

Overall I feel that Both Plays went really well, and interpreting movement helped me, by having feedback while rehearsing this helped due to seeing an improvement every lesson, physically and emotionally. Character studies helped, so beginning with research helped so I could see how I am meant to Act each character. Overall I am happy with the feedback from both plays of my Tutor.

self evaluation on Monolgue assesment

Self evaluation on Acting monologue.

During the rehearsal process, I felt that every practical session of practicing my monologue I was getting positive and useful feedback of my teacher that I needed to interpret for my actual exam.

One of the main feedback was to interpret my character a lot more stronger, due to my Character being about a Mother who is stressed and is finding it hard to cope with the repetition of every day tasks for her family. Therefore I  studied closely of when I used to live with my mother how she reacted when all of my sisters would ask her to do every day tasks that did not benefit her,  I remember the different tone levels that were used, these were always showing the relationship between the emotion that she was physically feeling.  I also got told to use the space more, and interpret a lot more, due to my Monologue explaining every day routines of what she is doing, like , ‘Look at my self in the mirror, eurgh’ turn back around hopeing to see somebody else’. There can be a lot of Character and emotions for this, interpreting by actually physically responding to the instructions. My main feedback was to learn all the monologue, due to thinking about what comes next was showing due to not interpreting any character as I could physically feel I was concerntrating on the next line, therefore I was not showing no emotions or my Character role of a ‘mother’.

On the 1^st of May 2014, I had my Acting Assignment. During this I felt nervous due to not actually performing a Monolgue before In exam conditions, so when I saw the layout of the camera, desk for examiner this made me nervous, but I knew I only had one shot.

I was 7^th to perform my Monolgue, I felt this was a good time due to calming down and preparing my voice before entering the exam room. When I went into the exam room I felt from opening the door that I stepped into Character of a mother, my costume also helped, I tried to get the feminine look, black trousers, books, scarf and leather jacket, I made sure that my scarf was loose and did not interact with my voice, knowing that I looked the part helped me physically feel the monologue a lot more.

The week before the assignment, during class we did some activitys that would help a lot, this was to show the different levels of emotion and vocals through a strong relationship with each other, I had a partner who would try and stop me from walking, I would then push by trying to walk while there hands were on my shoulder, this helped dramatically, expecially for my first line. ‘ I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE’ just from the text being in capitals shows the contrast of anger and frustration that needs to be interpreted. Therefore I responded to this, by shouting it with my hands in the air, to show physical meaning to this line. I strongly felt I used my special awareness, so that the camera was on focus with me throughout the whole Monologue, special awareness was important due to my piece being very on going,  and I interpreted that mothers are never standing in one place there always moving and so I did this throughout the whole piece and felt I took control.

However I did not forget any lines, I made it to the end of the piece, and felt very proud of myself due to previous sessions I was stuttering and forgot lines, I felt this did not happen because from walking into the room I took control and had focus straight away, therefore remembered my lines and had character for all of the piece, I did not loose it.

My interpretation worked really well, the Monologue was much more clearer to understand with all the actions I interpreted.  ‘ Looked at myself in the mirror eurgh’  I walked over to the other side, pausing for a second, then looking closely in the mirror like I would do before leaving the house, this helped a lot , as well as I remembered the emotion, I physically said this very depressed and upset due to the sight I was seeing.  I also pretended that there was other individuals with me ‘ Kiss Dave goodbye’ I did this even though there was no body there I still reached out and gave a kiss.  This was also the same for Sally I pretended to hold her hand to catch the bus, as well as comb her hair.

I really enjoyed this Monologue and felt that this was the right choice for me, due to always being in a rush looking after others before me, but also it reminded me of my mother who I do not live with no more. I felt all the corrections and advice given in the passed incredibly helped and I interpreted these to get the highest grade I possibly could. I overall felt this went really well and was pleased with the outcome.

Audition date view

When was it set? 

Where? 

What was happening in the sand time & place 

Acting technique 

Skill , insight, imagination 

Workshops with sue 

Looked at my mum - guidance as a mother 

Acting technique - class work 

Rehearsal - tips of sue 

Different vocal high low 

'Quote' 

What went well - strengths & weaknesses