Approaching Twelfth Night

1)


My given circumstances; I wanted to change my given circumstances because I thought it would be more interesting and different due to lots of girls in my class have chosen this monologue. 


the ideas I have are; 


I will play a  transgender female at high in year 13 (18 years old) and it is valentines day at school and a lesbian was given a ring for valentines and she thinks I gave it to her. 


I play a 30 homeless women in 1939 who wants to join the army to fight in WW2 so she dresses up as a man. 




facts and opinions about my character:  

Opinion-  Viola feels lost in IIIyria and doesn't know what to do without her brother- "And what should do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drown’d.—What think you, sailors?" - Act 1 Scene 2

Fact- Viola dresses up as a man and changes her name to Cesario- "Enter Valentine and Viola in man’s attire, as Cesario" - Act 1 Scene 4


Fact- Viola wants to work for Olivia - " I wish I could work for that lady!" Act 2 Scene 1


Opinion- Enjoys Fools company - " Save thee, friend, and thy music." Act 3 Scene 1


Fact- Viola Doesn't love Olivia -  "and one truth, And that no woman has, nor never none, Shall mistress be of it, save I alone. " Act 3 Scene 1


Fact- Viola is in love with the Duke - " Nothing but this: your true love for my master" Act 3 Scene 4


Opinion-  Viola is confused and worried if Olivia fancies her - " I left no Ring with her: what means this lady?" Act 2 Scene 2


Opinion- Viola is scared of the knight " This is as uncivil as strange. I beseech you, do me this courteous office, as to know of the knight what my offense to him is. " Act 3 Scene 4


Fact- Viola doesn't want to fight the knight "I am one that had rather go with sir priest than sir knight" Act 3 Scene 4


2)


Who am I?Prepare a written autobiography so that I could define for myself my character’s education, occupation, income, religion, likes, dislikes, age, weight, height, health, physical handicaps, behavioural characteristics, family life, customs and habits of the era in which s/he lives or the society in which s/he moves.

Like an internal monologue

Give an example

My name is Viola and I am a young lady currently disguising to be a man called Cesario . I am currently working for Olivia which I did love working for her however I think she may have a crush on me which could be very tricky to get out of as I am in love with the Duke so its kind of a sticky love triangle which I don't know how to get out of as they think I am a man! but I don't see how she would fancy as I haven't lead her on in any way! I mean I know I look as a man just as much as I do as a women but I haven't flirted with her once. I'm currently living in Ilyisa which is quite lovely and a small town on the coast its nice but I just cant stop thinking of my missing brother who I am  trying desperately to find my brother Sebastian as our ship sank and I fear he is dead. I miss him so much and however if I am a live maybe the sea the was kind and let him live as well. And believe God has guided to llyisa as well.  First in Llyisa I met this sailor who helped me so much which I am still very thankful for as he suggest working for Olivia and I'm happy he did or wise I wouldn't have a job.  I have also met along the way Fool he's so funny and says very foolish things that makes me laugh so much and always puts me in a good mood. He's nice to me and so are most here however I nearly had to fight a knight as he thinks I offered him and he wanted to fight me till my death thankfully though Antonio step and saved me also he called me something, he called me Sebastian, which only means I look like a man very well and that my brother is alive!


b. What is the present situation? What did the character come here to do . . . what does the character want . . . what is the character’s intention? Portraying a strong intention may be all you need to do to make the character and the situation real for you. It helps to express this intention as a “to . . .” verb. You might also want to know your character’s physical condition: tired, hungry, cold, ill. And their mental/emotional condition: aware, confused, angry, calm, drunk.


Viola came her to find her brother while being disguised as a man so she could work for Olivia. However, over the time Olivia has fallen in love with Viola. Viola gets very confused about this however is very flattered at the same time.  Also, my character wants to find her Brother as she knows he's alive.  My characters intention it work out why Olivia loves me and did I leave her on during my monologue.

My characters physical conditions changes a lot throughout the play however in my monologue her physical condition is confused but also quite cocky as she thinks that if she can still be handsome even being a dressed as man that anyone can love her.

c. Where am I? Define the environment . . . the place . . . as a force in your script: era, year, season, time of day, temperature, humidity, weather. You may also want to substitute an actual place you know, like your bedroom for the character’s bedroom, to help you. You can do this in a snap with sensory work, one of the foundations of Method Acting. Creating all the specifics of the place stimulates your sensorial reality and adds dimension to your script.   


Twelfth Night is set in Illyria at around 1600 and I think my monologue is based in somewhere were Viola feel comfortable to talk to her herself so I would properly say in her bedroom. as the play was set in Illyria in 1600 Viola bedroom would properly look something like this

 

D. Working in costume. Bring the relevant clothes for your character to help you get into your role.
Draw some in costume get pictures from magazines
Personal reflection


Due to Viola playing a man I would imagine she would wear manly clothes but as she not a really rich character she would just wear normal clothes as she would also want to fit in as well with what the other men where wearing.  however I have to let the audience know I am a women dressed as a man which can be quite hard without making it unrealistic and making it look like I am acting. 

2. Where were you doing before each scene / What was happening?


Viola is with Malvolio and gives Viola a ring that Olivia sent him. my character Viola thinks this is a trick but still plays along with it and pretends she did give the ring to Olivia. And tells Malvolio that Olivia took the ring and insists that Olivia must keep it.. then Malvolio throws the ring on the ground and leaves. Now Olivia is by herself and thinks why Olivia has given this to her.  This is where Viola starts to say my monologue and as it confused and thinks Olivia might be in love with her.






 

Theate Lesson Notes 6.10.14

This theatre lesson was our first theatre lesson on our Shakespeare monologues and this made me quite nervous as I have never done Shakespeare before and I didn't know if you had to do the same things you would do on a Morden monologue.


during the lessons we did basically did the same things I would normally do a Morden monologue. this made me more confident to perform as I had my objectives, read the play, learnt the first 5 of my lines, beats and thought tracks before the lesson.  the only thing I didn't do was my given circumstances however we did this during the lesson. this made me become more comfortable about my monologues as I was going to change the given circumstances to a modern version. during the lesson I struggled trying to think of one however after hearing everyone else's I started to understand what people did with the text they had and how they changed it. 


firstly, in the lesson we talked about the differences in a Elizabethan script to a modern script  and they are their are no stage directions apart from the exits and entrances. William Shakespeare did a very clever thing due to he made the text explain itself and made it clear what the actor would need to do. I like this idea as it given the actor more freedom to express their character how they think the character is. Also, its makes it easier for the audience to understand the actors more as the answers are within the text due to Shakespeare working with non psychological actors.  Also, the text this similar to the poem/song with continuous conversation with little pauses. which tells the actor where to breathe within the lines. Furthermore, I leant the that the lines are Iambic Pentameter where each line has beats like a song. each line is in 10 beats however some are 11 or 12 at time s but most of the are 10. Also, the beats are broken down to syllables not words. I never knew or realised this until Mr Rennison told us. This tells you what words are weak and what lines are strong to emphasis the meaning of the actors line. Also, this helps the actor to director themselves and adapted their around this method Shakespeare has used. In addition to this, the pause where you breathe is mostly in the middle of the of the line. 


After this discussion we got into pairs and we had to play each other objectives around the room. I found this a helpful warm up as I used the space wisely and to  warm up the mind mentally. also, sir stopped the class to help individuals.  which even though he didn't choose individual I did find this really helpful. As it made me think more creatively my objective and gave me some good ideas for other objectives that I could use for my monologue.


After this, we got back into are original partners and we stared rehearsing. My partner was Samantha and firstly we did her monologue first thing we did was her monologue. As we were
rehearsing during the week we knew what we needed to sort out during the lesson which was her objectives. so we tried some objectives and whenever Sam felt like she wanted to say the line she said it. This helped Samantha develop her objective within her given circumstance and improved the energy flow within her monologue as before it was more stop and start but now the transitions are more natural and look instinctive.


After this we started to do my monologue however when I started doing my monologue I realised that my objectives and emotion state is quite similar to my modern monologue and Mr Rennison agreed. however I still continued with this monologue for the lesson as the techniques I have leant I can do in my own time for my new monologue.


I found this lesson really helpful as it gave more confidence to perform my Shakespeare for next weeks lesson and to realise the things I do with my modern monologue I have to do with my Shakespeare and nothing is really different when it comes to performing a classical monologue.

My Shakespeare monologue; Twelfth Night

My monologue was from Richard lll and I played lady Anne however due to my emotion state is similar to Morden I though I should my Shakespeare. my new monologue is Twelfth Night and I play Viola. I thought of changing  my Morden however as I already had all my objectives, beats, thought tracks and all my lines learnt I though it would be really hard to find a new monologue and do this again for both monologues in under a week. Also, I feel really connected with my character Maggie as when I was reading the play I understood what Maggie felt all though the play.


Given Circumstances:


My character is wants to be a man so she dresses like a man and as her best friend is a lesbian and her best friend keeps flirting with her my character thinks her best friend fancy her. this would a Morden given circumstance and my character would live in London and would be about 33.


My thoughts for my new monologue 

My objectives for my new monologue:

Notes for Todays Lesson

In theatre today we had today we started doing our  Shakespeare monologue, my monologue is from Richard III and I play Lady Anne. During our theatre lesson we had to do simalar activities to our monologue. This is includes writing down my beats, thought trackes and my objectives. I found this really helpful as when I first found out we were doing Shakespeare I was quite nervous as I have never done Shakespeare before so I didn't think I would be that good. Also, it made me think more deeply about my character and gave me confinderence to perform.

 we had make our given cirstumstaneces. At first I found this really hard however as I started thinking more deeply and hearing other peoples ideas I made me realise how connected the actors felt while performing with knowing what thier given cirstumance was. When we had to think about our given cirstumance I didn't really know what to write or where to start. So I started with what the given cirstamance of what my character in the scene is. Lady Anne given cirstamance in the play is her telling Queen Elizabeth about Richard and how she hates him. from their I though of a teenage telling her friends at school about her boyfriend I wanted his set in Morden day because I think this is relevant  to today society so the audience will find this easy to relate to. 

Second version Of Tusk Tusk Monologue

As I started looking into my objectives into more depth and started experimenting with them. when I did this I realised I got some wrong whether they weren't physical objectives or if they just collaborate with my character. Knowing that my objective in the scene has helped me understand my character and has made a analyse  the monologue more as well.

First Version Of My Tusk Tusk Monologue

This is my modern monologue I have chosen to do for Theatre this term. This is my first and it has all my thoughts, emotionally changes, beats and physical objectives. I wanted to do this monologue because as I was reading the play the character Maggie really made me feel sorry for her as I'm so close to my mum I cant imagine someone having so hatred towards their mum and when I found this monologue I loved it because I thought this is the part the play where she admits her true feelings about her mum. She's also telling Eliot her older brother why their mum isn't coming home. this is an important part in the play as she hasn't told before. I love playing the character Maggie as she's 14 and I'm 15. Maggie has this strong side and definitely has the mother figure in the whole play and think this monologue shows that character of her breaking and becoming a 14 year old girl as no 14 year old girl should have to live at home with two brothers with no parent/ guardian. Also, I think when it comes to the end of the monologue you realise that Maggie's feel guilty and this is why she never wanted to tell Eliot and Finn (her two brothers).