Auditions For Actors (Angela, Grusha & Viola)

                               'LIKE A VIRGIN'
Contemporary speech: Performed by the character Angela in a published play written and directed by Gordon Steel.

The play was first performed by the Hull Truck Theatre Company at the Dovecote Arts Centre, Stockton-on-Tees, on August 15 1995, at the Edinburgh Festival and then on a nationwide tour. It is set in Middlesbrough. 

The Original Cast included:

Angela: Caroline Wardle 
Viv: Carole Copeland
Ken: Michael Hodgson 
Maxine: Samantha Seager 
Monkey: Michael Hodgson 

The Cast for the National tour was:

Angela: Jill Halfpenny 
Viv: Carole Copeland 
Ken: John Tierney 
Maxine: Vicky Entwhistle 
Monkey: Michael Hodgson 

Choosing a suitable speech for me took a few weeks because I felt the need to find one that suited me as much as it could do. I finally decided on a particular speech from a play written by Gordon Steel called Like a virgin. When I read the speech for the first time only by reading the first few lines I knew it would dwell well with how I can express emotion through a speech. I wanted to choose something I could get my teeth into and show as much emotion as I could. The speech is spoken by a character called Angela who falls ill to Myeloid Leukemia. This speech has a light hearted atmosphere following a quite sad and dark plot. I think I liked the play because it has the light hearted funny atmosphere which the audience needs to be able to enjoy the show but also to understand a realistic message that the writer is trying to put across. i feel like Gordon Steel wants the audience to think and feel emotions during this show and to realise that this could be a very real situation in every day life. 

Angela has a best friend named Maxine and they are both besotted with Madonna. In this speech Angela has just been told by Maxine to stop feeling sorry for herself, it's difficult but she needs to get out there and live a bit. This speech is a mix of a reaction to those words from Maxine and also what I believe is a build up and climax of Angela's fear, anger and curiosity. I chose this speech because it stood out to me when I read the first few lines and I was attracted by the different levels of emotion I could use. I already had inspiration of what to do when using this speech. I also found the speech sweet as it follows a close friendship between Angela and Maxine who are best friends and both dream of becoming famous. This stood out to me as it reminds me of the friendship I have with Alicia. The play is full of innocence but also contrasts with the more adult themes. 

The lead up to the speech shows Angela and Maxine in scene 4 Act 2. Maxine has just gone out with Jamie Powers, the guy she fancies. Maxine admits they had sex on the first date and she wants to go out and celebrate. Angela doesn't feel up to it. Maxine ends up pushing her buttons.

Classical Speech: 12th Night spoken by the character Viola. Written by William Shakespeare. 

I left no ring with her. What means this lady?

Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her!

She made good view of me, indeed so much

That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,

For she did speak in starts distractedly.

She loves me, sure! The cunning of her passion

Invites me in this churlish messenger.

None of my lord’s ring? Why, he sent her none.

I am the man. If it be so, as ’tis,

Poor lady, she were better love a dream.

Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness,

Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.

How easy is it for the proper false

In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!

Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we,

For such as we are made of, such we be.

How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly,

And I, poor monster, fond as much on him,

And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.

What will become of this? As I am man,

My state is desperate for my master’s love.

As I am woman, now, alas the day,

What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!

O time, thou must untangle this, not I.

It is too hard a knot for me to untie!

              


Translation:

I didn’t give her any ring. What’s she trying to say? I hope she doesn’t have a crush on me! It’s true she looked at me a lot, in fact, she looked at me so much that she seemed distracted, and couldn’t really finish her sentences very well. Oh, I really think she loves me! She sent this rude messenger to tell me to come back, instead of coming herself, which would be indis-creet. She doesn’t want Orsino’s ring! Orsino never sent her a ring. I’m the man she wants. If that’s true, which it is, she might as well be in love with a dream, the poor lady. Now I understand why it’s bad to wear disguises. Disguises help the devil do his work. It’s so easy for a good-looking but deceitful man to make women fall in love with him. It’s not our fault—we women are weak. We can’t help what we’re made of. Ah, how will this all turn out? My lord loves her, and. poor me, I love him just as much. And she’s deluded enough to be in love with me. What can possibly fix this situation? I’m pretending to be a man, so my love for the Duke is hopeless. And since I’m a woman—too bad I’m a woman—Olivia’s love for me is hopeless as well! Oh, only time can sort out this mess. I can’t figure it out by myself!

I chose this classical piece because I believe it is an obvious contrast to my contemporary as it is more comical and shows a more playful side. This character has disguised herself as a man. Olivia has mistaken her love for Viola thinking she is a man. Viola has disguised herself as Cesario who is trying to obtain the love of her master. Viola is a likable heroin in this play and portrays the deepest love.

Trial and error:

Not having done a lot of classical speeches, it was quite difficult trying to comprehend the iambic pentameter. I also found learning Shakespeare was harder as when I tried to learn this monologue with out actually looking into it and with out understanding what she is talking about it was extremely hard. I went into deeper research and got a wider understanding of Viola and why she would want to dress as a man, what the plot was about and had a look at the translation of the speech in a way I could understand. 

I found it difficult to place an accurate mood for the piece and therefore had to look for clues in the text to help me. After some research I felt like the mood of the speech was actually quite light hearted and entertaining, with some pauses for personal thought. I think when she says 'poor lady' she actually feels sympathetic. I try and show different emotions by using dramatic pauses, more sweet toned vocal work to make it seem more of a lifted atmosphere. 


GRUSHA- 'THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE'

My Last speech I will be performing is a speech from 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle'  By Bertolt Brecht. This speech was first performed at The Berlin Ensemble in 1954, and this translation of the speech was published in 1960. I chose this piece because when I first read the words they seemed powerful and meaningful, and I really wanted to try and take on the challenge of portraying the emotion of anger and disgust. These emotions are what I strongly sense this character is feeling. If i were put in this situation I would be more than angry I would do everything possible to be able to protect that child. I feel as though Grusha does not think this widow is capable of looking after this child and after bonding with this child and taking pitty on him the last thing she wants to do is return him to a woman who has no real feeling for the child. I think in this speech Grusha 'fights' with her words. I think her anger extends knowing that the judge is a drunken bribe-taker. I have decided to use a sense of power in my voice, and tense body language to help put across the frustration of the character i am trying to portray.

When the  Governor's palace in Grusinia is stormed and the Governor taken away and executed, his baby son Michael is abandoned by his mother and his nurse. Grusha, a young kitchen maid, takes pity on the child and flees with him into the Northern Mountains. After many adventures, she is brought before a drunken rogue, Judge Asdak. The Governor's widow has demanded that Michael be returned to her and asks the court to restore custody. The judge is on the widow's side and threatens to fine Grusha 20 piastres for contempt of court. In this scene Grusha accuses the Judge of bribe-taking and corruption.

Blog 1 (Shakespeare)

'Julius Caesar' the play written by William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare, the talented and creative writer who has throughout centuries stunned many artists and people.. or did he? Was it him? Sources have argued that he was an actor payed to pretend it was him who wrote these plays while other sources insist that it was him as today's population assumes. Nether the less I will go by the majority of the vote and avoid conspiracy's against Shakespeare for this topic, however I find this theory interesting.

Julius Caesar was written in 1599. It tells the story of Julius Caesar the Roman dictator. Julius Caesar only appears in fives scenes during the play as the actual plot focus' on the assassination of him, planned and plotted by Brutus and Cassius. Brutus is probably the most frequent character and is challenged to choose between his loving friendship between him and Caesar, or his loyalty and nobleness to his country. 

During the time of Shakespeare Queen Elizabeth was on the throne and often attended Shakespeare's famous plays and seated on the higher balcony as this was considered the seating where the royals, and higher status rich people would watch the plays. On the ground you would have the groundlings which consisted of everything from prostitutes to pocket thieves.

The Elizabethan era was a time associated with Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558–1603) and is often considered to be the golden age in English history. It was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of English poetry, music and literature. This was also the time during which Elizabethan theatre flourished, and William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of plays and theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.

Audience members had to leave the city of London to go and see a play as theatre building were not permitted to be built in London. A flag would signal that there would be a theatre play that day and people would cross the river to attend. The globe's stage was more like a thrust stage than a proscenium arch stage. People who were well off enough would actually pay to sit on part of the stage on the balcony's. I believe this could have been for a social meaning and merely sat there so that they could be seen in their luxurious clothes. These people could easily steal the limelight from the show and therefore the actors had to work hard to keep all members of the audience entertained and therefore there was no no back to the audience rule or forth wall. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4NJrxu5Xo

The globe held around 3000 guests in it's 100 foot diameter back in 1599 when The Globe was built. It was built in Southwark on the south bank of London's River Thames by Richard Burbage. It was built by using wood and timbre that was taken from other theatre buildings. Nowadays for health and safety purposes The Globe theatre holds up to 1500. When I visited the Globe I found that I thought there were just the right amount of people in the audience, especially in the standing arena "The Pit" and could imagine that conditions of today are a lot more of higher standards. These numbers show just how things like health and saftey didn't matter in those days.

During our visit to the Globe I found that many of our class members weren't exactly looking forward to standing for 2 hours and 45 minutes watching a play that many people have different views on but nether the less was famous! As the day went on I think a lot of us started to be a little more enthusiastic about watching it espiecally when we got to take part in a workshop and start to get a better insight on how the actors would rehearse when the plays first started and how they would rehearse today! During the workshop our leader expressed how the actors of earlier times would only have about 3 rehearsals!! This stood out to me knowing that today we have weeks to months of rehearsals to polish and perfect! The fact that these actors learnt the script and managed to perform this showed how on point they must of been to achieve this. They used cue lines in order to help them learn when their line was! I also learnt that since their was no copyright laws in those days, in order to keep the play from being copied, Shakespeare would only give out the actors lines, instead of the whole script... hence the cue lines!

Julius Caesar is relevant to todays audiences because conflicts are going on in everyday life, no matter what century we are, no matter where we live.  The audience of that particular time may have related it to the monarch at the time. Audiences today may relate it to there everyday conflicts or maybe to something more obvious like wars, or perhaps parliament. 

Shakespeare was known to have written from 37 to 40 plays!

Quote below from :http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/numberofplays.html

Commedies :All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, Cymbeline, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Pericles, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale

Tragedies: Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus

Histories: 1,2, and 3 Henry VI, 1 and 2 Henry IV, King John, Henry V, Henry VIII, Richard II, Richard III 

Julius Caesar (The Play Itself)

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a tragedy by Julius Caesar, believed to have been written in 1599.

blurb..

"It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, his assassination and the defeat of the conspirators at the Battle of Philippi. It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra."

There are many themes during Julius Caesar...

• Fate versus Free Will
• Public Self versus Private Self
• Misinterpretations and Misreadings
• Rhetoric and Power

Motifs during Julius Caesar are:

• Omens and Portents
• Letters

Symbols during Julius Caesar are:

• Women and Wives

• Julius Caesar

Triumvirs after Caesar's death

• Octavius Caesar
• Mark Antony
• Lepidus

Conspirators against Caesar

• Marcus Brutus
• Cassius
• Casca
• Decius Brutus
• Cinna
• Metellus Cimber
• Trebonius
• Caius Ligarius

Tribunes

• Flavius
• Marullus

Senators

• Cicero
• Publius
• Popilius Lena

Citizens

• Calpurnia – Caesar's wife
• Portia – Brutus' wife
• Soothsayer
• Artemidorus – sophist from Knidos
• Cinna – poet
• Poet (believed to be based on Marcus Favonius)^[2]
• Lucius – Brutus' attendant

Loyal to Brutus and Cassius

• Volumnius
• Titinius
• Young Cato – Portia's father
• Messala – messenger
• Varrus
• Clitus
• Claudio
• Dardanius
• Strato
• Lucilius
• Labeo (non-speaking role)
• Flavius (non-speaking role)
• Statilius (non-speaking role)

Other

• Caesar's servant
• Antony's servant
• Octavius' servant
• Pindarus – Cassius' bondman
• Cobbler
• Carpenter
• Messenger
• Other soldiers, senators, plebeians, and attendants

RANDOMS FACTS:

• Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, occurring in Act 3 
• The early scenes deal mainly with Brutus's arguments with Cassius and his struggle with his own conscience.
• Although the title is Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar is not the most visible character in its action; he appears in only five scenes.

SHAKESPEARE HIMSELF 1564 stratford upon avon 

attended

 grammar school 

wife was called Anne Hathaway 

had 3 children 

bit of a druggy 

did about two plays a year

52 when he died 

Commedia (questions 1,2,3)

What are your initial responses to the Commedia stock characters? Consider and reference your improvisations, character shapes, history of commedia research and which characters appeal to you and why?

My first impression of the stock characters, was that I realised they were all very different in the way they stand, talk, walk, costume, personality and characteristics. This also showed me how using a contrast of characters makes for a comical set up.

I learnt some of the brief background of commedia. Commedia started in the market places of Venice and developed in a full art form. Originally from St. Mark’s Square located in Venice. It started by people who were trying to sell fake or faulty goods. Original players were called ‘Mountbacks’. They would do this more successfully by putting on a lavish performance to please and wow crowds making the false item or goods more intriguing and desirable. Commedia dell’ arte is a form of improvised comedy which was popular in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Mime was a big part of the plays, but they also used words.

I definitely took a liking to Colombina and Pantalone at first, as I found the way they were described easy to relate to adapted versions of these stock characters. For example I instantly associated Pantalone with Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, and Fagan from Oliver Twist. You could also argue that Fagin could be a Captain as he often has hints of cowardliness. I actually find that Charles Dickens has quite nice obvious examples of adapted stock characters in his work. I find Nancy very much how I would imagine a Franceschina character and Bill Sykes as a Mr. Punch. 

I tried playing a Columbina with Bradley as a Pierott I really enjoyed playing this, as I felt like I was confident with this stock character and went quite over the top and exaggerated my moves, which made the scene more entertaining, however, I feel like Columbina is similar to characters I’ve already played in the past, she’s quite reserved and smart, and to me is like the typical girl character besides the female lover.

What creative ideas have you and the group had for the setting and scenarios in your own play? How were some of these ideas explored in improvisations- provide the strengths and weaknesses of the outcomes.

We explored a lot of creative ideas, including these ideas of settings

• ·         Buckingham Palace
• ·         Bank
• ·         Prison
• ·         BBC Studios
• ·         Beauty Salon
• ·         Dating Agency

We had many more different ideas, but the ones listed above, where the ones we short listed and liked the idea of trying out the most. We also had ideas of doing a high school, as this would should status quite well, with the idea of Mr. Punch being a bully, or a female lover being miss popular. We decided against trying this idea out as the set we have is limited and if we did this idea it could be a little bland and not go very far. There is also the issue of this being overdone, and I think we all like the challenge of doing something unique and new.

We explored the idea of the prison, and had an idea of an escape, I tried the character harlequin or (Arrlechina) it was a good laugh but I don’t think the character was right for me. I felt a little silly, like it was out of my comfort zone, though I wish I kind of stepped up and tried it again in a different scenario but I don’t think there were many scenarios that I liked with this stock character in.

 Although Karen suggested I would naturally look right as a female lover, and though I had no rejection of trying this character, I felt as though, that may have been a little bit boring for my personal self, and thought I’d need something a little more out there, so I could get my teeth into the role and really challenge myself.

I had a go at trying Pierott and found that sweet and fun to play, but again I wanted to try something a little more adventurous. I found when I tried Franceschina, I came instantly attached to the character because it’s not something I would usually look at, and once I actually tried it I was surprised by myself. 

I think the character challenges me because I don’t see myself like Franceschina in many ways, and so when I tried the character I tried to pick out the traits that I did have in common with her to try and pull it off, for example she is not as harsh as Columbina and so I tried to show her soft side whilst contrasting this with her slutty flaunty side. I found doing the poses, was quite funny, and I had a good time being something that I wouldn't say I usually am. 

How were the chosen scenario, plot and stock characters finalised and developed? record problems and breakthroughs and improvisations.

A problem we had to start with was that we all felt positive towards the Buckingham Palace setting and plot, but we originally were told it could be difficult to do a commedia play with all 16 of us as we would work better in groups of 6-10. The original plan was to have 2 groups of 8. So we discussed in our groups who would be willing to try Buckingham palace and who wouldn’t mind exploring a new setting and idea. I was set on wanting to be in Buckingham Palace, as I thought it was such a brilliant idea, and already had scenarios in my head of what could work well together.

Whilst the Buckingham palace worked and jotted down in a speed dating exercise of how each character could go together and work in a scene, and what could happen, the others worked on the beauty salon and dating agency which I actually saw potential in when I watched them because I was laughing throughout. An original speed date summary with Yasmin, we had the idea that we could not like each other, and since this was before all the characters were finalised we decided that I could be hiding something about Charles and that  I could always be making excuses of where he is.

It took us a few days before we were sure of what characters we wanted to be, stock and actual personality. I think in the end it all seemed to fall in place, and we didn't reject to what we tried, since it all seemed to fit together so nicely with what we had already been trying out. I decided on the stock character of Franceschina and the royal family member Camilla. We all liked the comical nicknames 'Camilla Toe' for her and her objective in the scene is to kill the Queen. My special traits include, walking as if being pushed from behind with my breasts sticked out, and swaying the hips. I also have a scene with Abbi (playing a female lover) (Kate Middleton) who does everything I say and looks up to me, so a key trait from that scene is 'Tits, Hips and Teeth'. 

Today, I took a board pen a drew out a chart of all the scenes, we had already came up with, and noted ideas that other people wanted to try. We also tallied up how many times someone was in a scene, so we could try and even it out as much as possible since especially for an improvised piece it's important everyone has the same opportunity to show their acting abilities. This helped us progress as by using something we could all input to and go by helped us to see what we could try or work on. I think the structure is already in place, it's just a matter of trying and writing new scenes, which we can experiment with. 

Show Week 9 (to be continued)

This week was out get in and we performed four marvellous shows and a great dress run. The majority of the feedback was really good and I found a number of people who saw the first show said I was different on the last night, which I took as a good thing as one piece of feedback I got from Karen was that I am too consistent, and so, I tried my best to make it a bit more surprising. I  didn't do anything too over the top to change it because I wanted to keep the right level of energy and atmosphere we had managed to find in our scene.

Week 11 (final cuts)

This week, we looked over a number of ways that edited, polished and overall improved our scene. We decided to cut scene 3, which I think was probably the most realistic scene to cut, for many reasons. I didn't want any of the scenes to be cut, particularly not this one, because this scene was one that for me really stood out and captured the audiences attention. Every time this scene performed I could feel the atmosphere change in the room instantly, and could already tell the audience was hooked. I loved this scene, because no matter how many times I have heard it been performed, it still makes me come out in goosebumps, as it makes me think of "What if it were me in that situation"?.

I am also glad we kept scene 2 though, as this scene, has a lot of historical references, and it also fits in with the fact that The Wardrobe tells the story of, young adults and children from different cultures, up-bringings and ethnicity's.

Presentation Week (to be edited)

Although, I am a bit nervous when it comes to presenting, I think me and Rae did really well. I am happy with my grade, and aiming to get that last distinction box ticked. I think one thing we could have included was the styles  that we used for example, Brecht and Naturalism.