Monologues

                                                          Monologue’s

When it came to choosing my monologue’s, I’ve never found it easy to find stuff for myself because I never know what would be good for myself. My first thought was to do a monologue from ‘Too Much Punch For Judy’ as in GCSE Drama we did this play and I played Judy and I did it really well. I was finding it hard to pick between the end monologue and the one starting with ‘I used to be a bully’. I thought either of them would be a good one to do but when I showed a bit of it to Sally, I didn’t think it showed my true potential. I also think I’ve changed a lot since I did that play and didn’t think it would fit me anymore. I felt like I needed to find something maybe more modern and heard of. Another one I was thinking about doing is ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ the Beatrice monologue where she’s just found out that Benedick loves her. I really enjoyed this monologue when we were doing Much Ado so I thought it would be good for me, I had done research on the monologue due to the fact I was in the scene and helped Sophie out a bit. I had many ideas about how I would do the monologue, facial expressions and everything. Unfortunately, the monologue is too short though so I wasn’t able to choose it. Luckily when I had my one to one with Sally we spoke over what monologues would be best for me and I had no idea with the Shakespeare one as I’ve never really been into Shakespeare. Then we talked it over and we found some great ones which were As you like it, Ivanov and Breath, Boom which are all a great contrast and I felt like there was different parts of me in each one, like my confusion about relationship in as you like it, my passion for love in Ivanov and my bitch side in breath, boom. Overall I was really happy with what me and Sally picked out.

Breath, Boom

“Breath, boom is a startling and unflinching glimpse into ten years in the life of Prix, the leader of a female gang.” The monologue chosen from the play was the Prix monologue when she talks about leaving the gang when she turns 18 and talks about making fireworks. Prix, a ruthless girl-gang leadership at sixteen through her coming to maturity at thirty. But children do not become violent in a vacuum: As a small child Prix was raped by her mother. Which is why I wanted to show Prix as a badass, she’s the leader so she won’t let anyone tell her that she can’t quit the gang if she wants to. I chose the monologue because it was a great contrast between my other two and really different to anything I’ve ever done. During the first part of the monologue I want to show her aggressive side and then as it continues soften her about a little bit. Maybe get her excited and a bit expressive as she talks about the fireworks like it’s a devious plan or something. I think I want to sit on a chair when delivering the monologue and sit with my legs open to add the chav affect. Prix has had a tough life which has made her become a gang leader and be so aggressive, it due to the way she’s been brought up. I want that to show when I start the monologue. This life wasn’t a choice for Prix. After doing further research I realised that Prix has come to terms with her life and being the leader of a street gang. Of course she wants to try and do something for herself which is why she decided to go into fireworks. I’m going to show how fed up she is at the beginning of the monologue and then go into how she’s trying to actually do something that she will be good at like doing fireworks. She’s a tough cookie so she wouldn’t let her emotions show as easily especially when she’s the gang leader, she needs to be the strongest one. It’s going to be hard to show her toughness as everyone shows it definitely like tone of voice, facial expressions or body language. I want to try and do a mixture of the three to bring out her true character, I’m going to find it really hard but I’m going to take it slow as getting it all hot and heated last time didn’t work.  

As you like it

Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior (the banished duke), is raised at court of Duke Frederick who is his younger brother and Celia which is his daughter. Rosalind falls in love with Orlando and before doing anything about it is banished by her uncle, who threatens to kill her if she comes anywhere near the court. Celia goes with Rosalind being her best friend and Rosalind disguises herself as a boy called Ganymede and go to the forest of Arden. They meet Orlando is in wrath with his older brother. Rosalind comes up with a plan to find out Orlando’s supposed passion for her and take his heart by acting as Ganymede and finding everything out. The monologue I’m doing is the Phoebe monologue “Think not I love him”. During the monologue Phoebe is really confused about her feels towards Ganymede which is really Rosalind but she doesn’t know that. I wanted to perform it in a ditsy way, so quite bubbly and weird. I really like this monologue because I feel like girls feel confused about men all time, always giving mixed signals and it’s hard for a girl to admit her feels as well. When she is saying this in front of Silvius she doesn’t want to show she likes this guy, she trying to hid it. She’s also just met him and he was rude to her so that confused her even more. After doing further research I feel as if I need to show Phoebe as two different sides and make them really clear. When she talks about this guy in a good way, she needs to be happy and in love and when saying negative stuff sounding uninterested and annoyed when talking about how he mocked her. The whole point is that the confusion is there and it’s obvious as she’s a very ditsy person and didn’t even realise the guy was actually a girl.

Ivanov

The play tells the story of Nikolai Ivanov, a man struggling to regain his happiness. For the past five years, he has been married to Anna Petrovna, who has become very ill. Ivanov's estate is run by a distant relative, Mikhail Borkin, who is frequently advising people on how he can help them make money. The doctor, Lvov, an 'honest' man as he frequently reminds the rest of the cast, informs Ivanov that his wife is dying of Tuberculosis, and that she needs to recover by going to the Crimea. Unfortunately, Ivanov is unable, and unwilling, to pay for the trip. He is heavily in debt and already owes Zinaida Lebdeva 9000 roubles. Ivanov is criticised for heartlessness and for spending time with the Lebedevs instead of his seriously ill wife. At the end of Act One, Ivanov departs to visit the Lebedevs', and unbeknown to him is followed by Anna and Lvov. The monologue I am doing is the Sasha monologue about how important love is to a girl. Sasha is a kind, compassionate and always helping others and finding the best in them. Which is why when performing the monologue, I want the passion to flow through and for the audience to feel what I’m saying. I think I really connect with this monologue the most because I understand what she’s saying and feel the same way. I want it to be passionate and happy as I deliver the speech. When I did camera work with Sally on this monologue I realised that talking about my previous relationship really helped me to connect with it more. I think with all the monologue’s, to perform it in the best way possible I need to really think about how I can relate to each one. This monologue is a mix between happy and sad because Sasha is in love with this married man but knows she can’t have him. Which is why when she’s describing the way a girl loves a man and how they love she’s actually saying how she loves him and all the things she’s loved to do for him and with him if they were together. It’s all very cute and romantic so I want that feeling to really come across.