The performance and my final pieces

5.02.2014

The Lady and the Clarinet by Micheal Cristofer
Before my monologue happens Luba has "hired a clarinettist to provide background music for a very special candlelight dinner. She drinks wine as she prepares for her guest, all the while telling the clarinet player about the men in her past. "I've only had three men in my life. I've had more than three, but three, only were- are still- do still mean anything." As the evening progresses, we meet all three: Paul, Luba's gawky first lover; Jack, a married ad executive with whom she had an affair; and George, her eventual husband. The clarinet underscores everything.

In the memory scene, Jack and Luba have now been involved for two years. He tells her, "I hate my whole life . . . I have everything I ever wanted, and I hate it all." But he won't leave his wife. After he goes, Luba laces into the clarinet player. "Cut the music, will you? What are you, feeling sentimental? You were really getting into that one."

  Luba sounds like a very strong minded, powerful yet venerable woman. I love this character because of how she is, her strength is amazing even though she has been put down so much by many other people. She seems like the type of person like me, I relate to her in some ways like how she seems like she very much lives in a “dream world”. I like how she thinks that anything is possible, she falls in love quite easily and she moves on in her life when she has to. She is very independent as a person and shows this in how she gets over heart break so much through the play. She takes things on the chin and doesn’t dwell on anything negative, she picks herself back up and carries on.

  With all of this in mind, I wanted to show the whole frustration, annoyance and also the disappointment too. I can imagine that she would want to hit him, not many people would stand all of that. In my monologue it starts out angry but not too angry then about half way it shows her actual vulnerability that she really has. She seems like the type of character that tries to be strong and would not show any sadness or being down at any point in front of anybody. I tried to portray these characteristics; she has many different emotions in the monologue obviously being so confused.

  After my monologue is when we see Jack for the first time and showing everything she does for him. She does actually like him and is trying but we can see that he is not really that interested; he is a lot more worried with himself to worry over others. We now see the bad side of Luba's life, the ignorance towards her and how much frustration she must have from all of the stress.

  All of this information has a direct impact on how her monologue should be performed, it should be loud, it should be brash, angry, hurt, brave, etc. I have incorporated these feelings and emotions into how I used the monologue, I shown the hurt side but also the ambitious brave side too.

  The theme of this play is not very straight forward; the whole play is just Luba thinking about her past three encounters with three different men, each experience more different than the other. The play is all based on her memories within her love life, with the odd discussion towards the clarinet player in which he never speaks back, just answers through clarinet notes. However I would say that the theme is love and heartbreak. There are sad moments, angry moments, nice moments, etc.

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

I have found the modern translation for this Shakespeare monologue, here is the original:

“Think not I love him, though I ask for him.

'Tis but a peevish boy—yet he talks well—

But what care I for words? Yet words do well

When he that speaks them pleases those that hear.

It is a pretty youth—not very pretty—

But sure he’s proud—and yet his pride becomes him.

He’ll make a proper man. The best thing in him

Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue

Did make offense, his eye did heal it up.

He is not very tall—yet for his years he’s tall.

His leg is but so-so—and yet ’tis well.

There was a pretty redness in his lip,

A little riper and more lusty red

Than that mixed in his cheek: ’twas just the difference

Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask.

There be some women, Silvius, had they marked him

In parcels as I did, would have gone near

To fall in love with him; but for my part

I love him not nor hate him not; and yet

I have more cause to hate him than to love him.

For what had he to do to chide at me?

He said mine eyes were black and my hair black

And, now I am remembered, scorned at me.

I marvel why I answered not again.

But that’s all one: omittance is no quittance.

I’ll write to him a very taunting letter,

And thou shalt bear it. Wilt thou, Silvius?”

And here is the modern version:

“Don’t think I’m in love with him just because I’m asking about him. He’s an irritable boy, though he speaks well. But what do I care about words? And yet, words are a good thing when the man speaking them is pleasant to listen to. He’s good-looking, but not too good-looking. He’s awfully proud, but his pride suits him. He’ll grow up to be a proper man. The best thing about him is his complexion: as fast as he offends me with words, his pretty face heals the wound. He’s not very tall, but he’s tall enough for his age. His legs aren’t great, but they’re alright. His lips were nice and red, a little more lively and passionate than the red that was in his cheeks—one was pure red and the other more pink. There are women out there, Silvius, who would have nearly fallen in love with him after inspecting him as closely as I have. But I don’t love him or hate him—though I suppose I have more reason to hate him than love him. What right did he have to scold me like that? He said my eyes and my hair were black and, now that I think of it, he scorned me. I’m surprised I didn’t bite back. But no matter—I’ll get back at him soon enough. I’ll write him a taunting letter, and you can deliver it. Will you do that for me, Silvius?”

“Phebe: A young shepherdess, who disdains the affections of Silvius. She falls in love with Ganymede, who is really Rosalind in disguise, but Rosalind tricks Phoebe into marrying Silvius.” (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/asyoulikeit/characters.html)

Just before my monologue happens, Phebe is talking to Silvius and he is sharing his love for her to her. However she doesn’t like him like that, she tells him “isn’t my friendship enough?” but he replies that he “wants” her. They talk about it for a while with him telling Phebe how she is his love at first sight, until Rosalind comes in telling him to not fall for her (Phebe is falling for her, Rosalind is dressed as a man), “she is pretty but not that pretty”. She tells her “I’m telling you, don’t fall in love with me. I’m more false than the promises a man makes while drunk.” They leave and Phebe is still thinking about Rosalind, she tells Silvius about her love at first sight but hasn’t yet admitted that she likes her yet, that’s when my monologue begins.

  After the monologue, I think Silvius realizes that Phebe has fallen for another and not him. He tells her that he will give the letter to “him” for her, he still must love her. This all has a direct impact on how I should have performed my monologue, knowing all of this I think that this character comes across as quite stubborn, in love, strong usually but for love can go weak at the knees, etc.

  When reading out the monologue it should be embarrassed in some parts as I don’t think she wants anyone to know she is actually in love just yet as she would be looked down on with the way he treats her. It should involve a lot of movement as it is a scene of confusion and what to do next, in reality you would naturally pace around the room while thinking about all of these things. It should be bold in parts too, for example when she comes to the conclusion of how he treats her badly that should get more angry in tone subtly and then as it comes to an end go back softly again.

  The theme of “As You Like It” is a comedy, one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It involves cross dressing and gender change too. There are also themes of love quite clearly; however the theme of the monologue is mainly about love. Phebe talks about how she doesn’t love him but we can tell that she does she is just hiding from the fact, she is in denial.

  I enjoyed this monologue because out of the classical I looked at I related to this the most so I knew that I could perform and remember this one the best. I like it and I will not only use it for the assessments but also my drama school auditions too.

I performed "The Lady and the Clarinet by Michael Christofer playing Luba", then for my second performance I was told to use "As You Like It by William Shakespeare playing Phebe". I would say that my strongest performance from the two was my first as I used a lot of energy and facial expression in this one, I was also a lot more confident using this monologue because I connected more with this one than the other. It worked well and I was happy coming out from the audition process knowing that I did it to the best of my ability. My classical monologue was good but not as good as it could have been and has been in my rehearsals, I messed up on a few words and had to take a minute to think too. I am glad with the final monologues that I chose and I thought that they worked well for me, the characters contrasted and fit well.

The call back
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols
"The play centres on a couple who are struggling to save their marriage whilst trying to raise their only child, who has epilepsy, uses a wheelchair and is unable to communicate. Caring for her has occupied nearly every moment of her parent's lives since her birth, and this has taken a heavy toll on their marriage - which is slowly falling apart. The parents try to use humour to enable them to cope with this exhausting situation and Sheila, her mother, tries to give Joe as much of a life as she can. Her father, Bri, on the other hand wants the child institutionalized. This play is based on Nichols' own experiences of raising a handicapped child." (http://www.benchtheatre.org.uk/plays70s/joeegg.php)

  From recently watching the performance I am still happy about how I performed the monologue in the way that I did. Before the monologue happens we meet “Bri” (Brian), Sheila and eventually Joe. We realize the kind of life that they both have, a very frustrating and hectic one. It is quite a funny play but also quite risky too. The monologue happens quite early into the play and is the first time we see Sheila’s real feelings on everything that is going on so it is a very important scene. Just before this scene we see Brian talking to Joe (but not really talking to her, as he says “it’s like talking to a brick wall”) about Sheila, saying how she is with the good and bad. The two characters are in two different rooms and we get a feel for their personalities already. Sheila is a very hopeful character; she wants what is best for her daughter but also keeps a few things to herself to not annoy anybody. She is a careful character and very realistic. Brian on the other hand is a typical man; he would remind you of somebody like your granddad. He says exactly what he thinks and is quite sceptical of many things too. How Sheila is hopeful that Joe will have a miracle, Brian is quite realistic more than anything and just doesn’t get involved in all of that.

  Through the monologue real feelings are revealed for the first time in the play. I tried to incorporate all of this into how I portrayed the monologue, feelings and emotions of sadness, betrayal, anger of bottled up emotions, etc. Sheila seems a very reserved and kept back character so this is the first time she actually “blows her top”. I enjoyed performing the monologue with this in mind because I like the strong will of it, it’s the first time she isn’t so reserved and we find out things from her past too, it gets interesting. After the monologue however we find out a lot more like how it all happened at the birth, how she found out about her daughter by numerous doctors, her true feelings on the people closest to her, etc.

  We see flashbacks of her life and get pity for the character. We begin to see her traumatic yet hopeful life problems and how she copes with the issues too. Strangely, the theme of the play to me is comedy, a more dark humour but still quite funny. I enjoyed the play and how it was all set out, I am glad that I chose my monologue from this play, it works well with me and even though I can’t relate to the actual situation itself I can relate to the characters emotions and feelings when she is talking about it all. I used emotion memory when performing, but I won’t be using this particular monologue for my drama school auditions however as my other contemporary monologue is a lot closer to my age range, and I have a lot more passion to that monologue than this one even though I did enjoy it.