Monologue

Monologue

Our new project is an individual project which are our own monologues.

Choosing Monologues:

In preparation for Unit 8 I have listened to two audiobooks that have been published plays; I have chosen to do DNA by Dennis Kelly and I chose his character Leah who has a lot speech that are actually monologues.

Research:

Leah is quite a bubbly character but she falls under Phil’s leadership. Leah is clearly concerned about her and Phil's friendship as it seems to be one side; this could fall under the category of mental abuse as he never responded to her.

I have chosen the very first monologue that introduces the character of Leah and her relationship with Phil; this monologues actual set the tone for the rest of her monologues that her trying to speak to Phil but with no response from  

Dennis Kelly describes his characters by using bonobos and chimps. Dennis puts Leah as a social bonobo as they have a “make love, not war” mentality that is why Leah is horrified to find out Phil’s plan is to kill Adam which eventually leads Leah to leave Phil. Dennis Kelly puts Phil in the chimpanzee section as he has taken over from John Tate and he becomes ruthless almost sociopathic making him apart of the chimpanzee. The character of Leah tends to jump from topic with no response from Phil.

The themes in DNA links into Leah’s monologue as a big theme is bullying in the monologue that I marked beat 5 Leah talks about fear and being scared however we don’t if she is talking about the fear  that the gang bring everyone or she scared about another gang.

 

Rehearsing Monologues:

Leah is quite a bubbly character but she falls under Phil’s leadership. Leah is clearly concerned about her and Phil's friendship as it seems to be one side; this could fall under the category of mental abuse as he never responded to her.

After I read the script I highlighted the monologues and then I broke it down into 5 different beats this is the sort of thing I would do at Drama School. The 5 beats represent all the different topics Leah talks about in one monologue.


The first beat is about Leah asking Phil what he is thinking about out of curiosity and worried that Phil is thinking about her in a negative light. The second beat is about her admitting she talks too much and pointing out her flawless. The third beat is about realising she doesn’t have any other friends than Phil. The fourth beat is about Leah is being scared about the gang or the fear the gang bring. Lastly, the beat is about Leah saying they have each other.

Leah adores Phil; however he constantly ignores Leah and this leads Leah to having long monologues that Phil never responded too even though she gives him time to respond. These also lead to a lot of emotions towards Phil or even herself as she strives for Phil attention. This could Leah doubt hersel as never gets any approval from Phil.

When practicing her monologue I had to keep in mind pitch, speed, volume and her pauses. This is because Leah tends to jump from topic to topic therefore her emotions changes in each line. When I performed my monologue my feedback to think about my speed but I had to make sure that I articulated my words.

I also had to think about Leah’s customs and props as she is a schoolgirl I was thinking school uniform;

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I managed to recreate these using my old school uniform even though it isn’t quite the same as the three photos above but this was the closest thing I had to recreating my custom for Leah.

Performance analysis

When I performed my monologue I was looking down at an empty chair to represent Phil as he was sitting down but in the play script  it is set in the park so therefore using the space I had using a chair to represent Phil was the best thing I could do.

What went well:

I remembered all of my monologue  and connected with the emotions of Leah’s monologue  . I took on my feedback which was to articulate my words and work on my speed. I kept the same energy throughout the monologue which is quite hard to do as most actors lose their energy before the end.


When doing my custom I actually used my old school uniform which actual worked out really brilliantly actual as Leah’s character  is school girl and therefore having my uniform helped out the audience and tell them what Leah’s character age is.


 I feel like I used my stage well and that I kept whatever emotion Leah was feeling in the words and I did not drop the emotions unless the topic changes within the mongolouege

Even Better If:

I wished as a prop that I had a school bag to say that they either going to school or just came out of school therefore it would been clearly they were hanging out together. As well as that I wished I have set it up like they just go there rather than I started to talk.


I want to articulate more other than shout therefore that I could be heard. I felt like I mumbled rather than pronounced my words. I should of slow downed when I was speaking fast and I should think about what I am saying. If I did not use a lot of hand movements the maybe I would not have stumbled on some words. However I did forget some of my monologue like when the words were repeated.

Skills I have leanred:

·         Pitch

·         Pause

·         Volume control

·         Speed 

·          Emotionally Deliverance 

·         Making myself vulnerable 

·         Confidence 

·         Articulation

I have learned seven new skills in order to help me with my acting. I have learnt how to pitch my voice match the characters. 

Learning how to use to signal a new train of thought for my character this helped me to get into the new emotions of the topic that Leah was talking about. Volume control I have learned volume control as that is important for an actor to control her voice this helps me control the emotions that my character is feeling.

Speed I have learnt to control my speed as my monologue had different pace each topic within the monologue meaning whatever speed ha d I kept the same energy and emotions thought the performance. Emotionally Deliverance this is practically important to have this skill as it helps you understand your character more and gets you into the role of them.

Making myself vulnerable this skill is also a key skill to have seeing that my character is vulnerable as her friend is mental abusing her by not responding so by doing the research I have done this helped me become Leah.

My confidence has defiantly grown since the very first performance I do not get fazed by performing in front of people anymore as I performed my monologue I felt confident that I have learned my script and my lines. Articulation has always been weak but this time this wasn’t my weakness this was my strengthen as this was a feedback time I took it on.

Improvement:/ Skills I needed to learn:

These are the skills I need to improve on.

v  Slowing Down

v  Deeper research

v  Speed 

v  Control my breathing

I need to improve my speed as I was too fast when words were being repeated this means that I have to slow down so that my monologue is heard clearly. I also have to work on my breath control this will actually link into my speed so therefore if I can control my breathing that also means I can control my speed.

I could have done deeper research into Leah and Phil’s relationship and therefore that could of have my performance better as if I did that more research than I would have not been a bit more myself and I would have been Leah.