Acting for Auditions

Auditions are a key part in the acting industry in order to progress and become a better and more diverse performer. In the acting industry Actors are always asked to audition for the part that they are going for, much like you would be interviewed for a job.

I am currently in my second year of college and hope to go to drama school, in order to get in I need to show potential through my chosen monologues. I believe the decisions I have made show me in a contrastive way as well as showing my potential in performing. For every accredited drama schools you need at least 1 contemporary monologue and 1 classical. Some drama schools require more, for example RADA who expect 3 monologues and an unaccompanied song. I have studied and researched a variety of monologues to find what would best suit my skill set and also is the around the age that I am and in the right accent.

Shakespeare Monologues:

Coriolanus' monologue

Monologue Idea #1: Shakespeare  (Coriolanus from 'Coriolanus')

One Shakespeare monologue that I had thought about using was a monologue from Coriolanus where Coriolanus the main character talks about how he has hurt the person he is talking to and Volcsces as seen from the first few lines "who hath done To thee patricularly and to all the Volsces Great hurt and mischief." This is Coriolanus saying how he wants forgiveness from Rome and Volsces. I didn't understand what Volsces was so I looked it up and I found that Volsci was a Roman who I believe Coriolanus was the leader of. I found this monolouge difficult to translate as their is not much on it and I don't think I am at the capability yet to translate it rightfully myself within the context of the play and for this reason I won't be picking this monologue for my Shakespeare.

Richard III Monologue

Monologue Idea #2: Shakespeare (Clarence from Richard III)

Clarence from Richard III is a monologue I looked at after asking my teacher if I could look at a more serious Shakespearian monologue as I feel I could do it better as I find it harder to understand the Shakespearian comedies. As you can see from the image on the right there is a line from Sir Robert Brakenbury which I will take out so I can perform it as a solo piece. Clarence talks about a dream that he had where he reminisces about the war between the York and the Lancasters, 'And cited up a thousand fearful times, During the wars of York and Lancaster.' He says he is on a boat and at one point he gets thrown off the boat by Richard III, this is foreshadowing Clarence's death later on in the play. I like this monologue a lot but I don't think I will pick it as I don't know the play well enough.

Much Ado About Nothing monologue

Monologue Idea #3: Shakespeare (Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing)

This monologue I found after playing Benedick in a college play, I enjoyed the light hearted theme of this monologue while also bringing up strong opinions. I think it is a challenging monologue but I enjoy performing it as it is very dimensional. Benedick goes through many different emotions and thoughts in this monologue from disregarding his best friend for falling in love to then saying how he would like a woman but only if she had many great traits, which I believe is an idealism that Shakespeare wrote to show Benedicks lack of knowledge and trust in woman because he has been hurt before. I think I will use this monologue as I like the message it conveys as well as the struggle of Benedicks contrasting thoughts.



Unfortunately with many Shakespearian monologues it is difficult to find one that suits my playing age as I am quite young. However, I think I am mature enough for a hard challenge.

Contemporary Monologues:

Monologue Idea #4 Contemporary (Stephen from '13')

One of my first contemporary monologues that I knew was Stephen from '13'. The monologue is in the play '13' by Mike Bartlett. The play looks at problems in politics in modern England and my character Stephen Crossley is an atheist who has a tight connection to the English Prime Minister. I feel this is a good monologue as it has strong themes as it talks about the idea behind God and how my character is trying to persuade the people at this conference that God isn't real. He tries to convince his audience by saying telling them that God is in the box and that if you open it you will 'stare God in the face and know for certain his existence, dimensions his absolute power and glory', he then goes on to say that if you don't open the box you will always be in doubt and will never know if there is a God. Stephen Crossley then says how if you open the box that you will die 'your free independent life destroyed, you will be gone forever'. I think this has great themes as it questions the theory of a God and is very contrasting to the Shakespeare monologue I picked which is a comedy.

However I won't be choosing this monologue as it does not suit my playing age and there are things in this role that I haven't experienced, for example Stephen at this time is suffering from Lung Cancer and he only has a short amount of time to live. Luckily I haven't experienced this so I can not emphatise and would find it difficult to understand what Stephen is suffering with. Also the age of Stephen is around 65 and I am not the right playing age to perform this monologue so I will not be choosing it as one of my pieces to audition with.

Monologue Idea #5 Contemporary (Alistair from 'Posh')

After finding it difficult to find a contemporary monologue that fitted my capabilities I went to my teacher Sally, she said that she thought the monologue from Posh would be suit what I was looking for and was near to my playing age. Alistair from Posh is in a club that has been going on for many years and it is a tradition at the school of Oxford. They believe they are better than anyone else as they go to a posh school and are getting a private education. I enjoy this speech as I love playing a character that are arrogant because while acting arrogant I gain confidence and I believe give a better performance. I also really like this speech because its quite complex with all the emotions he is feeling. Alistair at this point in the play has had quite a bit to drink and is pissed off with the manager of the pub where he is eating because he believes the manager isn't showing him enough respect, the first line gives a great view into how Alistair feels towards the manager, from first impressions of this monologue we understand what Alistair is so annoyed about, "Calling us Gentlemen as if he's got any idea, any idea of what the word means" He says how he has no idea what a gentleman is and in some ways Alistair feels he is not being treated right but I believe Alistair is being disrespectful to the restaurant manager. As later on in the play he destroys the room in which they are having their private dinner and even asks the managers daughter to perform sexual acts. This is why I love this monologue so much because it is challenging as the character is multi dimensional as he has many different things playing through his mind. For example he is trying to show off to his friends while also trying to make a statement and at the same time he is a bit drunk as he has had a lot to drink "Asking us if we want that many bottles because that's quite a lot for ten people, not this ten people mate". I will be using this monologue as I think I suit the character well as I naturally have quite a posh arrogant sounding voice. It is also close to my playing age and the right gender.

Monologue Idea #6 Contemporary (Robin from 'No Quarter')

No Quarter a play by Polly Stenham is a monologue I thought I would have a look at for my final contemporary piece, I feel it contrasts the foolish nature of my Shakespearian monologue and contrasts the arrogant superior objectives shown in posh. No Quarter is a play about a house in the woods where Robin stays, in this monologue he is talking to his drug dealer and saying how they had plans "We had a plan, we had several", he then goes on to talk about what they were going to do as to try and entice him, "I was going to show you the lake and the woods and we were going to go get high and drink what was left of the wine cellar and listen to smooth jazz and shoot rabbits" Robin then says how it would be good to try and persuade him more, "It was going to be ace, it still could be ace". He says this as to show that they could still have a good time and do all the ace things as Robin describes them. 

I like this character a lot as I feel I can relate to how he is feeling, I feel that Robin is quite a lonely person and wants company because he doesn't get much of it. I have felt this way before and I feel I can use affective memory in order to play this character to the best of my capabilities. The character is also not far of my playing age so I think it is suitable for me to play. I also think its a good script as Polly Stenham is an established writer and I believe this play is some of her best work.



After analysing different monologues I have chosen the three I would like to perform. These are Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Alistair from Posh by Laura Wade and Robin from No Quarter by Polly Stenham. 

My Vocal Plan

Vocal Plan

In order for an actor to be convincing one of the key elements and instruments an actor uses is their voice. The voice has a massive impact on the tone, style, setting and more. For me to achieve my ambitious dreams of becoming an actor my voice will need to be clear. As of this I will create a developed and challenging vocal plan that will stretch my vocal capabilities. I have comprised an 8 step vocal plan that will look at key areas in the voice and also targeting weakness that I believe I have.

Step 1: Spinal Rolls

I felt the spinal roll was the best thing to first do in my vocal plan warm up as it relaxes the body and gets the actor into the mindset of working the voice. 

The best way in which to excute the spinal roll sin my opinion and what best works to help me relax and relieve tension from my spine and help me with my posture is to lift up on to your feet stretching your arms out up above you. Then I fold the arms in at the elbows come down from lifting up on my feet, relax my shoulders then let my arms drop to my side. Once in this position I put my chin to my chest and start to roll down from the back keep my knees unlocked and letting my head follow down first. When in this position show by the image on the right, I let my arms hang loose and relieve my head by nodding yes and no while in this position. This helps with tense points which in turn helps with posture. After this I will then roll back up to neutral and do it again 3 more times. I felt this is a good amount of time to spend on spinal rolls in my vocal plan as they are quite a big step in my overall plan and I feel my posture is one of my weaknesses.

 Step 2: Stretches

In order to be able to release the voice and gain clarity you have to be warmed up and I believe the best way to warm up is the first do body exercises.

Some stretches that help me and I believe warm up the body best also includes using the voice. It's called Rubber Chicken. The exercise involves your arms and legs, first you count to 8 and do 8 shakes of the arm in your left arm, you then do eight shakes in the left arm, the 8 in the left leg and eight in the right. You then copy this movement by dividing it by 2. I then do 4 shakes on each arm and leg then 2 and then finally 1. After I have done the final one, I find it best to shake out one last time completely to warm up the body. This exercise can also use the voice as you can count the numbers out loud in different accents and different voices to help projection and also accent work whilst also warming up the body and getting ready for the rest of the vocal plan. I normally do this twice in order to warm the body up.

Step 3: Resonators

In the body there are many different resonators, I feel the best way to wake up your resonators is to do a rhyme that focuses on each resonator. There are 3 main resonators that are looked at with this, the head, nose and chest resonators.

The rhyme is 'Why fly so high said naughty Nora whilst eating an apple with Zoey the Zebra in the Zoo'. I think this rhyme is perfect for helping with the resonators as it looks at all three resonators whilst in the same rhyme. The first best of the rhyme is 'Why fly so high...' This focuses on the head voice and is done in a higher pitch register to match the head voice. The next part is 'said naughty Nora', this looks at the nose resonator and is said through the nasal voice which doesn't involve much work from the mouth its self. I think this part of the rhyme is best suited to the nasal resonator as the actor says two words beginning with N which sound very nasal. The last part is finally done in the chest voice 'whilst eating an apple with Zoey the zebra in the Zoo'. This opens up the actor to the chest voice and helps to understand the different registers that can be used in performances. I also add actions to this resonator exercise to help me get the tone of each register. For the head voice I put my head and say the words, when I work the nasal resonator I massage my nostrils and finally for the chest voice I pound my chest softly and this helps me to access the different voices. I do this four times so I know that each resonator has woken up and they are ready to be used.

Step 4: Face Massages

Face Massages help to relieve tension from different vocal areas including the jaw, which I find can be quite a tense area. I felt face massages worked best at step 4 as I have just done quite a strenuous exercise for resonators at step 3.

I think one of the best massages to do is to take both hands, take where your thumb meets the end of your hand and massage it from the top of the cheek bone down to the jaw, this exercise helps me to relieve tension and warm up different vocal points. I do this about 5 times and I find really great results as it helps to relieve tension from one of my main points of tension the Jaw.

Step 5: Tongue Exercises

As I have just warmed up the voice I felt it would next be best to exercise another key part of the vocal organs, the tongue. 

The tongue is a key area to articulation in the voice and also helps with breath control and many other things. A good tongue exercise is to take your index finger and place it on your teeth as if you are telling someone to be quite. You then stick your tongue out to a comfortable length against the finger and you push your tongue against your finger, this helps strengthens the muscles in the tongue. Another exercise that is good to do is to do a circle with your tongue in your mouth, first going along the top ridge of your teeth going to your bottom teeth and going round in a circle, I do about 5 circles one way and then 5 the other way to make sure my tongue is warm. The exercise where I push my tongue against my finger I do for about ten second 3 times, this helps gain muscle in the tongue so it is stronger for the next time you use it.

Step 6: Tongue Twisters

As I have just recently warmed up the tongue is step 5 I felt it would be good to stay with tongue exercises and do some tongue twisters. I find that my 'th' sound gets mixed with my 'f' sound quite a lot, so I will focus on tongue twisters which help combat that.

I felt the urge to create some of my own tongue twisters in order to bring some originality to my vocal plan and make it more interesting. One I sometimes do is 'Tom the thumb felt the need to fly', this tongue twister includes both the 'th' sound but also the 'f' sound in the same sentence this means I will really need to think about the word that is coming up. I find the best way to help articulation is to do a tongue twister and then start to do it faster to increase articulation. This helps me as I have less time to think about what sound comes next and it is if I am saying the words as the thought comes to me which would happen. I also sometimes find some tongue twisters on my phone as I think they have better tongue twisters which help with the 'th' sound. One I found that is good is on the image to the right. There are many 'th' sounds in "There those thousand thinkers were thinking how did the other three thieves go through." This is a good tongue twister as it helps because there is a lot of 'th' sounds.

Step 7: Breathing Exercises

From recent things I've been in I've been told that my breath control was a weakness. This is something I want to look at as I don't want my breath control to hinder me in the future. 

One exercise that I use to really help breath control is very effective, I first take both my index fingers and put one finger at where my ribcage ends in the center of my body and the other just underneath my belly button, it is best to put the fingers here as this is where the diaphragm is located which is the main muscle used for breathing, the diaphragm is shown by the diagram on the right. I then breath in for 4 counts hold for four counts and then blow out in short burst twice before releasing the rest of my breath with a long exhale. This helps increase your breath capacity as you are focusing on your diaphragm, and the diaphragm is pushing out on the bursts to increase the amount of work it is doing. As the diaphragm is a muscle it gets better when it is worked, like you would work other muscles. The more you exercise it the stronger it gets. 

Step 8: Alexander Technique

As I said before my posture is a weakness of mine. As this is the last step I felt it would be apt to look at my posture once more and to use this technique as it also helps the actor to cool down after the 7 steps that came before.

Alexander technique is a technique crafted to help the actor with their posture, it requires the actor to get into the semi supine position which is when the actor lays on the floor with their knees up as shown by the photo on the right. As you can see the woman also has a book underneath her head, this helps the body to get into the right position as the spine is in alignment with the head. The book however isn't needed if not accessible. After in this position it is best to image the areas where you feel tense and imagine a red ball of heat fixing the points of tension. It is also good to imagine your body sinking through the floor so that you aren't holding tension in your back. I think this is a good exercise to do as the last step as it helps you to cool down whilst also looking at your posture.

Restoration Blog

Restoration Blog

Today we started off looking at Restoration as we will be performing George Etherege's Man of Mode in April. We looked at how men would have bowed, sat down and walked. As well as looking at costumes, way fans were used and etiquette.

Christian Bale portraying 'Patrick Bateman' in American Psycho.

In the 17th Century, status was a massive factor. Sir Fopling Flutter the character I play is highly respected among his peers even though they belittle him without his knowledge. Sir Fopling Flutter takes himself very seriously, and is a true 'fop'. A 'fop' is the word to described a foolish man who is very concerned in his appearance and clothes. After finding out he was a fop I started to look into modern day 'fops' in films. Someone who reminded me of a 'fop' is in one of my favourite films American Psycho. Patrick Bateman who is the protagonist in this movie, is very indulged in his looks and clothing much like a fop would be.

Going back to status, when one is so indulged in their looks they start to gain confidence and become arrogant, when someone is arrogant they believe they are better than they are. So I believe in the mind of Sir Fopling Flutter, he is of great status. This means that I may ignore certain characters as they may not be on my status level. Sir Fopling Flutter will also boast about what he is wearing which he does as soon as he is seen by the audience in Act 3 page 27, when Emily and Lady Townley ask what type of brands he is wearing, for example when Lady Townley asks what suit he is wearing and Fopling says 'Barroy'. Many of the characters play along with Sir Fopling Flutter and pretend that they care about how great he is but they only really see him as arrogant.

As Sir Fopling Flutter is very much into his looks and clothes his costume is very intricate and more extravagant then others. As shown by the image on the right, I am wearing a wig that is very extravagant, tall and has many layers. As seen behind the wigs aren't as exotic. The Coat that I am wearing is also quit extravagant, its a green and grey colour merged together with black  buttons and a gold patterned lining. Each part of the coat is extravagant and the colours contrast well which helps me get into character and is true to how the fop would have been.

The coat also was a big part for etiquette when sitting down. In order to sit down the man would flick his coat backwards before sitting down and then would sit down with good posture on the edge of the seat. The reason the coat would be flicked backwards is so it would not get creased and sat on. The way in which they were sat would also show how they would be quick on their feet if a duel was to happen as they were on the edge of the chair and not slouching. A duel could happen at any time and is one of the reasons eye contact is kept when bowing.



Bowing in Restoration would happen every time someone met, if a man would meet a woman it would be courteous to bow first to say 'welcome' or 'glad to be in your presence'. As said before while bowing the man would keep eye contact as the other person could pull out their sword at any time and so you would have to literally keep an eye on them. To bow with class, you would take your left foot backwards bend your left leg stick your bum out bend down with your upper body while still keeping eye contact and throw both arms backwards.

Charles II and Context

In Wednesday's lesson we learnt about the context of the play we are doing and the history and world surrounding Man of Mode. Me and Lewis were given the task of looking at Exile, Theatre Licensing. Merry Monarch and Restoration. All these tasks were based around Charles II.

Merry Monarch

Charles II was known as the merry monarch by many of the people in the 17th century, due to his liveliness and hedonism. Hedonism is when one indulges in pleasure and so describes Charles II well. He was also given this name as he returned his kingdom back to normality after the wrath of Oliver Cromwell who many blame for the death of numerous Irish civilians.  Charles II was once described as the most fun loving and intelligent monarch. His attitude was so different to his father’s attitude who was described as being arrogant and his own worst enemy as to when it came he was executed.

Theatre Licensing

In the 17th Century, there were Patent Theatres, these were theatres that were licensed to perform 'spoken drama', which was drama which was serious. Other theatres were prohibited from performing such 'serious theatre'. They were permitted to perform pantomimes, comedies and melodramatic plays.

As I looked at these subjects other people in my class looked at other topics such as the first actress.

Nell Gwyn

Nell Gwyn

Nell Gwyn was the mistress to Charles II. She met Charles II when she was an orange-girl who would sell oranges in the interval of shows. Once at the playhouse while ironically George Etherege's 'she wou'd if she cou'd' was playing it was said that Charles II was more interested in flirting with Gwyn then watching the play. Nell Gwyn later went on to be an actress and was reviewed well and often talked highly about by Samuel Peyps. She was trained by Charles Hart who was an established actor at the time as she was his mistress.

Blocking and Status

Zanni from Commedia much
like a footman.

This week in Restoration we started looking at scenes and blocking. We started with Act 1 Scene 1 and I asked if I could fill in as a footman as I wanted to do some physical work. This role is going to a Level 3 Year 1 Acting student, but I was glad to stand in for the time being. The footmen's job is to do daily chores in order to help out Dorimant in this case. In this scene for example the footman brings in a letter to Dorimant and swaps two glasses over earlier on. Playing this character for a brief time started to give me an idea of Status at the time of Restoration. In this scene The Footman is quite heavily below Dorimant as he is his servant. I also got a grip on status as one of Dorimants lines when the footman enters  is "You rogue there, who sneak like a dog that has flung down a dish, if you do not mend your waiting I’ll uncase you, and turn you loose to the wheel of fortune. Handy, seal this, and let him run with it presently." This line shows how Dorimant is of a higher status as he belittles the footman by calling him a dog and a rogue. Analysing this, I will make certain choices that will show the audience the status game at play and will give a greater truth to the scene and would have been how George Etherege would have envisioned the act. Certain traits that I will add to my character include a more dishevelled posture to show status, this is similar to the Zanni in Commedia Dell'Arte who also plays a servant.

Analysing The Script

My main character Sir Fopling Flutter, is seen as a fool throughout the play. The fop is a stock character, and is someone that is obsessive over their appearance and is perceived as a fool. This is shown throughout the script as it is obvious to me the actor that other characters in the play are messing about with the fop without him knowing. Before we even see Sir Fopling Flutter we hear other characters talk about him, he is described as a great critique by Medley and said how 'he thinks himself the pattern of modern gallantry.' Dorimant who is the protagonist goes on to say 'he is indeed the pattern of modern foppery' which means Dorimant is describing Sir Fop as a modern fop, so as a fool as fop is another word for fool. This is quite ironic considering Sir Fopling Flutter has quite a big affection for Dorimant, it is also quite ironic as Dorimant is called a fop later on in the play by Harriet "He's a fop". Sir Fopling Flutter is first seen on page 26 when he enters with a page. Instantly we as the audience find out the status of this character,  as we see the Fop enter with a page, a page at the time was a servant. So this shows his high status as a page follows him around. His first line is giving page order to wait outside, which shows us his status once again. He then goes on in his first line to talk about Paris and speaks about the Tuileries which are gardens in Paris. From the start I think that Sir Fopling comes across as very eloquent man who is quite arrogant. Even though he is seemed as being quite clever, he comes across also as being very clumsy and foolish as his name would suggest. 

Adam's Lesson

A tableaux from Adam's Lesson

Recently Adam Byron came into our college to help us with our restoration piece, this was great because he has a different style in which he likes to direct restoration, he directs it in a way which I believe is most like how it first would have been portrayed when George Etherege wrote the play back in the late 1600s. We looked at it in a more melodramatic way. We first showed him the prologue as how it was rehearsed. He felt it was very slow and was not bold and eccentric enough considering this was the first time we saw these characters, he also said about how it should be stylised. I felt I responded well to this direction as I immediately tried to be bigger with my expressions and I made bolder and more confident choices, for example in the prologue my character says 'Damn here' to express his agreement. Before I felt I was throwing this line away vocally. In order to make this bigger I added a movement which also helped me to make it vocally more expressive too. The movement I decided best gave my action was a finger point to the sky with a tensed arm, this also helped me reach quite a loud energetic guttural voice. For this I inhaled quite a lot of air and used my diaphragm and stomach to project. We also did an exercise where we would walk around the room in neutral and when Adam beat the drum we would have to stop in a restoration pose. I really enjoyed this exercise because you were made to think on your feet and you had to be quick getting from neutral into a pose. This was very fitting as when first performed the play Man of Mode would have had to of been quick and exciting to grab the attention of the raucous audience. While in this still positions, Adam would pick one and we would all come out and then we would go in one by one and make contact and create an exciting tableau. I enjoyed this exercise because it was a great way of creating an interesting image that would give insight into the life in the 17th century. As seen by the tableaux there is a lot of symbolism going on that can read into. Even precise details can mean so much, the small passing gesture from Phoebe to myself can be perceived in many different ways. It could be a love note or a billet doux as it was referred to in the Restoration area which in English is translated into love letter. She could also be passing a snuff box as that was very popular at the time. Phoebes facial expression in this is quite telling that she is being mischievous. I think Nathans physicality is also very poignant as it expresses his disgust in seeing Phoebe's discreet action. It also gives the viewer a grasp on his high status as he is leading by his chest and his head is in a upright position and can also be perceived as being snobby as if he is looking down on everyone else as if they're inferior. Brandon's facial expression gives off a lot also in this photo as if he is planning something with Milo, this may have been to spread a rumour about someone or maybe a conversation about the woman in front (Phoebe), which are both plausible scenarios in this time period. I really enjoyed this lesson with Adam because it gave me another view on how restoration can be performed and most likely how it was originally performed. 

Run Through and Script Work

Charles II of England.

Recently we did our first run through, I felt it went well but I was restricted by my script as I didn't know my lines and I'd have to keep breaking character to look at the words. I am continuing to learn my lines so I can be well rehearsed for when the production comes. I enjoyed the script a lot, the character I am playing Sir Fopling Flutter, and from the first time going through it, I enjoyed my character. From the first run I have found that my character is very arrogant and flamboyant. I tried to play this by heightening my voice and putting on quite a camp eloquent voice, I felt this best fit the stereotypical flamboyant stock character, from reading the script my character flirts with everyone that he meets no matter whether they were a woman or man. This intrigued me as I wanted to find out if gays and same sex relationships would have been accepted in the late 17th century. I searched up quickly on my phone what life would have been like to be gay at this time in history. Having looked at time the play was set I have made the estimation that it is present day, which would have been the 1660s. At this time there was no recorded significant events of gay relationships. However in 1623 there was recorded evidence of James I being in a relationship with George Villers making the king homosexual. This is odd as in 1680 a gay marriage between Arabella Hunt and Amy Poulter was annulled after Amy Poulter posed as a man in order to get married. This may mean that at the time the play was set gay marriage was only fine for royalty, or that gay marriage was not allowed after James I died in 1625 and Charles I took over. I think this is more likely the case as Charles I was known to be very conservative in his views. Religion was also a big part of the world in the 1660s with many people being religious, at one point Charles II was scared as he had changed from his faith of a protestant to Roman Catholic after an agreement with King Louis XIV of France for alliance. He was worried that the loyal people of England would overthrow him from the Throne as he could have been a catholic king, King Charles II on his deathbed revealed he was a catholic to save himself from the Protestants. As religion and conservative views where so powerful I have came to the conclusion that gay marriage wouldn't have been allowed and so I feel that even though Sir Fopling Flutter may have some feelings towards men I feel he tries to hide them to the best of his ability which unfortunately for him isn't that great as he gets carried away and is quite flamboyant. One reason why sir Fopling Flutter may be so in favour of France and give it so much respect is because he may have turned Roman Catholic while over in Paris and wants the people of England to accept him for not being a loyal English Protestant. After analysing the script thoroughly I felt the need to look for translations. My character sometimes talks French and uses old English a lot as this is a restoration piece, for me to get into character I first need to understand what I am saying and from their I can look into objectives and different obstacles along with my characters journey in this play. My character speaks very eloquently as he is trying to impress everyone else, as stated before. Some of the translations I found quite difficult as at first I didn't understand the play and the meaning behind it, after rehearsing it a few times and reading through the script I started to understand what it meant. As I started to understand the play and the setting I manage to get what my character was saying. My first line I found difficult to translate as it didn't seem too straight forward. "Page, wait without! Madam I kiss your hands I see yesterday was nothing of chance the belles assemblées form themselves here everyday". After looking through the script many times I started to pick up on the fact that a page is a servant, Dorimant has a servant called Handy in the first scene, and even my character refers to his pages as servants in a later scene "A set of balladins whom I picked out in the best of France and brought over with a flute douces or two. My servants, they shall entertain you". So after this I learnt that I was telling my servant to wait without, which I assume means wait outside as this is my first entrance and it asserts dominance. The next line is "Madam I kiss your hands I see yesterday was nothing of chance..." the word madam I know from previous knowledge is another way of saying lady or woman, I think however it is more flattering than lady as it is used less and is more eloquent, this is used by my character as I believe he is flirting, which we then see after he decides to kiss Lady Townley's hand. Sir Fopling then goes on to say "I see yesterday was nothing of chance the belles assemblées form themselves here everyday". From this I think my character is talking about a prestigious event that happened the day before. I thought I would google what the belles assemblées are as I haven't heard of it before and it would give me more insight into what my character is talking about. The  belles assemblées translates to beautiful assemblies in France, I think at this point my character is flirting once again with Lady Townley and saying how he has never seen more beautiful woman in his life then the ladies he has seen over the past few days. The Fop then goes on to say, "Lady, your servant. Dorimant, let me embrace thee; without lying, I have not met with any of my acquaintance who retain so much of Paris as thou dost - the very air thou hadst when the marquis mistook thee i' th' Tuileries, and cried, He! Chevailer! and then begged thy pardon." From this part of my characters dialogue I feel he is trying to impress once again and I feel that is his main objective in this scene. I get this impression as when he is talking to Emilia he says he is below her by calling himself her servant, this is an attempt at gaining respect from Emilia as he is trying to act humble, however quickly after greeting Emilia he sees Dorimant and rushes over "Dorimant, let me embrace thee.." This I think is in the text as George Etherege is trying to portray how foolish Sir Fopling Flutter as he is trying to act humble but then is rude. As my character says "Dorimant, let me embrace thee.." I got the sense my character has met Dorimant before as he knew his name, my character then once again goes on to charm Dorimant by saying that he "retains so much of Paris", this I assume is Sir Fopling saying that he is above the rest of the people in England and he is much more like the civilised people in Paris. He then goes on to sound arrogant and snobby after talking about a time when he was in Paris, and so once again he has charmed someone or attempted to and lost it after from being a fool. He talks about the Tuileries and a marquis, after googling Tuileries I found out it was the gardens by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, at the time the Eiffel Tower wasn't there as it was built in the 19th century however the gardens were there. I then thought I would search up what a 'marquis' was. I found that a marquis was a nobleman, this means that when he is referring to a Tuileries he is saying how a nobleman mistook him. Throughout my characters dialogue I went and actioned it.

Max Stafford Clark

Actioning is a device created by Max Stafford Clark and is used to help find the characters emotional intentions. If my character says "Lady I kiss your hands" his intention is to charm her as he wants to impress her and seem gentlemanly. In my opinion to use this device to the best of its capability I would say the words "I charm you" in my head before saying the actual line. I feel this helps me understand the intention behind the line and also helps me to convey it. I found after actioning most of my script that I was using charm or synonyms of charm a lot. I think this is because George Etherege at the time made these stock characters quite 1 dimensional so that the audience at the time could relate. As I have researched the audiences would have been very boisterous and rowdy and so if the play was too hard to follow and the characters were quite complicated the audience wouldn't have paid attention. The way Man of Mode is received now by audiences and then I think has changed quite a lot. In the 1660s when the play was first put on the play was well received and I think in some ways better received then than it is now. I think this is because of the language and also the style of the piece. The language is difficult for the audience of today to understand because there are terms that aren't used anymore in modern culture. I also think that the play is wrote to be performed in quite a melodramatic way and now that naturalism is more preferred by a modern audience the audience for melodrama is quite low. This I think is due to the fact that people want to emphasise with characters and they want to go on a journey and be thrilled. I think it is harder for an audience member to relate when the language and style it was intended to be performed it in is quite hyperbolic, it's difficult for someone to understand what the character is going through when they don't know what they say. This is why I think the acting needs to be at a top level for the audience to be able to identify with the characters and understand their intentions.

Voice and The Actor - Blog Entry 4

For my last Blog post I looked at exercises to help the French dialect and loss of breath. These were two negatives aspects of my voice that I felt I suffered from when performing Man of Mode. I felt the exercises I picked helped me to overcome these obstacles and reach my objective of a clear voice. The exercise I picked to help with French dialect was using consonants with vowels, where I would say each consonant with each vowel after for example Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu and then Ca, Ce, Ci, Co, Cu and so on. This technique is brilliant and it helps me to articulate each sound and learn the difference between sounds that I found difficult before for example the 'Th' sound and 'F' sound, this technique helped me a lot because there are words in the French language that require sounds being said differently to how they look for example the word éclat is pronounced Aclat. I did the exercise twice, once in my own accent and the second time in a French accent to try and improve my accent and French sounds. I think this helped a lot because I got to grips with the French accent and the words considering my character Sir Fopling Flutter speaks a lot of French. My other weakness from my last blog entry was my loss of breath, I felt that I was loosing breath in scenes and I wasn't finishing lines, I did some basic warm up exercises that helps with breath capacity and seeing through to the end of the line. A good exercise to help this was one I had learnt previously in a vocal warm up. I felt it catered to what I wanted and so I proceeded with the technique. The technique consists of breathing in for four beats then humming and going into to a sound as long as you can last. This helps with breath capacity as you are trying to increase the amount of breath you have to release and you go till you have to inhale, this helps push your breath capacity range and is a great technique to do before a production if time allows. 

I found this weeks results interesting, I am happy with the exercises I did and I think they will serve me well in the future.

Voice and The Actor - Blog Entry 3

A class waking up their resonators

In my last blog entry, I was looking at the radio assignment I was in. The exercises I had chosen to do were very helpful from last week and helped me to deliver a concise vocal performance in my final radio assignment. The exercises I had chosen to do helped me with my tone, missing beginning of lines and posture. I felt that all the exercises I chose helped immensely and helped me to achieve a greater understanding on the vocal needs of audio production. The exercise I chose to help with my tone, was to look and analyse the script and understand my characters objectives, relationships and the setting of each scene. I also did the exercise of waking up my different resonators so I was able to use them for different tones. I started off by waking up my head resonator and doing some humming in my head voice, this was good as I could access a different vocal register and it would be of use to me if I decided to use it for tone changing. For my nose resonator I tried to make a nasal sound but I found this quite difficult, this may have been because I was suffering from a cold at the time. I found it a lot easier waking up the chest resonator, I did this by making a fist and hitting it against my chest quite lightly with a low humming tone. My voice resonator was already in action.

The other exercise I used was to help with getting the beginning of lines, I felt I did this well enough. I started to put emphasis on the beginning of lines, at the start I found it difficult to put emphasis on the words so I would do a movement which would help me put more of a structured projected sound on the word. For example I found the line 'On the planet Gliese...' quite difficult to put the emphasis on, so I would make my hand into a fist and move my arm and fist downwards to give off the expression of power, this helped me gain emphasis and put it on the right word. I found that this exercise worked each time I did it. After a while I took out the movement and I found I was putting emphasis on the words anyway, then after that I was saying the words without emphasis yet I was still saying the beginning of the lines with good clarity, which I wanted to achieve from the start.

The third exercise I did was Alexander technique to help with my posture as I felt throughout recording, my posture could have been better and I felt it effected my voice. I have been doing the Alexander Technique regularly and I feel it has made a difference to my voice and posture both physically and mentally. After I did this I felt quite relaxed yet also motivated. I felt less tense but also at the same time present and in the moment. I recently did this exercise and I noticed a difference in my posture and also my voice, I felt I was more grounded in my posture and I felt little to no tension throughout my body. I also felt it had a positive effect on my voice, I felt my voice was more free and I could use a variety of tones, pitches and volumes that would be beneficial to me for the final recording of 'Far Side of The Moore'.

I enjoyed the challenges that arose this week relating to voice and I am finding the new project fascinating, especially incorporating the French dialect.

Voice and The Actor - Blog Entry 2

Vocal Development Programme

From my last blog entry, I have been focusing on my radio assignment. After practising the exercises I set from blog entry 1 I felt it would only be right to see what affect they had on certain vocal areas. The exercises I chose to do were all helpful to the radio play. For helping articulation I did an exercise which requires the actor to put his tongue to the hard palette and finger in between his upper teeth and lower teeth and then say a line of dialogue, this will make the vocal organs work harder as the tongue won't be able to move and neither will the jaw. The second exercise I did was to help with that I was saying my lines too fast, after further research I found that Sir Patrick Moore who I am playing spoke quite fast anyway, however I will still try to slow it down a bit as it may be difficult to understand. The exercise I used was talking to a beat, much like Iambic Pentameter. However as said before,  I won't be using this technique in the final recording as I want to be able to change my pace and tone so it is more interesting and emotionally investing. The last exercise I did was to help with my thought for each line which in turn would help me understand the emotion behind the line and would ultimately change the way I would say it. It's a technique that is well established called actioning by English theatre director Max Stafford-Clark. The technique helps the actor find the emotion behind the thought which in turn can help slow down a naturally fast talking actor as they are looking for the thought as their character would. 

A Metronome

After listening to this weeks audio recording, I felt I was still quite fast but not as bad as the recording before. I think the exercise that I used to speak to ore of a beat helped me a lot, as it helped me to take it slower, for this I used a metronome, a metronome is a device that delivers beats to a tempo, so if I wanted 10 beats per minute a beat would sound every 6 seconds. so I tried to speak to the beat, at points it was quite difficult as I wanted to say the whole line in a quick succession, I think the reason I was talking so quickly is that I wanted to get my point across considering Patrick Moore says so much, however I do understand that for my though I need to be concise and articulate and not too quick that these elements are affected. Another exercise that helped that I talked about was finding the thought, I did this partly in the radio recording and tried to find the next thought as the character would. There are points where this can become quite difficult as I'm reading off a script however I knew the script well enough where I knew mostly what line would be said next and so I would think that thought in my head before saying it to get a more genuine action from my character. I felt all of these exercises helped me to progress and I will use this in the future if I need to and I will work on my articulation exercises constantly as it is something I struggle with.

I felt I made good progress this week and that I am ready to do my final performance for 'Far Side of the Moore' radio performance. 

Radio Far Side of the Moore Rehearsal Development

When first given the 'Far Side of the Moore' script I was eager to read through it and understand the character I was playing and the story behind the 'Sky at Night'. What first stood out to me when reading the script was Patrick Moore's relationship with a lady named Lorna. After reading through the script he says how he only knew her for about ten months yet from analysing the play he was in love with her.

Max Stafford Clark

The first mention of Lorna is on page 14, when Patrick is talking about a woman he likes called Eileen, he says how Eileen reminds him of Lorna, "Reminds me a little of Lorna" He then goes on to ask his friend Arthur Clarke if "Eileen would make a good wife?" This intrigued me to find out more about the relationship between Patrick and Lorna as Patrick mentions her in a good light and compares her to a woman he is thinking about marrying. As I got further into the script I learnt more about this key relationship with Lorna. We see a scene where Patrick first meets Lorna. Patrick describes her as his "first love". Through the scene there is obvious chemistry between Patrick and Lorna. With wit and flirty comments coming from both parties. In order to et this across through the audio, I think I will use the technique of Actioning by Max Stafford Clark. I use this method a lot as I feel it helps me portray emotionally what Patrick would be feeling. The method created by Max Stafford Clark looks at finding the intention behind the line and delivering it to its right setting. Before I would deliver the line I'd look at the relationship between the character I was saying the line to and my character and also what is being said. Patricks first line to Lorna is "No, Patrick, actually" while answering Lorna's question. This I perceive is quite flirty and witty and is in some ways trying to subtly be playful and seductive. For this I would do the action of allure, so I would say the words 'I Allure You' before delivering the line in order to get the alluring emotion.

After finding out more about Patricks relationship with Lorna I wanted to look into his life and what made him an astronomer as well as other relationships.

Patsy Rodenburg

A character we see a lot in this radio play is Getrude Moore, who is the mother to Patrick. Patrick has a good relationship with his mother and many of the scenes in this drama are with Patrick and his mother talking openly about Patricks life. Patrick also believes he and his mother are close "We're very close - Mother and I." For the scenes where I am with my mother I will take this into consideration and think about a more relaxed tone and presence. An acting theory that I find interesting talks about the presence of an actor and character. Patsy Rodenburg talks about the second circle and how there are three circles, she says how in the first circle is an actor who isn't present and is quite laid back and may seemed relaxed, the energy falls back into the person. The Second Circle is a more present energy with the person being present but not over pressuring. The third circle is often too over energised and these are the sort of people who Patsy describes as 'taking the oxygen out of the room'. I feel for this scene I will be in second circle as an actor so my voice doesn't fail, but as a character I will be in first circle, and give a more relaxed tone to my voice yet still connecting with the audience. Patrick has a strong connection with his mother which I believe means that his relationship wasn't great with his father and so he gravitated towards his mother more.

After reading through the script more in the following weeks I started to look into his relationship with his father and what sort of man Patrick Moore's father was and the impact he had on Patrick. I believe that his father was quite a stern man and would stick up for what he believed in. I got this impression after looking at the text as when talking about something he hates and how he would combat it he mentions how his father would. Meaning his father would stick up for his beliefs.

The Story of the Solar System

I was also keen to look at what made Patrick Moore and astronomer, he says in the script that from a young age he was handed a book at the age of 6 by his mother called 'The Story of the Solar System' by G.F Chambers, however he goes on to say how he was looking at the other children play and wanted to know their names yet looked up and learnt the names of the stars instead, this seems to give off the impression that Patrick Moore had quite a lonely childhood as he never interacted with other children, this may have been due to his father being stern and not letting him play with other kids. However in some ways this was a blessing as it showed him astronomy. Throughout the radio play I will imagine Patrick Moore's childhood in order to understand the experience he had before the time that this is set and to understand more about his relationship with his Father, Mother and the stars.


I am looking forward to doing the final version of this wonderful script and getting it recorded so I can make a good evaluation on areas of my voice that are weak.