Monologues

The Monologue that I performed on the Audition day was from Romeo and Juliet 'Tis torture and not mercy'. The reason I had picked this monologue goes back to the summer of 2018 when I was doing a Macbeth monologue 'To be thus is nothing'. I picked this Monologue from the Royal Central Schools choices of monologues. I thought that it would be not just challenging, but if done well, quite powerful and would make a great tragic classical piece. When I performed it to the teachers, they told me that it would be much better to try out a Romeo and Juliet monologue instead as Macbeth is a king and I am not, therefore I should try playing someone who is my age who I can understand. One other note I was given was the it is preferable not to perform a Soliloquy as Drama School would much rather see a Monologue when two characters are interacting. I later learnt from other teachers that it is subjective whether or not that kind of monologue should be performed. Using this advice I found the Tis torture and not mercy speech and began working on it. As I was part of a college production of Romeo and Juliet last year I have a very clear memory of the play and I use my memory, along side re-reading the play to quite clearly understand the scenario Romeo was in. When working on this material I made sure I looked for beats when the character's train of thought changes, tempo in that I was looking for parts where he would raise his voice or when he would slow down. For example when he says 'More validity, more honourable state, more courtship lives in Carrion flies than Romeo', here it is quite clear that Romeo is talking slowly and angrily as he compares himself to a fly. I had also learnt to not use too much energy in the first lines 'Tis torture and not mercy' as if I did use up a lot of energy and anger saying that, it would mean the rest of the monologue would have to go downhill energy wise, whereas the point is to raise it even higher at parts when he claims that these flies are free men. So I am constantly thinking about how I deliver the speech and how much Romeo wants to make an impact on the Friar to persuade him to bring Juliet and him together or to kill Romeo.Understanding of language was also key in performing my Monologue to the best of my ability, an example of this is Romeo's use of thou. Thou a lot of the time in Shakespearean English to used as an informal or friendly way of speaking to someone whereas you is formal and would be used if you were in a dispute etc. So when Romeo says 'how hast thou the heart' I know for sure I need to be saying this sincerely.

Performing my monologue to Nick was quite eye opening. He thought my monologue was great and it left a strong impression on him. He told me he could really feel Romeo’s frustration and the stage presence was strong. He also told me that he thought I was doing a soliloquy until Romeo questioned the Friar by asking a series of questions on the subject of him being banished. He told me that to make the monologue he even stronger that I should emphasise the word thou and that it shouldn’t be underplayed, this way it really feels like Romeo is having an intense and deep connection with the friar as the stakes are that Romeo will kill himself if he doesn’t get what he needs.