My Monologue - What and Why?

Nov. 

This year we were to be assessed on monologues of our choice be it contemporary or classical, I had chosen the play 'Arcadia' by Tom Stoppard taking the role of Valentine for this contemporary piece. The play Arcadia revolves around the relationship of past and present and how it has changed over the years, the order and disorder of our current world and what was before. The play takes a hold of differing ideals from various characters and aspects of what interests them each, first starting in the year(s) 1809/12 and the present which at the time of production was 1993. It follows the tale of Thomsina Coverly whom is the teenager in the house fixated with math, nature as well as physics at an overly advanced level. Thomsina studies with her tutor who is found to be an acquaintance of an elusive guest within the house called Lord Byron, this then transitions into the present day in which we are introduced to two writers investigating different things from a straggler who lived on the grounds and the mystery that was Lord Byron. During this the character of Valentine Coverly is put forward known to be a post-grad in mathematical biology...

Upon reading the play through and through I was deeply fascinated with the direction the play took in regards to opening the readers up to a whole sector of mathematical and science-y terms and ideas, this to me interested me as I delve into science head first thinking on numerous theories and such differing concepts whatever they might be, expanding my knowledge really and truly and this play did so. Henceforth why I was adamant in deciding to take on this monologue for my review. And that I did putting on the mantle of Valentine Coverly for this assessment was an fantastic feeling for me as an actor transitioning into this specific character.

Valentine is seen as severely and overly interested in mathematics, his hunger for knowledge is superbly written and identified from the start of the play till the end. My attraction to this character was what led me to take on his monologue as we both shared that same hunger for knowledge (not the same that can be said for our skills in math) and taking that mindset and applying it to a character much older than I as well as holding more information than I did was a task I was prepared for. 

 VALENTINE: "The future is disorder. A door like this has cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. It's the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong."

It is in this first section of the monologue in which I realized that Valentine truly thirsts for the knowing, not being against the thought of failing nor going against the grain to find out what it is he wants. It is his determination and grit that makes this character all the more interestingly tailored.  Aside from his arrogance there lies more emotional carries in the monologue such as happiness, anger etc there are a multitude of ways one can go about his monologue as taking hold of Valentine's approach to the matter is a hard to mold until you finally understand what he means by his words and the complexity behind his thought process, identifying that was quite difficult at first but after going through it and jotting down my interpretations I hit the target in what I as Valentine was attempting to get across to my audience. 

Throughout my many tries with this particular monologue my peers had helped me adjust in terms of asking me questions on the piece i.e Why are you saying this? What emotions are going through you right now? What does this word mean and that word etc these allowed for a deeper understanding once I had gotten the pace and control over the piece as I sat down and wrote out these answers linking them to the questions feeling a sense of finalization. I had even tried the technique in which my tutor had given us in piling emotions into a hat or bucket and pulling them out performing them in that picked emotion, this gave the character differing tones and styles to the play once I took a hold of these randomized options which surprisingly enhanced my control over Valentine as I took the liberty of forming how he would react and act in many emotions making me more comfortable in the role.

Over the coming days through the month came our first feedback monologue session with Rob. During the talk he gave out personal feedback coupled with overall feedback for the majority, in terms of overall feedback Rob had said that we needed to be grounded in our speeches, actually "see" those who we are talking to and where they are, necessary movement and practice with different pitches and tones to see what fits. On a personal level when Rob was addressing me he had told me that I needed to take my time with it and pace myself as I had sped over some words and lost my grasp on the monologue for a moment, another thing he had mentioned was that I need to really feel the lasting sentences and fill them with emotion, how I as Valentine feels when speaking about something he holds an interest in. Taking the feedback on board I set to work on these flaws after lesson and up until the next day when I returned to college going over it yet again until I felt that it was at a level I was proud of. 

The next few days of preparation came the time of where we were to perform our monologues to a judge panel over at the Y.A.T, on the panel sat Rob, Shelly and someone whom we never met before named Nick. Nick was a well renowned actor within theater as well as the Y.A.T and as you could imagine it held some weight as we had never done this before as a group in front of each other towards another actor so the experience was quite exhilarating. Watching many of my friends go up and perform I cheered them on and listened to the panel's feedback as I awaited my turn which was met by an applause from the large audience of actors and dancers which pumped me up and gave me the ease I needed that calmed me, I came down to center stage and spoke on the play I was going to do and the character and there greatness begun. During the speech I had utilized the criticism in which Rob had given to me and felt the monologue flow incredibly well and complex which was what I was intending to go for, once I finished Nick arose to give feedback and when he did from what he said I was quite flabbergasted from his wordings. Nick had said the complexity of the character was really natural and could be felt, he also mentioned that voice was powerful and was well enunciated as well as being clear. I was said to have shown the thought process of the character and involve the audience immensely. Nick commented on my movement in the piece saying it was simple yet effective in helping me get my point across. As I was praised beyond belief I felt inclined to ask him to stop as if my head wouldn't get bigger already...bad joke? Alright. Tough crowd. In all seriousness I didn't get any negative feedback this time and this further showed me how much I had grown in terms of taking criticism and adapting to it within a matter of days.