17.05.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

 BETTE FINAL PERFORMANCE

06.05.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

CORDELIA REHEARSALS

CORDELIA FINAL PERFORMANCE

03.05.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

 CORDELIA MONOLOGUE PRACTICE

This is my practice for Cordelia's monologue from the play King Lear by William Shakespeare.  I thought the monologue would last longer, so I will need to add some more on and take more breaks in order for it to be 1 minute and 30 seconds long.  I will also be learning my lines for my next rehearsal.

29.04.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

 BETTE MONOLOGUE PRACTICE

This was my practice for Bette's monologue in The Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang.  I really like playing this character as a ditsy girly girl and I think this rehearsal went very well.

28.04.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

The Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang

Bette's monologue

The Marriage of Bette and Boo Synopsis

The Marriage of Bette and Boo follows the zany, turbulent, heartbreaking marriage of Bette Brennan and Boo Hudlocke. Bette and Boo marry and set about having the large, happy family that Bette always dreamed of. The arrival of their first son, Matt, is soon overshadowed by a succession of stillborns. Bette is heartbroken. Boo starts to drink; Bette starts to nag. Amongst the chaos fighting, both must deal with their wacky families: Bette’s mother and father, who suffered a stroke and now speaks in unintelligible gibberish; Boo’s sadistic father, fond of calling his long-suffering wife “the dumbest woman in the world”; Bette’s sister, ridden with anxiety and constantly apologizing for everything; the family priest, fond of impersonating bacon. Playwright Christopher Durang’s most autobiographical work, The Marriage of Bette and Boo finds humor and compassion in unhappiness, as Matt comes to terms with the love - and pain - that families are made of. 

Scene Synopsis

In this monologue, Bette, who is on her honeymoon with Boo, tells the audience what she was like as a child, how she traumatized her sister, how she had almost had an affair with a married man, and how she met Boo on the rebound.

Character

Bette is a really enthusiastic and funny character.  In order to get the laughs out of the audience, I will really need to practice my comedic timing, as this is a huge part of the monologue.  I will also play her slightly naïvely.  

28.04.2021 - Film and TV acting - Mrs Williams

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

We watched our final episode today and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I'm really grateful that we really pushed during the pre-production and filming, because it looks amazing.  During the filming process, I struggled to focus on the filming process as well as the acting.  I didn't realise that I'd try to put my effort into filming and directing as well as acting.  As a media studies students, I think that I wanted to take a fair bit of control over the filming and the directing, as I had already envisioned what I wanted it to look like and forgot about the acting. 

In the first kitchen scene, I was directed to show more of the sibling relationship between Rachel and Dylan.  I wasn't originally laughing like a sister would when her brother got in trouble, so I changed the way that I was teasing him.  I think if I were to do this scene again, and something I noticed throughout the episode, was that i didn't have enough diction.  I feel like I stumbled on quite a lot of my words, however, I don't think the final episode was too bad, but it could have been more articulated.  In this same scene, I was directed to switch my emotions quickly from teasing Dylan to being upset about thinking that Ken was wanting a family meeting to be mean to Cuckoo.  I needed to show the realisation in my facial expression, which I believe I effectively portrayed.

One scene I really struggled with was the scene where Cuckoo is washing potatoes.  I struggled to portray the love that Rachel has for Cuckoo.  I was directed to look at him with more love, which I struggled to do but I eventually managed it.  I can really tell my units and objectives when looking at the final piece.

Something I picked up from the show, which influenced my acting, was in the family meeting scene.  When Cuckoo mentions making love to Rachel, my initial thought would be that she would be embarrassed, but the show makes it look as if she's blushing over Cuckoo.  I think that this dynamic of Rachel being a 'good girl' is then shifted after she has gone away for her gap year.  

Another issue I felt I was struggling with during the process was naturalism.  I find that acting in front of a camera is a lot harder than acting on a stage in front of people, as you're stopping and starting over & it loses the naturalism.  I got a lot of help throughout in ways to combat this, like units and objectives so I'm thinking about what the character wants.  For example, during the family meeting, my objective for the line, "Dad, did you know about my kiss with the French exchange?" was to prove Lorna wrong and check as I was suspicious of her.  The audience would be able to read this subtext through my facial expressions portraying doubt.

Overall, this was all a learning curve for me.  I realised during this process that film and TV acting is quite challenging, which I think could be resolved if I wasn't as focused on other things going on, like the shot types and angles.  Having said that, I'm so happy with the result and I thought it was hilarious!

26.04.2021 - Auditions for Actors - Mrs Williams

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Cordelia's monologue

King Lear Synopsis

Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her father’s blessing.

Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise.

Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he heads out onto the heath.

When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has also been brought.

In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril, whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.

The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.

Scene Synopsis

The play begins with two noblemen, Gloucester and Kent, discussing the fact that King Lear is about to divide his kingdom. Their conversation quickly changes, however, when Kent asks Gloucester to introduce his son. Gloucester introduces Edmund, explaining that Edmund is a bastard being raised away from home, but that he nevertheless loves his son dearly.

Lear, the ruler of Britain, enters his throne room and announces his plan to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. He intends to give up the responsibilities of government and spend his old age visiting his children. He commands his daughters to say which of them loves him the most, promising to give the greatest share to that daughter.

Lear’s scheming older daughters, Goneril and Regan, respond to his test with flattery, telling him in wildly overblown terms that they love him more than anything else. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest (and favorite) daughter, refuses to speak. When pressed, she says that she cannot “heave her heart into her mouth,” that she loves him exactly as much as a daughter should love her father, and that her sisters wouldn’t have husbands if they loved their father as much as they say (1.1.90–91). In response, Lear flies into a rage, disowns Cordelia, and divides her share of the kingdom between her two sisters.

The earl of Kent, a nobleman who has served Lear faithfully for many years, is the only courtier who disagrees with the king’s actions. Kent tells Lear he is insane to reward the flattery of his older daughters and disown Cordelia, who loves him more than her sisters do. Lear turns his anger on Kent, banishing him from the kingdom and telling him that he must be gone within six days.

The king of France and duke of Burgundy are at Lear’s court, awaiting his decision as to which of them will marry Cordelia. Lear calls them in and tells them that Cordelia no longer has any title or land. Burgundy withdraws his offer of marriage, but France is impressed by Cordelia’s honesty and decides to make her his queen. Lear sends her away without his blessing.

Goneril and Regan scheme together in secrecy. Although they recognize that they now have complete power over the kingdom, they agree that they must act to reduce their father’s remaining authority.

Character

King Lear is set in the 17th Century. Women wouldn’t speak their opinion in this era as they could get punished for it, which is what happens in this play. Cordelia stands up for herself in front of her father which leaves her disowned. I will play this with confidence but with fear.