Working on and refining audition speeches

 2 October.  So far I sadly haven't met my current learning target, despite reading through  the Piece and practicing it. One good bit of feedback was to not swallow words, and to make the character's anger more real. It doesn't have to be louder, only deeper and more real.   9 October. When I went in jo the class on Thursday, I thought that I had not learnt anything, as it was not staying in my brain. However, Cara gave me one word prompts and I had learnt so much. Sadly, there was no expression but this is  okay as I had not fully learnt it, by any means. Since then, I've been reading and practicing the script and I hope by next lesson I will have improved.   7 November. Today I did my monologue about 4 times. I am finally managing to remember all the words, but there are a few areas where I need prompting, mainly in the first bit. We were looking at ways to move the piece forward. From now on, I will use a chair as a prop, to express the character's emotions. For example, I could sit on it, stand behind it, stand beside it. It can be a guide to show the variety of emotions Charlie is showing. I will practica with my chair in my room, so that I can adapt to this kind of technique.

14 November.  This week, I kept practising my piece with no script.  I used a chair, and practised different positions of my body.  I sometimes start sitting and then stand, or sometimes I will go from standing behind the chair, to sitting, to standing in front of the chair.  I feel I can express my character very well, and put emotion into the piece.  I can understand my character and what she is going through, and I can portray her well.  I can also outline her background story.  This is good because the more familiar I am, the more natural I will be able to act.  I think now, the main target is to focus on remembering those phrases which I mix up a bit.

22 November.  This week was very much the same as last week.  We were going to do a fake audition interview, as if I was applying to RADA.  However, I was not well on Monday so I missed this.

30 November.  This week, I did actually carry out my audition interview.  I felt very confident as I am good at speaking to people.  One thing that was not right was the fact that I leant forward which I shouldn't do.  I had to redo the interview as it was accidentally deleted from the flip, and I was able to take these comments on board.  I also did my piece again, and I feel that I am almost at performance standard.

15 January: This week we spent most of the time going over our speeches.  With mine, we investigated the movements with a chair, and how I could walk in.  In this monologue, my character is frustrated and angry, so the way I move is important.  I tried moving from the door, and pretending to open and close a door but I found the gesture hard.  We also did an interview for Rada, which was useful as it helped us understand how an audition would work.  I did my piece, and this was followed up with feedback, such as try to perfect movements.

22 January: This week, we did character hotseats, where we could ask questions to each other about our characters.  I had to explain Charlie's childhood, and I also had to talk about her frustrations with her parents.  This put the role into perspective for me.  It made me understand what it felt like to be inside my character.

29 January: This week we kept practising our monologues, and we also did an improv based on our characters.  We were in a library and at the horse races, and my character, being very modern and quite young for her age, was very eager and asked a lot of characters, as she wants to see the world as the playwrite indicates.  as the only modern day character, this was very interesting.

14 February: On 30 January, we were about to go to a theatre in Brecon, where we had a tour of the workspaces, the theatre, and were told a lot about the way it works there.  In the afternoon, we were able to do our monologues.  I was not nervous, but I deffinately wanted to do my best.  I think it went well, and despite the fact that I was in a new space, I navigated very well and as able to manage movement without letting it hinder the power of my words.  It was very helpful hearing from Martin, the CEO of the theatre, and seeing his reaction to our pieces.  He said mine was emotional and was very well done.  I feel that since my first year of the course, my insight into a character, and understanding of the components of a piece have really improved.

 https://youtu.be/62hkxs34bUI

This was the monologue that I performed  at the theatre.