Shakespeare Monologue 1
 Title and Author

The title of the play I am playing the role of King John by William Shakespeare.

 Brief Synopsis
King John enters holding the hand of King Philip. Louis and Blanche follow then Eleanor, the Bastard, and Austria. King Philip announces that the great day of the wedding will become an annual festival. Constance appears to contradict King Philip, cursing the unfortunate and unlucky day when King Philip let his family be joined with John's instead of Arthur's. Philip tries to calm her down, but she accuses him of having treated her falsely; he swore to join her in defeating John's army, but now he has merged with John. Austria to tries to soothe her, but she curses him for having gone over to the other side; it is like to her they betrayed her. Cardinal Pandolf enters, arriving to speak on behalf of the Catholic pope. He turns to John and demands to know why he has barred the pope's chosen nominee from becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury. John replies that no Italian priest will tell him what to do in his kingdom, for he has the divine right to rule as he sees fit. Philip warns him against defying the church, but John rails against the meddling and corrupt powers of the Catholic Church. Pandolf announces that he will excommunicate John, and will celebrate any who go against John Constance is delighted and asks Pandolf to support her curses against John. Pandolf says his curses, unlike hers, are lawful; but she declares that if the law can't give her child the throne because John controls the law, then law is inadequate and cannot stop her from cursing John. Pandolf calls for Philip to let go of John's hand and set his forces against John's. Constance, Eleanor, the Bastard, and Austria all urge Philip with conflicting suggestions. Louis says that it is worse to break with Rome than to lose a friend in England. Philip remains silent throughout the discussion, revealing only that he is perplexed.

Genre and style of the play
the theme of the play is mainly histories.

Character you have chosen
King John Act 3 Scene 1: Lady Constance.

Lady Constance is the widow of Geffrey- King John's older brother and the mother of Arthur. Constance believes fiercely in her son Arthur's right to the throne. Indeed, she's obsessed by it. Constance is essentially powerless, however, and she must depend on allies such as the king of France, the duke of Austria, and Cardinal Pandulph. When she asserts Arthur's claim to the English crown, she represents the voice of conscience. Yet she is also proud and ambitious. There is strong evidence that she would be the power behind the throne if Arthur were king. Furthermore, Constance is frequently...

 

The appeal of the people that Shakespeare created

The most famous of playwrights, the plots range from comedy to tragedy and the great male and female comic and tragic characters who bring the plots and stories to life are the wonderful people that the great Bard created. Not only do we remember the stories but we remember the people - we all have our favourites. But the plays of William Shakespeare go even further - we actually recall exactly what an individual character says! How many of us can quote from movies that we have seen? There are a few. But not many! Compare these multi-million dollar movies to the plays of the Bard. Here are a few examples of why the works of the Bard live on for hundreds of years after they were written and why we can all relate to the picture that the character has painted and why the great, the good, the comic and the evil characters of William Shakespeare will never be forgotten:

"This above all: to thine own self be true" Hamlet quote (Act I, Sc. III)

"In my mind's eye". Hamlet quotation (Quote Act I, Scene II)

"Cry ' Havoc ' and let slip the dogs of war". Julius Caesar Quote (Act III, Sc. I)

" In the twinkling of an eye". The Merchant of Venice Quote Act ii. scene. 2

"The course of true love never did run smooth". A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quote (Act I, Scene I)

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Romeo and Juliet Quote ( Act II, Sc. II)

Love, hate, anger, revenge, prejudice, humour, jealousy, revenge, deceit - we can relate to all of the emotions and all of the people that the great Bard has given to us.

 

What appeals to me about this play?
What appealed and still appeals to me about the particular play is the story line. Especially the part of how Lady Constance is trying to contradict King Phillips whole day. Instead, of it being a happy annual festive day; she makes it an unfortunate and unlucky day for everybody else. The play intrigued me because it made me see and realise for myself how one individual can/could influence a lot of people on their overall look on a day by just their actions or verbal speech; it also shows that Lady Constance despite the fact that she is a woman had the courage to show a lot of authority; this is one of many reasons why I chose this play.

What appeals to you about this character?
The character’s speech really touched me and it got to me. ‘A Wicked day and not a holy day! ‘I have never played a character that is like an authoriser or any character that demands respect. I felt that she had a lot of authority(due to her presence) and was well respected and that’s a character I have not yet had experience of and thought it would be fun to do especially as its been done in Shakespearean.

Similarities

A similar feature or aspect, the similarities between the character I am playing the role of and I is that if we believe something; for instance, it could be anything like an opinion;  is wrong we won’t just let it slide we will say something about it. We also have strong personalities.

Differences

The state or condition of being dissimilar or unlike, differences between the character I am playing and I are that Lady Constance seems to appear quite distraught and depressed which has led to suicidal thoughts, me on the other hand have a lighter personality but in some way it helps because its gives me an equal balance and will help me when I do my monologue to give myself another scenario in my head and other options on saying it.

What is going to be the biggest challenge in playing this role?

As a young actor in training my biggest challenge would definitely have to be, for me, annunciation and clarity, also getting my tongue around the words as its still old English. Annunciations because my speech is quite know to be formal public speech.

What will I need to work on physically?
Physically I will have to approach the panel with confidence and stand firm, have clarity within in my voice and show that I have a purpose within my voice. Physically I would also have to be able to walk and stand the way

what will I need to work on vocally?

I feel that vocally I will need to really try my best to be clearer so that is when clarity comes into it. On the other hand I actually have to get used to taking in more breaths so it comes across as more ‘real and naturalistic‘. In contrast to this I need to work on my accent particularly

What will I need to work on emotionally?

In physiology, emotion is the generic term for subjective, conscious experience that is characterized primarily by psychophysiology emotions, biological reactions and mental states. Emotion is often associated and considered reciprocally influential with mood, temperament, personality and motivation etc, as well as influenced by hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenalin, serotonin, oxytocin and cortisol. Emotion is often the driving force behind motivation, positive or negative. The physiology of emotion is closely linked to arousal of the nervous system with various states and strengths of arousal relating, apparently, to particular emotions. Although those acting primarily on emotion may seem as if they are not thinking, cognition is an important aspect of emotion, particularly the interpretation of events. For example, the experience of fear usually occurs in response to a threat. Emotion is also linked to behavioural tendency.

Personally I know that emotionally I will need to connect with my character a lot. As I was reading the before and after scene of which I come into. I noticed that knowing the storyline was going to one: enable me to perform the scene with Lady Constance’s mind set so It’s like when I watch it I'll know what to do physically in much more depth and I'll know what kind of thought process to channel my brain to think like. In contrast to this I'll get a feel of what I should when I begin to play with the monologue much more and I will try to not make it look rehearsed but fresh by performing the monologue in different ways such as one day I’ll rehearse the piece fast and then another day I could it slowly but instead of being firm I could try to be less authorative.

Background research

The sort of back ground research I thought I needed to do was firstly to make a history for my character. Then find out why Shakespeare wrote the play in the first place and what he wanted people to understand or get from the play.

What impact should this piece have upon an audience?

The impact my performance should have on the audience is