Performance Evaluation

I feel my performance of my Ophelia monologue on the day of the audition was very success full and i am very pleased with the outcome and skills i have learnt from the experience working with Shakespearean texts.

On the day of the audition i was invited into a room containing the panel of where the director of the drama school was. It is very important to create an all round professional and rememberable experience for the panel as not only your performance but also presenting yourself as a person is very important! From the minute you walk into the audition doors the director needs to get the impression you are passionate, reliable and well prepared for your audition! This requires being confident and making a statement which will separate you from the hundreds of other actors the panel will see!

Before i entered the audition i felt very nervous, and obviously i was concerned this could effect my whole audition! It was very important to keep myself calm before i entered and i did this by doing a few simple exercises of the vocals just to make sure my voice was to the highest quality it could be. However when i got into my audition i certainly felt like i had relaxed presented myself in a very professional manor!

Firstly i began to introduce my monologue. This is where i discussed:

•  the monologue in itself
• the specific character i was playing
• Why i chose to perform this monologue
• How it was challenging:-communicating the meaning of the text, Iambic pentameter, Shakespearean language, vocal skills, my interpretation of the text.

Throughout my entire performance i feel like i created a good representation of the character Ophelia. This was definitely due to me exploring in depth into exactly the state of madness Ophelia was at when the monologue was performed in the play. I focused on the significance of the monologue significantly and thought about exactly how she would be feeling after being stunned bad Hamlets aggressive behaviour! When discussing a monologue and then performing it immediately after you need to ensure that your interpretations of the monologue fit the actual performance of the monologue! After discussing my views i made sure that i applied them to my performance to add clarity to the audition for the panel. This also shows a greater understanding therefor creating a passionate outcome.

I also feel like i used the space very well throughout the performance. Initially i struggled with this aspect as i was unsure the exact situations of things. During the rehearsal process i ensured i had mapped out everything in the location of the monologue and thought about the surrounding character. This was her father and i feel this has a strong importance in the monologue as Ophelia's emotions are expressed to him! This creates a lot of strong energy from the character as she is reacting to him. To ensure this is clear i envisioned the exact positioning of the father on the stage and used to the rest of the space to add emphasis on the fact Ophelia was experience a high amount of confusion. This included pacing around an using eye contact especially to create the feeling of her looking for hope in her and Hamlets relationship breakdown.

I felt like my vocal skills where effective as i was concerned that some of the Shakespearean vocabulary would be an issue as i had never worked with the style previously. During the rehearsal process i worked on this in great detail where i thoroughly analysed the monologue to ensure a full understanding of the text was present. This certainly gave me confidence in my performance and allowed my work more on building my character.

After i had finished my performance of the Ophelia monologue the director gave me the task of re performing the monologue but this time i had to thinking about the monologue at a later stage throughout the play. This would therefor mean that Ophelia's emotions and presence would be of a more intense standard containing a strong aspect of her madness. To present this in the performance i ensure i used the space even more that previously and i also emphasised the pace and tempo of the performance. This added panic and chaos to the emotions Ophelia was portraying! I also thought about vocals as this needed to reflect the panic she was feeling even more. I ensured i made the pauses more poignant and added a breathy undertone to show panic even more.

In conclusion i feel the whole audition process was very successful and here also during the rehearsal process i have gained alot of skills about classical texts. I feel as an actor i performed to my highest ability and standard and i look forward to working with Shakespearean texts in the future.

Challenges

When performing Shakespeare some challenges occurred during the rehearsal process, this included:

• Communicating the meaning of the text
• working with Shakespearean language
• My interpretation

Monologue Discussion

To develop out rehearsal process we decided to have a brief discussion to the rest of the group. This allowed use to gain a variety of feedback from our group member enabling us to improve our performance technique but also become familiar about discussing the monologues out loud as this is what we will need to do during the real audition.

I firstly discussed why the monologue is appropriate for me:

• I have previously studied Hamlet it a great deal of depth during my GSCE's-This means i am familiar with the characters and story looking at certain themes in the play
• Ophelia is at the centre of the tragedy where she eventually is the consequence of her own death. This allows me to make my own interpretation of Ophelia rising action and her state of emotions in the particular monologue.
• Ophelia is a young character-Very important and appropriate as i suit the physical appearance of the character creating an believable character.
• I feel my own personal emotional response would be stronger doing this character due to my acting style being more featured on playing emotionally charged character. This is due to personal experiences and having the ability to feature emotional charge into my performances

Next i discussed Ophelias character and journey throughout the performance and how my specific monologue should be performed due to the given circumstance.

After the monologue i was given some feedback, this included:

• Introduce the monologue more-After thinking about the given circumstance and realising that there would be great heights of tension after she had just been threatened by hamlet i figured that Ophelia would be in a state of almost panic! This needed to be present and obvious in my monologue. I could involve this by having Ophelia perhaps pacing around more and involving heavy breathing.
• Think about the given circumstances more-To make the performance more realistic i decided that during the monologue Ophelia's father would be present in the room. The given the monologue charge and would change the way it is performed! To help me develop this i performed the monologue with another person acting as the father. This helped me also realise the physical space!
• Expressing emotion-The aim of this monologue i feel that Ophelia is showing realisation. This need to show clarity to the audience so they understand exactly how Ophelia is feeling at the present time! I will portray this by adding subtle pauses and almost stuttering of words. This emphasis the fact that she is overwhelmed and is realising all her emotion to her father.
• Emphasised panic-To highlight this factor i need to place myself in the given circumstances and think about how i would feel
• Emphasised passion-To be a successful performance i feel i need to let the monologue be influenced by my own personal response! This included adding subtle hints of different emotions. Firstly anger, this is important to show Ophelia's desperation for wanting a male to guide her in life. Also adding a hint of unstableness into the monologue would be significant as eventually the play evolves to Ophelia's own death due to madness.

Ophelia's Timeline throughout Hamlet

1.3- Polonius and Laertes tell Ophelia that Hamlet just wants to sleep with her, and that she should break up with him. He's out of her league.

1.3- Ophelia agrees when her father Polonius orders her to stop seeing Hamlet

2.1- Ophelia emotionally tells Polonius about Hamlet showing up all crazy-like in her room. She develops throughout the monologue to realise that her father was right all along about Hamlet.

2.3- In a situation set-up by her father, Ophelia talks to Hamlet for the first time in weeks. He is cold, tells her he didn't love her, and then says, "Get thee to a nunnery." Ophelia thinks hes gone totally mad and is justifiably upset by his behaviour.

3.2- Hamlet sits next to Ophelia during the production of his play and continually makes dirty and insulting jokes directed at her. She tries to keep her cool however tension in increasing.

4.5- Ophelia wanders the stage acting insane, singing explicit songs and yelling incoherent comments at Gertrude and Claudius. When her brother comes in, she responds by throwing around some more flowers.

4.7- Gertrude announces that Ophelia had drowned whilst picking flowers. It was said to be suicide.

Character Profile

Ophelia:
Age- 16 Aprox.

Ophelia is a well known character in the story Hamlet for her journey where her young and naive personality. Ophelia becomes particularly significant throughout Hamlet as she grows to become mad and disturbed due to suffering from grief for her lover Hamlet this emotionally charged story ends in the tragedy of Ophelia being the consequence of her own death which was questioned to be suicide as she downed in the river whilst innocently picking flowers. Ophelia has the potential to become a tragic heroine, instead she crumbles to insanity, becoming merely tragic. Ophelia also plays the role in the portrayal of women at that specific time in history and Shakespeare's attitude towards women! Ophelia is to also show Hamlets warped view of women as callous sexual predator, and the innocence and virtue of women.

Many people have a stereotypical view of the character Ophelia throughout the play but i feel after reading the whole play context and studying the story in depth during my GCSE English that i feel although Ophelia may not be as important character as Hamlet or Gertrude for example but her role is very significant character throughout the play!

My interpretation of Ophelia i hope will show clarity in my performance. I feel she is a complexed character who at such a young age is only destiny to be happy with her true love Hamlet. She initially feels he is the one who can give her guidance through life but my specific monologue shows her realisation where he is not what she initially though he was.

Character Development-Ophelia

When first reviewing the monologue and the historical context of the play as to where to monologue was situated in the play i was faced with some concerns as to the style of acting i would want to portray to the audience regarding Ophelia's physical state whether she would be experience the rising action towards her resulting to madness.

After looking at the whole play context i discovered that this particular section of the plot was during the earlier days where Ophelia was first experiencing Hamlets changing personality which also eventually lead him towards madness as well as herself.

I felt like as an actor i didn't want to portray and almost 'steriotypical' view of Ophelia. This is normally her being concerned as always experiencing madness due to grief of her relationship with hamlet. As an actor i wanted to reinforce my personal response to the character. I feel a deep sadness towards Ophelia as all she needs is a suitable male for her to look up too and give her guidance through life.

My emotional response of Ophelia i hope will be clear in the audition as i want to show an in depth and mainly believable representation of Ophelia for the panel. This will involve her almost discovering the realisation of herself realising that her father was right all along about Hamlet. As her father Polonious is situated next to her in the room throughout the monologue i want to relate to this character and use imagination so therefor this will emphasis a developed believable experience.

After the realisation of how i wanted to perform the character Ophelia i needed to then develop these idea creating an end result of a character which will be bold and striking which the audience  will there for be able to easily not only sympathise but mainly emphasis with her lengthy journey throughout the play where eventually this results in the consequences of her own death.

My Classical Monologue

He took me by the wrist and held me hard;

Then goes he to the length of all his arm,

And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,

He falls to such perusal of my face

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so.

At last, a little shaking of mine arm,

And thrice his head thus waving up and down,

He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound

As it did seem to shatter all his bulk

And end his being. That done, he lets me go,

And with his head over his shoulder turn'd

He seem'd to find his way without his eyes,

For out o' doors he went without their help

And to the last bended their light on me.