Double - As you Like it monologue analysis

This is Jaques monologue in the Shakespeare comedy, 'As you like it'. I've gone onto the Internet and was able to find a website which translates Shakespearean language into modern language. I then found the right section of the play in which thekmolgue is given and I have then written down what the translation is next to the monologue. I believe that this will help learn the monologue as it gives me a better understanding on what is being said. 

Double - Writing in character (Jaques)

So I wondered off in the woods and I bumped into this complete and utter fool! He was rather magnificent though, I must say. He suddenly made me think about time. And how one hour you're young and full of energy etc, then the next it's like that part is worn away and is rotting away. Like i had never realised it but I mean, how wonderful. What a wondeful kind of fool this man is, what a glorious day.

Double - DNA, Richard in role writing prt 2

I never really used to like Phil. I mean for god sakes he left me with Brian. He told me to take him to the police station to make up a false accusation. That has ruined that poor mans life. Like sure i'm glad that they never found out about Adam him being killed by Brian but part of me wishes that the truth was out. It's slightly inhumain and Adam was a nice guy. It's just a shame that it's affected Phil so much, he came up with the idea and I just think he beats himself up for it. It was his idea for sure, however it wasn't his fault that everything went up and completly went wrong.

Double - the right plays for me

This is a photo of how I was able to select the right monologue to practice. This is the like the elimination process as such. What I done was found 6 (As you like it wasn't included at this stage) monologues from plays or musicals and done a process of:

1.) Age (how old the character is)

2.) Gender ( the gender of the character)

3.) Strength (does it fit any of my strengths?)

4.) Places (do the university's I study accept these as plays)

In the end, I decided that Richard's monologue at the end of the play would be a good piece to do as I know the play rather well and it also meets most of the criteria.

I then chose 'As you like it' because it is something that one of my university's were looking for and asking people to prepare for as an audition. It also met my criteria as it is a Shakespeare comedy and one of my strengths is a silly type of comedy so I instantly decided that it would be an interesting piece to do. However as much as I'm good at comedy, I don't like Shakespeare that much. But by doing this I believe that it shows that I'm willing to try a piece that I don't like. 

Double - As you like it plot summary

These are the notes that I have made for the plot summary of 'As you like it'. I decided to make this plan as I've never really studied the play before however by doing this, I can learn the basic events that take place and also I get to know the characters.

Double - DNA Researching the script.

In this photo, I have re-typed the dialogue that Richard uses in this monologue. I have highlighted the words that he says and then made annotations around different parts in which I think will help me get into the character of Richard. For example, I have annotated the location or the beginning of the scene as I believe as an actor you need to know the setting and location as it is rather crucial to the story. I've also drew a bubble on the first page and wrote the names and key words that link with the names. This is to help me remember what Richard says people are up to and what they are doing in the current day. 

Double - As you Like it Reasearch

For my research, I was able to find this video on YouTube and it gives a good analysis of the character 'Jaques' who gives the monologue, but also gives a summary of the entire play which is good as it gives you the knowledge of what happens in the play up to the point in which the monologue begins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiTbr7rSnWU

Double - As you like it

"A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
A motley fool; a miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool;
Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
'Good morrow, fool,' quoth I. 'No, sir,' quoth he,
'Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.'
And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says very wisely, 'It is ten o'clock;
Thus may we see,' quoth he, 'how the world wags:
'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
And so, from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot,
And thereby hangs a tale.' When I did hear
The motley fool thus moral on the time,
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
That fools should be so deep-contemplative,
And I did laugh sans intermission
An hour by his dial. O noble fool! A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear."


The Shakespeare play "As you like it" is a classical comedy and a play that the university I wish to attend would like to see in this years auditions. Personally I believe that I would have a good chance at doing this as it's genre is a comedy however, I do really struggle with Shakespeare a lot of the time and am personally not a big fan of his work. 

Double - Writing in role (Richard, DNA)

I feel like I'm the only one trying to get Phil to come back down. Everything has changed so much since the whole Adam situation. Everything was fine. We had it all planned out and then it fell apart so easily and so quickly. And now look at whats happened. I just can't bare to see Phil in this state that he is in all the time. He doesn't eat. He doesn't speak. He just sits there, staring into the distance and it hurts to see how someone who once was like some sort of leader has now gone to a nobody. I just want for Phil to come back and be the person he once was. 

Double - We Will Rock You

This is the monologue for the character of Pop in We Will Rock You. It's the first bit of dialogue in the play and is fairly interesting an engaging. Personally I feel that I would like to do this monologue as it seems prettyt taught forward and easy to learn, also I like the musical and have a strong knowledge on what happens after this monologue. However one thing I am worried about if I do choose this for an audition piece, is the fact that I don't know how I would do the voice of Pop as he's a bit like a hippie and I'm unsure of my ability to do that. 

Double - The Forigner

Don't tell me you've never seen a knife. Knife. That's a knife. Use it to cut things. Cut things. (Mimes) Like - ham. If we had some ham. Or bacon, or sump'm. I can't believe you don't -. (Looks around for help. There is none.) Or butter. If we had some butter, you could use it to spread it on - . You don't really need it. No, you don't need it. (Demonstrating.) Put it down.
Bad Uh - . (Charlie now holds a spoon.) Yeah, now that's your spoon. Use that to put sugar in your coffee, if you had some sugar, here. And you had some coffee - shoot. I don't really know why we got all these things. But your fork - man, I wish somebody else'd help you with this, 'cause I don't know anything, but - I think that your fork - your fork'd be the main thing you'd use. 'Cause you got your eggs, and you got your grits. Y'see? Eat 'em with a fork, just like we been doin'. Can - you - say - 'fork'? 'Faw-werk'? 'Faw-werk.' Two parts. 'Faw-werk.' . . . Right. Put 'em together. 'Faw-werk' . . .Good! That was great!'

I think that this monologue would be good for me as it is suppose to be a comedy and with the right accent and movement, I believe that I could pull it off. However, I don't actually know this play and I'm not too clear on what's happened so far.  

Double - Dna

This is Richards monologue from the play 'Dna'. Richard has gone through a lot of hastle to try and make sure that the 'mysterious death' of their friend Adam is kept as low as possible as the group of friends are responsible for his death. Richard is threatened by John Tate towards the beginning of the play and shortly after is told to look after Brian who is emotionally unstable and is mental. Richard then talks to his friend Phil who is haunted by the events that have taken place and in result he just sits there in the woods looking in one direction all day. I think that this would be a good monologue for me to do as it's pretty straight forward and also it can be told in many different ways.

Double - A mid summer night's dream

Thou speak’st aright.

I am that merry wanderer of the night.

I jest to Oberon and make him smile

When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,

Neighing in likeness of a filly foal.

And sometime lurk I in a gossip’s bowl

In very likeness of a roasted crab,

And when she drinks, against her lips I bob

And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.

The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale

Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me.

Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,

And “Tailor!” cries, and falls into a cough,

And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,

And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear

A merrier hour was never wasted there.

But, room, fairy! Here comes Oberon.

This is the monologue from Shakespeare's "A mid summer night's dream". In this part, Puck, Oberon's assistant is telling his rival fairies about how his friendship with his King and how he jokes about. Personally I believe that this monologue isn't really for me as I find it hard to read and act Shakespeare, however for universities it would be good to have as it shows a change in time eras of performing arts.  

Double - jatb part 4

Once Jack reaches the top of the bean stalk, he can see a massive castle in the distance. He's unsure on how to get there so he asks a stranger who is waiting for a sky bus. When Jack asks on how to get to the castle, the stranger warns him about how dangerous the castle is because it has a big giant. The stranger then asks Jack if he is new there. When Jack says yes the stranger cheers and call on other residents on the sky and they sing and dance him a song based on the sky.

The song is from the first Shrek film and we tried to make that but rather funny and hope that younger children would get the refrance. When rehearsing and performing the song, I tried to be melodramatic as I could as it needs to be as over the top as it can because the audience can feel this strong energy coming from the song and dance and therefore finding it a bit funny.

Double - jatb part 3

At the end of the market scene, Jack trades the beans for his cow, his best friend. When he gets in he is told off by his mother and is forced to clean up and go to bed, as he slept the beanstalk began to grow. When he woke up it was ready for him to climb. Before Jack climbs it, we get the audience to say 'climb that stalk' as a type of chant. This is a good use of interaction with the audience as it gets them engaged with the story and also makes them feel involved with Jack. 

Double - Jatb park 2

For when Jack had to take his best friend (the cow) into the market, I was thinking of how people would approach you in busy market places and also what kind of objects that they sell. As this is a fairy tale, I thought that whatever my object may be, it should be magical, so it would seem normal. The market that I thought of in which I thought would be a good idea to use as a type of stimuli is the market place in Camden, located in London. I thought of it as its a very busy area and also there is a huge divers culture there. Many different objects and valuables are bought or sold there in a day. It was ther perfect location to try and recreate.

Just after the market place scene, the bean man and Jack exchange some dialogue which results in Jack taking the magical beans (which he doesn't think are real once he gets home). However once Jack decides to take the beans, we came up with a dance to show the excitement of Jack, all because of his magical beans.

Double - Jack and the Beanstalk (Jatb) part 1

Our last and final story is Jack and the Beanstalk. For this story I am the narrator and also I am random characters that appear in and out of the story. When narrating this story in my head I had a Morgan Freeman type of narrating style which I think tried to add American accents and a deep voice to. Eventually as a group we decided that it would be easier and more replicant to narrate in an American accent. It was decide as the we wanted the dialogue to be as clear as possible for the young children. 

For the introduction we set the scene by having people doing farming activities. For example Freya's character was picking fruit from trees and handing it to people. As originally the narration was going to be pre recorded, I thought of a character that I could have played whilst the narration was going on. I thought of a 50 year old man who was plowing his potato field on a hot and sweaty day. By doing a repeating motion and pulling the right facial expressions, I believe that the audience would have understood who the character was. 

Double - Childrens Theatre resech

Is one of the very few drama companies that produce and perform for children. Polka Theatre was originally opened in 1979 (36 years ago). It has as many as 90,000 child audiences that come to see the performances per year, in many cases introducing many children to the world of theatre.

“Polka strives to stir the emotions, spark the imagination and, most of all, entertain.”.

- http://www.polkatheatre.com/editorial/about-us (Polka Theatre’s website)

The theatre company seem very dedicated and very determined to interest young children so that hopefully one day those children can be performing on a stage. It’s rather interesting to see how many children go to the theatre in a year and also how many children can be inspired by the theatre that they see at Polka.

In the theatre there are two performing spaces, the main theatre and also the adventure theatre. The Adventure theatre is there so that younger children (3– 6) have a pleasant introduction to theatre and also that they feel comfy watching the performers.

“Our mission is to spark the imagination and fuel a sense of discovery in children from every background. We do this through thrilling world-class theatre and a creative programme of learning, in a welcoming and stimulating environment.”

This goes to show that Polka have such a huge determination and a huge goal to interest the younger generations and I think that it’s good to see that there are companies that exist today that allow children to be interested at such young ages. Personally I think this because I didn’t go to anything like this when I was younger and I believe that the more successful the company is then the more they are allowing younger people to become intrigued with the industry.

Double - Goldilocks part 4

One way we made this appealing to the audiene is by changing the narrator half way through and turned it into  game show styled scene in which the audiene have to guess what size the bed is, wheater it is too high, too low or just right. To make it appealing to the audience I would put on an a cheesey american accent and try to be as over the top as possible. I would also ask members of the audience what bed they think is behind the sheet which would keep them engaged with the piece. The purpsose of having this small scene inbetween is because it's different to what we have done in our other two stories and it could make the audience feel as if they are apart of the story meaning that we are breaking the fourthwall.

Double - Goldilocks part 3

So far I think that as a team we have worked very well together and we have remained focused throughout the whole task. It has been challenging as it is very difficult to plan out silhouettes and we may not have remained fully focused but we all have always paid attention to what we are doing and we have always discussed and shared our ideas together.