The Student Room Group

Any actors here?

I need your help. I'm currently doing A level drama and i kinda feel like i'm a bad actor...
What makes you say that??
All the world's a stage...
Reply 3
Plenty of these meffs are pretending.
What is A-level drama like? Is it easy? Do you need to take an exam or something?
Original post by Lord Nutter
What is A-level drama like? Is it easy? Do you need to take an exam or something?


That probably depends on the exam board. I'm doing AQA and we have a 3 hour exam at the end on 2 set texts and a live performance we have seen.
I enjoy acting and have done quite a few (different) things. Happy to help.:smile:
:eek: NO WAY!
Because TSR totally exists in Game of Thrones.:rolleyes: Still don't believe you.:tongue:
Reply 9
I also do A level drama. If you feel like your acting is bad, then you can have the exam and coursework to boost your grades. Idk how it is for your exam board but for me, the exam is the majority of our grade
Reply 10
Contemporary or Shakespeare?
Reply 11
I would say that with monologues, reading the whole play is important to understand that character and their role in it. Changing your physicality in some way really helps you become your character. One technique is Lecoq’s animalism. You pick an animal that best suites your character. Then there’s 5 stages. At stage 5 you’re completely your animal and as you go to stage 1, you’re human but what’s meant to happen is that you keep certain mannerisms that would be associated with that animal.

Another technique which I learnt from my NYT audition is to think of the thoughts of your character. Once you have the thought, you will naturally act in a certain way, rather than have a set way of acting an emotion.
To learn them or deliver them? or both?
I find the interesting thing about monologues, compared to lines of dialogue, is that with dialogue the character's purpose is very clear. With a monologue, there is no single purpose to the character saying that.

Yes they want to get it off their chest, to hink aloud and let their thoughts wander. But it's mostly a device used by playwrights to explain something to the audience. Or show deeper, private feelings within a character.

Stresses and pauses are crucial. Choose the phrases which best sum up the character and how they are feeling, and emphasise those on delivery. Give a little pause after those bits so the audience understands it.

Monologues tend to be directed one of three ways.
- Either to a character not on stage, possibly a dead character, someone person who the actor could be speaking to in their own mind.
- To themselves. This might come across as telling yourself to do something. An internal conflict. At this point you're not concerned with anyone else on stage. Pausing is the most interesting thing here since its where the character is at their most unsure or insecure: they don't even know what to say to themselves.
- To the audience. Often a character would address a monologue out to the world. The verbal version of Twitter. This is where the emphasis of certain phrases is crucial.

Movement is an interesting one. If you're directing most of your words to the audience. Move. Engage with different parts of the audience. Make eye contact. You're often letting them into your soul.

If the monologue is directed towards yourself, I'd suggest moving a lot less. Or where you do Move, have a feeling that you're restricted in your movement because in this monogue you're trapped inside your own mind.

If the monologue is directed to someone else, where are they? If they are dead are they in the sky? Or are they a body on the floor. Or is it their ghost that you can see? You're welcome to place them behind or in he middle of the audience, just pick a spot and remember that the lines targeted towards that person, fire them in that direction.



(This is all my opinion.)
I Feel this issue comes up quite a lot around here...its a matter of not trying to look for the perfect monolouge but isto do enough reasearch on the monoluge youre doing. You would want to find a monolouge you find interesting fun or intriuging as you are more likley to try and empathise more and will be more motivated.

Sorry for the late reply.

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