Evaluation

When I performed my monologue to the audition panel I think I used my body gestures and movement well to emphasise my emotions and to to show the audience where I was. By folding my arms and pacing about, looking stage left continuously and pointing in that direction showed the audience that I was angry and jealous, also it showed that I was on my own as I kept pointing to the distance to show I was talking about somebody after they left. This came across in my performance as in my feedback I was told that it was a believable realistic performance.
I also showed my emotions through my voice. Because I knew the translation well. It gave me a better understanding of what each line meant and how she was feeling. So I used this knowledge to show through my vocals that she was jealous and angry.
There is a change in moods towards the end of my monologue and because there is only two mood in this piece I wanted to make sure that it was noticeable to the audience when the change in mood was. I did this by uncrossing my arms, pacing slightly more around the space to show I was planning. I also stopped looking stage left. To show I was focused on my plan and not them. I showed a more excited expression on my face to show that I was excited for my plan and to show that my character thought it was a good plan.
Overall I think I showed a good understanding of the monologue through my emotions, diction and by using the space around me effectively in my performance. This showed the audience that I knew what I was saying and the right emotions to go along with it.

I then got told I had to perform the monologue again, but this time I had to pretend I was a typical teenage girl in her bedroom. I decided to do my monologue on the floor to show I was sitting on a bed in my bedroom and I was writing in my diary instead of referencing to someone. I also acted out throwing the diary half way through my monologue to show I was a typical teenage girl throwing a tantrum because she didn't get her way. I also made my tone more winey and high pitched to get across that I was a stereotypical teenage girl. I also crossed my arms and legs, showing that I was moody and angry. I also made my movement a lot more sharp to emphasise my anger. I also made sure I didn't move from the bed because I also want to show that she is still quite vulnerable and upset because her 'boyfriend' has just left her for someone else. I also made sure my vocals were projected more making sure I was shouting at some points to show the tantrum of a teenage girl.
I think I showed my emotion well in this performance though my vocal and physical skills. I think I also used different parts of the monologue well to show different states of tension and emotion.

Exercises

Tempo, Emotion and Action: We walked around the room reading our monologue and whenever we got to any type of punctuation we would stop, turn 90 degrees and keep walking until we go to the next bit of punctuation. By doing this it gave us an idea of the pace of the monologue and where the tense bits where in our monologue and where the climatic bits where. For example my monologue starts off with lots of commas and full stops. This implies that my character is angry and jealous, then towards this middle there is less punctuation as my character is reflecting on what love is. By doing this exercise is showed my the tempo my piece could be performed at and the different types of emotions along with it.
We then walked around the room again, but before we walked we read the line in our head, picked out an important word then walked saying the line and did an exaggerated action to this important word. By doing this it gave us an understanding of where the important word where is the monologue and we should pick up on these words and emphasise them in our performance, not as exaggerated though.

Forum Theatre: I performed my monologue to the class and they gave me feedback on what I did well in the performance and what could do with improvement. They said my diction was good and projection, I think this came across well because I made sure I knew how to pronounce each word before I did the performance. An area to improve on was instead of talking to the audience I should also refer to the people i'm talking about. So when I performed it again I kept looking stage left to show the audience that the person who I was talking about was over there. I also got told that I could show a bit more jealousy in my emotion at the beginning of the monologue. When performing it again I crossed my arms showing I was angry at them and jealous and I also raised my voice higher than the previous performance to show my characters mood.

Iambic Pentameter

Usually in Shakespeare's writing he has ten syllables in each line, by stressing every alternative syllable it gives us a better understanding of the text and what should be emphasised in each line. 

E.g duh-DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH duh DUH

How happy some o'er other some can be!

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.

He will not know what all but he do know.

And as he errs, doting on Hermia’s eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities.

By highlighting these specific words/syllables, it gave me a better understanding of the characters mood in this monologue and her jealousy towards Hermia in this scene.

Translated Monologue

HELENA

It’s amazing how much happier some people are than others! People throughout Athens think I’m as beautiful as Hermia. But so what? Demetrius doesn’t think so, and that’s all that matters. He refuses to admit what everyone else knows. But even though he’s making a mistake by obsessing over Hermia so much, I’m also making a mistake, since I obsess over him. Love can make worthless things beautiful. When we’re in love, we don’t see with our eyes but with our minds. That’s why paintings of Cupid, the god of love, always show him as blind. And love doesn’t have good judgment either—Cupid, has wings and no eyes, so he’s bound to be reckless and hasty. That’s why they say love is a child. because it makes such bad choices. Just as boys like to play games by telling lies, Cupid breaks his promises all the time. Before Demetrius ever saw Hermia, he showered me with promises and swore he’d be mine forever.

My Monologue

HELENA

How happy some o'er other some can be!

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so.

He will not know what all but he do know.

And as he errs, doting on Hermia’s eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity,

Love can transpose to form and dignity.

Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste—

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.

For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia’s eyne,

He hailed down oaths that he was only mine.

Character Profile

Helena

• From Athens 
• 17 Years Old
• Best Friends with Hermia 
• Jealous because all the men go after Hermia
• In love with Demetrius 
• The character nobody loves 

Shakespeare Monologue