UNIT 7 MONOLOGUE

Last week, I filmed myself doing a monologue and I posted on my social media, my blog and my YouTube channel. My monologue is called The Fact Checker from a play called Goodbye Charles by playwright Gabriel Davis. Enjoy!


Yesterday, I had my audition with R-Alex. I performed the same monologue to him. I got feedback from him.

My physicality, contact and thought process was praised. Accents mustn't be done in auditions but when I did it on the day, it wasn't my intention. I've recently had people come up to me and ask me if I'm American and I tell them no. Somehow, it's basically an uncontrollable habit. The accent just comes and goes. I'm British. I had a paper in my hand. There shouldn't be anything in your hands. I know. I couldn't help it because I've been sick for the past week, yesterday, I still wasn't feeling 100%. I took the paper with me because I wasn't confident. I didn't know that the monologue was very long. I shouldn't do long monologues. Keep it small and simple.

SKILLS OF 2018-19

On 12th June, we had a little session discussing about skills and we were brutally honest about each other. We were with R-Alex. When it came down to me, many people reviewed and shockingly all of them were quite positive.

"You're good at accents" - Harry Kelly

"Good range of characters" - Philemon Ameyaw

"Creative" - Danielle Bonsu

"You're confident, fearless and outspoken. Good characterisation, diction, articulation and spatial awareness" - Diamontea Burton

"High teamwork and very reflective" - Sebastian Weislo

"You're very animated when comes to your characters. They really come to life when you perform" - Harry Kelly

"Good energy" - Lucky Asare

"You're open-minded and really respectful to others" - Danielle Bonsu

"You're very fearless" - Favour Dantes

"You have great acting ability" - Daniella Obomanu

"You're overly too experienced. You're always concentrating, staying committed and invested into the project both on and off stage. You have good spatial awareness and you're not afraid" - Lucky Asare

"You commit yourself 100% to every character you play" - Tia Scarlett

"You're a very good team player" - Favour Dantes

MACBETH (2019)

ACTING CLASS - 2 Apr 19

On 2nd April, we did context and we updated our blogs

MACBETH - PROMOTION WORKSHOP - PIMLICO ACADEMY - 1 Apr 19

On 1st April, we went to Pimlico Academy to work with a class-load of Year 10 Drama students. We introduced ourselves to them:

Kieran Smith-Helder - Banquo
Kadiatu Smith - Ross/Angus/Lennox
Danielle Bonsu - Porter
Troy Wilson - Macduff
Ben Mills - Macbeth
Chloe Hawthorn/Tia Scarlett - Lady Macbeth
Harry Kelly - Captain

The scenes we performed:

The Captain's monologue
Lady Macbeth & Macbeth
The Banquet - Banquo, Macbeth & Lady Macbeth
The Drunken Castle - Porter, Ross, Angus, Lennox, Macbeth & Macduff
Macbeth's monologue
Macbeth vs Macduff

We played a few games: The Name Game & Columns

Then, we spent twenty minutes to teach some scenes to the kids. I had to teach two boys the MVM. They performed them to us and the rest of us were just feeding back: what we thought of it and what we liked about it etc. The feedback involved using gestures, good energy and spatial awareness. All of the performances were fantastic, regardless of the fact that the performance that I directed wasn't shown at all (which is a good thing). Overall, the kids were well behaved and they were so engaged into the performances. It was quite fun. Not doing it again because after halfway through the lesson, my confidence suddenly dropped down to zero because you can't read what they really think of you. They wouldn't see you as a role model, just something silly.

ACTING CLASS - 28 Mar 19

On today's Acting Class, we were with S-Came. I have been chosen to reprise my role as Macduff in a workshop that will be happening in a school in Pimlico next week Monday alongside:

Ben Mills
Kadiatu Smith
Tia Scarlett
Danielle Bonsu
Harry Kelly
Chloe Hawthorn
Favour Dantes

In the beginning, we will introduce ourselves and then Ben will give the class a brief summary of Macbeth. After that, we will a couple of scenes that involve these characters:

The Witches
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Macduff
Captain
Ross
Angus
Lennox
Banquo

Then, we'll play some games and do some warm-ups and then we perform one more scene before the end and that's the final fight - Macbeth (Mills) vs. Macduff (Wilson). Then we thank them for being involved in this workshop, tell them that we hope they are fully inspired and motivated and we go home.

BLACK GROUP - MACBETH: OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE - EVALUATION - 21 Mar 19

BLACK

CAST

Ben Mills - Macbeth
Tia Scarlett - Lady Macbeth
Sebastian Weislo - Ross/Angus/Lennox
Troy Wilson - Macduff
Pedro Small - Duncan/Caithness
Danielle Bonsu - Witch 1/Porter/Lady Macduff/Murderer 1
Diamontea Burton - Witch 2/Servant/Doctor/Murderer 2/Donalbain
Rosely Litityo - Witch 3/Murderer 3/Attendant
Philemon Ameyaw - Banquo
Teigan Kalekezi - Malcolm
Harry Kelly - Captain

They performed this piece in Westminster Kingsway College in the theatre at 2pm on 21st March. There are hundreds of students who are fans of Shakespeare.

They have praised Mills', Bonsu's, Wilson's, Burton's and Litityo's performances as Macbeth, the Porter, Macduff and the Witches. They liked how we stayed and kept in character. I thought the show went really well. I loved Mills' performance. There was a slight problem with the props but it was quickly resolved. The entire cast provided good energy from their roles. They expressed their emotions strongly.

The college praised Wilson's performance because of his outstanding vocal projection, spatial awareness and stage presence. Mills' performance was amazing because of his insane amount of knowledge of lines and he brought humour to the audience by pulling Ameyaw's body offstage.

The cast was completely focused and some of their acting was quite over-exaggerated. The shouting lines was powerful because it was signifying the ensuing showdown of Macbeth and Macduff. They have good teamwork.

The dress rehearsal involved a lot of hard work from the cast and the tech team.

• Knowing our cues
• The music
• The lighting
• Which side of the stage to come in from

I did manage to jot down some notes that occurred from S-Came's perspective:

• Harry Kelly as Captain - staggers on stage
• Tia Scarlett as Lady Macbeth - look up and engage with the audience more and vocal projection
• The birdsong was too loud - SFX
• Diamontea Burton and Teigan Kalekezi - less knowledge of lines
• Rosely Litityo to Sebastian Weislo - prompt
• Diamontea Burton - don't read from the script
• Troy Wilson as Macduff - stutter when Lady Macbeth (Scarlett) orders him to speak