We were given a task to learn and perform the famous ‘To Be or Not To Be’ speech. This was a lot harder than the whole group thought it would be. We were firstly given a week, to learn this, but we were then given an extension of another two weeks because of a teacher training day.
The way I went around learning the speech was to split it into smaller sections. I highlighted them into different colours. I learn went through from beginning to end learning each section. Once I’d learnt a section, I’d go from the beginning and would repeat the whole speech. This meant that I was a lot more confident on the first part rather than the whole thing. I then continued to watch video’s and listen to different version of actors doing the speech to make sure I had pronunciations of words right as well as giving me an idea of a tone I could use. I found that I focused a lot more on the remembering side of the speech rather than the performance and should probably have taken more time to rehearse the speech properly whilst performing this. As it could've helped me remember the speech as well.
Poppy
This is my own performance of the speech. I think because most of my acting and performance of the speech was either only a thought which I then tried on the spot or complete improvisation, mixed with nerves, it took away the amount of lines I could remember and how well I could perform them. I started to forget some of the lines which meant the performance started to lack. I am happy that I attempted to put quite a lot more tone in my sentences and create a better start for the performance, even if it did deteriorate I am most certainly not proud of this performance and agree with the constructive critism in the review.
Kelly
Kelly did an edited version of the speech which means she moulded the speech so she was more comfortable with it. She cut out lines or sections that she found more difficult or weren't as important meaning she could focus more on the performance as the lines came more naturally to her. I think she did a good job with this although I think it’s not clear if some lines she simply forgot or were meant to be cut out. I really think she managed to keep a good clarity of voice maintained throughout. I thought the first line did not have the right tone for the piece, but she picked up a good tone as she went along. It is hard to make the first line your own or original because it has been performed so many times before. I think Kelly managed to pull of a really good performance and I'm very proud of her.
Matt
I really liked the first half of Matt's speech. I like how he started it laying on his back. I thought he really nailed the facial expressions as well. I think he could've spent longer on the floor as he stood up quite quickly and then just paced around which was very distracting from the performance. Once he forgot lines it was clear his performance was going to slide down a bit. Which was a shame because he did really well with the pronunciation of the first half. He managed to get certain tones for different sentences which meant he was conveying the message of the speech well. He started to break up sentences and the general flow of the performance stopped. It think if he had continued the way the first half had gone and not had as many nerves about the speech the would've been very well done.
Chris
I think Chris had a very confident start and he had a clear voice but at some points you weren't sure if he fully understood the meaning behind the words. This was more when he started breaking up the sentence structure and taking longer pauses between each. I really like how he decided to sit down in the middle of it, which added levels but I'm not sure whether he put it there to cover up thinking about the next line or whether to show a change in mood. I think Chris did well to remember the amount of lines he did but could've maybe put more thought into the performance side of it, just like I should've, because it might of helped his fluidity and understanding of the lines.
Emily
I liked Emily's starting position and how she tilted her head to either side on the 'to be or not to be' line. I think she probably should've stayed on the floor a little longer, she looked a lot more comfortable there. There were moments when she was about to get up but decided not to which showed she was probably improvising the movement. Emily was one of two people in the group to get through the entire speech give or take a few missing lines. But I think because of this, Emily's began to lose performance qualities as it got to further on in the speech and you could tell she was mainly focusing on what line was next and just trying to get through the speech. I think if she worked more on performing the speech it could gain her confidence with monologue's (as I know they aren't her favourite) because she would be able to perform a very difficult speech as well as know all the lines to it.
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