15. Monologue Assessment
1. Give a synopsis of the play... What is the play? Who
is the playwright and when was it written?
The play in which my monologue is taken is taken from
is called "Antigone". The character in which I play is called
"Creon". Antigone is written by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987). Jean
Anouilh started writing plays at age 12. Jean Anouilh was born
in Bordeaux, his father was a tailor and his mother a violinist. Jean Anouilh
died at the age of 77. Antigone was premiered in Paris in 1944. That is 69
years ago (2013). Antigone is a tragedy; a "tragedy" is " A drama or
literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme
sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or
inability to cope with unfavourable circumstances." This
definition is taken from "The Free Dictionary". Antigone is part of
trilogy.
The play is set in ancient Greek times. Antigone is a
tale love, death and passion. Antigone is the name of a girl who has the heart
of man. In the time time when the play was set females where seen less than
men; but we all women where seen as inferior to men but we all know
that is not true. The play is based around death, the death of 2
brothers Polynices and Eteocles. The brothers fight is over the throne. In
every fight there is a victor; even though in this fight both opponents
are dead, the victor is Eteocles. Eteocles is the winner because he gained a
proper burial. A proper burial is very important. People at the
time believed in three states in the afterlife:
1. Heaven
2. Hell
3. Purgatory
Purgatory is the state between heaven and hell. In purgatory your
soul is not at rest. Polynices is in this state because he he did not gain a
proper burial.This is because Creon has destined that no one in the kingdom
should bury him or surely they will face death. All that Antigone has
is her brothers and sisters since her parents are dead, so
she decides to be defiant and bury her brother. King Creon is
Antigone's uncle. Creon being a man of his word has to act on his word or the
people of the kingdom will lose all respect him. Creon sentences Antigone
to death but not by his hands. Antigone's prison will be a cave. To
make it look like Creon did not kill Antigone he placed food and drink in
the cave. This is because the god,s would be angered if he did
kill someone.
Creon loves Antigone very much and it pains him that she disobeyed the
law but he rejoices on what a stronger mind she has. In this play
there is a lot of insect. Haemon, Creon's son is in love with Antigone.
He pleads with his father let Antigone free. Creon agrees but is too
late, Antigone has hung herself; she rather die by her own hands than at the
hands of someone else. This is too much for Haemon and he pulls out
his sword and hangs himself.
Creon was warned that his actions
will have great consequences. Creon has now learnt his
lessons.
2. What do you know
about your character?
- Insight into their
childhood (Happy? Sad? WHY)
- How they feel about
the characters around them.
- How do other
characters view them?
- What do they want to
achieve in life?
- What is their dream?
The character that I played was King Creon.
He is the father of Haemon, uncle o Antigone, Ismene Polynices and Eteocles, the
brother of Oedipus, the son of Jocaster. Creon wants everyone one to be
happy. He believes what he says is the truth and he must have the last word. He
is scared that he will get things wrong but he does not want to show others
around him his human emotions but they tend to have abrupt outbursts.
He
is aware of everything that is, has and will happen in his family. He knows he
is one of them and he cares for them deeply. Creon values power more than he
values love and the ones around him.
This
is shown when he sentences Antigone to go and stay in the cave forever, even
though it scares, upsets him and frightens him that he has to do this, but he
still does he does not want to loses the respect of the people.
Creon’s childhood was dysfunctional to say the
least, but you should not feel sorry for him as it made him the person he is
today.
Here is a poem I wrote about the Afghan
girl, I feel it in captures Creon
Her eyes are iconic, they show so many stories; stories which are
not supposed to be hers.
They are mystic yet show refrain. She has
a story to tell one which some try to hide. She radiates confidence but is so
reluctant.
Pain, sorrow, heartbreak but theres still
hope. In her eyes I see fear, loneliness. She has seen things done things, that
she have never been aware of. Well in the perfect world; but what is perfect.
She's in a great deal of pain but she's
silent. Silence is not the best policy. Sleepless nights. What is on her mind?
Thats for her to know and no-one to find out!
The type of pain she's in, is the worst.
Watching things crumble, fade disappear right in front of your eyes and not
being able to do anything about it....
She has cried till she can't cry any more.
Her eyes don't even go red any more. The Afghan girl screams and shouts and
lets it all out. Everyone sees her yet they do noting. Attempting to doing
something but still nothing. You see the truth is the worst poison and thats what
she's full of. TRUTH.
It's a scary world, especially when you're
on your own. She's not, thats the problem!
There's help out there. No-one seems to
understand that .
She's been picked up and put straight
down. She's old before her time and her face is about to catch up.
Muted emotion. Thats how they like it. All
glitz and glamour, fake but its seems to hurt now.
She wants to be real. Be noticed.
The tears in her give her eyes a glaze of
longing lust. A fire which cannot be put out; no matter how hard they try.
Daddy's little girl. Her mind is on a
different level. She's always been a rebel; but is she now a rebel of a lost
cause. The opinions of the world do not matter, they only leave a
superficial wound.
We all have piece of her in us. The fight
we will always have, The dream we think of every time we close our eyes. That
determination. That beauty; but is hidden scared to show just a glimpse.
No pain no gain, that’s all she breaths.
This is our Afghan girl. This is my Afghan girl.
This is the Afghan girl...
Creon wants to be known
throughout the land to every man every woman. He wants his power to be on show
to be admired by all. He will take down anyone that is in his way no matter the
cause.
3. What directorial
decisions have you made about your monologue?
- Voice
- Movement and Staging
- Characterisations
I
found it difficult learning my lines so I asked my drama teacher of different ways
of how I can learn my lines. Ms Jackson, my drama teacher discussed with ways
like writing my lines out on sticky notes and sticking them around my house, contently
reading them, recording myself repeating
the lines, and simply just writing them
out agin and again. The way I chose to learn my lines was by recoding me saying
them and repeating them a lot and also writing them out. What came to me as I
was doing this was that he was on an emotional journey. At the start he started
very confident and powerful a true king, all eyes on him he in control. The audience
is hooked they feed on every word. He can say and do what every he likes and no
one can do anything about it. “ Tis the stiffest iron baked in the fire that’s oftenest
seen snapped and shivered” He likes to play about with his words it shows he is
educated and is thinking on a different level from everyone else, unique.
As
I said before he is on an emotional journey. All that glitters is not gold. It
hits him that this is he niece the one who he loves and he’s going to have to
kill her it is very hard to get to grips with. This is why he repeats certain
words such as “I am no man, she is the man” by reaping the words it sinks in.
This just makes him angry, very angry he feels and thinks he is being mocked by
her; it’s a plan everyone is in on. No one is one his side.
In
the last part of the monologue he is trying to pick himself up. “And summon
her, and summon her and summon her” repeating this phrase is his way of
collecting his thoughts. He finnaly just brakes down holding in all your
emotions are not a good thing. When he stared to let them out he couldn’t stop himself
and he finally erupted like a volcano, you never know when they will stop.
There
were 3 actors including myself which played King Creon, we all had different monologues
and different perceptions of Creon. Junior played Creon as a rapper, words just
flooded out of his mouth like a river. Then there was Brandon who played Creon
like an army commander very dismissive, powerful and scary.
The
way that I perceived Creon was as bipolar, schizophrenic with just a hint of nuttiness.
The
definition of schizophrenia is “a long-term mental disorder of a type involving
a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to
faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality
and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental
fragmentation.” This is shown throughout in many ways. At
times it seems like Creon is talking to himself but is just that he has reverted
to his own world a place where he feels safe. No can hurt him or mock him, he is
loved.
Bipolar disorder “(of psychiatric illness) characterized by
both manic and depressive episodes, or manic ones only.” I play Creon as
frantic, I use the pitch, tone, pace and
volume. To increase and decease how frantic he is I played around with pace and
tone. When I increased the paced it made Creon seem more nervous, he wants it
to end, soon.
By nutty I mean
crazy! At times I would smile straight after I had finished shouting to make
the audiences feel unease, they do not know what will happen. I found that
enjoyable because you could see the shock in everyone of their
faces.
As for spatial proximity
I have to maintain a very power status through. I try to limit my moving
because Creon is a king. All eyes should always be on him. He only comes down
to others levels to give them a confidence boost but he is always in charge,
like it or lump it. Spatial proximity is “The state, quality, sense, or fact of being
near or next; closeness” I imagined that Creon is talking to council that is why at
the end I focus on certain points in the room because that is where I imagined
they would be.
I wanted my hand movement
to be limited only to emphasis key important words. This is the same for my
stance I wanted it to be fixed to show Creons power.
To improved I think
I should practise more on when I use loud volumes. It should only be used for key
points which are what give it its shocking effect. Over use of it makes it to lose
its impact on the audience and myself. When it is not the right time to shout I
found myself forgetting my next line. This is why it should be saved and only
used with purpose.
As I played Creon I grew found of him, he has
this innocent side but he feels he has to put on a show for all to see.
