Lesson video

Hello.

My name is Mr. Burt, and welcome to your drama lesson.

This is the first of three drama lessons looking at the unit of work called, Acting Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

And all the way through the unit of work we're going to to be looking at different techniques for acting and performing monologues to an audience.

And in this first lesson, we're going to look at how Shakespeare himself wrote monologues using imagery and rhythm to help us as actors perform them to the best of our abilities.

But before we go on why don't we just check what equipment we need before this lesson, before we make a start.

So this is the equipment that you're going to need for this lesson.

You're going to need a worksheet or a piece of paper, you're going to need a pen and you need a highlighter.

So make sure you've got these items before we carry on.

So this is the rundown of our lesson today we're going to start with a little bit of an introduction to the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

And from that, we're going to start looking at a monologue which is delivered by a character called Oberon.

And we're going to look at how Shakespeare has written this monologue using imagery and rhythm to help us perform it.

And then we're going to have a go at performing the monologue.

Before we finish with a quick quiz.

Now there's going to be some key words that we're going to need for the success of our lesson.

And these key words are imagery.

Imagery involves the use of words or phrases which create vivid pictures in the minds of the readers or listeners.

We're going to need to use the word rhythm.

Rhythm is a regular and repeated pattern of sound or movement.

We're going to need the word monologue.

A monologue is a long speech that an actor says on their own.

And then finally, we need the word motivation.

Now motivation is the term we use to describe why a character does something on stage.

Now, before we go on let's just quickly check our understanding of this really important key word, motivation.

So tell me now, what does the key word motivation mean? That's right.

Motivation is the term we use to describe why a character does something on stage.

And if you think about it, from your own acting experience or from watching a theatre shower or a television programme, every character on stage or on screen does something and they do it for a reason.

Well, they say it for a reason and that is called motivation.

And it helps us as actors to understand why we're doing something on stage.

So let's start by looking at the plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Now A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1596.

And it is set in Athens and consists of several plots, all of which interweave across each other.

But there are four main plots.

The first is the lover's plot.

The second is the mechanicals' plot, the third, the fairies' plot.

And finally we have the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta.

In this lesson, we're going to look at the fairy plot.

Now the fairy plot starts with an argument between King Oberon and Queen Titania.

Now they're arguing about who should take ownership of a young Prince which they have been gifted.

Titania, she wants to take the young prince to be hers and one of her servants, whereas Oberon wants to take the young prince to be one of his knights.

The argument ensues and Titania wins and leaves with the prince.

And Oberon is left alone, jealous and angry of Titania.

Let's just go back to that key word motivation for a moment.

Motivation means the reason why a character does something on stage or says something.

Based on what you know so far, about the plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the fairy plot.

What do you think Oberon is feeling at this moment in time? And why does that motivate him to take revenge? Tell me your thoughts now.

I think there are lots of different things that Oberon could be feeling right now.

He can be feeling quite sad and quite lonely, for Queen Titania has left.

He can also be feeling quite angry and quite frustrated that he didn't get his own way.

And I think it's that feeling, that feeling of frustration and anger that motivates him to take revenge on Titania.

And so in doing so he delivers this monologue and the monologue goes like this.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine With sweet Musk roses and with eglantine There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Lull'd in these flowers with dancers and delight.

And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin Weed wide enough to fit a fairy in.

And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes and make her full of hateful fantasies." Now, what Oberon is saying in this monologue is that he wants to take revenge and how he's going to take revenge.

And he's actually talking to another character called Puck, who is his servant and he's telling Puck where Titania sleeps at night and then telling him to go to her and to give her a potion which will make her full of hateful dreams. Let's just go back for a moment and think about that key word imagery.

Tell me now, what does the key word imagery mean? Imagery involves the use of words or phrases which create vivid pictures in the minds of the readers or listeners.

And in this monologue, Shakespeare has given us lots of different examples of imagery.

So this brings us onto our first task.

We're going to look at the imagery within the poem.

So if you've got the worksheet, use this, otherwise we'll see it on the screen.

We're going to read through the monologue.

Then I want you to highlight everything that you think could be considered imagery.

So let's have a look at the first half of the monologue.

So pause the video here and highlight where you think there might be some imagery.

Let's have a look at the second half of the monologue.

So pause the video again and highlight either on your worksheet or pointing at the screen, where you think the imagery might appear.

Let's go through some of the things that I've picked out.

You may have picked out something different to me.

So some of the ones that I picked out here, are wild thyme, which is a lovely purple flower that grows in the wild.

And I've also picked out violets, which are beautiful long flowers, equally, they grow in the wild, as well as sweet Musk roses which are also wild flowers.

In fact, all the way through here, we've got oxlips we've got the nodding violet, we've got woodbine and we've got eglantine as well as sweet musk roses.

They are all wild flowers.

And what Oberon is trying to suggest here and the image that he's trying to put into your mind is one of a wild bank of wild flowers that can be found in any area of wasteland across Britain and that lovely peacefulness that can be found in those places.

And then let's have a look at the second half of his monologue, which gets a bit darker and a bit deeper.

So here we've got things like "Lull'd in these flowers." Now lull'd, for me, suggests more than just waiting and sleeping.

It suggests something more sinister.

As does the "Throwing her enamell'd skin" and streaking her eyes.

I mean anything which involves eyes is quite horrible.

And making "Her full of hateful fantasies", hateful dreams. And so suddenly Oberon's monologue takes a turn and becomes much darker and much more full of revenge as he details how he wants to take revenge and what that revenge is going to look like.

It's going to come in the form of really horrible hateful dreams. Let's think about how we're going to perform this and let's think about that key word rhythm.

So tell me now, what does the key word rhythm mean? That's right.

Rhythm is a regular and repeated pattern of sound or movement.

Now in Shakespeare's rhythm he uses a fairly natural rhythm all the way through his work and that is of boom, rest, boom, rest, boom, boom, boom, rest, boom, rest, boom, boom, boom.

And so when we look at that monologue we've started to work on, it comes like this.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" boom, rest, boom, rest, boom, boom, boom.

"Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows" rest, boom, rest, boom, boom, boom.

So when we look at the whole start of that monologue and it comes out something like this "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows where oxlips and the nodding violet grows quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine with sweet must roses and with eglantine." I what you may have noticed is that with that rhythm we also emphasise all the key words the most important words that Oberon is saying.

So this then brings us to the next task.

And I want you to read through the second half of the monologue, either on the worksheet that you're using or on the next screen and underline the natural rhythm like I have done for the first half.

So here's the second half of the monologue pause the video now and highlight where you think the rhythm is.

So this is what I've prepared, and you might want to pause the video here, so that you can make any adjustments to your own version, but this is what I've got.

And it goes something like this.

"There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Lull'd in these flowers with dance and delight.

And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin.

Weed wide enough to fit a fairy in And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes And make her full of hateful fantasies." So again, you can see with that rhythm, it really highlights and emphasises those key words of the monologue and what he's trying to communicate.

And in particular, the revenge that he wants to take.

So let's think about how we're going to act this out and we're going to do a quick exercise called "I say it, you say it." And what I want you to do is I want you to say the line in the same way as I do.

Copying as much as you can about the way I say it and perhaps even some of the gestures that I do when I say the words.

So let's make a start.

I'm going to say it.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" your turn.

"Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows." Your turn.

"Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine" Your turn.

"With sweet musk roses and with eglantine" Your turn.

"There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Lull'd in these flowers with dance and delight And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin Weed wide enough to fit a fairy in And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes And make her full of hateful fantasies." Excellent, well done.

And I know how hard that can be performing to a screen.

So really well done.

Before you have a go at performing the monologue I'm going to give you a demonstration of the monologue myself.

Now, this is my interpretation of it and yours might be different but mine goes something like this.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine with sweet musk roses and with eglantine There sleeps Titania sometime of the night Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight And there, the snake throws her enamell'd skin.

Weed wide enough to fit a fairy in and with the juice I'll streak her eyes and make her full of hateful fantasies." So now it's over to you.

What I'd like you to do is I would like you to experiment and perform the monologue.

So act out the whole monologue using the rhythm we've just explored and trying to change the way you use your voice to describe the imagery of the lovely bank of flowers.

And then as you describe the act of revenge.

So pause the video here and have a go at performing the whole monologue for yourself.

Now, how did that go? How was that performance for you? Did you find that you managed to get across to your audience how sweet and calm the wild bank of flowers were? Where Titania laid and the fact that perhaps she's laying there without any idea what's going to happen to her? Did you get that, managed to get that twist in the monologue where Oberon suddenly becomes much harsher and talks about how he wants to take revenge? And perhaps did you manage to get that full on anger and frustration when he talks about giving her horrible fantasies, those horrible dreams? Let's just finish up this lesson with checking some of our understanding.

And in particular, the word monologue.

Is monologue a long speech that an actor says on their own? True or false.

Tell me your answer.

That's right.

It's true.

Although you may have heard the word soliloquy.

A soliloquy is slightly different to a monologue.

I soliloquy is a speech which an actor gives on their own but does so speaking directly to an audience, whereas in a monologue, that might be completely on their own or it might be to another character.

As in when we saw Oberon, he was talking to the character Puck.

Well done on your performance.

It's really hard to perform and you've done a good job today.

Well done.