Rehearsal Process

Learning the words of the monologue was easy because I was familiar with the piece. Getting to terms with the emotions of the piece was altogether harder, especially from a vocal point. I had to show how the character was so tired and upset with how eveyone treats him but not make it too forced. In the actual scene, the character begins to cry as he comes out, but I felt it would be more appropriate to internalise this aspect and focus more on his anger. This boy has been constantly bullied and is sick of not standing up for himself. The play is called What's Wrong With Angry? so why not be angry!


I performed this piece confidently and though I needed to work on projection it was a good performance.

After practising the monologue more and more, my projection and ennunciation vastly improved. I feel that I have become confident in this monologue and I am able to perform it at request confidently and clearly.

Throat Cancer...

Throat cancer is not caused by vocal abuse, however it can be caused by smoking!
Though throat cancer is not caused by vocal abuse, it is still a form of cancer and must be treated immediately, or risk death!


Some people get vocal cord tumours and these can either be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumours can stay with you for life but can be surgically removed. Malignant tumours must be immediately treated before the cancer spreads.

It is very easy to damage the vocal cords. Many famous singers have ruined their careers by a combination of forceful singing, yelling, screaming, smoking, drinking alcohol, or drugs.

Examples of singers who have damaged their voices are Adele, Julie Andrews, Whitney Houston, and the list goes on!

Adele = Hemorrhage

Whitney = Drugs and vocal exhaustion

Julie Andrews = vocal exhaustion and damaging throat surgery

Another popular way to damage the voice is by overusing it. People who talk and sing excessively often cause damage to their vocal cords, without even realising it.

There are several different types of damage that happens when a person abuses their vocals. These are nodules, polyps, laryngitis and hemorrhage (burst blood vessel - Adele).

 

Nodules



Vocal cord nodules are small, hard, callus-like growths caused by vocal abuse. They occur in pairs, with one nodule on each vocal cord at the site of greatest irritation. They sometimes are called singer's, screamer's or teacher's nodules. = http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10976.html

Polyp

Vocal cord polyps are small, soft growths that usually appear alone on a vocal cord. They are caused most often by vocal abuse or long-term exposure to irritants, such as chemical fumes or cigarette smoke. = http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10976.html



Hemorrhage



A burst blood vessel in the vocal folds.

Felix's Top Tips!

There are many ways to improve the voice when reading monologues or when giving a speech.

When reading or speaking, it is important to enunciate clearly and confidently.

Many people fail to enunciate successfully, either because they are uncomfortable or because they haven’t practised properly.

One way of helping enunciation is to try tongue twisters. Certain phrases when spoken aloud utilise the entire mouth, often seeming ridiculous, but overall highly effective at improving the clarity of speech.

Tongue twisters such as the following are examples of the sentences I used to help me articulate my monologues.

Can I cook a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee pot?

Octopi occupy a porcupine's mind.

Some shun sunshine. Do you shun sunshine?

Another thing to focus on is the amount of syllables in words, especially when reading from classical pieces such as Shakespeare, where the flow of the piece can be undermined by skipping syllables etc.

Remember to count out the syllables when practising!

14 syllables -  

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Su-per-cal-i-frag-il-ist-ic-ex-pi-a-li-do-cious

Finally, the last thing to remember is to speak clearly! Open your mouth and let the voice do what is does best, those who mumble never make great public speakers. Try to avoid merging words together in nervousness or laziness because it can completely change the sentence and how people interpret it.

Most common enunciation failure! :

•       Are you alright?

•       Y’orite?

•       You’re right!

The Voice!

The voice has three main features that make it what it is.

These processes are:

Respiration (Actuators - Breathing)

Sound (Vibrators - larynx - voice box)

Amplifiers (Resonators - mouth)

Breathing is one of the most important things when using the voice correctly. Using your lungs, diaphragm and intercostal muscles are the beginning of the process when using the voice.

When breathing, the vocal cords open and close. This is known as abduction and adduction. Abduction is when the cords open or expand to allow air to enter the lungs. Adduction is when the cords close and it is here when they vibrate and create sound.

There are several organs and tissues that control the sound being made. They are all located at the back of the throat and is usually referred to as the Adam's Apple on men (even though women have them too!)

Oscillators (Vibrators)

To see the voice box (or larynx) in action, watch the clip!

The final part of the body controls the type of sound being created. Using the mouth and all its components gives us different sounds and effects how others hear the sounds.

The final product is sometimes like this!

What's Wrong With Angry? History!

What's Wrong With Angry was Wildes first play. It first opened at the LOST Theatre in 1993 in Fulham, London. It had an unpaid cast and crew of about 20 and only 6 people turned up to watch the show. However once the gay press gave the show great reviews the show became a great success, having sold out on the final week.
The following year it was performed at Oval House in London and sold out and had t obe extended a further week at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) Studio.

Film director, Simon Shore, and producer Steven Taylor approached Wilde about a film version of his play. Wilde wrote the screenplay for the film which was renames Get Real and was released in 1998.

Character Work

Steve Carter is a 16 year old British school boy and is a closeted homosexual. The monologue I have chosen to perform is his acceptance speech for the Basingstoke Young Journalist Competition where he 'comes out' to everyone present, including his school peers, their parents, the faculty, and his parents.

The character is a loner, being bullied by most of his peers for being different. He is a timid person and keeps his head down in school. Steve often goes to public restrooms where he engages in sexual activity with other men and it is here where he unkowingly arranges to have sex with John Dixon - the school's star athlete ands head boy. They eventually form a secret relationship but as peer pressure and rumours begin to form, both boys are put under a lot of strain. Steve wants to be open about their relationship, not caring who knows, whereas John wants to keep it a secret so that it doesn't jeopardise his future. After John attacks Steve in front of the other bullies Steve has finally had enough and outs himself at the award ceremony. He offers his audience the chance to also come out if their were any who wanted to, a subtle (like a punch to the groin) hint for John to stand up and be himself, but none do. Steve finally accepts that he is different, but is no less a human for it.

The monologue is very emotional and I believe it is a great piece because people are still insecure about who they are and how they should be. Love holds no bounds and people should realise that there really isn't anything to be scared of!