MATILDA - Presentation

MONOLOGUE - The Most Frightening Wonderful Thing

The Most Frightening Wonderful Thing

Comedic male monologue from the play Goodbye Charles

by Gabriel Davis

(Monologist enters a restaurant.  He is wearing climbing gear - looks like he came directly from a mountain.  The woman he is speaking to, Barbara, is in the middle of a date)

I’m sorry to interrupt your date, Barbara. Hi buddy, how’s your date with my girlfriend going so far? Good? I asked Trish. She told me you were here You don’t mind if I sit down, do you? Thanks. Listen, honey...I can explain my absence for the last three months, really. I can. See. You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever known. And that can be a little...scary. Look at this guy, he looks petrified. You know how three months ago, I kinda ran out on you at dinner? Of course you do. I wasn’t being rude, I was being scared shitless. See, I wanted to, kinda tell you something extremely important. But I choked. Big time.

I went home and, I cried, I wept uncontrollably, Barbara. Now that’s not like me, I’m not a weeper. But there I am, reduced to whimpers, because I don’t have the guts to tell you that I want you to ... so I turn on the TV, it happens there’s this documentary about these guys who climbed mount Everest. So, I start thinking how brave these guys are, and why can’t I be more like them.

I mean those mountain men have stared death in the face, no way they would have been so anxious to ask if you ... See, then it occurred to me: I should climb Everest. If I climb Everest, little things like this, they’ll be a cake walk. I know, I shoulda told you. But I just...went.

At the top, it’s breathtaking. You can see what seems endlessly in every direction, and there’s this sense of being a God. I even made Gus call me Zeus. Then, staring out over my kingdom, I had this incredible, life altering revelation: There is nothing on earth more frightening, than a beautiful woman.

I have looked death in the face Barb. Just like those guys in the documentary. And I have to say. Looking you in the face. Asking you what I’m about to... It’s still harder. Barb, Barbara my dear, my love. Will you marry me?

The plot of my monologue takes place in a restaurant, where a man (the name is not mentioned) is attempting to bring his girlfriend, Barbara, back into his arms. Before the monologue events happen, the boyfriend messed up big time on his date, and he immediately ran away. In order for me to play my character, I would have to act like I'm prepared of what to tell my girlfriend,  as if it is a serious situation, and also not only I have to read the monologue, I would have to hear myself talking and notice when to change the tone in my voice, in order for the performance to be successful and to think of my objective. During the lesson, my teacher has given me feedback on my monologue; the feedback was to explore more actions I could do in my monologue, and to ask my mother how to drink wine.

Assignment title: Overdrive-leadIV: Dominque Neville

BTEC L3 Diploma in Musical Theatre

Rafa Kaputa

Assignment title: Overdrive

Lead IV: Dominque Neville

The Rehearsal Skills

First, I was focused in the lesson making sure that I would remember the movements by heart, by writing down notes in the lesson my book. This would normally require me to revise the notes I have taken down in my notebook. I practise the movements 3-5 times. Also, what I would improve on for the future is to not be a little bit laid back, alongside that my timing was with the class was also an issue because we would have to wait for the one person in our class to begin the dance and then we would follow after her, plus I go too fast with the dance, and an example of this is when we have to wait for Courtney to leap and we would follow her to the dance, I would occasionally dance to the leap before or after her, when I would have to wait for her. Despite this however, my memory of the dance was adequate, and I have improved for my first term of dancing, alongside with the fact that my balance has been improving. This is because the exercises we do with Dominque shows to be useful and the stretches we do in class as a warm up, not only has it improved my balance, it has improved my flexibility greatly.

Response to Direction

When given feedback following my dancing, I take in all the information used to improve on my dance. After I had finished my dance, the feedback I received was that to loosen my body, because when I was dancing I was stiff and not relaxed, and also during the dance I would be knowing on what to do, but because I looked at other people dancing with me, it seemed I didn’t clearly know what I was doing. These comments were to help me improve on my dancing. Plus, if performing the wrong move my peers and teachers would inform me what I ‘am doing wrong. These were to gradually improve my skills and make me do better. With timing, I go too fast and this is because of the occasional timing of others, which will force me to look at certain people and wait for them to make their move. I also set myself targets to which I do try to remember, and in future the next time to improve is mainly my speed and timing.

Use of techniques (phrases)

A moment when I danced really well is when during the second section in the beginning I was completely focused on the dancing. My legs were straight and pointed although I felt they were not pointed at all times. There were no moments were I felt I made a mistake, but the one mistake I did make is that when Courtney was to leap before I did I leaped before her and that mistake was noticed by myself. When watching overdrive, I had noticed techniques I used but were not used to make it fit. What I could develop to improve, is that if I watched more of the DVD to get an idea on what I could do to make my dancing effective. In a performance, I would like to add one moment when one person goes offstage, and then reappears on stage, to dance. That idea would seem effective enough to pull off a great performance.

Use of Physical Skills (movements)

The movements I found easy the most was when in the beginning of section two, we had to lift our right knee and swish it backwards, because I found the move to be more relaxing. We had to practise and rehearse our duets the most because it is the moves we made up the most, and the first section, because some of us nearly forgot about the movements, so we went through it with Dominique many times. The use of my arms were used appropriately and correctly. The spacing was a major issue in my opinion; this is because some of us were cramped that we couldn’t do our moves properly, some of us complained to their own peers to move to where they think it’s appropriate to dance so they can benefit more space for themselves. I was aware of others dancing and watched out for my spacing by all means necessary, Not only I was fully extended, I was able to dance to the best of my abilities.

Personal Interpretation

The music was the main element to why I dance well; this is because I was able to dance to the music and feel it inside my head so I can dance to my best abilities. I felt normal during the dance, and at several occasions I counted the dance steps in order to remember what to do during the rehearsals. It kind of felt similar to Alston’s directions, as most dancers come out of the stage and in on stage.

Performing Skills

The dance was shown to be clear, and a moment when I had impact was when there was a favourite bit I liked about the overdrive. Not only did I enjoy my solo which gave me impact, the first section was the best section. This is because the section was like a warm-up for me to get me prepared for my own solo, to which I managed to do successfully. The next time for a better performance, is that I must be able to point my toes, as before the actual performance, I was seen not pointing my toes, to which I was not using a technique that Alston used. The group was focused and engaged enough to perform well. The confidence level was good enough to perform well in the show, as an example is that I was just normal and relaxed while I was dancing which implies that I wanted the audience to think that I was a relaxed dancer during the performance.

Reflection

The next time when it comes to a contemporary piece I would like to be in two’s again or be in a group of three, and add more moves and element to the dance. There were several strengths and weaknesses for my dancing; one of the strengths were that I knew what to do during the dance, knew the dance step by step and knew my position.

The second strength is that I was strong during the dance and had very good posture. However, despite the strengths, my weaknesses show to have been not be in time with the group at several occasion, constantly rush my dance with the others, even though I would have to wait for that person to make their move first before I do. Also, another weakness is that before I used to not be loose and be stiff, the weakness has become overcome. The three targets I would set myself for the future would be keep in time with the group, make sure you have plenty of space for dancing, and to have more rehearsal times, because I don’t think we had enough practise as a group. These improvements are reasoned because so I will not make the same mistake, and be better.