UCAS Form and Monologues

Monologue Preparation

We have to choose a monologue to perform along side the Shakespeare monologue that we and performed earlier in the year. I chose to do Robert's Monologue from Betrayal which was written on 15th December 1978 by Harold Pinter. I chose this play because I feel the piece that I am performing is very powerful if performed correctly.

We also talked about what was required with the monologues  that usually the modern monologue has to be from a play published after 1980 and that the other monologue must be from play written by Shakespeare. I decided to go with Romeo's Monologue from Romeo and Juliet.

I believe I performed Robert's monologue very well, it was a speech I have much confidence with as I have spent a lot of time rehearsing it in my free time, the feedback I got was incredibly positive, I was told I had had performed the character extremely well and that he could tell it was something I was confident with, he said that reflects well when I perform as it allows me to give myself to the role completely.

(This is Robert's Monologue from the play Betrayal by Harold Pinter)

I was also given feedback on Romeo's monologue which I had performed as well, I was given the same feedback as with the Betrayal monologue, the only difference being that he said he would've preferred more physicality to it, this was an idea that I had previously but was told by my teachers to perform it to him as if it was a panel of judges for a drama school audition, thus meaning that I had to stand still whilst I performed.

                  (This is Robert's Monologue from the play Betrayal by Harold Pinter)

UCAS Application and Personal Statement

We spoke about UCAS and our interest in certain Drama schools that we were interested in such as RADA, Rose Bruford and Drama Centre.

(This is an image of how my UCAS application looks)

We also had to write a personal statement to identify our strengths and speak about our development to meet those goals. I had already been working on my personal statement prior to being given the task. Below is the first draft of my personal statement:

I would describe myself as an energetic, ambitious person who has developed a mature and responsible approach to any task that I undertake, or situation that I am presented with. On top of that I am excellent in working with others to achieve a certain objective on time and with skill and consideration. I believe my skill set includes various things such as, being self-motivated, being hard working, constantly having strong verbal communication, being extremely well organised and having a strong sense of team leadership capability. 

Ever since a young age I have always been dedicated to the theatrical arts, from the shows I put on in my primary school, to the productions I did in secondary school and now the work I am doing in my college. I have played many roles over the years, always auditioning for the main parts as best as I can. The shows that I have done most recently in my college years consist of, Identity (devised work), The Dumb Waiter (Ben), #weareallimmigrants (devised work), Burn (Birdman), Fugee (Refuge Counsellor/Market Trader), The Three Sisters (Chebutykin/Vershinin), The York Realist (devised work), Romeo and Juliet (Lord Montagu) and various Silent Movie Projects.

So far in my studies I feel have become a better actor and am now more confident in my abilities. I've worked on Chekhov and his idea of Psychological Gesture in 'The Three Sisters'. I have used actions in both of my productions and worked more on units of action which worked very well in our production of 'The York Realist'.  I have also worked with the Donmar Warehouse, a theatre company in the industry and have learnt various skills such as physical theatre and acting tactics to draw the focus to myself when needed. Learning physical theatre was helpful to me as it allowed me convey emotion and meaning in movement as well as the lines I am saying. The acting tactics I used helped to draw the attention of the audience when trying to convey strong meaning or importance to the plot of the story, this makes the character's objective and emotion more clear to the audience. I have also learned that physical theatre is an important tool in the acting industry as it can be used to show not only set but props as well but also includes actors that would otherwise be off stage. I feel as now I know more about the theatre industry I have an even larger interest in becoming a part of it.

Outside of school I always try to participate in as much acting work as possible in various different locations. This consists of work at YATI, Camden People's Theater, The Gatehouse and work on TV shows, most noticeably my main role in the recreation in the younger years of The Goodfellla's by Martin Scorsese.

My  main interest in my chosen course comes from a dedication to learn as much as possible and to improve on myself as best as I can, this helps me to become a better actor further down the line of my career and allows me to gain a better insight into the world of acting and production arts.