For an audition: should i play hermia sympathetic to helena or not?

Question:The scene which i will be auditioning with is the second part of Act 1 Scene 1

When Helena is going on about how she loves demetrius and how she wishes she was Hermia should i play Hermia sympathetic and really feeling for her friend......

.......or should i play her getting a bit bored and annoyed with Helena for moping around?

Note: i am not the best actress and all advice would be helpful!!!!

Thank you!!!!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The scene which i will be auditioning with is the second part of Act 1 Scene 1

When Helena is going on about how she loves demetrius and how she wishes she was Hermia should i play Hermia sympathetic and really feeling for her friend......

.......or should i play her getting a bit bored and annoyed with Helena for moping around?

Note: i am not the best actress and all advice would be helpful!!!!

Thank you!!!!!

Good question you are on the road to making some great choices.

Let me ask you when you are in love and the stars are in your eyes how do you feel when your best friend is moping and turns everything you say into her drama, sorry for her, oh yes, but really you are probably way more absorbed in your own rapture, especially with a hottie like Lysander, but when she goes on and on and turns everything into how ugly she is and how unhappy in love she is it gets on your nerves after a while doesn't it? (especially when it is in front of Lysander and really all you wanna do when you are with him has nothing to do with your friend Helena's woes, or with being dressed or vertical,) there should be times when you are sympathetic and times when you are sick of it. More than likely you are listening with half an ear and making googoo eyes and playing footsy with Lysander.

As an actor you have to find the moments of sympathy and the moments of boredom and the moments of annoyance, (it's not a johnny one note type of thing) the more moments you have the more realistic your portrayal will become.

Yes show different aspects of her emotions let your face tell the story as she discovers inside herself fighting with the enitial emotion to be sypathetic while the anger rages aswell. GOOD LUCK!!!! i got helena in my audition =D
xxxxx

I've done this show close to 10 times in various roles, and as a director. I have also seen it done several times - both well done and poorly done.

My advice for you is to understand what happened before your part of the scene.

This (understanding what happens at the top of the show) is what I've rarely seen any production really give weight to - especially actresses playing Hermia. They tend to go with the easy choices and make her a bit flaky and don't give her depth - they prefer to play her annoyed or angry at her best friend and just have stars in her eyes for Lysander - as if nothing else life changing has just happened. Think about what happened before Helena enters and how the story progresses from that.)

Hermia's own father drags her in to see the Duke... pretty much the highest authority of the land (like taking her to see the president). His complaint against her is that while he has arranged a marriage between Hermia and his choice for her husband, Demetrius - his daughter prefers another man, Lysander - the man she actually loves.

Hermia's father demands of the Duke that if his daughter doesn't accept Demetrius as her husband, the Duke is to uphold the ancient law of the land - which is that Hermia will either be taken and put in a cloister to become a nun - where she will never have contact with ANY man EVER. Or she will be executed. Yes, her own father thinks that Hermia should DIE for disobeying him if she refuses to marry who he chooses for her.

Hermia, very boldy, declares she will not marry Demetrius. Lysander tries to argue on her behalf - and for his own sake, but to no avail. Even Demetrius begs her to relent.

The Duke warns Hermia not to be so quick to decide - and tells her she needs to make a decision by the next new moon - either to prepare to die or to marry Demetrius as her father wants her to.

And then Lysander and Hermia are left on stage.

So here's the situation:
*Helena and Hermia have been best friends since they were little.
*Helena and Demetrius were in love.
*Lysander and Hermia were in love.
*Hermia's father then chose Demetrius for Hermia to marry (the person her best friend is in love with. How hard would that be for BOTH Hermia and Helena?)
*Hermia is appalled with this choice and has spurned any advances Demetrius has made.
*Against her father's wishes, Hermia still interacts with (and loves) Lysander.
*Things come to a boiling point and Hermia's father takes her to the Duke.
*Hermia learns that she must either give up Lysander and marry Demetrius, or give up her life (be put to death).

So although Lysander and Hermia are left alone on stage together, I would certainly not classify them in this situation as "absorbed in your (Hermia's) own rapture."

The other posters are right - there are layers here to play with. But I would not go with playing that you're blissfully in love. And I personally wouldn't play Hermia as being bored with Helena or annoyed with her. I have honestly HATED it any time I've seen this in a production. Helena and Hermia are best friends and if they're already indifferent or annoyed or angry with each other in the beginning of the show - there is no place to go later on in the story when Puck starts to have his fun with them.

So, think about this...

When Hermia and Lysander are left on stage together - Hermia is is pale - all blood has drained from her face - which makes sense as she was just told by both her own father and the Duke that she has to either die or marry someone she doesn't love. Things seem kind of hopeless doesn't it?

Lysander and Hermia comfort each other as best they can - and Lysander comes up with an idea to run away from Athens so they can get married somewhere where the law doesn't apply.

This means that they both have to give up their homes, their friends, and everything they've ever known. Also for Hermia, it means that if she's caught - it would mean she's be put to death. So this is not a light and happy choice. Hermia is making a big decision to decide to go with Lysander. It is truly a life or death situation.

There is probably some excitement and hope involved in having made this decision for Hermia - she may just get to marry the person she loves. She makes some oaths to Hermia - and I think she means every one of them. This is a time when oaths are taken seriously.

Helena enters - Hermia's best friend, who she now knows she'll never see again.

This whole situation has been hard on Helena as well. Demetrius used to dote on Helena, in deed they used to be in love, but since the arranged marriage, Demetrius has spurned Helena in order to dote on Hermia. What an awful situation, right? It's not Hermia's fault this happened - and it's not Helena's either. Hermia now has 2 men fighting over her - and poor love-sick Helena is trying to make sense of it all - and still loves Demetrius. It seems like Helena thinks she wants to be like Hermia.

Who does it make sense for Hermia to be upset with? Helena? Or does it make more sense for her anger and frustration to be directed at Demetrius - who, without him, none of this would be happening.

Hermia tells Helena of how she has spurned Demetrius. Does she say this to be reassuring to her friend? Does she say it in frustration at Demetrius? Could be either - could be other reasons as well. However, the text doesn't seem to support the idea that Hermia is annoyed with Helena. Hermia even tells her to "take comfort."

Hermia has to make a decision whether or not to tell her friend about the plan Lysander and she has just made. This could be a good place to take a beat and show Hermia making that choice - it's another thing to play.

Why does she decide to tell Helena? We all know that with secret plans, the less people who know about it, the more likely it is that it will be carried off successfully. Is there a risk in telling Helena? (There is - because Helena ends up telling Demetrius who goes after Hermia. But there is always the risk that Helena could tell someone who would hurt their escape more (Hermia's father or the Duke.) There's also the risk that someone could overhear and tell Hermia's father or the Duke.) So, does Hermia trust Helena?

Does Hermia tell Helena because she's so excited that she's going to run off and marry her lover? Does she tell her to bring comfort to Helena so she knows Demetrius will never see Hermia again? Does she tell her because they're best friends and she doesn't want Helena to wonder what happened to her? Or is it for some other reason? Or a combination of reasons?

Is Hermia happy to go off with Lysander? Is she sad to leave Helena? Is she scared? Is she hopeful? There are lots of things to play. Let your decisions be guided by the text. Don't just go for the stereotypical teenage angst stuff. Beginning actors always go right for anger and being argumentative - because it's the easiest thing to play. It's not usually the most interesting choice. Just watch how many other actors will play anger and sarcasm and roll their eyes at Helena.

A Shakespeare teacher of mine (who also teaches at Juilliard) has said there is no sarcasm in Shakespeare. There is irony, but not sarcasm. Irony is there to teach, sarcasm is there to hurt.

Like other things beginning actors do - they tend to play sarcasm a lot. It's easy and it's a way to play something with out really making a firm choice. Sarcasm doesn't really bring anything to the meaning of the scene.

Find those moments where you can really show Hermia's depth and resolve. She really is a strong character making tough choices. She cares about people deeply. Make her smart instead of flaky. It's not interesting if she's not aware of what's going on.

Read through the text of the scene you're going to have to audition with and make sure you understand everything that's happening in it and every word that everyone says.

Read to the punctuation as opposed to the end of the line.You'll be great. And I bet you'll be more prepared and bring something more interesting to the character than your peers.

If you have any further questions or need more help, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Sorry this was so long. LOL - you can tell I've put a lot of thought into Hermia and the full story. It really is my pet peeve to see the 4 lovers angry and annoyed with one another from the top of the show. It makes it very hard for me to be sympathetic to them and it gives them no where to go emotionally once they're being manipulated by the fairies and things actually come to blows later in the show.

Good luck!