Question Home

Position:Home>Theater & Acting> Does anyone have any tips for acting as puck from a midsummer nights dream?


Question: Does anyone have any tips for acting as puck from a midsummer nights dream!?
I am reading one of puck's monologues for my audition!. Does anyone have any tips!?
this the the monologue:
Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night!.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale!.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there!. (Act ii!., Scene i!.)

also does anyone have tips for blocking this!?
thanks!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Always start Shakespeare by scanning for meter!. Is this in iambic pentameter!? If so, notice how this differs from his speech when he is casting a spell (II-2,66)!.
You are free to "act out" little bits of this in pantomime, if you wish, such as when the aunt falls down, and you may "neigh" in a horse's tone as well!. But the real issue with acting Shakespeare( especially the lines in verse), is to find the hidden heartbeat written into the meter, and, without speaking in a sing-song style, transmit this heartbeat to the audience!.

*Make sure you understand every single word and phrase!.
*Understand your status in relation to who you are talking to and who you are talking about!.
*Do not attempt an English accent!.
* Speak clearly (twice as loud and half as fast as you think you should!.)
* What is the character's feeling as he speaks!. Is he happy!? Elated!? Guilty!? Guileless!?
* Have fun with this!. it's a great monologue!

Www@QuestionHome@Com

Go all out, there is no way you can be too "over the top" playing this characterWww@QuestionHome@Com