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https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sophistry+by+jonathan+marc+sherman

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https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=things+i+know+to+be+true

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I put the title of my Modern speech into YouTube, and came across this video discussing the meaning behind the word 'Sophistry' which I found interesting. It goes on about how the word initially meant

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Stefan Molyneux discusses the history of sophistry - why it is the direct opposite of philosophy, how to identify sophistry and the dangers it brings the modern world. soph*ist*ry - the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving. Freedomain Radio is 100% funded by viewers like you.

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This is the webpage of the Theatre Company that performed Things I Know To Be True. Their current productions and ongoing projects are; Fatherland, Things I Know To Be True, This Will All Be Gone, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.

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Overview

A Frantic Assembly and State Theatre Company South Australia production. Co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre in association with Chichester Festival Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith First performed 13th May 2016 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide

This post is written by:

Scott Graham Artistic Director
I received a call from Australian director Geordie Brookman asking whether I fancied working with him and writer Andrew Bovell on a new project.

Geordie mentioned that Andrew wanted to do something different and the suggestion was we go into a rehearsal room with nothing but a book of Gregory Crewdson photos and see what happened. Of course, I was totally up for it.

After a week of work in Adelaide the Price family started to take shape. Andrew was fantastic at creating improvisations with the brilliant Australian actors. Geordie and I would take this on and explore the physical language of the piece. Designer Geoff Cobham was a vital collaborator. Nils Frahm's music brought it all together.

Things I Know To Be True is about love in many of its forms. At times comforting and supportive. At others suffocating and destructive. But always love.

I was so proud of how the show connected with its audience. Many shows ended with groups of people embracing and consoling each other. Nearly everyone left promising to go home and phone their mum!

It may have looked like a less physical show but every moment started with contained stillness. There was a physical precision to every moment that was challenging for the actors involved but it was crucial to creating the Crewdson inspired imagery.

Because of this, I actually consider this delicate production as one of our more physical shows!

Gallery

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Things I Know To Be True | Frantic Assembly

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A Frantic Assembly and State Theatre Company South Australia production. Co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre in association with Chichester Festival Theat

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It took me a long while to find a modern speech that I liked and I eventually found a speech from a play called Sophistry by Jonathan Marc Sherman. The play is set in a American University and the play is two differing accounts of what happened one night. On one hand we have the account of the University Professor of Philosophy, a Whitey McCoy, who states that the encounter was consensual. On the opposing end of the spectrum is the account of Jack Kahn, who alleges that he was sexually assaulted by the teacher. The conflicting accounts of the events fail to clear up the matter, however, and the audience, as fellow cast members, are left in doubt as to what, truly, happened that night.

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PDF of the feedback sheets I received for my Modern monologue - Sophistry by Jonathan Marc Sherman

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OTG's "Frank and Ferdinand" and "The Drunks" at Studio Liverpool

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Off the Ground Youth Theatre is beginning a season of new work with a double bill of vastly different new plays. Firstly, as apart of the National Theatres Connections project, is Samuel Adamson's Frank and Ferdinand. A village in a war-ravaged country wakes to find that one hundred and thirty children have vanished.

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I decided that I was going to go with the Mobile Phone Show monologue from the National Theatre Connections book. This was because I felt that the speech would work well in terms of 'bringing out the extrovert' in me (those are the words in the NTC book) and because it was a funny and humorous speech that was current and modern and focused on this generation's obsession with mobile phones. When researching the play I discovered that unlike every other show, audience members are encouraged to keep their phones on during the performance and to actively use them, because the actors interact with the audience through the mobile phones. Which is why in the beginning of the speech the character BB asks an audience member if he/she can use a phone to call his/her own -- and the character/actor actually calls the number there and then before continuing into the rest of the speech. When I was editing the speech as I began to try and learn it, I cut that part of the speech out because I felt that it wouldn't work with the audience that I would be performing the monologue to; I cut out a lot of the audience heavy moments because I felt that for an audition piece it would be difficult to do those interactive moments, especially when most of the drama schools state in their 'audition tips' not to use a member of the panel as a focus point or as an interactive stimulus for the speech. I also had to ensure that the accent and phrasing was correct to my own, because drama schools like to hear you in your natural voice, and because the author/playwrite Jim Cartwright is from up north and his characters and the script were written with a northern speaking accent in mine. I had to change all the 'I lost me mobile' lines into 'i lost MY mobile' and other minor changes.
However when it came to learning and memorising the speech, I found I was having trouble focusing enough to get the words into my head which was because I wasn't 100% sure that it was the speech for me. I chose it for the right reasons and because I felt it would be a challenge for me that I could rise to, but the more I tried to learn it the more it didn't feel right for me. So I took another look through the NTC monologue book in the hopes that something would jump out at me.
I found the speech Frank & Ferdinandwhich is about the Piped Piper of Hamelin. In contrast to the Mobile Phone Show, this speech is pure story-telling (as the NTC book states in italics beneath the speech) from the point of view of Flora, who, at the end of the speech, we realise is dead. There is a moment in the speech were the stage directions read something about 'we hear a gunshot and Flora reacts by lifting her hand to her chest and it coming away covered in blood' and I felt this part - while probably necessary for the show - was ineffective in terms of the speech for an audition, because it would require sound effects at the very least. I'm sure that while staging the speech it's something I could consider, but thinking about it, I feel that element would be best cut out along with the middling paragraph. The first paragraph is telling the story of how the Piper showed up promising that - for a certain sum of moneys - he would rid the town of the rat problem. The paragraph tells how the mayor decided not to pay the Piper once the Piper had held up his end of the bargain, and end with the Piper taking all the children, never to be seen again.
The middle paragraph goes into detail about how the mayor and the parents interrogate the few children left behind about what they saw, but the children are unable to give them anything useful and so the parents an the mayor grow irritable and leave them alone. The final paragraph explains that now-a-days the town in question is all happy and rich and a tourist trap, and how this terrible tale of lost children is forever memorised in happy cheerful songs and a colourful statue of the Piper. The monologue begins with 'Once upon a time ...' and ends with 'the end.'
I've decided to learn the second/middle paragraph of the speech anyway - just in case - and I can always leave it out if the monologue winds up being too long. This second/middle paragraph is about the children who had been left behind and how they were unable to tell the adults where the Piper had taken the other children, because of various disabilities - either physical or mental - that meant they were unable to follow the Piper.
I want to find another contemporary speech that I like the look of and content of to learn so that I can go into the audition prepared and knowing that I have options available to me. This way I can go into the audition feeling prepared and confident in that I can potentially say to the panel 'I have 2 contemporary speeches prepared, which would you like to hear?' Or this way I can decided on the day which speech I would rather go with in that particular audition on that particular day.
Earlier this term we went to see the play Things I Know To Be True at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London. The play was about a family dynamic and how over the space of a year everything stays the same, and yet everything is totally and irrevocably different. Each of the six family members had a secret or revelation or event that changes the family's perception of the character. Except for the father, although at the very end of the play he does lose his wife, which understandably then irrevocably changes the way he is perceived by the remaining members of the family.
Personally, this play killed me emotionally because I was able to connect so well with the characters and the situation they were in, which meant at the end of the play when the mother dies - or is revealed to have died - I broke. This play hit home for me because my family unit, a unit of mother, father, two sons and two daughters, was broken up and decimated when, firstly, my step-dad came out as gay, secondly, my mother was diagnosed with Leukaemia, and thirdly, when my mother then died a year later.
I don't actually remember the final moments of the play, because of my highly unexpected emotional state, but my connection with the character of Rosie stayed with me so I decided to have a look at the script to read and refresh myself with the ending because I knew that there was a monologue or speech at the end that Rosie spoke. I also sought the script out because friends said that I would be able to do the speech really well and that I could connect and really live the emotions of the character in the moment of the speech. So when I read it, I found that I loved it and was able to connect with the speech from the first moment that I read it.
I will still continue to work on my Frank & Ferdinand speech, but I want to at least try and do Rosie's final speech from Things I Know To Be True because I feel ready for such a thing as a person and as an actor and because I want to push myself to do these kinds of parts that may be difficult for me, because I know that I could do them well.

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PDF of the feedback sheets i received for my Shakespeare monologues - Set down, set down, and What do you tremble? both from Richard III Act 1 Scene 2

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Sophistry - Jonathan Marc Sherman : reviews

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Sophistry - Jonathan Marc Sherman : reviews

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http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76282
"Sophistry" is a riveting and provocative play that explores the subjective nature of truth within sexual relationships. Set at a small New England college during the mid-1990's, the calm campus waters turn troubled when a beloved Philosophy professor is accused of seducing a male student.
Conflicting memories leave everyone in doubt as to what actually transpired, but the self-absorbed students soon move on to sorting out their own romantic longings and sexual obsessions in this contemporary, shocking and funny coming-of-age tale
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http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76282
The subjective nature of truth within sexual relationships is the theme of this play about college life in modern-day America. The self-absorbed lives of a group of students at a small New England college are disrupted when they're suddenly forced to deal with a crisis

Philosophy professor Whitey McCoy is accused of seducing a male student, Jack Kahn. Both Whitey and Jack tell the story, each from their conflicting memories, leaving everybody in doubt as to what is true
This alleged sexual harassment story is mixed with slices of student life as everybody gossips, takes sides, and eventually forgets all about Whitey and Jack. The students are too busy drinking, smoking pot, and trying to sort out their romantic longings and sexual obsessions

While they try to come-of-age within the intimate hotbed setting of a contemporary college campus, with all of its confused trials, anxious tribulations, pressures, compromises, and politically incorrect dangers

An elite liberal arts college in New England reels when a beloved, eccentric professor is charged with sexually harassing a disturbed male student

"… a light comedy with dark undertones about everyday college life in the 1990s … Mr Sherman's voice is too fresh to be caged into standard, hand-me-down dramaturgy" ~ NY Times

"… talent and promise are apparent in [Sherman's] Sophistry. The perceptiveness, the sharp ear for the comedy in everyday speech, the willingness to tackle rough subjects are all present in this play … Sherman's talent and intelligence inspire hope" ~ NY Daily News

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The editing I did on the script of my modern Monologue

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Notes I made on my script - cutting and editing the speech to make it work without an interactive audience.

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Notes I made on my script - cutting and editing the speech to make it work without an interactive audience.

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Notes I made on my script - cutting and editing the speech to make it work without an interactive audience.

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Notes I made on my script - cutting and editing the speech to make it work without an interactive audience.

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Notes I made on my script about the play and the speech

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Notes I made on my script about the play and the speech

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Notes I made on my script about the play and the speech

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Notes I made on my script about the play and the speech

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This is the list I made of Shakespeare Monologues that are from his Tragedy and History plays.

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A list I made when I was looking for Shakespeare Monologues. These are some I found interesting from his Comedy plays.

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This is my modern monologue: It's from a play called Sophistry, by Jonathan Marc Sherman.

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Level 6 Diploma in Professional Acting | Applications | ArtsEd

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APPLICATIONS FOR THE 3-YEAR ACTING COURSE AND THE FOUNDATION IN ACTING COURSE (2018 INTAKE) ARE NOW CLOSED. APPLICATIONS FOR THE MA ACTING HAVE BEEN EXTENDED TO 15 JUNE.

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Guildhall School of Music & Drama | Auditions

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We welcome applications from overseas applicants. You must be completely fluent in the English Language (the equivalent of a minimum IELTS score of 7.5). Current and recent overseas students have come from Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

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Life at Mountview - Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts

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Etiam feugiat, nisl et sodales interdum, massa dolor ornare dolor, ut mattis ante sapien in dui. Integer mollis ullamcorper auctor. Proin efficitur ullamcorper urna, vitae ultricies arcu tempus eu. Maecenas et tristique felis. Maecenas sed nibh at massa pulvinar lacinia non et orci. Curabitur mattis et tortor sit amet pulvinar.

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Audition Requirements | The American Academy of Dramatic Arts | The American Academy of Dramatic Arts

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Complete list of tips and audition requirements for admittance to The Academy's full-time conservatory program.

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This speech is about a character stuck in a hole in the forest - and he's high/tripping on magic mushroom - and he's panickingly calling for help anyway he can

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This speech is about the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

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i'm not afraid of the second speech like i was of the first one and so it's better and feels better and i'm connecting more and can do more.

my voice is monotone (apparently) so i need to work on that

go through the speech and pick a word or two for each sentence to focus on and emphasise

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It's the graduation speech and the character Robin is saying how the college/university/school is a big fat Hippocrate for settling and making a problem go away rather than facing it and the consequences of what would come from dealing with the problem.

It's set in America and is an American play but it can be changed to be English.

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a one-act play

woman siting on a bench & a guy who was a high-school athlete wants to know if she went to that school and remembered his 'big moment' because his life has never gotten any better than that moment in high school.

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http://www.femalearts.com/node/1857

https://reviewsrjw.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/review-of-the-kings-companys-production-of-the-mobilephone-show-by-jim-cartwright-and-the-grandfathers-by-rory-mullarkey-in-the-hayward-theatre-on/

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Never apologise for anything, particularly not for your performance. never forget your words and never be late. It is lazy and rude and you don't deserve a place if you can't make the effort.

Research:

on the play

writer

background info on character

motivations of character in scene

context

historical or contemporary context - is the Shakespeare history & actual history

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wrote over 36 plays, divided into comedies, histories and tragedies

tragedy - Antony & Cleopatra

comedy - Midsummer Night's Dream

history - Henry V

watch the plays on youtube

read the plays in full

annotate the monologue script to decipher what they are actually saying and uncover any hidden meanings

the histories were biased because they were written for Liz 1 who was a Tudor and so she wanted her family shed in a good light while the enemy was always portrayed as the evil deformed thing that was the devil's spawn

Henry 7 killed Rich 3 in battle and Rich is the evil guy because it was thought he murdered his 2 nephews, the Princes in the Tower.

Shakespeare had enough influence that Rich 3 was thought of as evil in Proper history, and it may well be that the guy wasn't that bad in Real Life.

was a free-lance playwrite from 1589 to 1594

became the lord chamberlain's man/playwrite in 1594 until 1603

was appointed the king's man/playwrite in 1603 and retired in 1616

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If I had one or two people I trusted with me and see if I can go all out with the Shakespeare monologue and use the emotions and rage and shit. It feels very personal to me and I'm uncomfortable trying that in front of everyone and even on my own at home. I want to be in control of it and if I have everyone there then all I'll be is uncomfortable and unable to push through and expose that nerve. Just for like one session to see if I can. It's about trusting people enough to be able to let them see me like that - and during the London Incident, I wasn't in control of it at all and I think if I was in an environment where I was then I'd be able to maybe use what I felt for the speech and at least give myself the confidence that I can handle all that emotion and that I can channel it in a positive and useful way.

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Because the Lady Anne 'Set down set down' speech hit too close to home for me, I decided to pick a speech further along in the scene because I felt I could connect to it better since the emotions required for the speech weren't so glaringly grief-stricken.
I know that if I could channel my own experiences then I'd be able to give the first speech more weight but because I am afraid of my emotions and of letting them lose, I was holding back too much and it was impacting my performance. So in choosing a different speech, I can relax and I'm no longer unconscionably afraid of triggering an emotional response that could and would cause a repeat of The London Incident.

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No Fear Shakespeare: Richard III: Act 1, Scene 2, Page 3

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Home → No Fear Shakespeare → Richard III → Act 1, Scene 2, Page 3

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Royal Central School of Speech and Drama - Female Classical Speeches

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Royal Central School of Speech and Drama - Female Classical Speeches

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Portia: ‘I pray you tarry……to stay from election.’ The Merchant of Venice (Act 3 sc.2)

Queen Margaret: ‘Enforced thee……we'll after them.' King Henry VI part III (Act 1 sc.1)

Queen Margaret: ‘Brave warriors……to make thee mad do mock thee thus.’ King Henry VI part III (Act 1 sc.4)

Lady Percy: ‘O yet, for God's sake……so you left him.’ King Henry IV part II (Act 2 sc.3)

Portia: ‘You've ungently, Brutus……with your cause of grief.’ Julius Caesar (Act 2 sc.1)

Juliet: ‘Gallop apace……may not wear them.’ Romeo and Juliet (Act 3 sc.2)
Ophelia: ‘My Lord, as I was sewing……comes before me’ joined onto ‘He took me by the wrist……bended their light on me.’ Hamlet (Act 2 sc.1)

Cressida: ‘Hard to seem won……stop my mouth.’ Troilus and Cressida (Act 3 sc.2)

Goneril: ‘By day and night he wrongs me……prepare for dinner." (omit Oswald's lines) King Lear (Act 1 sc.3)

Paulina: ‘What studied torments, tyrant……and vengeance for’t nor dropp’d down yet.’ The Winter’s Tale (Act 3 sc2)

Viola: ‘I left no ring with her……too hard a knot for me to untie’ Twelfth Night (Act 2 sc 2)

Phoebe: ‘I would not be thy executioner……that can do hurt’ As You Like It (Act 3 sc 5)

Rosalind: ‘And why, I pray you? ……fare you well’ As You Like It (Act 3 sc 5)

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This is not the entire scene but it is the important stuff. In this scene Richard (Ian Mckellen) attempts to seduce Lady Anne, and, in all his dark glory, he succeeds.

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I was having trouble with my monologue - I wasn't connecting to it and getting the right tone or emotion to make it real. So I went on YouTube to see how others had performed the scene in the hopes that it could inspire me and help me to fine a way to make the speech my own.
When I first performed my monologue I was told I looked too relaxed sitting down so I should stand up. It was also established that I was reciting and stating the lines rather than acting them so I had 4 people hold my arms and legs still while I said my monologue and tried to get out of the room. It was difficult and frustrating and restrictive and where as with others this technique worked and helped them to establish some grounding and weight for the speech, I was unable to fully connect with the speech.
It was thought that was because I needed to go away and learn more about my character and the play and the circumstances the character finds herself in during the scene she delivers the speech. When I thought about it though, I realised that what was perhaps holding me back was a more personal issue to do with the fact that I am frightened of my emotions. When I realised that and identified it, I was then able to consciously try and delve into my stunted emotions to give my speech some heart and weight and reality.

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ANNE'S CURSE - Richard III Act I Scene II (2014)

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Uploaded by DIY Shakespeare on 2014-04-06.

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Richard III stage footage | Act 1, Scene 1 | 2012

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A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare

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A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare

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Rice University Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts

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A Midsummer Night's Dream 2016 Comedy Movie

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A Midsummer Night's Dream 2016 Full Movie

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Jim Cartwright: National Theatre Connections 2013

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Playwright Jim Cartwright talks about his new play "Mobile Phone Show" written for young people to perform as part of National Theatre Connections in 2013. Find out more about this play and the 9 other brand new plays for Connections in 2013 at http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/connections

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In this monologue, the character has misplaced their phone, and they are describing how important the phone is to their life.

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An effective technique for memorising lines, for me, I find is to endlessly repeat them over and over again until I find myself going over them without thinking about it. Also it helps me fall asleep at night to repeat some Shakespeare drabble until it's embedded in my mind.
I repeat the speech a sentence at a time until it's in my head and then I move onto the next sentence, repeating that several thousand times, before going back to the first sentence and repeating the both of them together in their order, and continuing the process until I can recite the entire speech off the top of my head.

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Anne is the young widow of Prince Edward, who was the son of the former king, Henry VI. Lady Anne hates Richard for the death of her husband, but for reasons of politics— and for sadistic pleasure — Richard persuades Anne to marry him.

King Edward IV (who took the throne from King Henry VI) is the father of the two Princes in the Tower, who went missing - and history speculates that Richard III had them killed so that he could become king. Because of this play, history tends to remember Richard III as a villain; the play was written durning the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who was the grandaughter of Henry VII. Henry VII took the throne from Richard III when Richard was killed in the Battle of Bosworth (he was the last English monarch to die in battle). Because Elizabeth wanted to ensure her reign and the reigns of her father, sister, brother and grandfather was legitimate and proper, it was ensured by this play that the public remembered Richard III as an evil king who had murdered his two young nephews in order to get to the throne, a throne he never deserved.

One of the first things I did was to essentially translate the Shakespeare-yness into modern-day language that is then easier to understand and interpret. I used the 'sparknotes' webpage for that.

As I understand it to be,

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Each drama school I am applying to has its own audition requirements, yet all of them in general require the same kind of thing; one modern (post 1960) or contemporary (within the last 10 years) speech from a well know play, and one Shakespeare-ian speech.

So far I have chosen two Shakespeare speeches and one Modern/Contemporary speech. I'd like to have at least another Modern or Contemporary speech so that I am in possession of a range of speeches so that I can say to the people conducting my auditions, "I know this and this and this, what would you like to hear?"

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No Fear Shakespeare: Richard III: Act 1 Scene 1

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No Fear Shakespeare by SparkNotes features the complete edition of Richard III side-by-side with an accessible, plain English translation.

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No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 1 Scene 1

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No Fear Shakespeare by SparkNotes features the complete edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream side-by-side with an accessible, plain English translation.

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SparkNotes: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act I, scene i

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A summary of Act I, scene i in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of A Midsummer Night's Dream and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.

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A summary of Act I, scene i in William Shakespeare's Richard III. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Richard III and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.