Shakespeare's 'Cymbeline'

Hello!  I’m…. not Shannon. I’m her friend Eileen. Shannon’s asked me to pop in every so often and throw down a monologue, so, here goes!

I’m going to start with a piece from a show I saw recently that knocked my socks off.  Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (which I saw performed at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park.)  The play itself has many problems, but the performances were so good, it really didn’t matter.  So, here you go, an amazingly epic monologue from a play that’s just alright.  And good news for you boys- it’s not just Innogen that gets the awesome dialogue- check out the speeches from Giacomo, the creeper (2.2, 5.6), Pisanio, the loyal but conflicted servant (3.2) and Posthumus, the lover (2.5, 5.1).  And if you’re older, there’s plenty of speeches for you too- the roles of Cymbeline, the Queen, and Belarius are all fantastic.

But back to Innogen.  Before I take on her monologue, here’s a basic rundown of the plot.  It’s a very complicated play, so I’m only scratching the surface here, I recommend reading it yourself, or go see it!

ACT I

-Innogen is married to Posthumus, a poor man whom she loves.  The King and Queen are not happy about this, and so they banish him.

-The King had two sons, brothers to Innogen, who were lost twenty years ago.

-Posthumus prepares to leave- Innogen gives him her mothers’ ring, and they promise to love each other until they die.

-Posthumustravels to Rome and boasts about Innogen’s virtue to a group of menfolk, including Giacomo.  Giacomo, not believing him, offers a wager- if he can seduce Innogen, Posthumus will give him his ring, if he cannot, he will give Posthumus ten thousand ducats.

-The Queen acquires poison from the doctor… so she thinks.  But the doctor instead gives her a potion that will make someone look dead for awhile, but won’t harm them (much like the potion in Romeo and Juliet.)

-The Queen gives the potion to Pisano, telling him that it is a curative potion.

-Giacomo visits Innogen, first delivering a fake letter from Posthumus, singing his own praises.  After his attempted seduction fails, he asks Innogen to look after a box for him.  Innogen agrees, and orders that it be put in her bedchamber for safety.

Act II

-Giacomo hides in the box, and while Innogen sleeps, he looks at her bedchamber and her body- things he could only know if he had slept with her.  He also takes her bracelet.

-Cloten, the bumbling young man the King and Queen want their daughter to marry (and also the only character who speaks in prose), prepares music to serenade Innogen.  Innogen shoots him down.

-Giacomo returns to Posthumus, with his “proof,” Posthumus is distraught, but gives Giacomo his ring.

Act III

-War is brewing between Rome and Britain.

-Posthumus gives Pisanio a letter to deliver to Innogen saying that he will be at Milford Haven.  Upon reading the letter, Innogen prepares to meet him.

-We meet Belarius, a banished lord, and his “sons”, Guiderius and Arviragus (actually Cymbeline’s sons, who were stolen as infants.)

-Pisanio and Innogen reach Milford Haven, where Pisanio delivers another letter accusing Innogen of adultery.  Posthumus has ordered Pisanio to kill Innogen.

-Innogen, upon reading the letter, wants to die, and demands that Pisanio kill her.  Pisanio refuses, and instead sends a bloody sign of her “death” to Posthumus.

-Innogen refuses to go back to Britain, and Pisanio persuades her to disguise herself like a man.  Pisanio gives her the Queen’s potion.

-Innogen is discovered missing.

-Pisanio, now anyone and everyone’s servant, gives Cloten some of Posthumus’ clothes, so that he can meet Innogen at Milford Haven.  He plans to kill Posthumus, and in doing so, win Innogen.

-Innogen is welcomed by Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus.

Act IV

-Innogen feels sick and takes the potion given to her by Pisanio.

-Cloten challenges Guiderius and gets his head chopped off.  Guiderius throws it down the stream.

-They discover Innogen, seemingly dead.  They place the two bodies side by side.

-Innogen wakes up, sees the dead body and thinks it is Posthumus.  She is found by Lucius, a Roman general, and agrees to fight in his army.

Act V

-According to scholars, there are 27 revelations in the final scene alone

-For the sake of this monologue, all you need to know is everything is brought to light and those who deserve to live happily ever after!

THE MONOLOGUE

THE TEXT

Yes, sir, to Milford-Haven; which is
the way?--
I thank you.--By yond bush?--Pray, how far thither?
'Ods pittikins! can it be six mile yet?--
I have gone all night. 'Faith, I'll lie down and sleep.
But, soft! no bedfellow!--O god s and goddesses!

These flowers are like the pleasures of the world;
This bloody man, the care on't. I hope I dream;
For so I thought I was a cave-keeper,
And cook to honest creatures: but 'tis not so;
'Twas but a bolt of nothing, shot at nothing,
Which the brain makes of fumes: our very eyes
Are sometimes like our judgments, blind. Good faith,
I tremble stiff with fear: but if there be
Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity
As a wren's eye, fear'd gods, a part of it!
The dream's here still: even when I wake, it is
Without me, as within me; not imagined, felt.
A headless man! The garments of Posthumus!
I know the shape of's leg: this is his hand;
His foot Mercurial; his Martial thigh;
The brawns of Hercules: but his Jovial face
Murder in heaven?--How!--'Tis gone. Pisanio,
All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks,
And mine to boot, be darted on thee! Thou,
Conspired with that irregulous devil, Cloten,
Hast here cut off my lord. To write and read
Be henceforth treacherous! Damn'd Pisanio
Hath with his forged letters,--damn'd Pisanio--
From this most bravest vessel of the world
Struck the main-top! O Posthumus! alas,
Where is thy head? where's that? Ay me!
where's that?
Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart,
And left this head on. How should this be? Pisanio?
'Tis he and Cloten: malice and lucre in them
Have laid this woe here. O, 'tis pregnant, pregnant!
The drug he gave me, which he said was precious
And cordial to me, have I not found it
Murderous to the senses? That confirms it home:
This is Pisanio's deed, and Cloten's: O!
Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood,
That we the horrider may seem to those
Which chance to find us: O, my lord, my lord!

Molly Smith Metzler's "Elemeno Pea"

HI.
IT’S SHANNON.

That whole opening thing seems to be a theme, doesn’t it?

ANYWAY. This week, I will be posting something altogether different from last week, since variation is the name of the game… except for, you know, the (mostly caucasian) young-chick thing I can’t do much about. So in an effort to change it up, I’ve got a contemporary comedic piece:

ELEMENO PEA

by Molly Smith Metzler

The play takes place in the course of two very eventful hours in the lives of Devon and her sister, Simone. Simone, an aspiring writer from outside of Buffalo, New York, has ascended from the lower-class world into the absolute top echelon of society -- Martha’s Vineyard. At the opening of the play she is working as the personal assistant to Mrs. Peter Kell (but we can call her Michaela), the (tenuous) second wife of a millionaire. Simone has brought Devon with her to her guest house on the Kell’s Vineyard estate for a long-overdue girl’s weekend, but Devon starts to question what aspirations and integrity Simone might be compromising for the substantial “perks and benis” of her position. Sure enough, Michaela herself bursts into the guest house and crowds the room with issues of her own, frantic about the possibility of losing her husband and his money (which she has signed away in their pre-nup). She even goes so far as to offer Devon money to cut her weekend with Simone short and leave the estate, because she “really needs Simone right now.” Michaela’s presence, as well as the presence of Ethan, Peter’s friend and Simone’s boyfriend (also, a salmon-colored-pant-wearing moron), turns Simone into someone Devon doesn’t recognize and Devon holds no punches in telling her so. Michaela’s underlying secrets come to light, including the consequences and cause of her husband’s ire: Peter has imminent plans to divorce Michaela for aborting their son after she discovered the child would be born a dwarf. The play ends in Simone severing her contract with Michaela (now all but destitute) to leave with Ethan and give up her dreams of being a writer. Devon and Michaela adopt a hesitant truce in allowing Simone to make her mistake.

The character WE’RE looking at today is

MICHAELA

This monologue is Michaela’s entrance, which excitingly enough means we don’t actually have to know much about her (other than what she tells us in the speech) before attacking this piece. Key to the monologue is that she’s talking to Simone, her best friend/personal assistant to whom she has gifted the guest house for the weekend. It’s the weekend after Labor Day, which to Michaela means that the seasons are changing, bringing on a great sense of melancholy. She and Peter had gone to counseling to work out the issues brought on by the abortion and had apparently improved their strained relationship, but it’s my interpretation that though Michaela’s fear of abandonment by Peter is the desperate kind of fear people tend to deny, she knows their divorce is coming — which raises the stakes of Peter’s abrupt departure from the airport that much more.

And… that’s pretty much it!

Here’s the monologue!

(I had scheduling problems with recording this week so this will be a little late but I don’t want to keep this monologue from you so here you go!)

MICHAELA: Phil wouldn’t take the jet out until the fog cleared, and Peter got all Peter about it and said he would therefore drive himself back to the city in his stupid Jaguar to which I said “honey, the fog is supposed to clear in less than an hour, why don’t we just go to Rafaella’s for oysters and by the time we’re done, it will be perfect” to which he said, “why do always try to take my balls?” and he slammed my car door shut and peeled out and left me standing there. I’m nauseated, can you get me some ice for the back of my neck?

SIMONE: Wait… I don’t understand, he?

MICHAELA: Yes! He left me at the airport. Just standing there on the tarmac with Phil and our packed jet. It was totally humiliating. I just turned around and started running.

SIMONE: (nothing about this lady is athletic) You… ran?

MICHAELA: Along the beach! Can you believe it? Totally exhilarating. I went up to the top of that lighthouse and shouted FUCK YOU PETER!! And then I kept running.

SIMONE: You ran here from the airport? That’s like six miles, Michaela

MICHAELA: I know! I know! I didn’t know where I was even running to. I just pounded the sand, you know? And then I got your video, and I couldn’t tell what the video was saying without the sound, but it seemed like you were inviting me over and so I thought, yes, I’ll pop by the guest house and I see now that it’s a good thing that I did because I specifically DID NOT WANT WHITE.

SIMONE: Let’s just slow down, okay? What’s white?

MICHAELA: (pointing to the flowers) I asked for blue! Blue hydrangea. Labor Day’s over! I said to the florist over the phone, I said, No White! If you give me white… if you fucking give me white… and did she listen Simone?

SIMONE: ...No?

MICHAELA: NO! I obviously should have done the flowers myself but for some asinine reason I thought it was more important to accompany my husband back to New York because for some asinine reason, I actually thought I… I thought we… (breaking) … And he just….

SIMONE: Okay Michaela, let’s take a big big deep breath.

MICHAELA: Why don’t I have any shoes on? I’m losing my mind now….

SIMONE: You’re not losing your mind, Michaela. Your shoes are on the floor by the door, see? You took them off/when you came in -

MICHAELA: (crying) And my makeup’s a mess now and I don’t even have my makeup bag. All my stuff is… who knows where? In the jet, I guess? I don’t even…

SIMONE: You have extra makeup bags in/all of the cars --

MICHAELA: We have to text him. Will you text him from your phone and tell him that you haven’t seen me? I want him to worry about where I am -- I want him to think I was abducted by sailors.

SIMONE: Absolutely, we can text him later. But right now you/have to calm down --

MICHAELA: Who does that son of a bitch think he is to peel out and leave me standing there with our pilot?! I am premium pussy! Isn’t that what that psychic told me, Simone?! Isn’t that what she told me? She said, YOU ARE PREMIUM PUSSY, MICHAELA!

SIMONE: You are premium pussy, Michaela! That is what you are!

DEVON: Okay. Simone? I’m… gonna find something to say now. I… am speaking.

(beat. Michaela acknowledges Devon for the first time since she’s entered.)

MICHAELA: (with formality and warmth)  Oh my God, Devon. You must be Devon. Oh, I’m so terribly sorry, please forgive me. (formal, taking her hand) I’m Mrs. Peter Kell, but you may call me Michaela. On behalf of Peter and I, welcome to Martha’s Vineyard.

--

As you can see, this monologue is actually a scene that I’ve basically cut another character out of -- creative license on my part, but Michaela is so focused on her own story the whole thing has a pretty good flow to it, and I think the monologue as a whole is hilarious. Michaela has another good one (angrily refuting Devon about the abortion itself), and Simone and Devon both have pretty good ones, so if you’re interested in what you see here, check it out! And as always, if you decide to give this piece a go (read the play first and), please comment below with a link of it! We’d love to see your interpretation!

This has been

SOMEONE MONO-BLOGGING

and again,

I’M SHANNON

ENJOY!

Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull"

HI GUYS.

IT'S SHANNON AGAIN.

Okay, I promise I won't type this whole blog like that... Or something.

It's the first week! And we're gonna start off by pulling out the big guns:

Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull"

This play is up there in the canon of "Best Plays Ever" and Nina, the young ingenue whose monologue we will be posting, is one of the most iconic roles for young actresses in existence. So be warned when taking on this monologue -- everyone has seen it, everyone has done it, and everyone has opinions.

Which makes it the perfect place for us to start.

The play itself centers around the story of Konstantin "Kostya" Gavrilovich Treplev, a young writer living in the Russian countryside on an estate next to a lake. At the opening of the story, Konstantin has written a play starring his beloved, Nina: a girl from the estate next door whose parents have forbidden her love of acting. Konstantin's mother, the famous actress Arkadina, is in attendance, as is her boyfriend Trigorin, a writer whose fame precedes him. Nina, meeting Trigorin, falls in love with him and begs him to take him with her when he leaves the estate. Despite his continued relationship with Arkadina and Konstantin's violent jealousy (Konstantin challenges Trigorin to a duel and then attempts to kill himself when denied), Trigorin engages Nina and calls her with him to Moscow. Nina follows, but soon finds herself abandoned by both him and her fledgling acting career. A year (or two) later, Arkadina, with Trigorin still in tow, returns to the estate. A broken Nina follows surreptitiously behind and encounters Konstantin in his study. He asks her to stay with him, as he still loves her. She, still desperately in love with the man who has destroyed her life, refuses. Konstantin, distraught, kills himself. It's a comedy.

There are several characters not mentioned here: Masha, who's in love with Konstantin. Medvedenko, who's in love with Masha (eventually she marries him). Sorin, Konstantin's uncle who owns the estate. Dorn, the doctor who's sleeping with Paulina, who’s Masha’s mother and wife of the estate manager, Shamrayev. And Yakov, who’s the hired man.

OH. And there's that bit about, you know...

The Seagull.

Konstantin, in desperation after Nina stops loving him in favor of Trigorin (which Konstantin attributes to the failure of his play), shoots a seagull and lays it at her feet. Trigorin, encountering the seagull, has an “Idea for a short story:" a girl is ‘happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and ruins her life because he has nothing better to do. Destroys her like this seagull here.” (meta, right?) The incident roots itself into Nina's mind and manifests in this monologue. The plight of the seagull Nina sees as her own plight. Because… well, it is.

Important note: That was a highly reductive summary, and though it kind of gets the point across, please know that if you plan to work on this piece (or anything Chekhov has written… or anything at all really), it’s pretty crucial to have read the play. Reading the play, you’ll pick up on details and nuances that I’ve skimmed over, or find things in the context that will inform your performance.

Other important note: There are lots of translations of this text. The one I'm using for this is "The gold standard in Russian-English translation"/the one that they told me to use when I was in drama school at NYU: the new translation by Paul Schmidt. It's only available in a collection with several of Chekhov's other plays, but it's worth it. He avoids a lot of the "no one SAYS that" moments and modernizes the language a bit. I'm a fan.

Now.

On to the monologue itself!

The key to this monologue is that it's done how we speak: Chekhov is pretty much the father of realism. Characters in his plays are known to use conversations about maps to subtextually make plans to run away together, and confront each other using the weather. It's intense. It can make reading the text difficult, because (she cries) can kind of land on you out of nowhere if you're not paying attention. So when you’re looking at the text, really focus on what lives underneath it.

Nina, at this point in the play, is in a state. She's just come off an unsuccessful acting tour, her parents have disowned her, and she’s been walking the countryside in a heavy Russian summer storm. *I* think she believes Trigorin is in the house before she's entered (Arkadina is there and Nina knows they're still together), but just before this piece, she's heard his voice for probably the first time since he left her. She's starting to lose it.

So without further ado, HERE is Nina’s monologue from The Seagull, performed by both myself and my buddy Eileen. Eileen and I are very different and appropriately have different interpretations of the text. The amazing thing about great plays like this is that the text can substantiate varying interpretations. It’s super cool.

It's Eileen!

And now it's me!

NINA: Why did you say you kissed the ground I walked on? You should have killed me instead. (leans on the table) I’m so tired! I want to rest, I just want to rest! (raises her head) I’m the seagull… no that’s not it. I’m an actress. That’s it.

(From the other room we hear Arkadina and Trigorin laughing. Nina listens for a minute, goes to the left door, and looks through the keyhole)

He’s here too. (Crosses to Konstantin) He is, isn’t he? Well, nevermind. He never believed in the theatre, he laughed at all my dreams, and little by little I stopped believing in it, too. And then all the emotional stress, the jealousy; I was always afraid for the baby… I started getting petty, depressed, my acting was emptier and emptier… I didn’t know what to do with my hands, I didn’t know how to hold myself onstage, I couldn’t control my voice. You don’t know what that’s like, to realize you’re a terrible actor. I’m the seagull… No, that’s not it… Remember that seagull you shot? A man comes along, sees her, and destroys her life because he has nothing better to do…. subject for a short story, No, that’s not it…. (rubs her forehead) What was I saying? Oh yes, the theatre. I’m not like that anymore. I’m a real actress now, I enjoy acting, I’m proud of it, the stage intoxicates me, When I’m up there I feel beautiful. And these days, being back here, walking for hours on end, thinking and thinking, I could feel my soul growing stronger day after day. And now I know, Kostya, I understand, finally, that in our business -- acting, writing, it makes no difference -- the main thing isn’t being famous, it’s not the sound of applause, it’s not what I dreamed it was. All it is is the strength to keep going, no matter what happens. You have to keep on believing. I believe, and it helps. And now, when I think about my vocation, I’m not afraid of life.

(KONSTANTIN: I don’t believe, and I don’t know what my vocation is. You’ve found your way in life, you know where you’re heading, but I just go on drifting through a chaos of images and dreams, I don’t know what my work is good for, or who needs it.)

NINA: (listens) Shh… I’d better go. Goodbye. When I become a great actress, come watch me act, won’t you? Promise. It’s late. (takes his hand) I can barely stand. I’m so tired, I’m so hungry.

(KONSTANTIN: Then stay. I’ll get you something to eat.)

NINA: No, no I can’t.) No, don’t come with me, I can go by myself; it’s not far to where the carriage is…. So she brought him with her didn’t she? oh, well, what difference does it make? When you see Trigorin, don’t say anything about this…. I love him. I love him even more than before. Subject for a short story. I love him, I love him, I love him to despair. Things were so lovely back then, Kostya, weren’t they? Remember? We thought life was bright, shining, joyful, and our feelings were delicate flowers. Remember? (recites) “Human beings, lions, eagles, qual… you horned deer, you wild geese, you spiders and you wordless fish who swim beneath the wave… starfish, stars in heaven so distant the human eye cannot perceive them, all living things, all, all, all …. all living things have ended their allotted rounds and are no more…. (for more than a thousand centuries the earth has been lifeless, no single living creature yet remains… and the weary moon in heaven lights her lamp in vain. The cranes in the meadows awake no more, their cries are silent; the flight of beetles in the linden woods is stilled….” (embraces Konstantin suddenly, then runs out through the French doors).)

Alright, that’s it! Again, there are lots and lots (and lots and lots and lots) of ways to interpret Chekhov’s masterpiece. So take it on! Make it your own!

And know that we would love to see your work. If you use this piece, we’d love to see it! Comment below with any thoughts you might have (did I forget something in the summary? what’s your favorite part of the play? would you cut the monologue itself differently?), or better yet, a link to you doing the monologue! That would actually make my day.

Just... don’t do it for an audition.

And welcome to

SOMEONE MONO-BLOGGING

AGAIN,

I’M SHANNON.

ENJOY!