Audition Speeches - Romeo & Juliet "The clock struck nine"

My classical piece is from the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet written between 1591 and 1595 It tells the story of Romeo and Juliet as the title suggests. In this play we witness the romance that blossoms between these two lovers and how it brings across their demise, the speech from the play I have chosen is spoken by Juliet, she is remarking and moping about how her nurse has not come back from seeing her Romeo in the time she said she would be.

To begin characterisation for Juliet I read the play over and also watched some of the film versions of the plays to gain an idea of how other actors have portrayed Juliet in the past. I then compiled mental markers as to the mannerisms that they used to evolve Juliet, also being 17 I know what it's like to be 14 and impatient. So from compiling information from books, performances and personal experience I created my own version of Juliet. I found my version to be a little more down played than some of the versions I had seen on screen, I deliberately down played the character because I felt that in a lot of instances the character is overplayed with the stereotypical "I'm a teenager and the world revolves around me". I wanted to change her to become a more understandable person for an audience to see and relate to, to find that the impatience is a universal thing not just for a teenage girl waiting for her boyfriend. To rehearse this character I played with the vocal tone of her, seeing as she's meant to be a young teenage girl I knew the voice needed to be a lot more high pitched and whiny in a way as a lot of younger voices are before they mature. I also looked at how she might move having been brought up in a high ranking family and being subjected to act and talk like a lady of the time, this led me to become very aware of how she carries out her actions.

I felt that my mock audition went very well, I liked how I felt within the character and how I delivered my lines. In the audition I felt that I managed to convey the downplayed Juliet and how her feelings are universal feelings, I also felt that I used the stage appropriately to the situation of the monologue I was Performing. I felt that I managed to explain through the monologue who Juliet is to the audience and that there is more to her than her stereotype suggests.

Juliet

Name: Juliet Capulet
Age: 14
Family: Lord Capulet (Father) Lady Capulet (Mother) Tybalt Capulet (Cousin) Rosaline Capulet (Cousin) Nurse (Surrogate Mother)
Spouse: Romeo Montague

Juliet is a fourteen year old girl who lives in Verona, Italy her father is a Lord and so she and her family hold a high position in the society of Verona. Her family have been feuding with another high status family in Verona called the Montague's, during this play she falls in love with the son of Lord and Lady Montague which becomes a catalyst to their demise.