you kiss by th' book
Last night, I auditioned for Yorick's production of Romeo and Juliet. We played some stupid improv games and I only participated in one. 8( But this kid, Tom, who is CRAZY good, didn't participate at all, so I felt better. I fucking hate improv games. :P
Anyway, so after that, everyone was given a monologue or a dialogue to read. I got a Juliet monologue. JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentations might have moved?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? Not to toot my own horn, but I felt like, out of all the Juliets that I heard read, I think I did the best job of capturing the emotion in the scene..at least vocally! I'm so glad I had that Shakespeare class - I actually understood what I was reading really well. And the two Juliets that read before me were both cut off at the same part (just for timesies) and they let me read for a bit more when I went! :O
After that, I read for Juliet again in a dialogue with Romeo. ROMEO
[To JULIET] If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
JULIET
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
ROMEO
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
JULIET
You kiss by the book. It went really well (dat bit is easy enough) and then the director, Sarah, called up some guys and girls and gave them the same dialogue to read. She didn't say my name, but after they left, she said, "Annie, can I see you?" Yes. "I noticed you checked off that you only want a medium or small role. Do you think you wouldn't be able to handle something like..Juliet because of Harlequin?" UH. No? o.o "OK, I'm going to have you read for her again."
So I read that same dialogue some more with a few different Romeos and I played Tybalt once..alllllllriiiiight. But..yeah, it went really well! And about 40 people were there originally and they sent about half of those people home toward the end. I got to stay and I read a few more times.
Got an email about it today...going back at 8 for a CALLBACK. O.O I am really excited slash noivous! Whether I get a part or not, though, I'm just really proud that I worked up the nerves to audition and I impressed the director and some of my fellow auditioners, understood what I was reading, and actually ended up having a lot of fun and being really social with lots of different people! I hope I get cast! (I know I'm being considered for Juliet.......but I really want to be Samson..."I do not bite my thumb at you, sir...but I do bite my thumb, sir.")
Timoteo got a callback too! :) Bring it, Yorick!
Anyway, so after that, everyone was given a monologue or a dialogue to read. I got a Juliet monologue. JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentations might have moved?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? Not to toot my own horn, but I felt like, out of all the Juliets that I heard read, I think I did the best job of capturing the emotion in the scene..at least vocally! I'm so glad I had that Shakespeare class - I actually understood what I was reading really well. And the two Juliets that read before me were both cut off at the same part (just for timesies) and they let me read for a bit more when I went! :O
After that, I read for Juliet again in a dialogue with Romeo. ROMEO
[To JULIET] If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
JULIET
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
ROMEO
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
JULIET
You kiss by the book. It went really well (dat bit is easy enough) and then the director, Sarah, called up some guys and girls and gave them the same dialogue to read. She didn't say my name, but after they left, she said, "Annie, can I see you?" Yes. "I noticed you checked off that you only want a medium or small role. Do you think you wouldn't be able to handle something like..Juliet because of Harlequin?" UH. No? o.o "OK, I'm going to have you read for her again."
So I read that same dialogue some more with a few different Romeos and I played Tybalt once..alllllllriiiiight. But..yeah, it went really well! And about 40 people were there originally and they sent about half of those people home toward the end. I got to stay and I read a few more times.
Got an email about it today...going back at 8 for a CALLBACK. O.O I am really excited slash noivous! Whether I get a part or not, though, I'm just really proud that I worked up the nerves to audition and I impressed the director and some of my fellow auditioners, understood what I was reading, and actually ended up having a lot of fun and being really social with lots of different people! I hope I get cast! (I know I'm being considered for Juliet.......but I really want to be Samson..."I do not bite my thumb at you, sir...but I do bite my thumb, sir.")
Timoteo got a callback too! :) Bring it, Yorick!