Exploring a Monologue | Text Detectives | Royal Shakespeare Company

Using Ariel's speech from Act 1 Scene 2 of The Tempest Mark Quartley suggests three key things to look for and explore whenever you are looking at a monologue for the first time, including Imagery, Metre and Word Choice.

[@vanessajm2757]

Mark Quartley should be way more popular, he is such a great actor!

[@beverlyanne5699]

I like this coach he is drawing this actors depth out by allowing him to interpret his own abilities through Shakespeare himself. He is not telling him, coaching him, he is guiding him, teaching him about the art that is Shakespeare, the freedom in the writing. That is a beautiful thing. Shakespeare is almost constructed like a branching tree, it has veins to leaves which Will begins sometimes from the root, some from a branch, and some he nourishes from barely a bud over a season, some wither and fall to nourish others. But Always there is development and prose, a saturation of beauty in humanity and our greatest darkness. This is Wills passion showing. I think he would have been a very vocal advocate for any human in need. Today, he probably would be one of the best people to turn to feed the hungry and homeless. Passionate people love with deep intensity, and any where there is love, there is God, and there can be only a good soul I suppose. God only knows, but his writing lives on for a reason. I for one love getting new things out of it everytime I go back to it. It just depends what I am looking for.

[@linreedshukla2023]

That final direction, wow, that made all the difference. Fascinating how just one note, "impress me" with each verb', can ignite the piece and bring it to life. Fantastic.

[@KrzysztofHalamaWalpurg]

Ariel, great role! A very talented actor!

[@evangelina8888]

I agree - he IS a great actor!!

[@jar8425]

I've been around theatre and theatre people for years. This is obviously staged, but it gets across some of the ways directors and actors interact. It is lovely.

[@thomasbrown3746]

Wow! Very well acted! I was sent here by Mia :)

[@sundelight8230]

He was great in Hoff the record

[@AndrewFord]

Stage lacks believably...wheres the art in that requiring complex thought; rambling