Translations plot summary

Translations is a three-act play set in the tumultuous nineteenth century country of Ireland. The action takes place in a hedge-school where students are faced with the invasion of English speaking soldiers. One of these soldiers falls in love with an Irish girl and then mysteriously goes missing. The son of the master of the hedge-school is forced to go into hiding to keep from being condemned for the crime, although he is not responsible for the soldier's disappearance. Translations is a play about love, tradition, and the circumstances that force the break with these traditions.

The first half of Act one sets up the atmosphere of the city of Baile Beag and introduces the main characters. Midway through this act Owen, one of the head master's sons, returns from Dublin. Much to his brother and father's dismay Owen is employed by the British army to help make a new map of Ireland. It is Owen's job to translate conversations between the English speaking soldiers and Irish speaking citizens of the town. Unfortunately, Owen does not do a very adequate job of translating Lancey's words. He does not tell the students this map making project is a military operation.

In the second act of the play Owen and Yolland begin to realize how difficult their project of translating all the Irish place names into their English equivalents will be. Owen is unsentimental about the project and sees it only as another job while Yolland actually develops a deep love for the Irish language, culture and country. Yolland also falls in love with Maire, a girl who attends the hedge-school. Up to this point it had been understood that Maire and Manus would get married. When Manus sees Maire and Yolland embracing after a dance he goes after Yolland with a stick. Although Manus does not injure Yolland, Yolland goes missing the next day. Manus runs away because he is afraid he will be arrested in connection with Yolland's disappearance.

In the final act of the play Captain Lancey issues a warning to all the citizens in Baile Beag that the entire city will be destroyed if Yolland is not found. It appears Doalty plans to help organize some type of uprising against the English army with the help of the Donnelly twins. The play ends with an atmosphere of uncertainty. Yolland has not been located and no one seems to have information about where he might be. The futures of the various characters included in the play are also unclear. The play closes with Hugh attempting to quote from Greek mythology, an attempt at which he fails.

Taken from Bookrags (http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-translations/).

Me and Owen

Initially I read the character of Owen as someone who cared a great deal about his heritage, despite the diminishing cultural awareness of all these places and place names. I thought this was evident through the lines

'Back to the romance again. All right! Fine! Fine! Look where we’ve got to. (He drops on his hands and knees and stabs a finger at the map.) We’ve come to this crossroads. Come here and look at it, man! Look at it!' 

I believed him to be in a state of despair, sarcastically trying to deal with a difficult job of deciding what bits of his culture to disregard.

'And ever since that crossroads is known as Tobair Vree – even though that well has long since dried up. I know the story because my grandfather told it to me. But ask Doalty – or Maire – or Bridget – even my father – even Manus – why it’s called Tobair Vree; and do you think they’ll know? I know they don’t know. So the question I put to you, lieutenant, is this: what do we do with a name like that? Do we scrap Tobair Vree altogether...' 

Until recently I thought this was him losing his calm and having an emotional outburst about how sad the state of affairs are. 
When in actual fact he really doesn't care about his heritage and about these names. 
This is going to drastically change the way I have been rehearsing this monologue. 

With the play being set in Ireland in the 1800's, 1830's to be precise, I am going to have to learn to do an effective Irish accent. I have been using a video tutorial to work on this. 

What led up to the monologue

Owen is a businessman based in Dublin. Originally coming from the village of Donegal he is employed by the English Army to translate between them and the locals as well as translate place names for the map the soldiers are working on. He has found memories of Donegal but looks down on its peoples reluctance to move forward with the times. He understands what needs to be done and is quite good at it but whilst working with Yolande becomes enraged with his over romantacising with everything Irish. It is at this point in the play at which the monologue takes place. 

Any further details on the process I took is written on my script. 

Danny and the deep blue sea plot summary

‘The setting is a rundown bar in the Bronx, where two of society's rejects, Danny and Roberta, strike up a halting conversation over their beer. He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence than reason; she is a divorced, guilt-ridden young woman whose troubled teenage son is now being cared for by her parents. Danny, whose fellow truck drivers call him "the animal," seems incapable of tender emotion, while Roberta, who is still haunted by the memory of an ugly sexual incident involving her father, is distrustful of men in general. And yet, as their initial reserve begins to melt, and they decide to spend the night together, the possibility of a genuine and meaningful relationship begins to emerge-the first for both of them. In the end there are no facile, easy answers, but thanks to the playwright's skill and compassion, both characters are able to probe within themselves to find an exorcism and forgiveness that, while painfully achieved, offers the hope of a future touched, at last, with more than the bitterness and loneliness that had been their lot before their fateful meeting,’ 

Taken from Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/269361.Danny_and_the_Deep_Blue_Sea)

Me and Danny

Danny is a hard case so I have to be conscious of how I portray him, body language in particular. Naturally the way I sit is quite closed and quite timid but the character would be quite strong and open. I also have a tendency to do movements when i'm talking, e.g hand gestures and facial movements, but this wouldn't be right for the character. I see him as quite still and only moving when necessary. 

The character of Danny lives and has grown up in the Bronx, New York. So it would be important for me to get the accent right. I have been using a video tutorial to work on this. 

In one session we used the hot seating rehearsal technique and I stayed in character for between 6-7 mins however I did make a small mistake when I jerked like a head butt. However, even though the questions in the first part of the exercise were not specifically related to the scene, I did manage to feel the character. 

What led up to the monologue.

Danny doesn't want people to ask about him but wants to tell people how hard it is to keep them at arms reach. His life is going nowhere and he plans to kill himself on his 30th birthday. He hates his dad because he was angry and you can see the reflection of his father in the character of Danny. As Danny and Roberta speak he feels more comfortable and opens up to her about how he hurt his hand, how he thinks he might of killed the guy in the fight that he had the night previous. It is at this point in the play that the monologue takes place.

Any further details on the process I took is written on my script. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream plot summary

Theseus, duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, with a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment. He commissions his Master of the Revels, Philostrate, to find suitable amusements for the occasion. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches into Theseus’s court with his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to comply. Egeus asks for the full penalty of law to fall on Hermia’s head if she flouts her father’s will. Theseus gives Hermia until his wedding to consider her options, warning her that disobeying her father’s wishes could result in her being sent to a convent or even executed. Nonetheless, Hermia and Lysander plan to escape Athens the following night and marry in the house of Lysander’s aunt, some seven leagues distant from the city. They make their intentions known to Hermia’s friend Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and still loves him even though he jilted her after meeting Hermia. Hoping to regain his love, Helena tells Demetrius of the elopement that Hermia and Lysander have planned. At the appointed time, Demetrius stalks into the woods after his intended bride and her lover; Helena follows behind him.

In these same woods are two very different groups of characters. The first is a band of fairies, including Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen, who has recently returned from India to bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. The second is a band of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play that they hope to perform for the duke and his bride. Oberon and Titania are at odds over a young Indian prince given to Titania by the prince’s mother; the boy is so beautiful that Oberon wishes to make him a knight, but Titania refuses. Seeking revenge, Oberon sends his merry servant, Puck, to acquire a magical flower, the juice of which can be spread over a sleeping person’s eyelids to make that person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees upon waking. Puck obtains the flower, and Oberon tells him of his plan to spread its juice on the sleeping Titania’s eyelids. Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, he orders Puck to spread some of the juice on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Puck encounters Lysander and Hermia; thinking that Lysander is the Athenian of whom Oberon spoke, Puck afflicts him with the love potion. Lysander happens to see Helena upon awaking and falls deeply in love with her, abandoning Hermia. As the night progresses and Puck attempts to undo his mistake, both Lysander and Demetrius end up in love with Helena, who believes that they are mocking her. Hermia becomes so jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight. Demetrius and Lysander nearly do fight over Helena’s love, but Puck confuses them by mimicking their voices, leading them apart until they are lost separately in the forest.

When Titania wakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom, the most ridiculous of the Athenian craftsmen, whose head Puck has mockingly transformed into that of an ass. Titania passes a ludicrous interlude doting on the ass-headed weaver. Eventually, Oberon obtains the Indian boy, Puck spreads the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids, and by morning all is well. Theseus and Hippolyta discover the sleeping lovers in the forest and take them back to Athens to be married—Demetrius now loves Helena, and Lysander now loves Hermia. After the group wedding, the lovers watch Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform their play, a fumbling, hilarious version of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. When the play is completed, the lovers go to bed; the fairies briefly emerge to bless the sleeping couples with a protective charm and then disappear. Only Puck remains, to ask the audience for its forgiveness and approval and to urge it to remember the play as though it had all been a dream.

Taken from SparkNotes (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/msnd/summary.html)

Me And Demetrius

Demetrius is a well bred young man so to portray him I will need to use received pronunciation. The monologue I am using is from one of the final scenes when he explains to everyone what has happened and how he no longer wishes to marry Hermia but is completely devoted to Helena. 

While rehearsing the lines for this monologue I am trying to bear in mind the rule about punctuation when reading Iambic Pentameter. The punctuation is in place of a small pause so the line
'My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,'
would be read with a pause after 'My lord'. If you read through it without the pause it is quite defensive but with the pause it becomes very respectful of the Duke. Lines without punctuation should be read together as one sentence.

What led up to the monologue

Before the play starts, Demetrius as a young man promises to Helena they will marry but before they do he falls madly in love with her best friend Hermia. After a while, he convinces Hermias father to let them marry. Hermia however does not wish to marry Demetrius for she is in love with Lycanda. The play begins with her father trying to convince the local duke to force her to marry under penalty of death or being sent to a nunnery. The four lovers head into the woods that night. After a fairy sees him treat Helena so badly he is anointed with the dew of a flower which makes him fall in love with Helena again. The next day he is woken by the sound of the dukes hunting party. The two couples proceed to tell him how they wish to marry and Demetrius no longer demands Hermias hand in marriage. It is at the point that the monologue takes place. 

Any further details on the process I took is written on my script.