WJEC Speaking &

Listening

5-minute Assessment

• ‘Creating and sustaining a character.’

• You may use a script – but you’ll lose marks if you only read from it.

Learning Outcomes

D Grade– Successfully “create” a character by making deliberate

language choices.– Use body language and tone of voice to help present the

character.C- B Grade– Present a character by making deliberate choices of

speech, body language and keeping in the role.A Grade– Sustain the role and develop it by adapting to different

scenarios and situations.

Monologue

• 2-minute intro.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgjLyk57zG8

Your Task

• You have to bring out the inner turmoil that your character is going through.

• You have to show that you understand your character and that you understand the play.

Creating a Character

• Who is the character?

• Is it played the way you’d expect?

• What do you notice about the timing?

• Who is the character talking to?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UbqZ_oN5do

• 3-minute monologue by Rowan Atkinson

Famous Classical Monologues• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?NR=1&v=xYZHb2xo0OI&feature=endscreen

• 3 minutes – David Tennant’s Hamlet

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusU90ov8pQ&feature=related

• 3 minutes – Patrick Stewart’s Macbeth

NB: these characters are talking to themselves - this is called a soliloquy.

Short Monologues can be Effective• http://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=QlZFfXAUr2I

• Rowley Birkin QC from the Fast Show

• What’s the mood of this monologue?

Creating your Character

• Decide what kind of monologue you want to write.• Choose your

character.

1. Outline your idea first and know what you want to accomplish in your monologue before you begin writing.

2. Start by picking one aspect of your character’s life/emotional turmoil to focus on.

3. Next, decide if your character is talking to themselves or to other people.

4. Create a situation that allows your character to reveal themselves.

With Eric, you could focus on his drinking.

• Eric could be in a bar explaining WHY he drinks. Or pretending that he doesn’t drink. Or he could be at an AA meeting: ‘My name is Eric and I’m an alcoholic...’

Or you could put him in a the police station...

• Now he has to explain why he stole from his father.

How will your character talk?

Language• Eric uses lots of

old-fashioned slang: squiffy, smashing, beastly.

Tone and Accent• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k&feature=relmfu

• 21 ways to say: ‘Hello, my name’s Amy Walker.’

Tone & Accent

Joyce Grenfell

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXhHFgDRNBQ

4.5 minutes

Listen for the emotions

Showcase your Knowledge

Character = Language• You have to show that you understand your character and

that you know how they talk.

• Mrs Birling – formal and self-righteous.• Mr Birling – pompous and given to monologues.• Eric – self justifying and slangy.• Sheila – passionate and slangy.• Edna – casual and funny.

Scenarios• That night, one of the characters looks back

over their life and wishes they’d behaved differently.

• A long time later, one of the characters reviews the events of the play.

• An ‘outsider’ such as Edna gives their view of the story.

• One of the characters is in a new situation and has to explain what happened on the night of the play.

• Pairwork – one student played Eric and the other his conscience.

• A mad Mrs Birling held a funeral for a fantasy grandchild.

• A cancer-ridden Eric realised that Daisy was the love of his life.

• Eva told us how she felt the moment before she committed suicide.

• Edna listened at the drawing room door and then told the cook what she’d overheard.

• The charity committee ask Mrs Birling to leave because of the scandal.

Create Your Monologue

1. Chose a character.2. Decide what emotion/topic you will

focus on.3. Decide who your character is talking to.4. Chose a situation.5. Select appropriate tone and vocabulary.