Unit 7
The Flick
Monologue
Context
The play my monologue is from is called “The Flick” by Annie baker and is set in a cinema. The genre is a comedy delivered in small pieces of dialogue that may be considered insignificant. This is a contemporary play about three underpaid movie ushers, Avery, Sam and Rose. A theatre director named Sam Gold said the comedic writing was carefully thought out, and planned out beforehand. “Surprisingly understated”. He also added that “rhythm, meter, and pace of the dialogue was cardinal to the comedy”. People have complained about the show's length being too long as the run time is three hours long. The director Tim Sanford has received numerous emails and letters regarding this, therefore thought it would be best to cut some scenes. Although people let out their frustration, many critics, reviewers and countless other fans have praised the pacing of the play that Sanford concluded that there was no need to summarise conversations or edit it down.
Critics rated “The Flick” of B+ based on 22 reviews thanks to the unique personalities of the characters described as “Rich” and dialogue “nuanced and entertaining”. Moreover, there is a lack of traditional theatricality and is seen as more of a disadvantage, however for others it helps the popularity of it. As a result, it attracts younger audiences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flick
Annie Baker
Annie Baker is an American playwright and teacher. In 2014 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her play “The Flick”. She has also written other plays such as The Shirley, Vermont plays. Baker was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her family, but shortly after moved to Amherst. Her father administered for the five colleges consortium, and Linda Baker, Annie’s mother, studied in psychology. Baker graduated at New York University’s Tisch School of the arts where she studied Dramatic Writing, and earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting from Brooklyn College in 2009. Annie Baker teaches playwriting at Barnard College in New York, and in the MFA in Playwriting Programme of Hunter College. The Flick premiered in March 2013 and received the obie award for playwriting.
Themes
Comedy
Comedy plays a big role in The Flick as its genre plays a massive part with the audience. Furthermore, this is best played to lighten the mood of a complex scenario as the context of it is humorous.
Comedy is used in T.V, Film, Stand up as a medium to entertain ourselves. The method of delivery is crucial in jokes as they set the atmosphere around the room, and the execution of these jokes can have people laugh and remember them that holds an impact on the scene.
Depression
Depression is when you think low about yourself. Low self esteem happens when you believe you can’t accomplish anything. Consequently, this would require demonstrating lack of self confidence. People with depression lose interest being around the people they love or doing the things they enjoy, for example going out with friends, playing sport or playing instruments. Depression is an illness caused by changes in our brain chemistry. This affects our behaviour and leaves us emotionally depressed to do the most simplest things.People with this disorder will feel really down and will not feel motivated to do anything. Furthermore this would make it hard to concentrate and have a desire for food, Sometimes no appetite at all. They will feel hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. The symptoms often trigger a certain topic or an event in someone’s life: Loss of a loved one and physical diseases are an example that somebody may be coming to terms with leaving emotional scarring.
- Feeling Empty inside
- Feeling useless or unable to cope with life
- Feeling bored all the time
- Poor memory
- Increased feelings of anxiety
- Low mood in the morning
- Impacting an estimated 300 million people
- Most common mental disorder
- Generally affecting women more than me
- Loss of interest/Pleasure
- General sadness
- Feelings of guilt or low self esteem
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Eating pattern changes
- Arises in life events, medical problems, and medications
- Long lasting/Recurring
Suicide
One of the main characters Avery goes through a difficult time in his life where he attempts suicide.
As a result he seeks help from his therapist.
As a result he seeks help from his therapist.
Suicide is a way for people to escape pain, and not return to their daily life style.
Furthermore people that attempt suicide have had these thoughts in their mind.
Mental illness plays a massive role for people to come to these conclusions.
Furthermore people that attempt suicide have had these thoughts in their mind.
Mental illness plays a massive role for people to come to these conclusions.
For example:
- Inability to see a future for yourself
- Thinking life is not worth living
- Thoughts of death
- Wanting to go to sleep and never waking up again
- Talking about being a burden to others
- Feeling hopeless or having no purpose
- Talking about being trapped
- Withdrawing or feeling isolated
Avery
My character Avery is an 19 year old African American dropout from college who is working at a cinema until he returns to his studies. Avery loves movies and in the play he is considered as a movie snob. A year ago he tried to commit suicide, because his parents got a divorce and now lives with his father who is a lecturer. Avery's advantages are his honesty, being organised, and having great time management. He is coping with depression who is seeking therapy from his psychiatrist. Avery's disadvantages are him being highly sensitive, shy and sexually awkward.
Costume
Cinema Uniform
- Waistcoat
- Black Trousers
- Dark Polo shirt
- Black cap
This costume is Avery’s work clothes and I wanted to portray a scenario where he finished work and went straight to the therapist’s office. This can indicate his bad scheduling or his lack of rest from his job. Moreover can also represent not having free time for himself, and this would also be a great way to show Avery’s commitment.
- Grey Trousers
- Grey Shirt
- Black trainers
- (Tucked in shirt inside trousers)
Here I wanted to show Avery in a different light where he is organised and looking neat, and I wanted to show his casual attire in grey clothing. The reason for the colour direction was to symbolise his emotions as they represent how he feels on the inside with his shyness and depression. Moreover can also be another sign of his character feeling drained out as he reflects to himself that this person is who he is now.
- Movie T-shirt
- Regular trousers
This costume idea was to depict his laid back side and portray his love for movies. Avery wearing a shirt of a movie franchise intrigued me, because he always loved talking about them which can also portray his comfortable side. I also wanted to indicate a much more lazier side to Avery as someone who would come in for an appointment with anything he pleases.
Planning
On the 20th March was our first day of Lockdown. The outbreak of Covid-19 allowed everyone to quarantine at home, and this made us work from home. The week after we had a meeting with our teacher on google meet, and she gave us a task to break down our monologue and memorise it. I broke down my scene into paragraphs. In the start of the play I decide to wave my hands energetically visualising the dream with my eyes wide open. For this reason I am excited to share my dream to the therapist. In the dream Avery talks about how there is a purgatory where people scan their books or movies. When he notices his dad and his bookshelves there I'll sound confused yet intrigued to find out what the ISBN scanner does. Next It’s Avery’s turn to scan, but I’ll portray a hesitant expression. Moreover, While he looks around different movies he’s familiar with, I'll have him stare at what’s around him indicating that he is lost in his own world. During the moment when he speaks about the scanner not beeping I’ll put an anxious expression on my face depicting that he is scared that he may not go to Heaven. Until the scanner scans the last shelf of movies I’ll have him feel disgusted putting his hand over his mouth looking like he is about to throw up when he says “Honeymoon in Vegas” implying his hatred for the movie. Avery tells the therapist why this movie is the worst movie he’s ever seen. I’ll have him sound sarcastic. At the end of the play Avery talks about how he’ll accept his life and be the depressed guy. I’ll give a pessimistic look to the ground lowering down my shoulders to suggest that he feels bitter. I also thought about doing a monologue for my accent as my character was American, but thought it would be easier to go with my own accent. One thing I found that Avery says the word “like” too much and “year” a lot, so I decided to cut some of those words out. As a result this would help me to say his lines articulately.
Rehearsal
While practising my lines I found it challenging trying to remember them, because I chose a monologue that was 4 and a half minutes. I was scared that I was going to forget my lines during the online class or on the video meeting call. On the 30th March I received feedback from my teacher Shenagh, and she instructed me on the deliveries I gave my character as I spoke in the same pace throughout the performance. I believed it was because I planned out all the actions I was going to do, therefore unknowingly didn’t think about how my tone of voice would come across. Shenagh also said to use all the dialogue that was in the script as this is how Avery would talk. In addition we went over the first two paragraphs of the play, and she told that as Avery was excited he should speak at a faster rate to demonstrate how fascinated he is in the location of the dream. In the next paragraph she advised me to speak as if I was telling someone an important fact or tutoring somebody in a normal tone but to speed lines where he explains the real reason about scanning the books and movies. Shortly after, our online meeting had to cut short as she needed to see other students, but I took the feedback she gave and decided to write them down on my monologue. Subsequently, this led me to do the same thing for the other paragraphs of my monologue. Within The third paragraph I used the same tone like the second, however I slowly have an anxious and worried tone when the scanner isn’t beeping. In the fourth paragraph I demonstrate a fed up and irritated tone speeding the pace a bit to convey that he’s tired of waiting. Towards the final paragraph I’ll gasp to find that the movie was Honeymoon in Vegas that beeped, and use a few pauses to show that he’s astonished. When Avery talks about things getting better I lower my tone and slow down my words to depict that his words have weight in them as he says it aloud.
Evaluation
On the 2nd April was the day of the performance, and I was unsure how it would turn out, because I didn’t know how my acting would look over the phone. I initially thought we had to record ourselves doing the monologue with our phones, whereas our teacher Rob was going to record us on google meet. Before the performance Thoughts rushed through my head as I was hoping I wouldn’t forget my lines, meanwhile I was getting my costume ready and decided to go with Costume 2 - all grey. When The meeting was about to start I had a camera stand beforehand, and was going to use it for my scene. Unfortunately it broke and I ended up improvising by using a book and laying it on a table. I felt the monologue was paced very nicely as I remembered all of my lines. I took all the feedback given to me and portrayed it in my scene using more emotion and enthusiasm expressing Avery’s love for movies. Overall, I was pleased with what I accomplished and surprised myself as I thought this scene would have been too long to do or to be cut short.
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