🎭 Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And to the nightingale’s complaining notes
Tune my distresses and record my woes.
— Valentine, Two Gentlemen of Verona 5-4
[ACTING TIPS]
Valentine is not just talking about a nightingale.
He really misses Silvia, his Love.
(Valentine has been banished from Milan by Silvia’s father the Duke of Milan, is now the big boss of vagabonds in the woods.)
Since this is a soliloquy, I will tell my feeling to the audience.
Never speak as a “talk-to-myself” on stage. TALK TO THE AUDIENCE DIRECTLY!
Never speak soliloquy as a poetry or “reading it”, “reciting it”, as if “it is written”.
Speak it as you just making up or thinking up the lines.
Think “how can I express this feeling in words?” and create the phrases as your instincts leads.
I would play Valentine here, as…
Cannot sleep, because I miss Silvia so much.
Being awake, I hear nightingale singing.
Nightingale’s song is supposed to be nice and beautiful and soothing and bring joy of life, but for me, it is like the bird is complaining the life.
And I envy the bird can complaining so honestly and freely, which I cannot.
So I will tune my distress to its song.
Now I can express the thought with words.
#shakespeare #english #actingtips #directing #Valentine #twogentlemenofverona #lifeinJapan #kimono
