<p>Hi, I'm applying to schools this year. I wanted to do Phebe's speech from As You Like It ("Think not I love him...") but was told it was incredibly overdone. I ended up liking her other monologue even more ("Thou tellest me there is murder in mine eye..."). One person told me that this one is also overdone, while another person said it is not. And then yet another person told me not to worry about it, because it's not like Shakespeare is going to write another play. So I was wondering if anyone on here had any opinions, especially about that second monologue. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well…all of Shakespeare’s monologues are probably overdone. But D did ‘Think not I love him…’ for the school Shakespeare competition last year and that was the only one chosen by two people.</p>
<p>I suggest the “not to worry about it” approach. It’s not a specific over- or under-done monologue that will give you failure or success in your audition. It really is finding the one or two Shakespearean monologues that REALLY mean something to you, and then delivering give YOUR intrepretation to the auditors. Be prepared to defend why you chose that particular monologue, and also be prepared to “take direction” from the auditors to deliver it in different ways. Remember - it’s not necessarily WHAT you perform that interests them, it’s HOW and WHY you did it the way you did. Find that personal attachment with the monologue - and break a leg!</p>