TEXTS FOR PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE CLASS

MA Theatre Lab PS! Learn all these texts by heart! PS! Pay attention where you can breathe! PS! In addition, bring in one extra text of your choice! (e.g. your audition speech) ------O splendor of sunburst breaking forth this day whereon I lay my hands once more on Helen my wife. [inhale] And yet it is not so much as men think for the woman's sake I came to Troy [inhale], But against that guest proved treacherous who like a robber carried the woman from my House. ------Why did the armies of Greece Lay siege to Troy For ten long years to return a straying wife? [inhale] Why did the people of Troy, the tamers of wild horses, Not restore Helen to her husband And spare my beautiful city? [inhale] Because of the jealousy of men. Because of the vanity of gods. Because of a golden apple. -------Although Athena has defeated me And has brought devastation to my beautiful city, I will punish the armies of Greece for their sacrilege. [inhale] There will be no safe passage home To their wives and children Who have waited so long for their return. [inhale] I will shake the earth and stir up the seas. [inhale] I will split the Greek ships from stem to stern. And sink the armies of Greece beneath towering waves. [inhale] I will drown a thousand men For every temple of the gods they desecrated for every tomb of the dead they deled In my beautiful city. [inhale] The gods must be respected. The dead must be honored. Any man who insults a god must be punished.

Check out Nick Caves song Red Right Hand on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxkUK3SQlWI and learn the lyrics by heart. Also learn the rhythm of the text and the exact form of the song (including instrumental parts), so that you would be able to perform it as a playback version! Lyrics for Red Right Hand Take a little walk to the edge of town Go across the tracks Where the viaduct looms, like a bird of doom As it shifts and cracks Where secrets lie in the border res, in the humming wires Hey man, you know you're never coming back Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man In a dusty black coat with a red right hand He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul But there wont be a single thing that you can do. He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru They're whispering his name through this disappearing land But hidden in his coat is a red right hand. You dont have no money? He'll get you some You dont have no car? He'll get you one You dont have no self-respect, you feel like an insect Well don't you worry buddy, cause here he comes Through the ghettos and the barrio and the bowery and the slum A shadow is cast wherever he stands Stacks of green paper in his red right hand

(Organ solo) You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams He'll appear out of nowhere but he ain't what he seems You'll see him in your head, on the TV screen Hey buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan Designed and directed by his red right hand (Organ solo)