Found this while I was going through my notes and files from drama school. In my opinion this was a brilliant exercise, which began our gradual preparation in 2nd year for approaching complex text, and Shakespeare.
Over the course of several weeks, we chose a political speech from history; any speech, any context, any era, any speaker, any subject matter. We then edited it down to approx 2 minutes, and worked on the rhetoric, imagery and bringing the speech to life and making it our own.
The final litmus test being delivery of the speech in the school courtyard, with an audience who could come and go as they pleased dependent on how compelled they felt to listen. So here was my speech...
The original speech was made by Padraig Pearse - gaelic scholar turned rebel leader, and the speech was given in 1915 as the graveside oration of the old Fenian rebel Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin (I've got family buried there too.) It's said that 60,000 people attended the funeral. A year later, Padraig Pearse was executed by firing squad for his part in leading the 1916 Easter Uprising; it was Pearse who read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on the steps of the General Post Office. To understand the context my research took me back to the 1600s, and through films like "the wind that shakes the barley" and "michael collins."
I guess I felt a personal attachment to this speech because of having family living in Dublin at the tiime. But this brings me to another point; one of my favourite things about this acting malarky is the living history, and living experience of other peoples' lives. You have to be constantly curious.
Not only did I have a good grounding in the speech exercise, I learned so much about irish history.
actor, general alright person and tree-climber extraordinaire.