Monologues

[ConspiracyPenguin]

You know how it is: you have an audition coming up, you are told two minutes and set free. Now you are on the hunt for the perfect monologue. Do you co serious? Funny? Do you write it yourself? Find it online? Take it off of a movie you like or a classic play? Do you simply go in there and improv a monologue about the very audition you are doing? Or maybe improv about something else? Or maybe something else entirely...

Here is the place to talk about monologues. Your techniques when choosing them, some of your favorites, etc. I am going to be candid with you, however, I am currently looking for one. Even though I won't need it until next May, it has been on my mind today and that pushed me to start this thread.

Go!

[Tom Marshall]

I personally prefer to do something not well known. I wouldn't do a line from a movie, but I would consider something from a monologue book if it's an older book.

I'm actually working on an Edgar Allen Poe short story to use as a monologue. Only problem is, it's long...

[bosindy]

I wouldn't use a book of monologues that they sell. Too many people use those and they are unoriginal, Barefoot in the Park etc. stuff that is hackneyed.

I wouldn't do a movie monologue because film performances are burned into peoples minds and you will be held up to comparisons.

The best thing to do IMO is to read a lot of plays. You then take a heavily one sided conversation of a character you like and adapt it so it becomes a monologue taking the other character out. It takes a little practice but it is relatively easy to do especially if you write.

You should always have at least one comedic and dramatic monologue memorized and if you are a theater actor you should also have a classical monologue (Shakespeare or Chehkov) as well.

[Capt Quirk]

You should always have at least one comedic and dramatic monologue memorized and if you are a theater actor you should also have a classical monologue (Shakespeare or Chehkov) as well.
He may have been a minor character, but that little Russian guy was funny for a Starfleet Helmsman! I wouldn't compare him to Shakespeare though... :)

[pmark23]

http://www.whysanity.net/monos/

The last thing anyone wants to hear for a film audition is Shakespeare.

I came here to die with you. Or live with you. Dying ain't so hard for men like you and me, it's living that's hard; when all you ever cared about has been butchered or raped. Governments don't live together, people live together. With governments you don't always get a fair word or a fair fight. Well I've come here to give you either one, or get either one from you. I came here like this so you'll know my word of death is true. And that my word of life is then true. The bear lives here, the wolf, the antelope, the Comanche. And so will we. Now, we'll only hunt what we need to live on, same as the Comanche does. And every spring when the grass turns green and the Comanche moves north, he can rest here in peace, butcher some of our cattle and jerk beef for the journey. The sign of the Comanche, that will be on our lodge. That's my word of life.

[bosindy]

The last thing anyone wants to hear for a film audition is Shakespeare.



Yeah I was talking about if you are a theater actor going on auditions for plays (in NY for instance) It is rare to be asked to do any monologue on a film audition and you definitely would not do a anything classical if you were.

[ConspiracyPenguin]

The best thing to do IMO is to read a lot of plays. You then take a heavily one sided conversation of a character you like and adapt it so it becomes a monologue taking the other character out. It takes a little practice but it is relatively easy to do especially if you write.

I've done this. For an audition last year I took a dialog from There Will Be Blood and isolated the words from one character, carefully combining them to make a monologue.

[ConspiracyPenguin]

Hey, all. I'm looking for a two minute monologue that I need to have prepared by sometime in May. I do better with dramatic, but if it was a good comedic monologue that I could pull off, that would be preferred. Adult content is fine. Essentially, my biggest concerns are as follows:

1) A very defined character would be best, manically depressed, insane, etc...something I could grab onto.

2) I would like for it to allow for lots of on-stage "animation."

If anything comes to mind, let me know! Thanks. :)

[grinner]

read for the part. If it's a comedy part, thats what ya gravitate to. Drama... don't make em laugh so much. ya get the idea.
dress the part. read the part.

[Michele Seidman]

There is a book called 'Ive Babies from Oz'...not sure if it is still in print so it might take some searching...BUT, the author wrote a book full of monologues that are not from any script at all. She write them to stand on their own and give actors a chance to do readings that were not the same as everyone else.

Plus, since they don't come from scripts, there is no preconceived notion on how it should be played or any famous actor who has already given it a read no one else can compare too.

You may have to check an old book's store or the library for this one though.