Monologues are uninterrupted speeches by a character in a game, movie, or novel. They can be addressed to someone or delivered to the audience. Monologues can convey plot, reveal character thoughts, and flesh out a character. Actors use monologues to demonstrate their acting ability in auditions. It’s important to choose less-known plays or films and consider age appropriateness when selecting a monologue. Monologues are useful for drama students to learn acting.
A monologue is a moment in a game, movie, or novel, where a character speaks without being interrupted by other characters. These speeches may be addressed to someone, or delivered to the actor or audience, in which case they are called soliloquies. Another type of this speech, especially in novels, is the interior monologue, in which a character has a long period of thinking personal thoughts that are not interrupted by words or actions. This technique can also be used in movies, where a voice-over provides the character’s inner thoughts.
This type of speech can serve in several ways. It may convey plot by indicating the character’s intentions, it may reveal information about the character’s thought processes, or it may simply serve to flesh out a character more fully. It also gives the actors an opportunity to express dramatic range and is similar to “solos” in music. In fact, some operatic arias are considered monologues, as a character gets a chance to sing himself, and this tradition continues in the modern musical. Many musicals make use of songs sung by an individual to flesh out characters, anticipate plot, or explain details.
Actors seek out monologues in plays, especially those that display dramatic range. This is because many auditions require actors to perform these speeches to demonstrate their acting ability. Luckily, finding good material isn’t particularly difficult, and nonstop speaking parts are the order of the day in most comedies, movies, and teleplays. In auditions, actors must find speeches that are usually no longer than two minutes, and may be invited to deliver two minutes. More experienced actors, especially in the theater world, develop several pieces that they are particularly fond of and which more closely represent their dramatic range or their abilities to play very different types of characters.
The drama student can begin learning acting by first learning to recite a monologue. There are some common mistakes along the way, like doing what many others have already done. It’s also usually important not to take the speech out of context. Reading a play and digging deep into why a character is saying what she is saying and how the person might deliver a two-minute speech is very valuable.
Some general advice for new performers looking for monologues to perform is to choose plays or films that are a little less known but have good dramatic range. For example, someone who is looking for one from Shakespeare might want to avoid Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” and perhaps choose something from a play that is performed less often. The problem with choosing a well-known piece is that most people will have their own impression of how it should be performed, and it’s hard not to copy others’ performances.
Actors should also consider how well they might “fit” into a given character. Someone in her 50s should probably avoid pieces that are not appropriate for her age, and a young adult might not want to perform a piece written for someone much older. On the other hand, some monologues survive well under adaptation, and for practice purposes, many of them are great to memorize and rehearse to enable the actor to learn more about himself as an actor.
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