Hints and Tips
Finding your monologue
Finding the perfect monologue can seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, here are some suggestions for where to look and what to look for.
'Where can I find a monologue?' I hear you cry. If you have never had to find a monologue for a competition, exam or audition before then it can be a little overwhelming. Try some of these avenues to start your search.
Your Performing Arts teachers. Yes, those people who teach you, they have been helping students select monologues for more years than they would like to admit, and have probably had to select some for themselves in the shadowy past. A word of advice though, do not go up to your teacher and say 'can you find me a monologue', have a conversation with them, and come to that conversation armed with the sort of thing that you want to do. Do you want a serious or comedic piece? Do you want to play someone your own age or older? Are you looking to do a classic or contemporary piece?
The library. If you are lucky enough to be on your campus at the moment then you can just walk in, there will be a cataloguing system that will allow you to find the Drama section, and in the Drama section there might just be some books full of monologues. If you are not on campus your school might have some monologue books in electronic form that you can still access, maybe ask your Drama teacher or librarian. Remember that your monologue for this challenge must be from a published play - you should be able to see which play it is from in the monologue book.
On the internet. The are 100's and 1000's of monologues available on the internet, just type monologue into Google and you will find a never ending list of sites. There is a word of warning here though, not all monologues on the internet are good, some are terrible. We have said for this challenge that a monologue you use must be from a published play, you can also check this on the internet (or you can ask your Drama teacher to help you)
Choosing your monologue
When you can choose any monologue you want, the world of theatre becomes a very big place. Have a think about these things to help you narrow down your options.
Choose something that you connect with when you read it. It might make you sad, happy, uncomfortable or even make you laugh, if you can find that connection when you read it then you are more likely to be able to make the same connection with your audience.
Find an element of the character or situation that you identify with. The character doesn't have to be the same as you, and you don't need to have had the same experience, but having something you identify with will help you to embody the character.
Pick a piece that you understand, it doesn't matter how famous or well written a monologue is, if you don't understand it then your audience won't understand you. If you find a piece you like and there are moments you don't understand then it should be part of your preparation and rehearsal process to create an understanding.
Blocking/developing your performance
Once you have chosen your script you need to shape it into a performance. You need to think about how you are going to communicate the personality of your character through your physicality, how are you going to create meaning for the audience, what do you want your audience to feel? Here are some ideas to try but your Drama teacher will have a lot more to help you create the best possible performance.
Character analysis and creation
Before you start you need to make sure that you understand your character. Your Drama teacher will have lots of different exercises to do this. For example you could create a character collage where you record information that you know about your character and things that you have decided for the role. You can also get others to help and use hot seating to decide aspects of your character. Once you know who your character is then you need to think about how you are going to communicate this to your audience, try experimenting with your voice and physicality until you find ones that work for this character.
Top and Tail
One way to approach the blocking of your monologue is to look at the start and end first. These are the moments that give your audience their first and final impressions of your performance so they are really important. How does your character feel at the start of the piece and how do they feel at the end, your job is to take the audience on a journey between these 2 points.
Think about how you want the piece to start. Are you on stage or off stage? Are you sitting or standing? Do you start speaking immediately or is there some action first?
What about the end? Are you going to freeze or leave the stage? Does the piece finish as soon as you stop speaking or is there some action? Where are you on the stage at the end of your performance?
Once you have your start and end point you can block a journey for your character between these places.
Emotion Graphs
An emotion graph helps you to plot the emotion of the monologue. Think about where the high and low points of emotion are in your piece, draw this out as if it is a line of a graph. This helps you to see where you need to build emotion and or tension within the performance. If your graph looks quite flat when you first draw it then it might be worth having another look at the piece to see where you can build in more emotional intensity.
Playing with proxemics
Where you are on the stage when performing is very important and something you need to experiemnt with in your monologue. How close do you want to be to the audience, do you want to use a very small focused space or use the whole stage space available. Experiment with using different areas of the stage, and different amounts of the stage. Ask for feedback from others with different arrangements of your piece. (Remember that for the final video your whole body must be in shot for the performance.)
Playing with pause
Are there any pauses marked in your script? If so play with how long or short you make them, what does this add to your piece? If there aren't pauses then experiment with adding some to see how they feel and sound, get some feedback from others.
Who are you talking to?
This is a really important thing to decide and worth experimenting with. Make sure taht you know who you are talking to and that you have decided where they are on the stage (or if you are using the audience) Try placing a chair where the person is to help you keep a consistent focus on where they are. Also try rehearsing with someone standing in for the person you are speaking to. It is very easy to make an invisible person change height during a monologue so make sure that you know what level you are looking at when you address them directly and be consistent.
Learning your lines
There are lots of different ways to learn lines and every actor will use their own method or combination of methods. Here are some ideas to try if you are learning lines for the first time or want to try some new techniques.
Cover and repeat
Split your monologue into sections and deal with it one section at a time, (these can be as small as a sentence). Read the section out loud until you feel comfortable with it, then cover the lines and say then without seeing them. As you learn each section join them together to repeat the exercise in increasingly large pieces.
Record and listen
Record yourself saying your lines and listen to them. You can do this while doing other activities such as exercise, on journeys, cleaning. As you become more familiar with the piece you can recite the lines along with the recording.
Repetitive writing
This is labour intensive but works for some actors. Split your monologue into sections and one section at a time write the lines out 10+ times. Each time you finish 1 round of writing read or recite the section out loud, as you progress you should be able to do it without looking at the lines.
Moving
Some actors find it difficult to learn lines sitting still, if you struggle learning lines try simply walking as you do it. If you have already blocked your performance then walk through the blocking as you learn them. linking the words you say with movements you do helps you to remember both as it is using different parts of your brain.
Rehearsing your monologue
Rehearsal is an important part of any theatre performance. Once you have learnt your lines and created your performance you need to rehearse it. Here are some handy hints of ways of rehearsing and refining your final performance
Show others
A great way to develop your performance is to perform in front of others, for example your friends or family. Ask them for feedback on your performance. It is a good idea to let them know what you want feedback from before you perform as this helps to focus the responses you get. For example you could ask what emotions they think you are showing, or if they feel there is variation in your voice, or check understanding of a moment of subtext.
Film yourself
As well as getting feedback for others there is an easy way to be able to critically review your performance yourself. record your performance and watch it back. I know it can be cringey to watch your own performances but this is a great way to develop and learn.
Try without words
If you want to focus on your physicality try performing your whole piece saying the lines in your head and performing all the facial expressions and physicality. Show your piece in this form to someone else (or record yourself), can they follow the emotion and or meaning of the piece without the words, is your physicality showing the same thing as the words you are saying?
Experiment with volume
Try performing your piece at different volumes from a whisper to a shout. What does this change about your performance? Think about sections that were particularly effective at a certain volume, you can use this to make adjustments to perfect your vocal delivery.
The most important thing in rehearsal is to constantly question your performance, that way you are always developing and improving. Some things you try will be great and you will use them, some will be awful and you will reject them, but you won't know until you try.