Contemporary Monologues for Women E-Book

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: The Good Audition Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 249

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Whether you're applying for drama school, taking an exam, or auditioning for a professional role, it's likely you'll be required to perform one or more monologues, including a piece from a contemporary play. It's vital to come up with something fresh that's suited both to you – in order to allow you to express who you are as a performer – and to the specific purposes of the audition. In this book, you'll find forty fantastic speeches featuring female roles, all written and premiered since the year 2014, by some of the most exciting dramatic voices writing today. Playwrights include Mike Bartlett, Andrew Bovell, Chris Bush, Jez Butterworth, Vivienne Franzmann, Ella Hickson, Lucy Kirkwood, Chinonyerem Odimba, Frances Poet and Stef Smith. The plays featured were premiered at leading venues including the National, the Royal Court, Soho and Hampstead in London, prestigious theatres in Cardiff, Chichester, Edinburgh and Sheffield, and by renowned companies including Clean Break, Frantic Assembly and HighTide. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James introduces each speech with a user-friendly, bullet-point list of ten essential things you need to know about the character, and then five inspiring ideas to help you perform the monologue. This book also features a step-by-step guide to the process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself. 'Easy-to-use… The guidance is perhaps the most thorough I have seen in a monologue book'Teaching Drama on Trilby James's first volume of Contemporary Monologues Please note that some of the speeches in this volume contain strong language and themes which some readers may find inappropriate.

Leseprobe

The Good Audition Guides 

CONTEMPORARY MONOLOGUES FOR WOMEN 

VOLUME 2

edited and introduced by

TRILBY JAMES

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

INTRODUCTION

Lucija from 3 Winters by Tena Štivičić

Uta from 8 Hotels by Nicholas Wright

Rehana from Angel by Henry Naylor

Clem from Bodies by Vivienne Franzmann

Marnie from Box Clever by Monsay Whitney

Astrid from Boys Will Be Boys by Melissa Bubnic

Floss from BU21 by Stuart Slade

Izzy from BU21 by Stuart Slade

Findlay from Close Quarters by Kate Bowen

Essie from Collapsible by Margaret Perry

Foster from The Collector by Henry Naylor

Caitlin from The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth

Kelly from Flesh and Bone by Elliot Warren

Ayesha from The Funeral Director by Iman Qureshi

Janey from The Funeral Director by Iman Qureshi

Maddy from Gut by Frances Poet

Hanna from Hanna by Sam Potter

Wendy from Heroine by Nessah Muthy

Peppy from The House They Grew Up In by Deborah Bruce

Fran from The Last Quiz Night on Earth by Alison Carr

Lela from Lela & Co. by Cordelia Lynn

Yaz from Lose Yourself by Katherine Chandler

Rosa from Madame Ovary by Rosa Hesmondhalgh

Loops from Mayfly by Joe White

Jenny from Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood

Nora I from Nora : A Doll’s House by Stef Smith

Imogen from One for Sorrow by Cordelia Lynn

Bobby from The Perfect Gentleman by Jackie Clune

Jess from The Quiet House by Gareth Farr

Maya from Snowflake by Mike Bartlett

Frankie from Soft Animals by Holly Robinson

Sarah from Soft Animals by Holly Robinson

Vanessa from Steel by Chris Bush

Pip from Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell

Dee from Unknown Rivers by Chinonyerem Odimba

Connie from Voicemail

Introduction

WHAT THIS BOOK OFFERS

Whether you are taking theatre studies at school level, about to leave school and want to go to drama school, at drama school looking for showcase material, or a young professional actor preparing for a specific audition, a well-chosen contemporary monologue will be a key component in your audition repertoire. It should reflect something of your own taste and, depending on the style of the writing, may provide an opportunity to show something more intimate, more televisual or filmic than a classical speech might allow. The forty monologues in this volume are from plays that have been written post-2014. With a few exceptions the characters range in age from nineteen to thirty-five. There is a wide variety of character types and styles of writing from which to choose. They are all drawn from the extensive list of new plays published by Nick Hern Books.

CHOOSING YOUR MONOLOGUE

I have often likened finding the perfect monologue to finding the perfect pair of jeans. It is rarely a case of ‘one size fits all’. You might have to try on several pairs, in different stores, before you find the cut that works for you – but once you have, you will feel confident in the knowledge that you are looking and feeling your best. So it is with audition speeches. You need to find pieces that suit you, that you cannot wait to get into and that will feel even better with wear.

Not surprisingly, several of these monologues deal with feminist issues, motherhood, childlessness, gender and sexuality. Some of the monologues are ethnically or geographically specific, but the majority can be played in any accent and by any ethnicity. Similarly, out of context, some of the monologues can be played either younger or older than specified. Use your judgement and change place names and other references to suit your own purposes. Some contain strong language and deal with adult themes. Some (where I have given warning) are from plays that contain particularly upsetting scenes. All provide a singular challenge and reflect the pressing interests of some of our leading playwrights.

If you are auditioning for a youth theatre:

• You will be judged on your potential and your willingness to be open, honest and free. Nobody is looking for a polished or over-rehearsed performance.

• Choosing a character that is close to you in age and type will allow you to express yourself, and allow the panel to see something of who you really are – so choose a piece to which you can relate, and one that inspires you from a play that speaks to you.

If you are auditioning for drama school:

• And have also been asked to prepare a classical speech, choose a contemporary monologue that will provide contrast. For example, you may have a Shakespearean monologue that is pensive or tragic, so for your modern piece opt for something comic. Similarly, if your classical speech is light in tone, choose a companion piece that shows off a more serious side.

If you are already at drama school:

• And you are looking to extend your range, you will want to choose a monologue that stretches you. Perhaps you are studying a particular accent or type of character quite different from yourself.

• If you are looking for showcase material, think about how you wish to present yourself. Consider whether you are right for the part you have chosen and whether, if you had a chance to be in a production of the play, you could be easily cast in the role.

If you are auditioning for a specific role in a professional production (and have been asked to prepare an additional piece that is not from that play):

• Choose something close to the part for which you are auditioning.

• Consider the language of the piece and whether you are after something heightened and obviously theatrical, or whether you require something more intimate and realistic.

If you are looking to extend your showreel:

• It may sound obvious, but think about what sort of speeches would be best suited to the varying demands of radio, film or television.

PREPARING YOUR MONOLOGUE

• Learn your speeches well in advance of the actual audition. Should you forget your lines, the panel will be able to tell whether it is out of nervousness or insufficient preparation.

• Read the whole play. You may be asked questions about it or be required to improvise around it.

• Undertake all necessary research. Make a study of the historical, social and political world of the play. Make sure you understand the meaning of unfamiliar words and references.

• Accents: By and large it is best to avoid accents unless you are really good at them or want an opportunity to practise using them. If a character’s accent is not native to you, you may like to try playing the piece in your own accent or transposing it into an accent that you are confident in. However, watch out for speeches that have been written with a strong dialect or idiom and where the essential rhythm of the piece needs to be maintained.

• Remain flexible in the way you perform/stage your monologue. Be prepared to be redirected in an audition.

• Direct audience address: If your character is talking to the audience, make a decision about who the audience is to you. Are they your friend and your confidante? Are they more like an analyst with whom you feel safe to reveal your innermost thoughts? Are they a sort of sounding board? Are they judging you? Do you need to explain yourself or to convince them in some way? It is still advisable not to look at the actual panel in this case, but imagine an audience just above their heads and direct your speech there.

• Using props: There are no hard-and-fast rules about the use of stage properties at an audition. However, common sense suggests that, if you can easily carry an object in your pocket (e.g. a letter, a ring, a handkerchief, etc.), by all means bring this to an audition. If the object to which you refer is large, imagine it is there, or, if necessary, mime using it. Some might even argue that miming props is simpler, and in certain cases much more practical. In any event, you need not worry about being ‘marked down’ by your decision either to use real objects or to mime using them. What is important is that they do not become burdensome and get in the way of your acting.

• What to wear: Again, there are no hard-and-fast rules about this, but I would suggest that, to help you make a connection to your character, you try to dress like them. If the character is formal or from another time in history, a dress or skirt as opposed to jeans and a T-shirt will make a huge difference. Similarly, there is a very different feel when you wear hard shoes as opposed to trainers. When I was at drama school, our acting teacher used to refer to costume as ‘garments’, and we would be encouraged to rehearse in appropriate clothing. In this way we thought of costume not as a thing that got added at the end, but as something that was as personal to us as our own everyday wardrobe.

• Try not to get stuck in a mode of delivery. It is useful to consider that, unless a character is making a political or after-dinner speech, chances are they have no idea they are going to speak for such a long time. They may make a statement, perhaps as a response to a specific question; then having made that statement they might need to qualify it. They might then be reminded of something else they wish to add, and so on. In this way, a monologue can be regarded as a series of interrelated thoughts. Communicating a character’s thought processes is fundamental to any acting technique. In the case of an audition, it takes the pressure off having to deliver a load of text. It allows you to stay fresh, to be in the moment and to make spontaneous choices. Before you start, all you need worry about is the trigger – the reason for saying what you do. Then have the courage to take it thought by thought and allow yourself to be surprised. In this way the monologue should feel slightly different every time.

• It is vital that you use your imagination to envisage all that the character sees and describes. If you are still seeing the page on which the speech is written, you know you are doing something wrong. Provide images for yourself so that in your mind’s eye you quite literally lift the speech from the page.

• Timing/editing: Most speeches at audition should last no longer than two minutes. Some of the monologues in this volume are slightly longer, some shorter. Some I have cut, and some I have edited from a duologue with another character, and some have been augmented by joining two or more passages that appear separately in the original text. I have inserted this empty bracket symbol […] to show where a cut has been made. Once you have read the whole play, you may have ideas of your own about what and what not to include.

THE AUDITION

You will find there are many useful books on the market that make a complete study of this subject, from what to wear to how to enter and exit a room. These are some of the basics:

• Manage your nerves. Try to put the increased adrenaline you are experiencing to good use. Approach the audition with a positive sense of excitement, something to which you have been looking forward as opposed to something you have been dreading. Nervous energy, if correctly channelled, can help at an audition. Conversely you should avoid being under-energised. If you are someone who reacts lethargically to increased stress, you may need to do a good warm-up before you arrive.

• Take ownership of the situation. Before you begin, take a moment to imagine the space you are in as the location of the monologue. The best auditions are those in which the actor successfully transports the panel from ‘Studio Two’ (or whatever the room you are auditioning in is called) to an urban street, a clearing in the woods, a grand room in a stately home, etc. Consider whether the location is a public or a private one, familiar or unfamiliar, and whether you are talking to just one other character or a group of people. Take time to think about where you will place the other character/s in the scene and, before you speak, allow yourself a moment to hear what has been said to you or to imagine what has just happened that prompts you to speak. Do not rush the speech. Take your time. In the case of a drama-school audition, remember that you will be paying for this privilege!

• Empower yourself. There is no good reason why the panel should want you to fail. If you are auditioning for a youth group or a drama school, consider that the panel are willing you to do well, even if they are not necessarily giving that impression. If you have been asked to be seen for a specific role, it is because the director is serious about you for the job. It is possible that the panel are equally anxious about the impression they may give you. Remember, you only have control over your part of the audition process. There is no point speculating, worrying about whether they will want you in their group, grant you a place in their school or offer you the part. Just take care of your side of things, and be safe in the knowledge that, whatever happens, you tried your best.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

For each of the monologues I have provided a bullet-point list of ten things you need to know about the character. These will include their age and where they come from, a bit about their background, and what sort of personality they have. In some instances, these facts are already contained within the monologue.

Then I have suggested five things to help you perform the monologue. These will include objectives to play and ideas about how to connect to your character. They will also touch on the subjects already covered in this introduction, such as using props, talking to the audience, accents and what to wear, etc.

You will also need to read the whole play so that you can build a bigger picture. As you become increasingly familiar with your monologue, you will soon develop opinions of your own and may even find yourself in disagreement with my notes. Acting is a very personal thing, and no two actors, like no two people, will think exactly alike.

So use this book as a starting point from which you will form your own ideas. It is by no means a substitute for reading the play, but I hope that it will be a source of inspiration, and ultimately get you thinking and making choices for yourself.

The Monologues

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3 Winters

Tena Štivičić

TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LUCIJA:

• The year is 2011, and Lucija (pronounced ‘Lut-zia’) is thirty-three.

• She is from Zagreb in Croatia where the play is set.

• She still lives in her family home along with her mother, father and aunt Dunja (pronounced ‘Doonya’).

• She has an older sister, Alisa, who is visiting from England where she is studying for her PhD.The sisters are rivalrous, but also close. (Lucija was a fat child while Alisa was the one with a boyfriend.)

• Lucija was not good at school, but she is clever and canny in other ways.

• Lucija is about to be married to local entrepreneur Damjan (pronounced ‘Damyan’).

• Lucija’s family, and in particular Alisa, think that Damjan is a thug, and an unsuitable match for her.

• Since her decision to marry Damjan, Lucija has changed. She has recently been christened so that she can be married by a priest, and she has had some pre-wedding cosmetic surgery.

• Lucija is practical. Out of a brutal war, Croatia has been emerging from a Communist to a Capitalist society. Furthermore, Croatia is poised to join the European Union. She understands how the future will look, and – unlike the rest of her family who still hold on to strong socialist principles – Lucija is less particular, choosing to move with the times. She is a survivor.

• Lucija likes to smoke cannabis to help her relax.

FIVE THINGS TO HELP YOU PERFORM THE MONOLOGUE:

• 3 Winters tells the story of four generations of the Kos family. The play travels forwards and backwards in time, charting war and political upheaval during the years 1945, 1990 and 2011 in what is now Croatia, a part of the former Yugoslavia. Central to the story is the house in which they live. In the monologue that follows, the year is 2011.You will need to read the whole play, which has a rich historical and political background. Pay particular attention to the scene in which a younger Lucija witnessed the brutal beating of her aunt Dunja by Dunja’s husband Karl. It will help to inform and give a context to Lucija’s need to take the law into her own hands.

• It is the morning of her wedding, and Lucija is talking to her sister Alisa. Also in the room are her mother, father and aunt Dunja. (Imagine what they all look like.) They have been arguing about how Lucija’s fiancé, Damjan, has managed to purchase the family house, which was once partitioned by the state (the former Yugoslavia) and shared between three families. It is common knowledge that Damjan has been unscrupulous in his business dealings and has managed to take ownership by threatening the neighbours – paying them off with hefty compensations. Alisa is furious. It will help to know that the monologue is a direct response to Alisa’s accusation that she (Lucija) has put her fate in the hands of someone who has little regard for people or history.The fact that they have cut the ancient ivy down is offensive to Alisa, who regards Damjan as vulgar. Perhaps you too have had or have a relationship with someone that your family disapproves of. How might it feel to be forced to justify your choice on the actual day of your wedding? Lucija can do without this interference on her special day, and the veracity of her defence shows it.

• When she was little, Lucija was told by the daughter of the original owners of the house, a lady called Karolina, that by rights the house belonged to her (Lucija), or at least to her family. Lucija has never forgotten Karolina’s words:‘But all of this should be yours. It should stay in the family. Remember that. Will you.’ So while she is defending the actions of her soon-to-be husband, she is also making good the promise she made to Karolina.You will need to read the whole play to discover the family secret that entitles Lucija to the house, but as far as the monologue is concerned, Lucija knows that something unspoken gives her the right to the property and she stubbornly refuses to let go. Let this knowledge fuel the speech.

• Central to the argument is that having a social conscience is incompatible with progress. While the family considers change, and the greed that comes with it, to be bad things, Lucija sees no other practical way forward. In many ways she is right. How do political principles pay the bills? The house is falling apart and needs money spending on it. In this sense the monologue can be seen as Lucija’s crusade for survival. She speaks for a long time uninterrupted (not easy in this family), and, at the end, she appears triumphant. Her ability to turn a blind eye to the corruption around her is a conscious decision, and even if Damjan is a poor match, it is a price worth paying.Think about ways of connecting to her ambition. Are there things, for instance, you would turn a blind eye to in order to get a fantastic acting job? When push comes to shove, perhaps we are not as principled as we would like to think.

• Lucija is wearing her wedding dress and is described as looking like a ‘Barbie doll’.You may like to try wearing something fanciful while performing the speech. It will give you the necessary sense of occasion.

NB. I have taken the liberty of reconstructing a few lines originally spoken by the others in order for the speech to flow.

Lucija

The ivy?!

[…]

The ivy?! You know what, Alice in fucking Wonderland. That’s correct. The house needs refurbishment. Because for something like seventy years nobody could afford it. So the ivy had to go. I’m sorry if that offends your sensibilities when you come home once a year. I made Damjan buy the house. You think that would have been his first choice? Live with all of you? But I persuaded him, so that this amazing house in prime location containing three elderly families hardly making ends meet did not become a target for someone less sentimental. As is often the case nowadays in this beautiful country.

Our neighbours?

They were all paid out! You have no idea how things work here! You can’t get an ingrown hair looked at without bribing someone. Since Mum retired, these two poor old bastards can’t make the utility bills every month. Dunja sits here like a church mouse after ten years in court with a wife-beater. Ten years. Before losing the case. But when I said we should send a couple of guys over to Karl’s for a little chat, my God, the outrage! We’re not going down that route. We’ll rely on the courts. The law is on our side. Yeah. Congratulations. Well, finally she will have protection.

Dad still plays the lottery every week. Mum goes on about how things used to be better. ‘We didn’t have much but we felt safe.’ Which is a curious concept as everyone ended up slaughtering each other.

Now we’re going to join the EU and it’s all going to change again. A hundred years of turmoil. And back to being a colony. Cheers.

But I’m not letting this place go. Because of our history and our life here, which was largely happy, I won’t let someone buy it and kick them out and turn it into a spa. Because I’m fucking sentimental. And as for you – if I remember correctly, last time I came to visit, your landlady couldn’t for the life of her remember if Croatia was in Russia or the other way around and despite your PhD in things she can’t pronounce, when you had three girlfriends over from Croatia she was this close to calling a raid on you. Because, what do you call four Croatian women in one flat? A brothel, obviously. So when you come back, I’ll have to carry you all because I was the only one smart enough to adapt. I know it comes as a surprise to everyone that I’m the one to step up, but hey, life is full of surprises!

A stunned silence.

And the house is going to be ours. It’s in my name. Do you think I’m stupid?

[…]

Luckily it bodes well if the taxman ever pays a visit.

[…]

Alisa… (Pause.) You need to scrub up. (Pointing to her appearance.) This is unacceptable. Mum, you need to get me some wet wipes, I am sweating like a pig. Dunja, you need to call the caterers and tell them if they’re not here in five minutes, they needn’t bother coming and they can deal with Damjan later. Dad, you might want to take a Xanax cos we don’t want you getting confrontational at church. Also, someone needs to go over ‘Holy Father’ with me – it’s going to be embarrassing if I get it wrong. And let’s see if we can all work up a smile. This is the happiest day of my fucking life.

8 Hotels

Nicholas Wright

TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT UTA:

• Uta Hagen was a real person.

• She was an award-winning American actress and teacher of acting. Her book Respect for Acting, based on the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavsky, is still widely read today.

• She was born in Germany in 1919, but moved to America in 1924.

• She came from a middle-class, well-educated family.

• In the monologue that follows she is in her thirties.

• She was married to the actor José Ferrer, with whom she appeared as Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare’s Othello. Joe, as he was known, played the part of Iago, and Paul – the black actor, Paul Robeson – played Othello. While they were touring the play, Uta and Paul had an affair.

• This play takes place in the 1940s and ’50s, when a relationship between a black man and a white woman was considered inappropriate.

• Paul Robeson was highly politicised, and was a Communist sympathiser during the Cold War when Americans feared a Soviet invasion. Uta took many risks through her liaison with Paul. It had an adverse effect on both her marriage and her film career.

• She had one child – a daughter with Joe.

• Uta was completely devoted to the theatre and acting. She loved touring and playing in long-running shows. She was talented, clever and immensely hard working.The general public would know her as a strong, independent woman. In the play we see the more vulnerable side of her, in particular how she was manipulated by the men that she loved.

FIVE THINGS TO HELP YOU PERFORM THE MONOLOGUE:

• Uta is talking to Paul. He has walked, uninvited, into her dressing room in Chicago following a performance of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire.You will need to do a bit of your own research, and to read 8 Hotels, to understand what was so unusual about Paul Robeson. He was a tall and imposing man with a deep speaking and singing voice. It is not difficult to imagine the sexual attraction that Uta had for him. However, at this point in the play, and in a passage that precedes this speech, Uta tells the audience that ‘the thrill had gone’. See if you can capture that sensation of being with a former lover for whom your feelings have changed. Uta describes it as being ‘like going back to your childhood home and thinking,“Is that what it was like? It seems smaller now”.’

• Imagine the dressing room. Uta is taking her make-up off. Perhaps she is wearing a dressing gown or kimono. Whether or not you choose to use props or a garment to create the scene, it will make a difference to consider the atmosphere of a dressing room, as opposed to any other room. It is a private space in a public building. It is intimate, and Uta had not been expecting Paul. She is off-guard.

• When they were in Seattle during the tour of Othello, Uta confronted Paul about his numerous other affairs. He became angry and almost killed her.

• Familiarise yourself with A Streetcar Named Desire, in which Uta Hagen took over the role of Blanche Dubois. I would suggest watching the film version with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, then you can imagine yourself as Uta playing alongside him.

• Having been rejected by Paul, Uta now finds that the tables have turned. Before this speech he has made a pass at her, which she turns down.The tone of the speech is unequivocal. At the end she is triumphant. She is triumphant personally over Paul, and she is triumphant professionally in that she has put her own acting theory to the test and found it works. In this way the monologue works on two levels. It is underpinned by the love she once had for Paul, but it also demonstrates her lifelong passion for acting and acting technique. Here in this speech they have become intrinsically linked. It is a strange paradox to consider that the greatest gift Paul gave her was the ability to reproduce fear. Perhaps you too have turned a negative event into something creative on stage.

NB. This play offers a number of other monologues from which to choose.

Uta