I think monologues are making a comeback.
I don’t mean that in the sense that they’ve
ever truly gone away. But let’s face it, nowadays we’re much less likely to be
asked to perform one for an audition, and we often hear actors who have a
mixture of ambivalent and pessimistic feelings about performing stand-alone monologues.
Many are happy when the requirement falls away because it can lead to them feeling
exposed, under pressure to tell the whole story – ‘it’s all on me!’ That fear
and tension may be anchored during the earliest tests in our career when we’re traditionally
called upon to deliver monologues, such as drama school applications, meeting new
agents, EPA’s and occasionally for specific theatre meetings.
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| The empty stage - a place that can fill actors with dread |
Once a working actor progresses in her
career and finds herself less called upon to perform a stand-alone piece, it
can feel like a load off her chest. We may perform soliloquies and monologues
in plays, but there we are supported by a team and working in context.
But why should we look at things that way? This
is how I became inspired to pen this month’s blog. After taking a monologue
class with Atlantic Theatre founder Karen Koolhaas in New York this summer, and
watching some fantastic ‘Monologue Slams’ in the UK over the past few years, I’ve
become turned on to a whole new way of viewing stand-alone monologues, to the
extent that I’m excited by ‘doing a turn’ if the opportunity arises, even at
super short notice - and I hope to encourage you dear reader to feel the same!
Upping the number of strings to your bow
Even though I may never be asked to “Please perform two contrasting monologues”
again, I realise now more than ever the value of working on them in my own
time, and having a large collection of monologues and soliloquies in my armoury.
From an industry standpoint, though
directors, filmmakers and theatre producers may not ask you in meetings to read
anything other than their production sides, many attest how much they love
actors to have alternate material and monologues in their back pocket. Because,
“What does this say about you as an actor?” What indeed..
Here’s where you can open yourself up to a
world of empowerment. It’s not simply about getting to the end result of having
extra material at your disposal – instead, consider what you’ve gone through to
reach that point?
The first thing Karen Koolhaas taught me
was how valuable and exciting the prospect of having 20 monologues in your
stable would be. That’s right – 20.
In her words:
“Many actors don’t have
a fun and reliable way to rehearse them, and so they look to do as few
monologues as possible. This puts enormous pressure on the monologues they do
choose. If they are successful in choosing a couple of pieces that they can
stand to do, and rehearse to the point where they can perform them, they stop
there. They use the same monologue or two for every single audition they go on.
Asking one or two pieces to do everything for you is unfair to the writing and
unfair to you as an actor. The monologues will likely become general and stale
after a while.
Because they are so
short, monologues are an ideal vehicle to work out, explore, and improve. Scene
work is essential, and actors should do thorough scene work as part of their
training, but unlike a scene, you can take your successful monologues right
into the audition room.”
So let go of the belief that a couple of
pieces can answer all of your needs. They simply won’t, and bending them to fit
your will or answer to a new audition requirement will only lead to you feeling
frustrated and inauthentic. Instead with increased flexibility you can truly
consider, what do I feel like performing today? Even if you cut the total
number down to 15 or 10, taking the pressure off an individual monologue frees
an actor up no end. And believe me, it’s at around Monologue no. 4 that it
strikes home and becomes a heck of a lot of fun!
You may still be wondering why you’d
possibly need more than a couple of ‘just in case’ monologues, if nowadays
we’re barely expected to dust them off and bring them out in meetings? Regardless
of whether you end up performing them for the pleasure of casting directors or
friends round a dinner table, I’ll put it to you that the exploration of working
on them and getting to that significant
number of pieces, is invaluable.
'Only Connect' - Taking the time to find your material
In a world where a hand-written letter
stands out from a director’s crowded email inbox, taking the time to harness
your creative voice through the ongoing process of exploring and working on
material unique to you gives you a platform both as an artist and in the
business. It becomes part of an overall package – the actor who not only knows
dialogue, but has gone through the process of finding work that he thinks
represents him best.
"For me, it's the actor who is connected to what they
are saying and has something specific and personal to share.” -
Rachel Hoffman, Casting Director at Telsey + Company, on what makes a
performing stand out at an EPA
Let’s consider the elements and steps of
choosing your new monologues – and how empowering that process is.
In finding material there are some obvious
factors which an actor wants to address: choose something age appropriate,
short (ideally under 2 minutes) and pieces that have a clear arc to them, where
the variety frees you up to play. It’s exhausting and boring to both perform
and watch a piece that plays all on one note. It must be something that works
out of context; monologues are often used to advance the plot of a play but
those pieces do nothing to show off our skills as actors because there's
nothing for the audience to connect to. (In the same vein, when you’re editing
a piece, try not to start with words which put audience in their head and
puzzled about what’s going on!)
Above all, find something that you LOVE.
This last point is crucial – and by
exploring, reading, watching and reading some more, you’ll find out what you really
warm to. Start by mining the classics - I’ll be the first one to put my hand up
and admit how many holes I found in my working knowledge of celebrated
playwrights and award-winning plays. Once I started to read I was shocked at
how much writing I didn’t know properly and how much I’d allow myself to presume
about certain plays and playwrights. Years after studying English literature at
Cambridge university, I also found myself rereading some of the classics and
re-assessing my earlier opinions, which was a wonderful learning curve in
itself.
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| Leaving no stone unturned... |
It’s powerful to get a fresh perspective on
plays after having more life experience under our belts, and you’ll give yourself
permission to truly understand why you love and respect the writing that speak
to you. What we’re talking about is INCREDIBLY empowering: finding stories that
you relate to and which you’re inspired to share with an audience.
Empowered and flexible: don’t we all desire
to work with actors like that?
Stepping beyond the classics you’ll want to
explore modern works and fresh writing. This past summer I spent weeks
devouring books at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Centre and Drama Book
Shop New York - high fives to both venerable institutions! The Performing Arts
Library also has an amazing array of theatrical videos so anyone can watch renowned
productions of plays from all over the world. And Drama Book Shop has to be seen
to be believed - I don’t know of any acting teacher who has as much working
knowledge about theatre as the folks at DBS, easily referring to scenes and individual
quotations from plays by Zach Braff to Beaumont and Fletcher.
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| If you live or are passing through New York, you're privileged to enjoy this treasure trove of information and support |
So in the process of reading, contemplating
and trying out the material on our feet, we truly become our own critics and
make up our own minds about what we’d love to work on. All too often our industry
encourages an aura of hallowed mystery around how things “should be” - one the
smartest thing you can do is make sense of what interests you and never stop
asking questions. Your informed opinion, discipline and self-motivation is what
will keep your acting career aflame – not
what a sitting critic tells you to think.
Karen Koolhaas again: “Monologues are your best opportunity to grow as a
performer. While you are starting out auditioning or while you’re between
roles, monologues give you unlimited opportunities to grow and explore any kind
of writing or character. You can work on the writing you love, immediately. If
Edward Albee is your favorite playwright, you can perform his writing today—you
don’t have to wait to get cast in one of his plays.”
A side note – when I was doing research
for this blog and reading various institutional ‘guidelines for monologue
auditions’– I was shocked to find how much advice there is dissuading actors
from performing their own material. ‘Don’t perform a self-written monologue’ seems
to be a major concern out there amongst a certain strata of the performing arts.
I beg to differ if this is something you are passionate about and it would be
unfortunate for actors to hesitate writing their own material because of this
broad and potentially condescending attitude.
Of course, no one wants to be bored to
tears in watching a laborious vanity piece, but it goes back to empowering
yourself and truly knowing yourself as an actor and artist. And if you start writing,
re-working your own material, and sharing it with trusted peers whose opinion
you respect, you’ll find yourself on an exhilarating journey that you may want
to continue. Drawing on your inspirations and personal story-telling has long
been a powerful way of contributing to your industry and determining your career
path. There’s no pressure to create your own material – but consider how
remarkable it feels to produce something wholly unique which represents your passion and spirit and values. Doing
things that help you get out of your comfort zone, expand your range and
harnessing and refining your skills…all of this allows us to stand tall and
contribute to our industry in an honest and exciting way.
Last word on this – I remember taking a
monologue class years ago with Neil Rutherford of the Ambassador Theatre Group.
Hands down the most touching and funny, heartfelt monologue came from a girl
who blew our socks off with a piece describing her encounter with a stranger in
a supermarket car park. We all jumped into spontaneous applause (not a frequent
occurrence) and were scratching our heads about what great play this could come
from, when she confessed she’d only recently penned it herself. This actress knew what ideas wanted to
get across, she knew her character inside out and she penned a small story that
riveted us. Equally, I’ve lost count of how many editions of Monologue Slam UK
I’ve seen, where the winners are actors who have impressed the judges with
their own work.
Extra tips about where to find
monologue material:
Because again - why does each piece necessarily
need to seem to come from a play? If you’re gunning for 20, or even ten,
chances are you’ll be excited (as will your audience) to have a selection in
your back pocket which includes some real surprises and zingers – true originality
can come from unexpected sources – and knowing that you have these in your arsenal
allows you even greater flexibility to play and keep your audience hooked!
Take a look at:
- speeches
- comedy blogs – and indeed any
writing by your favourite comedians
- interviews
- newspaper columns
- and one of my personal faves: ‘The Best of Craigslist’
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| Monologues can come from many sources |
So to recap: the process of picking your
material, then analysing and working on your monologues, is a fulfilling
journey in and of itself. However I guarantee that you’ll start looking for the
chance to perform them, whether in formal audition settings or for friends and
family in the vein of a time-honoured Troubadour. Enjoy every opportunity to
stretch your muscles, develop your learning and see what new and unexpected
inspiration starts to inform the way you do your monologues.
Every actor has their own technique of
working on material and this isn’t the place to dissect the hows and
wherefores, but it might be worth noting the intrinsic value of working on
monologues, no matter how soon you get the chance to perform one in an industry
setting.
For this, I’ll hand over to acting coach Gary
Condes:
“Working on monologues
is an exercise in theatrical principle, and I use monologues to get people to
understand the notion how to always be active – always be acting on stage. Actors
can fall down when they’re doing monologues or soliloquies if it becomes just a
series of thoughts. It can be easy to get complacent in scene work because
your partner and the script will take care of the conflict and journey you’re
on. But because a successful monologue has to be active in nature, working on them
hits home the necessity to be active no matter what you’re doing. It instills
that mindfulness of being active in any context, including scenes and your wider
acting work.
Where does all of this lead?
When we’re residing in such an empowered
and curious place, we may find the industry will back us up with opportunities
to spread our winds and show our work. Brilliant! You may feel more excited
than ever to attend an EPA or indeed feel confident knowing you have a handful
of extra pieces in any audition situation. Should the casting team turn around
and wonder whether you might be right for another part, and ask ‘could you show
us something a little different?’ you have all kinds of ways to play.
To handle those professional situations (remaining
confident and open in new environments) there’s a certain amount of training we
can do around things like introducing our monologue with impact, being flexible in the staging
of our monologue no matter what the room/stage size, and using well-timed transitions
at the start and end of our piece so that we frame it and hold the audience’s
attention with confidence and an open heart. Handling these aspects of an audition is equally important as the work itself - it's about showing self-esteem, good framing and great showmanship, all of which
translate volumes in a professional environment. When auditioners enjoy the
unconscious takeaway, “Oh - it's so easy to have this person the room!” the
jigsaw pieces all come together in terms of booking you for the job. Again,
I would heartily recommend Ms Koolhaas’ class for insight into these points, which
covers many useful and practical tips to empower the actor. My favourite is her advice to closely watch the audition room door handle whilst still in the waiting room, to see how other actors are navigating the door on entrance and exit
and therefore what energy they bring in from the first moment. As we all know, entering
a room with calm confidence starts the whole meeting off on the right note.
So don’t call it a Comeback - It’s been a call
to action this month! I hope this has encouraged you to consider how you’re
making use of monologues in your working lives as actors. Please feel free to
check out some of the resources below, and I urge you to set up monologue events
in your area if there isn’t an official ‘Slam’ around just yet – these are incredibly fun and satisfying, and
surely a way to get everyone inspired and on their feet in more ways than one.
Resources:
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