Monologue Analysis Pt. 2: “Technicality”

Welcome to Part II of Monologue Analysis: Technicality. In this section of the preparation we are going to focus more on the technical aspects of your monologue by asking questions that must have specific answers. There are certain questions that any actor doing any monologue must ask themselves and must answer fully. We’ll discuss today how to become more specific and dynamic in your monologue and how to keep your audience engaged.

So often actors find themselves faced with the prospect of finding a monologue and run immediately to those collection books filled with nothing but monologues. I hate these books, they’re filled with monologues from half-decent plays that may or may not have ever been produced. The real problem though is that when flipping through those books you’re presented with a character’s name and a paragraph and many actors leave it at that. It’s not the best way of discovering monologues because, let’s face it, from a collection book you have no idea what the character is like or even what they’re actually talking about.

Read the Play – this step is surprisingly neglected by actors, especially when choosing from a collection book. No matter where you’ve gotten the monologue, read the play it came from all the way through. This will give you information on who the character is and what they are talking about in terms of the entire play which will add up to one very important ingredient: SUBTEXT! Subtext is the key to creating the fictional circumstances in which you can live honestly. Playing the subtext of the overall play in the sixty seconds of a monologue can make all of the difference by making the audience feel as if they are witnessing a glimpse of a much larger picture. Rather than hearing you tell a story they are getting to peer into a characters life. And let’s face it, voyeurism is one of the reasons we love the theatre in the first place.

Re-Live Don’t Re-Tell – like I said before, the audience would rather see a character’s life that hear a character’s story and that will bring us to a very important point for actors to remember. No one wants to hear you retell a story in your monologue. No one wants to hear you chat about this-or-that horrible experience; we want to see you relive it for us. Any one can tell a story and a good storyteller can hold audience attention, but that’s not why we go to the theatre, we go to see people live truthfully in fictional circumstances. You must relive your stories by remembering the sites and the smells and every other detail you can about what you are describing. If you can’t see it, neither will the audience.

Next we’re going to delve into two very technical aspects of monologue work. These are stepping stones that every actor should employ. I stress again that these are only ways to work monologues, not rules of how to perform them. Use these to your benefit and listen to what they can tell you about your performance.

Who Are You Speaking To? – a very simple question with many answers. Many times it’s a question actors forget to answer. Who are you speaking to? If you are a character like Li’l Bit in Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive there are many times when you’re speaking directly to the audience. Don’t take that for granted, however, that’s why reading the play can be so important. If you’re character is talking to someone in the script, pretend that someone is with you, out where the audience is. Imagine what they are doing as you speak so that you may react to their reactions. Either way you must have a clear and specific idea of who you are speaking to, why you are speaking to them and what you are try to get out of them.

Leave the Adj. / Adv. Alone – This is something that is only for rehearsal, but it’s a great way to get the feel for how the monologue flows. Go through the speech and underline every adjective and adverb. Once that’s done go back and read it out loud, this time doing nothing to the underlined words. Adjectives and adverbs, such as “beautiful” and “beautifully” can trip an actor up because they become stress traps. You read them and want to stress how beautiful someone is, but soon the audience looses interest because your speech has lost its entire dynamic. Verbs are what make speech dynamic, if you leave the verbs unstressed and begin to merely describe them, you begin to loose steam and the audience’s interest.

Remember to check back again on September 25^th for the third part of Monologue Analysis: Shakespeare, where we’ll focus specifically on the speeches of the Bard. Until then I hope the tips are helpful to you and always remember to Sin Boldly!

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