Drama 9

Extra Credit: Anyone who watches Flower Drum Song on Turner Classic Movies (cable/satellite) on Friday, March 6, 2009 at 3:30 p.m., and writes a three paragraph review, will receive extra credit.

 A monologue refers to a speech given by one person in a drama, or an extended part of the text of a play spoken by an actor/actress.

A soliloquy is a speech delivered by a character in a play or other literature while alone, or an utterance by a person who is talking to him/herself, oblivious to any listeners present. This technique is frequently used to disclose a character’s innermost feeling, such as thoughts, state of mind, motives, and intentions or to provide information needed by the audience or reader.

Performing Your Monologue  

Preparing  

Step 1: A monologue is delivered by one character in a play that you can identify with. The desired length of the monologue will often be set by the requirements of a given audition/performance, but a good standard length is about 2 minutes. The passage you choose should demonstrate an interesting range of emotion, and should show the character going through some kind of transition or change.

Step 2: You will want to thoroughly understand the motivation of the character you are playing when you perform your monologue.
 
Step 3: Analyze the monologue, making a note of every time a change in the character's emotions or intentions occurs. This will allow you to break your monologue down into sections, or beats.  

Step 4:  Focus not only on portraying the emotions contained in your monologue, but also on transitioning between different beats in a believable manner. 

Step 5: Memorize the monologue until you know it by heart without having to reach for the words. Practice it over and over again. 

Step 6: Perform the monologue for a friend or an acting coach. Ask for an honest critique of your work. You will want to make adjustments to your monologue based on the feedback you receive. 
 

Take the Stage  

Step 1: Dress in character. Consider using minor accessories, such as jewelery, a book, or hat to suggest your character without calling attention away from your performance.

Step 2: Position yourself in the center of the spotlight to introduce the piece that you will be performing. Let your personality shine through, and be friendly, nobody wants to work with a diva.     

Step 3: Block out the audience sitting before you, and let yourself truly inhabit the character.  Be sure to project your voice, so everyone in the space can hear what you're saying. 

Step 4: Act as though you are surrounded by the objects and people in your character's world. You may be alone on an empty stage, but you need to imagine it as whatever environment your character is meant to inhabit. If your character is speaking to someone else, track that invisible person with your eyes and act as though that other character has a physical presence.   

Step 5: Cap off your monologue with a still moment, holding on your final note before exiting the stage.

Tips

      If you forget a line, don't let the audience know it. Improvise until you get to the next line, or skip the forgotten line altogether.  

      Don't just stand still on the stage and speak to one point in the distance. Move around so you engage the audience. 

WHAT IS A MONOLOGUE?

* A monologue expresses the thoughts of one person.  

* A monologue must have a beginning, middle, and an end.    

* A monologue should always reveal something - be it a story, a secret, an answer to a question, or an emotional outpouring.  

In life, we don't speak in a monologues. There is no point when we turn to our mother, father, brother, sister, best friend, girlfriend, boyfriend and start talking about a memory or an event.  

In the theater, a monologue can be a great gift.  It's a gift to the audience to look up on that stage and see inside the thoughts a human being. The great monologues are private moments, secrets, emotions, heartbreaks, wonders.  

Keeping that in mind, it's no easy feat to write a powerful monologue.  There are a lot of poor monologues out there, ones that ramble about the past or throw together random incidents with no point of view.  

The story of a monologue must have purpose. There must be a reason for a character to speak at length!  

Dealing with the past is a very common story driven monologue format. To illuminate something that is currently happening in the script, a character relates a past story. The problem with these types of monologues is when a character says, "I remember." "I remember" creates an insular experience; it's something that only happened to the character and it's difficult for the audience to share in the event.  

Another problem with past monologues is the use of the past tense. When something has happened in the past, it's over, it's done. Using the present tense is much more alive and active.  

Practice Exercises

* Write a monologue where the first line is 'I remember when...' and uses the past tense.  

* Re-write the monologue, taking out all mentions of 'remembering.'  

* Re-write the monologue in the present tense.  

* Read aloud the first version and then the third. What are the differences?  

MAKING THE STORY COUNT

 If a character tells a story, "I went to the grocery store and THIS JUST HAPPENED," there has to be something besides the base story going on for the audience. There has to be more. The story has to show something: character flaw, a plot point we didn't know, a lie, a romance, and so on.  

Practice Exercises

* Write a monologue where the character tells a story about going to a parade.  

* Re-write the monologue so that by telling the story, the audience sees the character is a liar.  

* Re-write the monologue so that by telling the story, the audience sees the character is heartbroken.  

* Re-write the monologue so that by telling the story, the audience sees the character is in love.  

“Beginning to End Monologues” as with all stories, must have a beginning, middle, and an end. Just because it's short doesn't mean there can't be a dramatic arc. Not only that, there has to be a journey, a change, a shift from the beginning to the end of the monologue. That's going to go a long way to make the monologue alive and exciting.

CREATING A SPECIFIC LANGUAGE

All characters should speak in a specific language that illuminates their personality. You can tell a lot about an individual by how they speak, what words they choose, their contractions, or lack thereof. Character language can convey aspects such as geographical location, culture, and education. Character language is an excellent method of conveying emotion and subtext.

All of this becomes especially important in monologues, where we focus on a character for more than a couple of lines. When creating a language for a character, pay attention to sentence length, contractions, vocabulary, punctuation. Use the practice exercises below to explore specific language. Don't focus on the content of the monologues, but rather focus is on the structure. 

Practice Exercises  

* Write a monologue where the character speaks in one word sentences.  

* Write a monologue where the character is very verbose. Use very long sentences.  

* Write a monologue where the character speaks in one and/or two syllable words only.  

* Write a monologue where the character speaks mainly in three and four syllable words.  

* Write a monologue where the character uses no contractions.  

* Write a monologue where the character's dialogue includes slang.  

* Write a monologue in which a character watches a parade. Decide on a specific geographical location for the character, a specific level in society, and a specific education level. Re-write the monologue to reflect these details in the character's language.  

Monologues thrive in specific detail. Anything that is going to make the world of the monologue come alive in the minds of the audience is the goal of a successful monologue. All you have is a character and their words. Use those words to create a vivid vibrant world.   

When we talk about a dramatic monologue these days, we mean a long speech in a play, usually with strong emotion and that enforces a main theme. A dramatic monologue can take up the entire play, which is sometimes called a monodrama. Because modern audiences aren't as patient with long-winded speeches, writing a monologue for your play or film script takes great skill. Follow these steps to make it effective:  

Step 1:
Read as many dramatic monologues as you can. Writers like Shakespeare, Moliere and Chekhov are classic monologue playwrights, but plenty of modern writers use the technique effectively. There are several monologue databases on the Internet you can tap into (see Resources for links).  

Step 2:
Know your characters. Anyone of them can give a monologue but it's easiest to start with your protagonist because you know him best. Do extensive character development on him so you know how he thinks and what motivates him to act as he does.  

Step 3:
Decide on the climax of your dramatic monologue. It should build up to a defining moment in the play or thrust a major theme into the limelight.  

Step 4:
Map out the structure of your monologue. It's tricky finding the right place to begin. You don't want to waste time but you don't want to ruin the suspense to the climax.  

Step 5: 
Define how you'll end the monologue. You must be careful not to drag out the ending because by the time you've gotten through the climax, the audience will be anxious to move on to the next scene.   

Step 6:
Write the rough draft of your monologue. Include as much of the buildup to the climax as you like at this point. You can also drag out the ending to make the point clear to yourself.