Tips for choosing a monologue to audition. The meaning and role of internal monologue in the work of the director and actor on the internal image of the performance and role. Follow the tips below to choose a monologue that's right for you...

  • 11.08.2019

Lara Winker, casting director at Cast Iron Studios, shared tips on how to properly prepare monologues for castings.

1. Be brief

Just because you're allowed to speak for three minutes, you shouldn't choose a monologue that goes that long. Usually, one minute is enough to understand the level of an actor, so it makes sense to prefer a shorter performance. Alternatively, you could choose two different monologues that contrast each other to show off your range as an actor.

Send active listening signals

Sometimes a peaceful and considerate conversation culture takes some practice and patience - and you have to allow yourself too. Sending active listening signals: agreeing to moan, smiling reassuringly, or saying yeses frequently during a conversation. This is much more common in Japanese culture.

When one Japanese man listens to another, he usually smiles, nods his head and smiles every few seconds. Of course, you don't have to do this one-to-one. How right it is for you. But with such signals, you show your opponent attention and sympathy. You show him that you are listening to him and letting him tell his room.

2. Don’t choose the most famous monologues

Most likely, many have already shown them. While we were doing one of our latest castings, we saw a lot of actors acting out the same scenes taken from recent films or plays.

3. When in doubt, choose a light and funny skit.

It's very difficult to watch actors play emotional and dramatic scenes one after another all day long. In such conditions, a good monologue filled with humor will come in handy, especially in the evening.

You should avoid at all costs - distracting you during a conversation. For example, in which you look away from your interlocutor or react to a distraction outside. Your opponent may interpret this as a signal of frivolous eavesdropping and resentment. This may result in longer pauses in the conversation or even the call being dropped.

Say what you really feel and mean

And not what you're supposed to say. This advice has a lot to do with the courage to be vulnerable, and clearly with radical honesty, for yourself and for others. This was probably one of your last conversations. However, radical honesty can also be seen as transforming your superficial judgments by tracking your deeper needs and telling your conversation partner what you need right now. If he is as conscious and sincere as you are at this moment, he will feel inside it and tell you whether he can fulfill this desire - or not.

4. Don't introduce yourself as a robot. Be yourself.

When asked to say your name or any other information, do so in a friendly manner rather than coldly and formally. Some teachers force their students to introduce themselves the same way every time. Unfortunately, this approach leads to the fact that the performance ceases to be personal, especially if all the actors who studied with the same teacher present themselves the same way.

Allow yourself to leave the conversation

This kind of honesty certainly takes a little more courage than blindly stealing someone's arguments, but it will certainly pay off in terms of strong communication. Have you tried all these tips, actively listen, send signals, control your bias and still get bored? Didn't the spark of inspiration just jump? Or even more brazenly: do you feel that aggression is rising in you, and how the conversation is increasingly tugging at your nerves?

Then allow yourself to end the conversation. Chances are your opposite is no longer having a conversation. This, in turn, has a lot to do with being sincere with yourself - and at the same time with your interlocutor. And with the courage to be vulnerable and authentic - once again. Feel like you are and be as friendly and clear as possible.

5. Don't pretend to be a problem, but overcome it.

Many actors love to scream and cry during auditions, but strong and emotional scenes only work when the characters try to overcome their problems and strive for a certain goal despite all the obstacles. Simple self-pity and anger never work.

Will this be good for you? Provide flaws and uncertainty. You will see that in most cases it is not what you expected or feared! By the way: At such moments we feel that we are living. When we feel and express ourselves in all our feelings. Supposedly, many dying people regret this - not doing this in their lives.

I wish you every success in using these tips! Because student actors are often unaware of text selection for class performance or audition, we offer a selection of monologues for women published before. Monologues have this strange power of immersing comedians and audiences. strong relationship intimacy when the listener becomes confidant and the privileged interlocutor of the dialogue with one voice.

6. Select where to look

Since you won't have a partner to interact with, choosing where to look during your monologue can be difficult. However, instead of looking around aimlessly, you need to choose a point where you can focus your gaze. It doesn't matter whether it's a wall, a lighting fixture, or a chair.

This man calls upon the Furies for his aid and promises revenge, despite his next Nerina's advice of moderation. Jason gets King Creon to take care of his children. Medea through magical powers poisons the dress she leaves for Jason's new wife. This dress will be consumed by fire, chalky. Creon kills himself with a blow.

He provokes him into a fight and kills him. A surprise attack by the Moors on the city is repelled by Rodrigue, who becomes the hero of the country. To avenge her father's honor, Ximena demands revenge: the king appoints a champion against whom Rodrigue will have to fight. He is determined to allow himself to be killed.

7. Don't look at the casting director

Whatever you do, don't force the casting director to be your scene partner unless you're specifically asked to do so. In this case, they will be extremely uncomfortable looking away and taking notes. This may well harm the reception of your performance.

8. Enjoy the performance

But this is a trick to enter the palace, because this messenger is Orestes himself. A monologue is a speech addressed to oneself. In literature, a monologue is mainly found in the theatrical genre, when a character expresses his thoughts in direct speech and in real time. In this way, he can expose his past actions, appeal to his conscience, or get a glimpse of what he will do. A monologue can be part of a scene, an entire scene, even an entire act, or, less commonly, an entire play. When an actor speaks very briefly to the audience or to himself, it is "out of the way."

If the speech is divorced from the dialogue, then the actor speaks for a long time without interruption, this is a “tirade”. Theater is a literary genre intended to be performed in front of an audience. When it plays, it is also called drama, romance and romance - these are genres that are read alone.

Do you remember why you decided to be an actor? To become a different person, to entertain, to tell stories, to express yourself in ways that are not available to you in real life. At auditions you should do the same. No matter how short your speech is, it is still a speech.

For everyone who wants to master acting skills, Svetlana Efremova, dean of California State University, an actress who has worked with Michelle Pfeiffer, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor and other actors, will conduct a new “Meisner Technique” for actors in Moscow from May 21 to June 2, 2014 of the year.

Why is it a comedy, despite the fact that it is important element palaces and box office receipts around the world, cannot overcome national borders? Every country always has a runway with at least a national comedy film accompanied by international blockbusters. However, we would not properly understand our ranking without noticing the enormous weight of the Sun in the catinella. The capital, important for Italy, however, which does not exceed Ventimiglia, does not have significant distribution in other countries and cannot earn money abroad.

For all other genres it is very easy, if we look at the cases of successful Italian titles again and again, they are horror, auteur cinema, but never a real comic. Herzog and Almodóvar's films were released in Italy, seen and broadcast on television, while Klaus Meyers or Kev Adams are the most unknown. For example, Adam Sandler in the United States is a star of the first rank, like Tom Cruise, capable of overthrowing the economic fortunes of a project, while here he is not a popular actor.

In theater or cinema, a monologue is when a character speaks to the audience in an extended manner. For an actor, it's like a solo in an orchestra where he has the opportunity to show off his performance. Delivering a monologue is part of the audition and helps the audition panel understand how well you deliver and present the text. If you follow a few basic points, it will greatly improve your dramatic performance.

The same failure is suffered by our comedians outside the borders. So there doesn't seem to be anything to do with comedy, its strength is in being local. While there are millions of ways to make a comic, most of them are about the world of shared experience between the comedian and the public; this is a hyperbolic revolution of famous, experienced, neighbors. It is therefore more exportable, a tale that moves on the imaginary reason of one who feeds on experience and everyday life. It doesn't always work that way in other countries, often the archetypal contrast between the village and the big city.

  • Consider appropriate mannerisms, such as gestures, for your monologue. A monologue is not just reciting lines by heart.
  • Treat your monologue as a story and make sure you know that story. Some actors find it convenient to take one line at a time for a better thinking process. For beginners, it is enough to know the whole story so that if you forget your lines, you can improvise and fill in the monologue with suitable words.
  • Remember to look at the audience when appropriate.
  • Read the play or watch its film adaptation before presenting the monologue. Many actors find a monologue online or take it from a book, but do not read the entire play to find out what the character is like and cannot fully capture the essence of the character.
  • If possible, seek face-to-face support while presenting your monologue. If you are a student high school or student, the drama teacher will most likely want to help you during your performance, especially if you have never dealt with a monologue before. Local theaters can often help, too.

Warnings

  • Be aware of when you are trying too hard to introduce a character so as not to "overact" and make the character cartoonish instead of sincere. (Unless, of course, you're supposed to play that way!)
  • Be honest with yourself about your skills. Good actors are confident people, but they know what they are strengths, and what are the weaknesses.