AUDITIONING WITH A MONOLOGUE: If you use a monologue for an audition you need particular skills and need to put in some amount of work to make the monologue real! Ideally, in order to present a monologue you need to read the whole play! Yes! a monologue is but a largely singular aspect of the entire story, and you need to know the world of that story, almost in its entirety, in order for you to be able to present that one aspect of that story... Well, I am saying one aspect for simplicity. In some cases a monologue is a potpourri of situations within a complex world, and the actor needs to understand exactly where that world exists and how to navigate it, and it becomes a bit difficult if you do not know where that character comes from and where he/she is going to in the world of story. (Its called the characters journey, as opposed to the actors journey) You need to paint that picture so that we are all there with you and travel with you every step of the way. One of the most brilliant examples of a multi-layered journey is the character Styles in the opening monologue of SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD. That monologue is about 35 to 45 minutes long, you even forget that there is another character! One of the most critical issues about an actor on stage presenting a monologue, (Probably the most important and the most difficult) is, WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? Many actors trip on this one because unless you understand clearly who you are talking to, the monologue will trip you from the first line, and if you lose it there you will never get it... Some monologues are introspective, where the character is talking to himself, and at times they are reflecting their inner thoughts. But there are times when a character is addressing an unseen adversary or friend. Both situations are presented differently... Then another critical question, equally important is; WHO ARE YOU? and finally; WHAT IS YOUR STORY? You ought to be able to answer all the above questions in your performance in order for it to be rich and interesting... If you miss these, your monologue will be lost and you will sound like a madman or woman on stage.. Therefore presenting a monologue on stage, particularly in an audition, requires a lot of skill and hard work. Hence people with theatrical training are usually better equipped to deal with monologues. An actor has to always have a set of monologues that he/she uses for a variety of reasons, one of them being to help improve and develop, it is a brilliant devise for self development. It is particularly when you do a monologue that you understand why memorizing a script does not work. You need to read and understand text perfectly, before you can present it on stage. Best of luck to all those who are planning and preparing to audition for the workshop on January 27th at the Joburg Theater. Always remember that AN ACTOR PREPARES.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 04:53:38 +0000
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