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Post by Popebenedict on Aug 29, 2007 14:05:06 GMT -5
The school play auditions are next week, and naturally, we have to come up with monologues for it. I already have one, but I was curious to which are your favorites (and if its a lot better than mine i might steal it from you XD). So, post your favorite monologues here!
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Post by Beelzebibble on Aug 29, 2007 16:07:21 GMT -5
These are both parts I've played. The first comes from Chekhov's "The Boor", the second from Beckett's "Endgame".
SMIRNOV: [Imitating her.] Not at all funny -- vulgar! I don't understand how to behave in the company of ladies! Madam, in the course of my life I have seen more women than you have sparrows. Three times have I fought duels for women, twelve I jilted and nine jilted me. There was a time when I played the fool, used honeyed language, bowed and scraped. I loved, suffered, sighed to the moon, melted in love's torments. I loved passionately, I loved to madness, loved in every key, chattered like a magpie on emancipation, sacrificed half my fortune in the tender passion... until now the Devil knows I've had enough of it. Your obedient servant will let you lead him around by the nose no more. Enough! Black eyes, passionate eyes, coral lips, dimples in cheeks, moonlight whispers, soft, modest sights -- for all that, madam, I wouldn't pay a kopeck! I am not speaking of present company, but of women in general: from the tiniest to the greatest, they are conceited, hypocritical, chattering, odious, deceitful from top to toe, vain, petty, cruel with a maddening logic and [he strikes his forehead] in this respect, please excuse my frankness, but one sparrow is worth ten of the aforementioned petticoat-philosophers. When one sees one of the romantic creatures before him he imagines he is looking at some holy being, so wonderful that its one breath could dissolve him in a sea of a thousand charms and delights, but -- if one looks into the soul -- it's nothing more than a common crocodile! [He siezes the arm-chair and breaks it in two.] But the worst of all is that this crocodile imagines it is a masterpiece of creation, and that it has a monopoly on all the tender passions. May the devil hang me upside down if there is anything to love about a woman! When she is in love all she knows is how to complain and shed tears. If the man suffers and makes sacrifices she swings her train about and tries to lead him by the nose. You have the misfortune to be a woman, and naturally you know woman's nature; tell me on your honor, have you ever in your life seen a woman who was really true and faithful? Never! Only the old and the deformed are true and faithful. It is easier to find a cat with horns or a white woodcock than a faithful woman.
HAMM (as before): That's right. (Exit Clov. Pause.) Me to play. (He takes out his handkerchief, unfolds it, holds it spread out before him.) We're getting on. (Pause.) You weep, and weep, for nothing, so as not to laugh, and little by little... you begin to grieve. (He folds the handkerchief, puts it back in his pocket, raises his head.) All those I might have helped. (Pause.) Helped! (Pause.) Saved. (Pause.) Saved! (Pause.) The place was crawling with them (Pause. Violently.) Use your head, can't you, use your head, you're on earth, there's no cure for that! (Pause.) Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbor as yourself! (Pause. Calmer.) When it wasn't bread they wanted it was crumpets. (Pause. Violently.) Out of my sight and back to your petting parties! (Pause.) All that, all that! (Pause.) Not even a real dog! (Calmer.) The end is in the beginning and yet you go on. (Pause.) Perhaps I could go on with my story, end it and begin another. (Pause.) Perhaps I could throw myself out on the floor. (He pushes himself painfully off his seat, falls back again.) Dig my nails into the cracks and drag myself forward with my fingers. (Pause.) It will be the end and there I'll be, wondering what can have brought it on and wondering what can have... (he hesitates) ...why it was so long coming. (Pause.) There I'll be, in the old shelter, alone against the silence and... (he hesitates) ...the stillness. If I can hold my peace, and sit quiet, it will be all over with sound, and motion, all over and done with. (Pause.) I'll have called my father and I'll have called my... (he hesitates) ...my son. And even twice, or three times, in case they shouldn't have heard me, the first time, or the second. (Pause.) I'll say to myself, He'll come back. (Pause.) And then? (Pause.) And then? (Pause.) He couldn't, He has gone too far. (Pause.) And then? (Pause. Very agitated.) All kinds of fantasies! That I'm being watched! A rat! Steps! Breath held and then... (He breathes out.) Then babble, babble, words, like the solitary child who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be together, and whisper together, in the dark. (Pause.) Moment upon moment, pattering down, like the millet grains of... (he hesitates) ...that old Greek, and all life long you wait for that to mount up to a life. (Pause. He opens his mouth to continue, renounces.) Ah let's get it over! (He whistles. Enter Clov with alarm-clock. He halts beside the chair.) What? Neither gone nor dead?
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Post by bulbaboy on Aug 29, 2007 16:38:10 GMT -5
Well it really depends on what you’re auditioning for. If it’s something comedic I’d use a cutting from The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris or God: The Ultimate Autobiography by Jeremy Pascall. Santaland is really fun and I recommend the part where he has to learn sign language, I also recommend learning said sign language ‘cause it just adds to the humor.
For more Dramatic monologues Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes or Teitam Brown by Mick Foley are good but be careful on Teitam, mainly cause the book is more crude than dramatic. I can’t remember the name of the chapter but the one where he gets adopted by the Delanors and then molested by his adoptive father is probably the least crude and most dramatic. I did this piece for the NFL tournament (National Forensics League) and ended up being the first runner up for Nationals.
For stuff that’s kind of in-between I suggest The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I put Stargirl on here because it’s from the perspective of the boy who starts to have feeling for her.
All of these are of course play or books so you would have to do some cutting. I know that all of these can make very strong 10 minute pieces. You could do shorter but be careful. If your time requirement is longer you should be fine then making a decent cutting.
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Post by Krazy Glue on Sept 2, 2007 14:19:28 GMT -5
When i did english last year we did Richard III, I learnt the first half of the "now is the winter of our discontent" speach just so i could randomly say it in class... Freaked out my teacher a few times when I did it =P
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