1. What's the Relationship? Every monologue has an actor talking to someone. (Whether it is the audience, him/herself, a husband, a friend, a rival, etc.) Knowing your character's relationship with whomever you are addressing in a monologue is the first step to being able to express your feelings and emotions truthfully. Do you love him/her? Hate her? Mixed feelings? Delve into to these questions and get answers. Reading the script will help you do so.
2. What Conflict exists/What are you Fighting for? Every character has some sort of motivation for standing there ground and not fleeing the scene. Your job is to find out what is keeping your character there having this monologue. It is not truthful to solely trust the characters' words, but you must dig deeper to find the underlying themes. It is your job to have your character make the strongest choices for what he or she is fighting for.
3. What Happened the Moment Before? The beginning of a monologue is as important as the ending. You do not want to just finish strong, you want to start strong, and the way to do this is to know what happened the moment before the scene, and react/carry the emotions with the energy it requires. It is not enough to just "know" what happened right before, but you have to become completely overwhelmed by it so it rings truthful.
4. Where is the Humor? Contrary to popular belief, humor does not only exist in comedies. It is found in dramas too! People use humor on their best days and worst days, just to get them through. Humor is applicable in every scene, especially if you want it to have life, diversity, and more then a "one-feel" type of emotion. Proof of humor existing in acting comes from proof of humor existing in real life!
5. How can you Play Opposites? Opposites are used to open actors up to the possibilities of their monologue and characters' feeling. How many times did you have the worst day of your life and a friend asked you, "How are you," and you replied, "I'm great! You?" You said the right words, but on the inside you felt the exact opposite. People are so conditioned to solve problems that as actors, they are not bringing the conflict to the stage...they are just trying to solve it, before it can be fully exposed.
6. What can you Discover in your Monologue? People make discoveries every day; they learn new things about people, life, etc. The more you discover onstage, the more interesting a show will be, and the less you will cling to cliches.
7. How can you Best Communicate? Communicating is not just telling someone something with tremendous amount of feeling. In order to communicate, the way real people communicate, you must make sure you're getting your message across, and that the person to whom you are speaking to is receiving it. Acting is reacting, not just making your point clear. We must also receive the feelings given back to us from our partner. In order to communicate efficiently, you cannot simply shut out the other person. In real life, people may act like they don't care what others say, but they always want to secretly know how they are going to respond!
8. How are you Competing? Whether people admit it, or not, every one is competitive for something. (Whether its relationships, love, power, favor, etc.) Try to discover in your monologue, how you are trying to get what you want, and how you are competing for it.
9. What is Important to You? Every moment contains something of importance to a person. For example, what happens when you order a meal and get the wrong order? Getting the correct order was important to you, was it not? It may be underlined, but something is important for your character at every moment. Go on detective, start looking!
10. What Events are you Creating? Every scene must escalate and lead to a different event. It is the actors' responsibility to continue these events by finding the reasoning for why his or her character is going along with everything he/she does, ultimately escalating to the next, and the next event.
11. Where are you? Knowing where the scene is taking place can set the mood and effect the way you respond. If you are speaking in a library, your voice may be lowered, and you may not want to make much noise. If you are speaking at a party, with overwhelming music, you should not be whispering, but instead, struggling to be heard or hear.
12. How are you playing the Game/Role? Just as in real life, we know the role to play in each game. For example, when we are visiting a persons' home for the first time, we are naturally playing the role of a "guest." There are certain rules instinctively known to abide by in that game/circumstance. Meaning you wouldn't exactly walk right up to their fridge and start munching. How are you playing the role/game in your monologue?
13. What is Mysterious or Secretive of your Character? Once you successfully apply the above questions to your monologue, it is time to get creative and add the things you don't know. Are there mystery or secrets in the scene? Nobody knows the secrets of every individual which makes getting to know and watch them so intriguing! We don't marry our spouses, if actors ever marry, because we know everything about them...that would be boring! We marry them because we want to continue to learn for the rest of our lives. There are so many unanswered things that the playwright didn't write about the character! That is your job as an actor, and an entrusted job at that!
If acting was simply about taking cues and reading off a page, anyone could do it, but it's not. Acting is about delving into the character so deep, that what appears obvious at first, erupts into suddenly exposing a new hidden truth that engages the audience throughout the performance.
Don't settle for a cliche monologue. Put in the time, and reap the much deserved results!-Actors Nook Team
