Solo!: The Best Monologues of the 80s: Women

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YOUR SIXTY SECONDS OF FAME

Acting alone onstage, especially when faced with a crucial auditioning situation, is all too frequently talked about in terms of fear and terror. But let’s look at it in the opposite way, as a kind of joy and exhilaration. Taking center stage puts you right at the heart of the theatrical experience. Rather than being at a disadvantage, you should feel the power of being in complete control. Unless the actor is totally at ease with the prospect of performing, how can you expect anyone watching you to take a keen and genuine interest in what you have to offer? The full enjoyment of acting is infectious and flows effortlessly from the stage out to the audience. This essential joy of performance, apart from the basic anxiety all of us feel at being singled out and watched, really must be in place before you can attempt to do what follows. The angst of acting is the first obstacle you simply must clear from your path.

We assume that actors are looking at Solo! in the hope of finding fresh auditioning material, and maybe even some unexpected and new surprises from unfamiliar writers. But how you can best use this material onstage is what we want to explore with you.

Just by leafing through this book you’re already accomplishing the first major step: choosing material. But let this choice be guided by something even more fundamental: choose material that best suits your capacity as a person as well as an actor. In other words, find a monologue that is close to you; not something that is close to the actor you would most like to be, but a piece of writing that reflects the actor you are now. In time, conditions will change as you change. But for the moment don’t choose something old if you’re young, don’t toy with something flashy and hip if you’re not. If you pick something British, for instance, be aware of the context and the accent. Are either of these out of your reach or your realm of experience? Many of the British pieces in Solo! present few obstacles or difficulties for American actors. We made sure of that in our selection process. Some can even be done with an American accent or by simply translating British words into American phrases. But remember that all writing, from whatever part of the world, has its own indigenous rhythms which only real familiarity can breed and make work. Honestly knowing your own capacity on this score can help you avoid a critical mistake when it comes to choosing a monologue.

Probably the best rule of thumb we can offer you here is to match your own personal sensibility with that of an individual playwright. Once you’ve made your choice, the monologue itself should immediately provoke you to search out its complete source, so that you can see and savour the speech in its full context as one part of a complete play. It’s simply foolish for an actor to learn a monologue but be completely ignorant of the full text. There are really no shortcuts to good acting. What will you do, for instance, if a director begins asking you in-depth questions about your character or other moments in the play? Go about preparing your monologue just as you would a full role in a complete production. Now that you have one or several monologues in hand, let’s plunge right into the deep of this section—the audition.

Auditions, no matter what anyone says, are often won or lost in the first sixty seconds. One minute is really all the time you have to truly establish a solid presence and make a definite claim on our attention. The first moment we lay eyes on an actor is rarely forgotten. That may sound prejudiced, but it is, in fact, true. And the sixty second countdown begins as soon as you enter the room, even before you speak your first line. Just your mere presence radiates an aura that the spoken monologue will only confirm or contradict. Yet in that first unspoken minute, it can often be love or hate at first sight. So begin now to think and learn how you can use these seconds to your full advantage.

Any audition is a performance. Make no mistake about that, even though we call them tryouts. And you can think of it as a performance—a solo performance—in which you are the star. The audition is also a very specialized kind of job interview in which you just don’t answer questions but perform answers. But don’t think of it as a contest with other actors. You are really competing with the clock and the short attention span of your auditors; especially short if they have seen a lot of other actors during the same audition. They want to be captivated by someone special, someone who likes the job of acting. Someone who is a professional and won’t waste time. Unlike other job interviews, in an audition you rarely get the opportunity to repeat or retract what you just said or did the second before. Those for whom you are performing (director, casting agents, drama school representatives) are clearly looking for talent. But they are also looking for a person with an appetite for work; someone who can become part of an ensemble and withstand the pressure of concentrated effort. Auditions are frequently tense because the eventual rehearsal process is even more intense. Show them, immediately, that you can bear the weight of an opening night performance. They are not looking for inadequacies, and they will not overlook flaws. But that’s perfectly understandable. If they choose you for a part or place, so much time and energy will go into you. So they must get the clear impression from your audition that you can do the job better than anyone else. If you can master and break the sixty second barrier, you can be on the road to fame.

Getting through an audition in the correct frame of mind and with the right stuff requires a process you can repeat time and again. It should be a process no different from any other acting process you would use in rehearsal or performance. Here’s one that seems to work best. It is a system that can be expanded to suit larger performance challenges or contracted to meet the concentrated needs of an audition. It incorporates all that is most useful from the many different techniques of actor preparation. And it distills what every actor—amateur or professional—needs to know in order to deliver an honest level of performance. Here are ten specific steps, linked in a chain, which can be quickly memorized in sixty seconds:

PREPARATION

RELAXATION

CONCENTRATION

COMPENSATION

MOTIVATION

CHARACTERIZATION

PHYSICALIZATION

IMPROVISATION

REVELATION

RESOLUTION

This chain contains all the fundamentals of good acting. It is not some magic chain of gold that will instantly turn you into a great performer. But, if you work through each step properly, it is a system that will not only get you through an audition but through an entire performance. We’ll make general comments about each step in the process and then apply it more directly to the audition itself.

1. PREPARATION

No actor can work without being solidly prepared. And our approach here is to put you in the highest state of preparation. We’ll begin by assuming that you have already chosen your material. Perhaps you’ve picked one classical monologue and one contemporary. But why not prepare a whole audition repertoire of different kinds of material? Being prepared means being able to shift gears from one kind of monologue and mood to another. As an actor you should strive to develop your range and not stay too confined within the narrowness of a couple of favorite pieces. Give your talent the opportunity to grow by experimenting with all kinds of pieces. You’ll notice that Solo! is an expansive collection of the most varied kinds of monologues. That should be an indication of how we would like to encourage you to look at your acting, in broader terms while still remaining essentially yourself. Preparing a selection of monologues—perhaps six—means that you will never go stale. But proceed at a pace that will allow you to learn and know your material well.

Knowing your material means more than just learning the words and lines. Memorizing is not the challenge in this stage of preparation. Knowing indicates familiarity and intimacy with the play in all its parts. Really read the play. Not just once but several times. Investigate its background. Reveal its sources. Decipher its context and content. The best actors, even if just preparing for an audition, will read a script several times. Once you are performing the play, you never stop reading it. Carry the play with you, so that you can read it wherever you are. See it when other actors perform it. You’d better, be curious about it because it is now part of your life as a performer. In other words, live and breathe the material. Let it grow on you. You, the character, and the whole play have now formed a partnership. Don’t abuse the contract by learning only a single speech.

Further steps in this kind of preparation might be to experience ways that the monologue is written. A good trick is to write or type out the monologue as a means of experiencing the fusion of words and phrases. You might also write out new monologues for your character that the playwright has not written for his own play. The attempt here is to get deeper into the consciousness of the character and the writer. Unless the actor is willing to inhabit and discover the full life and world of his material, the acting of it will always seem false, uninformed, and, at its worst, dreadfully dull. Excite yourself by turning this stage of preparation into an adventure in which you unlock the secrets of the play and expose them.

Now start looking at your chosen speech in detail. What about it surprises you, moves you, makes you laugh? Humor is a powerful ally onstage. It can also be one of your most valuable assets in an audition. It breaks the ice and makes you appealing. Wit is a commodity that the best actors have in abundance. What about odd words and phrases? How can you handle them? What about the strong contrasts between words, the darkness and light that often inhabits the best speeches? Unless you can uncover the hope within the seeming hopelessness of a Beckett speech, for instance, the entire monologue will only result in something dead and dreary. Can you uncover the hope in the speech you’ve chosen, the way in which the monologue works towards some future success? Really look at the speech in order to unravel the playwright’s intention so it becomes your character’s intention. What are you trying to accomplish and convince us of in what you are saying? How does the monologue build in expectation and arrive at various plateaus or sudden bursts of recognition? All good speeches have some kind of build, either upwards or downwards, towards a lively or still climax. Perhaps the speech has different kinds of motion. Maybe it rocks, sways, swaggers, stutters, falters, or trips. What does it physically feel like to you? Does it make you want to move and use your body in some special way? Then there is the ultimate personal test: Why do you need to say this particular speech and why say it now? Does it make you angry? Does it settle some personal score? Does it say something about you?

Long before entering an audition, the process of preparation begins with questions like these. They are the crucial questions that every actor must ask of a speech. So nail them down as you work on any piece of acting material. When you’ve satisfied yourself with some answers, you’re ready to audition.

The audition itself: As we’ve already said, the audition is basically a job interview in which you act out your answers. It is not a life or death struggle in which your whole being and worth is being put to the test. If that was the case, how could you ever think of auditioning? Be a professional and think of the audition as a necessary stage in a professional process. Don’t allow yourself to become incapacitated by something that should be enjoyable.

The best kind of preparation for any audition—apart from really knowing your material—is to begin with the thought that you belong at this audition. You are not wrong for the part nor are you out of place being here. All of your years of training and preparation have brought you to this point. And because we are approaching the audition not as a competition but as a race against the clock—overcoming the sixty second barrier—none of the usual feelings of embarrassment or inadequacy need to concern you now. Your objective it simply to work hard and get the job done; to show your acting personality to its full advantage in a short space of time. Believe that you will give the best performance of your career. Forget about the past or the future. The time you should be concerned with is only the present. So put all your energy and thought into this moment.

The preparation of any part—and a monologue should be approached as a part—is a highly technical procedure. Recall all the given circumstances and have them clearly before you. Key yourself to the moments just before the monologue begins. Who are you? What has just happened? Who are you talking to? In the time leading up to the audition, do a lot of work on the speech and character but then bury it and merge it into a seamless performance. All good acting demands freshness. It must appear as if it is happening for the first time. Think of the audition as your chance to give new birth to a character and speech. What you must strive for in an audition is focus: on the character, on the task, on the words. Become fixed and locked into a purpose. You are preparing yourself to launch into a speech because something burning needs to be said.

The image you project to others is doubly important when you enter any acting space. You are being judged on looks and bearing, as well as on the quality and delivery of material. Eyes are auditioning you as well as ears. So pay careful attention to the ways you prepare your dress and appearance. What you wear is crucial. Neutral dress might be the rule but coming on in more flamboyant clothes may be to your advantage. Think about the circumstances and particularities of each audition. Is the part sophisticated or down and dirty? Will your looks distract from the importance of what you are saying? Will red or black say something more about you than it says about the character? Costume yourself to meet the needs. Even your choice of shoes can say just as much as your monologue. Clothing has a way of speaking. Once you enter an auditioning space, the total you is on display. Leave nothing to chance or distraction. Prepare to look and be the part.

2. RELAXATION

No actor can hope to get the best, physically, from himself or herself without being in top condition. If you’ve been well trained in proper stage technique and physical work, you probably already know the best means to relaxation. The