THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DRAMATIC ART BACHELOR OF DRAMATIC ART (ACTING) SUGGESTED AUDITION PIECES FOR PEOPLE APPLYING

IN 2011 TO ENROL IN 2012 FEMALE

NIDA Suggested Audition Pieces - Female Page 1 of 18

ACTING COURSE SUGGESTED AUDITION PIECES FOR AUDITIONS HELD IN 2011

The following pieces have been chosen from standard editions of the works. You may use the equivalent monologue from a different edition of the play, for example, if you have access to a different edition of the Shakespeare plays. For translated works, we have chosen a particular translation. However, you may use another translation if that is the version available to you. If you cannot access the Australian plays through your local library, bookshop or bookshops on our suggested list, published editions of the Australian plays are generally available through Currency Press.

SUMMARY
1. Viola - Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare 2. Juliet Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 3. Hermione The Winters Tale by William Shakespeare 4. Helena A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare 5. Emilia Othello by William Shakespeare 6. Irena Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov 7. Cherie Blackrock by Nick Enright 8. Rhonda Whos Afraid of the Working Class? by Christos Tsiolkas, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves and Andrew Bovell 9. Cressy Radiance by Louis Nowra 10. Elizabeth Barry The Libertine by Stephen Jeffries 11. Murri Woman 7 Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch, Deborah Mailman 12. Rose The Seed by Kate Mulvany 13. Denise The Call by Patricia Cornelius 14. Snake The Kid by Michael Gow 15. Sophie The Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon

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1. VIOLA - TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare

VIOLA

I left no ring with her: what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her! She made good view of me, indeed so much, That methought her eyes had lost her tongue, For she did speak in starts distractedly. She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion Invites me in this churlish messenger. None of my lord's ring? Why, he sent her none. I am the man: if it be so, as 'tis, Poor lady, she were better love a dream. Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. How easy is it for the proper-false In women's waxen hearts to set their forms! Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we, For such as we are made of, such we be. How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly, And I, poor monster, fond as much on him, And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me: What will become of this? As I am man, My state is desperate for my master's love: As I am woman (now alas the day!) What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe? O time, thou must untangle this, not I, It is too hard a knot for me t'untie.

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2. JULIET - ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare

JULIET

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' lodging. Such a waggoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalkd-of and unseen. Lovers can see to do their amorous rites By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, It best agrees with night. Come, civil Night, Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, And learn me how to lose a winning match Playd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods. Hood my unmannd blood, bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle, till strange love grown bold, Think true love acted simple modesty. Come night, come Romeo, come, thou day in night; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than snow upon a raven's back. Come gentle night, come loving black-browd night, Give me my Romeo; and when I shall die Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. O, I have bought the mansion of a love But not possessed it, and though I am sold, Not yet enjoyd. So tedious is this day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes And may not wear them. O, here comes my Nurse.

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3. HERMIONE - THE WINTER'S TALE by William Shakespeare

HERMIONE

Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with, I seek. To me can life be no commodity; The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, I do give lost, for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went. My second joy, And first-fruits of my body, from his presence I am barrd, like one infectious. My third comfort (Starrd most unluckily) is from my breast, (The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth) Hald out to murder; myself on every post Proclaimd a strumpet, with immodest hatred The child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs To women of all fashion; lastly, hurried Here, to this place, i'th'open air, before I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege, Tell me what blessings I have here alive, That I should fear to die? Therefore proceed. But yet hear this: mistake me not: no life, I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour, Which I would free: if I shall be condemnd Upon surmises, all proofs sleeping else But what your jealousies awake, I tell you, 'Tis rigour and not law. Your honours all, I do refer me to the Oracle: Apollo be my judge!

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4. HELENA - A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by William Shakespeare

HELENA

Lo, she is one of this confederacy! Now I perceive they have conjoined all three To fashion this false sport in spite of me. Injurious Hermia! Most ungrateful maid! Have you conspired, have you with these contrived, To bait me with this foul derision? Is all the counsel that we two have shared, The sisters vows, the hours that we have spent When we have chid the hasty-footed time For parting us O is all forgot? All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence? We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, Both warbling of one song, both in one key, As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds, Had been incorporate. So we grew together, Like a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet an union in partition, Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, Due but to one, and crowned with one crest. And will you rent our ancient love asunder To join with men in scorning your poor friend? It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly; Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, Though I alone do feel the injury.

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5. EMILIA OTHELLO by William Shakespeare EMILIA Yes, a dozen, and as many to the vantage, as would store the world they played for. But I do think it is their husbands' faults If wives do fall: say, that they slack their duties, And pour our treasures into foreign laps; Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us: or say they strike us, Or scant our former having in despite, Why, we have galls: and though we have some grace, Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know, Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell, And have their palates both for sweet, and sour, As husbands have. What is it that they do, When they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is: and doth affection breed it? I think it doth. Is't frailty that thus errs? It is so too. And have not we affections? Desires for sport? and frailty, as men have? Then let them use us well: else let them know, The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.

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6. IRENA - THREE SISTERS by Anton Chekhov

IRENA

Tell me, why is it I'm so happy today? As if I were sailing, with the wide, blue sky above me, and great white birds soaring in the wind. Why is it? Why? I woke up this morning, I got up, I washed - and suddenly I felt everything in this world was clear to me - I felt I knew how life had to be lived. Dear Ivan Romanich, I can see it all. A human being has to labour, whoever he happens to be, he has to toil in the sweat of his face; thats the only way he can find the sense and purpose of his life, his happiness, his delight. How fine to be a working man who rises at first light and breaks stones on the road, or a shepherd, or a teacher, or an engine driver on the railway Lord, never mind being human even better to be an ox, better to be a simple horse, just so long as you work anything rather than a young lady who rises at noon, then drinks her coffee in bed, then takes two hours to dress thats terrible! In hot weather sometimes you long to drink the way I began longing to work. And if I dont start getting up early and working, then shut your heart against me, Ivan Romanich.

THIS IS A TRANSLATION BY MICHAEL FRAYN. YOU MAY USE OTHER TRANSLATIONS OF THE SAME PIECE.
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7. CHERIE BLACKROCK by Nick Enright

CHERIE

It was my fault. If we stuck together like we said, you and me and Leanne, you wouldnt be here. But I lost youse all. Now Ive lost you. And no-one knows how. You should hear the rumours. Someone seen a black Torana with Victorian number plates. It was a stranger in a Megadeath T-shirt, it was a maddie from the hospital, even your stepdad. All these ideas about who did it, who did it, like it was a TV show. It is a TV show. Every night on the news. I want to yell out, this is not a body, this is Tracy youre talking about. Someone who was here last week, going to netball, working at the Pizza Hut, getting the ferry, hanging out. You were alive. Now youre dead. But I know you can hear me. I can hear you.

She plays a bit of the song.

Your song. Times we danced to that, you and me and Shana, Shana singing dirty words, remember? Mum hearing and throwing a mental. I shouldnt laugh, should I? Not here. But all I can think of is the other words.

She turns off the tape.

You were wearing my earrings. You looked so great. And some guy took you off and did those things to you. Wish I knew who. You know, Trace. Nobody else does. If I knew, but Id go and kill him. Id smash his head in. Id cut his balls off. Id make him die slowly for what he did to you.

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8.

RHONDA - WHOS AFRAID OF THE WORKING CLASS? by Christos Tsiolkas, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves and Andrew Bovell

RHONDA

Carol says, Problem with you, Rhonda, problem with you is that youre just too fertile. You just got to look at a man and youre up the duff. And we laughed but shes right, shes fucking right. Woman from Welfare says, It must be hard. Must be hard for you, Rhonda, with all those kids. Looking after them, it must be hard. And I say, No. its not hard. Though it is. I know it and she knows it. But Im not going to give her the satisfaction. So I say, No. Those kids, those kids are my blessings. Everyone of them a blessing. You understand. A blessing. Though it is hard. But its like Carol says I only got to look at a man. Anyway, Im down the pub playing the bandits when Carol, shes my neighbour, lives in the flat next door, Carol comes in and says, Cops were over your place earlier, and I said, Oh yeah, what do they want this time? If its Nathan, you can tell em hes not there. Tell em hes pissed off. Without a word mind you and with the rent. Bastard. And Im not taking him back, not this time. No fucking way. Better off alone. Well, thats what Carol says. But she doesnt get it. Family Services dont get it, but its how I am. Its my life and I like having a man around. So Ive had a few. They dont stick around. Anyway, Carol says its not Nathan theyre after, its about your kids. And so I know theres trouble. Staceys probably been picked up shoplifting or something. Doesnt bother me cause I taught em how. So I go down to the station and they know me there. And I say, Where are they? I want to see my kids. You cant see them, and I look at him and I say, Im their mother and I can see them whenever I bloody well like. And then he says it. Just a couple of words, he says it: Theres been an accident. (pause) What accident? A fire. Theres been a fire. In a Brotherhood bin. A candle. The clothes. Im sorry. (pause) The man in the suit, he says, They didnt suffer, the smoke, it would have (she holds up her hand as if to motion him to stop talking) And I say, They suffered. You dont know how much.

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9. CRESSY - RADIANCE by Louis Nowra

CRESSY

You were created from dirt. Your father was dirt. He never raped herit was me. He raped me! Under this house. Me! He did it to me! Under that burning house. He was just one of Mums boyfriends. If he walked down the street I dont think Id even recognize him. Mum was in town. He was going to drive away but his car had no petrol, so he went and bought a can. He sucked on a tube to get it flowing into the tank. I was playing under the house. Then suddenly he was there. He had this screwdriver. I tried to fight him but he was too strong. As he was doing it he kept kissing me with his mouth stinking of petrol. The pain all the awful pain through my body like he was stabbing me in two. He said hed kill me if I told Mum. I stayed under the house for hours trying to clean myself with some old rags. Then a few months later I realized I was having that mans baby. I tried to keep it from her. You know what happened when I told her? She hit me. She said I was lying, that it was one of the local boys and I was blaming her boyfriend. She didnt believe me. I had you in that house. In my bed. I was twelve. Twelve, Nona. (pause) I hated Mum for not believing me. But at least she kept you, pretended you were hers. Thats not your mother. Im your mother, Nona. You were born because your so-called Black Prince raped me. Just a filthy pig smelling of petrol. We kept it a secret. I was ashamed. She was ashamed. But Im not ashamed of you. Im telling you the truth. Youre my flesh and blood, my daughter. Youre my blood. My blood is yours, Nona! I named you because you were mine. Thats all Mum would allow me to do name you, NonaI want you to know the truth. You have to know the truth.

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10. ELIZABETH BARRY - THE LIBERTINE by Stephen Jeffries

ELIZABETH You have no understanding, do you? You have comprehended just that I am tired of being your mistress and your solution is to conscript me into becoming your wife. It is not being a mistress I am tired of, John. I am tired of you. I do not wish to be your wife. I do not wish to be anyones wife. I wish to continue being the creature I am. I am no Nell Gwyn, I will not give up the stage as soon as a King or a Lord has seen me on it and, wishing me to be his and his alone, will then pay a fortune to keep me off it. I am not the sparrow you picked up in the roadside, my love. London walks into this theatre to see me not Georges play nor Mr. Betterton. They want me and they want me over and over again. And when people desire you in such a manner, then you can envisage a steady river of gold lapping at your doorstep, not five pound here or there for pity or bed favours, not a nobles ransom for holding you hostage from the thing you love, but a lifetime of money amassed through your own endeavours. That is riches. Leave this gaudy, gilded stage. Youre right, this stage is gilded. It is gilded with my future earnings. And I will not trade those for a dependency on you. I will not swap my certain glory for your undependable love.

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11. MURRI WOMAN - 7 STAGES OF GRIEVING by Wesley Enoch, Deborah Mailman

MURRI WOMAN (delivered in the style of stand-up comedy) Have you ever been black? You know when you wake up one morning and youre black? Happened to me this morning. I was in the bathroom, looking in the mirror, Hey, nice hair, beautiful black skin, white shiny teeth Im BLACK! You get a lot of attention, special treatment when youre black. Im in this expensive shop and theres this guy next to me, nice hair, nice tie, nice suit, waving a nice big pump-you-full-of-holes semi-automatic gun in the air and the shop assistants are all looking at me. Keep an eye on the black oneeye on the black one. OK, so I went to try on a dress and the shop assistant escorts me to the special dressing room, the one equipped with video cameras, warning to shop lifters, a security guard, fucken sniffer dog Get out of it. Just so I dont put anything I shouldnt on my nice dress, nice hair, beautiful black skin and white shiny teeth Now Im in this crowded elevator, bathed in perfume, in my nice dress, nice hair, beautiful black skin and white shiny tetth Hey which way.

The Woman sniffs the air.

Somebody boodgi and they all look at me! Ah, knock off. Now I go to my deadly Datsun, looking pretty deadly myself, which way, lock my keys in the car. Eh but this Murri too good, she got a coat hanger in her bag! Fiddling around for a good ooh five seconds and started hearing sirens, looking around, policeman on bikes, policeman in cars, policeman jumping out of helicopters and that same fucken sniffer dog. Get out of it. ITS MY CAR!! So Im driving along in my car. Car breaks down. Get out. Started waving people for help. Vrooom! Imitating a fast car

(Continued on other side of page)

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Waving for help. Vrooom! Help. Vroom! Finally get home, foot falcon job and Im still looking deadly in my nice dress, nice hair, beautiful black skin and white shiny teeth. Aunty comes in, Eh Sisgirl, you bought a new dress, too bad it makes you look fat. I go to bed thinking Tomorrow will be a better day, snuggling up to my doona and pillow. Morning comes; I wake up, I go into the bathroom. I look in the mirror. Hey, nice hair, beautiful black skin, white shiny teeth. IM STILL BLACK! AND DEADLY!

THIS IS THE REVISED TEXT FROM THE THIRD EDITION, 2002, BUT YOU CAN ALSO USE THE TEXT FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS.
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12. ROSE THE SEED by Kate Mulvany ROSE There was a spray that Dad breathed in and now I dont have the eggs. Theyve all been destroyed by radiotherapy and even if they found one, I cant carry it. The tumour wiped out half my organs, my body cant support a baby. Grandda, Im thirty and Ive just started menopause. I will never have children. [Beat] I will never have children. [Beat] I will never have children. And you know what? I dont think I deserve them anyway. When a friend tells me she is pregnant I smile and hug and kiss and ask her dumb questions. How far along? Any names picked yet? What are you craving? But I dont let on what Im craving. That despite my big smile and congratulations Im green and Im bubbling and Im thinking, you bitch, I hope it fucking dies inside you, you bitch. And when a pregnant woman walks past me on the street I want punch her belly and walk away when she falls to the ground and just leave her there to deal with it. And when a husband tells me hes having his third boy I want to put my hand down his pants and rip his fucking cock off and squeeze it dry of any seed. And when I see a baby in a pram[beat.] I just want to pick it up and smell its skin and hold it to my heart and stoke its little head and never let another person touch it for the rest of its life. Is that normal, Grandda? I dont know. And I never will. Because the seed stops here.

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13. DENISE THE CALL by Patricia Cornelius DENISE This mother thing sucks. I hated it right from the start. Complete strangers came up and patted my belly as if it was going to bring them luck. And after the birth which was fucking torture, mad people cooed and gurgled and talked in high-pitched voices. They smiled at me and expected me to smile back. Like, what the fuck! It's this You've got a little baby stuff. I go crazy while she sleeps in her cot and you're at work and my friends have got a life and I'm on my own and I think, Jesus Christ, what have I done. How in hell am I going to get through this? I push her in her pram to the shops because I've run out of baby swipes. I push her to the shops to buy disposable nappies and spend my last fifteen bucks. I push her to the shops because I can't think of anywhere else to push her. Sometimes I think if I leave her there someone nicer might come and get her and it'd be much much better. I meet with other mothers and I pray to fucking God that I don't look like them, or sound like them, or am like them. They tell me how smart their kid is, how early she talked, or walked. How their three-monthold baby is reading Shakespeare. And I look down at my fat little bald baby sucking on her dummy and I think, Oh, that's funny because mine's as thick as a brick. This mother thing is weird. I'm bored. I'm lonely. And it doesn't stop.

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14. SNAKE THE KID by Michael Gow SNAKE Honestly, I hate this trip. Its always chaos. Always a fight. By the time we get to Auntie Eileens no ones talking to anyone. I have to do everything. Get the boys ready. Stock up on drinks and Marlboro and chips. Hate it. Wont it be great when we get the money? Well be happy. We might take over a service station. Dean can fool around with his engines. Ill cook snacks and Pro can man the pumps. Ill have to help him with the change. Ill look back on all this and laugh. Hate it. All the people we end up taking along. Dean always collects someone. You must have been the first one ever to turn him down. He was that upset. He was driving like a maniac. He just drove over the median strip and back we came. Little turd. Know why he got chucked out of school? Mrs Tucker guess what Dean called her was wrapped in him. She used to beat shit out of him, for any reason, no reason, just so she could grab hold of him and whack his bum. One day hed had enough and he told her to go and see one of the Abo stockmen and hed fix her up. Poor woman grabbed all the rulers in the room and laid into Dean. He stood up, gave her a right hook and she went down like a ton of bricks. We all stood on the desks and cheered. I reckon Dean would win wars single-handed. The enemy would come to him on bended knees. People will do anything just to get a wink or a smile that says he likes you. Little turd. Foul temper. Lazy. But who cares when its Dean?

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15. SOPHIE THE STAR SPANGLED GIRL by Neil Simon SOPHIE Excuse me. Mr. Cornell, ah have tried to be neighborly, i have tried to be friendly and i have tried to be cordial Ah dont know what it is that you are trying to be The first night i was appreciative that you carried my trunk up the stairs The fact that it slipped and fell five flights and smashed into pieces was not your fault I didnt even mind that personal message you painted on the stairs. I thought it was crazy, but sort of sweet However, things have now gone too far I cannot accept gifts from a man I hardly know Especially canned goods And I read your little note. I can guess the gist of it even though I dont speak Italian. This has to stop, Mr. Cornell I can do very well without you leaving little chocolate almond Hershey bars in my mail box They melted yesterday, and now I got three gooey letters from home with nuts in them And I can do without you sneaking into my room after I go to work and painting my balcony without telling me about it. I stepped out there yesterday and my slippers are stilled glued to the floor And I can do without you tying big bottles of eau de Cologne to my cats tail. The poor thing kept swishing it yesterday and nearly beat herself to death And most of all, I can certainly do without you watching me get on the bus everyday through that high-powered telescope. You got me so nervous the other day I got on the wrong bus. In short, Mr. Cornell, and I dont want to have to say this again, leave me alone!

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