How to Rehearse Monologues in Your Own Words

To perform a monologue well an actor has to understand each word and theme completely. This is not always easy when the character speaks in a different voice then your own. To make the monologue flow more naturally it is a good idea to rehearse it a few times in your own voice.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Monologue
• Pencil

1. Read through your monologue line by line.

2. Think about what the words are really saying with each line. For example for: "This above all: to thine own self be true." Hamlet (Act I, Scene III) could be analyzed as: "Polonious is saying that the most important thing is to do whats best for yourself." Write this thought down on a piece of paper.

3. Keep the thought in mind and rewrite the line to be in your own language. For example: "The best thing to do is to look out for number one!"

4. Continue with every line of the monologue until you have the entire thing rewritten in your own words.

5. Read through this new monologue several times, making note of what natural emotion appears when you read in your own words.

6. Make note of these emotions on your original monologue and return to rehearsing the first version. You will find real emotions have been added.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to space some time between rehearsing the two monologues so that your don't get lines mixed up.