How to Choose Monologues for Auditions

A good monologue can be the key to getting the acting role of your dreams. A traditional fixture in the theater world, they are occasionally used by casting directors in film and, less frequently, television. A monologue may also be part of the application process for an advanced acting class. This article will help you choose the right monologues.

(A monologue is a passage from a play that is meant to be spoken by a single character as opposed to dialogue, which is an exchange between two or more characters.)

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Browse monologue collections. You'll find several on the Web simply by searching on the word "monologue." You can also find monologue collections in the drama section of libraries and larger bookstores.

2. Focus on sex-appropriate monologues. If you are a man, you will usually be cast in parts written for men. Similarly, if you are a woman, you will probably be trying out for women's roles. Your monologues should be chosen to help you get the parts you are right for, not show how will you could do a part you would never actually be cast in. This is not to say there aren't some monologues that could work for either sex, but why waste your time sifting through hundreds of inappropriate monologues to find them?

3. Act your age. This doesn't mean you have to be exactly the same age as the character in the play, but you have to be able to deliver the words believably. An 18-year-old Lear bemoaning the indignities of old age is likely to sound as foolish as an 80-year-old Romeo in the fever of adolescent passion.

4. Play to type. Use your strengths to your advantage instead of drawing attention to your weaknesses. Pick a monologue that suits your physical appearance or at least is not spectacularly unsuited for it. (If you're a 5'4", 130 pound man, consider Puck rather than Falstaff.)

5. 

   If your goal is to prepare for all future auditions, find at least one monologue of each type: classical comedic, classical dramatic, contemporary comic, and contemporary dramatic.
   
   In theater, "classical" in theory includes everything from Ancient Greece to the 18th century. In practice, it usually means Shakespeare. It makes sense to choose monologues from the works of the playwright whose work you are most likely to be asked to perform, in order to show your facility with his style of writing.
   
   "Contemporary" means work from the 20th and 21st century (and possibly the 19th, although monologues from that time might have a distinctly old-fashioned sound to them).
   
   "Comedic" and "dramatic" refer to the style of the monologues, not the play from which they were taken. Some of the darkest tragedies have comedic moments.

6. If you are preparing for a specific audition, look for a monologue to match the type of role you are trying to get - but do not pick a monologue from the actual play you are auditioning for unless you have been specifically instructed to. (The director may already have a very specific idea of the way that monologue will be delivered in this production, and your interpretation may conflict with it.)

7. Choose true monologues. Some people try to make a monologue out of a passage of two-character dialogue by merely omitting one character's lines. This is very risky, as it changes the rhythm of the passage, can affect the meaning, and may destroy the qualities that made it great in the first place.

8. Choose relationships over narration or philosophy. Some monologues are actually soliloquys, which means that an actor steps out of the action of the play and speaks directly to the audience, either to explain what has happened or about to happen, to lay out a moral predicament, or talk about some aspect of life. Shakespeare's soliloquys contain some of his most beautiful and famous lines, but they aren't always the best tools to show off your talent as an actor. Character is revealed not so much by what people say as by how they treat each other. Look for monologues where the speaker is talking to another or others.

9. 

   Keep it brief. A monologue should not take more than 3 minutes to deliver at an appropriate pace, including any dramatic pauses. Occasionally, an audition panel may impose a time limit of 2 minutes or even 1 minute.

10. Look for monologues in which characters discover something about themselves or make some important change or decision. You should not end in the same place that you began, emotionally speaking.
    
    A single monologue can never show your entire range as an actor, but the right one can help let the audition panel know you've got it what it takes to handle the role.

Tips & Warnings

• Stick to what works. In an effort to stand out from the crowd, some actors choose monologues from unproduced or obscure plays are even try to write for themselves. The cold fact is they are unlikely to come up with a first-rate monologue this way. Better to rely on proven material from a first-rate playwright.
• Never do a monologue from a movie or television show for a theater director. Some will see it as boorish and insulting to the theater.
• Stay away from "Macbeth". Some theater people have peculiar beliefs about "the Scottish play," and it's best not to risk upsetting them the first time they see you.
• Do not choose a monologue that requires a foreign accent unless you are auditioning for a role that requires the same accent.
• Avoid excessive profanity or overly explicit sexual content.

Resources

• How to Prepare a Monologue for an Audition
• How to Perform a Piece by Shakespeare
• Now Casting monologue page
• Monologue Archive