How to Be Creative in a Monologue

Video Transcript

"Good day. I'm Dr. Charles Grimes and I'm speaking today on behalf of Expert Village about finding a theatrical monologue for use in auditions. Where to find monologues is a challenge for all actors. But is has a very obvious answer. First, start by reading plays. Second, continue by reading more plays. I have here quite simply a whole stack of plays. Some you can buy cheap, some you can buy in anthologies, some you can buy in over press editions that will cost you a dollar, others you can find online, especially any play that is over about 200 years old. You should be able to find the full text online somewhere. Keep reading plays, find monologues that will fit you and excite you. You can also be more creative in finding monologues by looking for other sources in which people speak and reveal themselves. For instance, newspapers, poems, speeches, journals, anywhere performance art, anywhere where people speak expressively and reveal who they are. This would be a wild card or a more creative option for your monologue. Here's an example that I found from a New Yorker article, in which a Russian spy was quoted talking about how to kill people. My friend, Hank, will read this and we'll see how it goes. I don't believe it was the Russian state that killed Lou Finko with pulonium. He's not one of the people who should be killed first. We have Mr. Kellerman. We have a lot of highly ranked Russian spies about. We have Mr. Bzolvski, Mr. Sekev. There are more interesting people to kill and demonstrate the power of the state. Also, if someone from the secret forces wants to kill a person, he wouldn't kill them in a way that is evident to the entire world that he is from Russia. Pulonium is produced in Sorrow--one city in this whole country. Say, for example, I am the head of the SFB. You come to me and you need to kill Mr. Ledbenko. There are a lot of Arab and Martinique, and Jamaican guys who are drinking alcohol and using drugs in London and who can kill Mr. Ledbenko by knife. It doesn't cost as much and it's not hard. Bring me these containers of pulonium from Europe. From one city to another, bringing them on British airways and arrow float flights. That is absolute madness. Why would you bother? Thank you Hank. Notice how in that speech this person almost becomes a literary character, an embodiment of knowledge of how to kill people. That's an example of how to find a monologue from outside the traditional sources of plays."