“They laughed at me mum … destroyed her. They took away her bowels, to stop it spreading. The doctors did. They gave her a plastic bag, she hated it – the bag to urinate in. She hated it, she said it was like having a bath wearing a life belt. She used to sing in the pub, by the flats. She wanted a garden. We never had one in the flats. Never lived on the ground, me mum didn’t. The pub had a garden. Sit there, drinking her Dubonnet and lemonade. She used to sing at the pub at nights sometimes. They had turns and she’d get up and sing. Even when she was very ill. And one Saturday night, she had this … she had this lovely voice, beautiful. When she sang ‘Goodnight Irene’, old women cried. She was a legend, her voice. (He sings:)
Irene, goodnight, Irene goodnight I’ll see you in my dreams.
Pause. He begins to cry.
Pause. He begins to cry.
And this Saturday night, they had this dwarf comic. He told tall stories and jokes, made me mum laugh. He said – see there used to be a lot of blacks in there, and so he told jokes about the blacks. They like them, I mean – well, they had to like them.
Pause.
And when he went off the stage, they never took off the microphone. And it was still there, only about three and a half feet from the ground. They asked for a song and me Uncle Harold, he said to me mum: ‘Give us a song, Elsie’. And the other people, they all said: ‘Give us a song Elsie’. And she said ‘O no, I can’t.’ And then they all started chanting: ‘Elsie, give us a song.’ And the man in the piano, called Charles, he started playing the beginning to ‘Goodnight Irene’ ‘cause it was like her signature tune and eventually she got up and she was very overcome because of all the warmth and the pub was nice, with warmth and friendship. And she stood up and the drummer gave her the hand microphone and still they forgot the dwarf’s microphone which was still standing in front of my mum. And she put her hand to stop everyone cheering and the piano player asked for hush and my mum said: ‘I’m very overcome to know you all cared for me ‘cause of the collection from the pub to send me flowers when I had my unfortunate operation …’ And she was very err … moved. Moved. And in the loudspeakers. Because the dwarf’s microphone was still switched on … it was standing about waist height to my mother. The sound of gushing water. The microphone picked up the sound of my mum passing water into her plastic bag. Everyone could hear it. Through the loud speakers, the sound went on and some of the people … (Pause.) Laughed. They laughed.
He stops crying. Long silence.
That night at home, she got up out of bed and went to the bathroom and drank a pint of bleach. Which killed her. (Pause.)After that, it was very quiet at home. I went two nights every week to the Cadets and then … I signed up. I don’t … talk about it much. When I had the medical, I didn’t tell them about my mum … I thought it best to say ‘natural causes’
He stands there silently.”
This contemporary monologue is a hard-hitting piece written with an act of some relatability for the actor. It may not be the events within the monologue that are relatable, but the actor can utilise events within his own life to match the emotion of Jan, the character delivering the monologue. This is known as Stanislavski's 'emotional memory', which is a technique I aim to apply when performing this monologue.
Using the notion of emotional memory, I would refer back to past experiences that I have made me feel the same emotions Jan does here. He wavers through extreme anger, depression, and some joy in the reminiscence of his mother. I have not directly experienced what Jan has, but using events in my own life, I will hope to achieve the emotions shown in the above dialogue.
Jan is of a similar age to myself, and so I can also relate on the level that I have likely experienced similar events a normal 16-18 year old boy might experience. I am also of the same gender, which allows me to relate in terms of experiences through adolescence as a male. Most institutions prefer you to choose monologues of a similar age and gender, therefore this monologue falls in well with these requirements. Some do allow you to do the opposite, but I would prefer to do male monologues to try and display my strengths as an actor.
Personally I feel this monologue would highlight my strengths as an actor. I find myself being quite strong in the emotional, hard-hitting monologues. Previously I played Mickey in Blood Brothers, and in his final monologue in the discovery of who Eddie really is, I felt that I could strongly portray his emotional state, which is somewhat similar to Jan's state in this monologue. I feel taht I can do less emotional, more upbeat monologues too, but I seem to prefer reaching the emotional connection required in monologues such as this one.
This monologue would not suit Chichester, as they ask for an upbeat monologue that relates to me as an actor and that I feel is appropriate to the musical theatre art form. I can see this monologue taking place in a darker musical theatre performance however, with its upbeat parts changing the emotional state slightly, making the final moments of the monologue all the more devastating. A more upbeat, slightly more comedic monologue would be required for the audition at the University of Chichester.
However, this monologue will suit the audition at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. From looking at the alumni from that insitution, they have produced performers that can go on to get lead roles in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, War Horse (Jack Loxton) which are both hard-hitting shows, with some upbeat parts to them, but allow for strong emotional performances.
Using the notion of emotional memory, I would refer back to past experiences that I have made me feel the same emotions Jan does here. He wavers through extreme anger, depression, and some joy in the reminiscence of his mother. I have not directly experienced what Jan has, but using events in my own life, I will hope to achieve the emotions shown in the above dialogue.
Jan is of a similar age to myself, and so I can also relate on the level that I have likely experienced similar events a normal 16-18 year old boy might experience. I am also of the same gender, which allows me to relate in terms of experiences through adolescence as a male. Most institutions prefer you to choose monologues of a similar age and gender, therefore this monologue falls in well with these requirements. Some do allow you to do the opposite, but I would prefer to do male monologues to try and display my strengths as an actor.
Personally I feel this monologue would highlight my strengths as an actor. I find myself being quite strong in the emotional, hard-hitting monologues. Previously I played Mickey in Blood Brothers, and in his final monologue in the discovery of who Eddie really is, I felt that I could strongly portray his emotional state, which is somewhat similar to Jan's state in this monologue. I feel taht I can do less emotional, more upbeat monologues too, but I seem to prefer reaching the emotional connection required in monologues such as this one.
This monologue would not suit Chichester, as they ask for an upbeat monologue that relates to me as an actor and that I feel is appropriate to the musical theatre art form. I can see this monologue taking place in a darker musical theatre performance however, with its upbeat parts changing the emotional state slightly, making the final moments of the monologue all the more devastating. A more upbeat, slightly more comedic monologue would be required for the audition at the University of Chichester.
However, this monologue will suit the audition at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. From looking at the alumni from that insitution, they have produced performers that can go on to get lead roles in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, War Horse (Jack Loxton) which are both hard-hitting shows, with some upbeat parts to them, but allow for strong emotional performances.
Thanks for posting this monologue! hope it went well
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