Drama school monologues (contemporary)

[LivingTheDream]

Hello all

Dd will be applying for various drama schools this academic year for 2014 entry, and is (already!) beginning to stress about monologues. She isn't overly worried about the Shakespeare yet, as there are less monologues to choose from on that score; it's more the contemporary (post-1980) monologue that is getting her worried. We are of course going to consult her drama teacher, but due to the sheer number of post-1980 plays it's difficult to know where to start. The majority of her favourite plays are early 20th-century and therefore ineligible.

Any suggestions from anyone who has applied or is applying? Thanks a lot.

[pg]

What might serve her very well is to go to Fringe Festivals - it is often possible to volunteer (or even be paid) to work at Festivals and get the chance to see shows for nothing. Sometimes you can come across a character or speech that you think would work really well for you. There will be a lot of new writing (not all of it good, of course, but some of it will be) and it would usually be possible to find the contact details for the company and ask the writer whether you can use a speech from the play. Most would be highly flattered.

You can also see free e-script extracts on Stagescripts - that's another way to browse through some possibilities.

Approaching a long-standing member of an amateur dramatic society can pay dividends, they often have a big library of play-scripts to look through and may be able to suggest appropriate speeches.

Looking for local links is another good lead into interesting work. Have a look at the websites of any producing theatres near you - look at upcoming productions - especially those in studio spaces. You can often get an inkling about the kind of play from the website - possibly even the sorts of characters in the play.

You can also go to French's in London and browse through their plays. They are very used to students doing this!

It's really great that your dd is thinking about this now. This should give her the opportunity to consider lots of different speeches and hopefully find one that really resonates for her. Finding one you like makes it a doddle to learn, too! It's worth remembering that it doesn't have to exist as a monologue in the play. It is fine to cut and paste bits from one scene together - leaving out the other person - providing it still makes sense.

Another possibility for tracking down speeches is to look at a book of monologues, find the playwright(s) you particularly like and then look at other work by that playwright. Ideally she should have half a dozen "possibles" by the time she comes to apply, with a couple of favourites.

I don't think there's ever much of a short-cut when it comes to choosing speeches - it's just a case of reading lots of plays and going to the theatre as much as possible. The good thing about that is that these two activities will be hugely useful to her in preparation for her auditions!

[Genevieve]

and going to the National Theatre bookshop has lots of plays in there too -

[begolina]

pg, I hope you keep a copy of your posts and eventually make a book out of it. Seriously, I would buy it

[LivingTheDream]

Thank you very much! Some excellent suggestions, we shall definitely follow them all up. Yet again the seemingly infinite knowledge of the people on this site has been exceedingly helpful

[SNN]

Yet again the seemingly infinite knowledge of the people on this site has been exceedingly helpful

Amen to that!