Acting for Auditions

Auditions are a key part in the acting industry in order to progress and become a better and more diverse performer. In the acting industry Actors are always asked to audition for the part that they are going for, much like you would be interviewed for a job.

I am currently in my second year of college and hope to go to drama school, in order to get in I need to show potential through my chosen monologues. I believe the decisions I have made show me in a contrastive way as well as showing my potential in performing. For every accredited drama schools you need at least 1 contemporary monologue and 1 classical. Some drama schools require more, for example RADA who expect 3 monologues and an unaccompanied song. I have studied and researched a variety of monologues to find what would best suit my skill set and also is the around the age that I am and in the right accent.

Shakespeare Monologues:

Coriolanus' monologue

Monologue Idea #1: Shakespeare  (Coriolanus from 'Coriolanus')

One Shakespeare monologue that I had thought about using was a monologue from Coriolanus where Coriolanus the main character talks about how he has hurt the person he is talking to and Volcsces as seen from the first few lines "who hath done To thee patricularly and to all the Volsces Great hurt and mischief." This is Coriolanus saying how he wants forgiveness from Rome and Volsces. I didn't understand what Volsces was so I looked it up and I found that Volsci was a Roman who I believe Coriolanus was the leader of. I found this monolouge difficult to translate as their is not much on it and I don't think I am at the capability yet to translate it rightfully myself within the context of the play and for this reason I won't be picking this monologue for my Shakespeare.

Richard III Monologue

Monologue Idea #2: Shakespeare (Clarence from Richard III)

Clarence from Richard III is a monologue I looked at after asking my teacher if I could look at a more serious Shakespearian monologue as I feel I could do it better as I find it harder to understand the Shakespearian comedies. As you can see from the image on the right there is a line from Sir Robert Brakenbury which I will take out so I can perform it as a solo piece. Clarence talks about a dream that he had where he reminisces about the war between the York and the Lancasters, 'And cited up a thousand fearful times, During the wars of York and Lancaster.' He says he is on a boat and at one point he gets thrown off the boat by Richard III, this is foreshadowing Clarence's death later on in the play. I like this monologue a lot but I don't think I will pick it as I don't know the play well enough.

Much Ado About Nothing monologue

Monologue Idea #3: Shakespeare (Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing)

This monologue I found after playing Benedick in a college play, I enjoyed the light hearted theme of this monologue while also bringing up strong opinions. I think it is a challenging monologue but I enjoy performing it as it is very dimensional. Benedick goes through many different emotions and thoughts in this monologue from disregarding his best friend for falling in love to then saying how he would like a woman but only if she had many great traits, which I believe is an idealism that Shakespeare wrote to show Benedicks lack of knowledge and trust in woman because he has been hurt before. I think I will use this monologue as I like the message it conveys as well as the struggle of Benedicks contrasting thoughts.



Unfortunately with many Shakespearian monologues it is difficult to find one that suits my playing age as I am quite young. However, I think I am mature enough for a hard challenge.

Contemporary Monologues:

Monologue Idea #4 Contemporary (Stephen from '13')

One of my first contemporary monologues that I knew was Stephen from '13'. The monologue is in the play '13' by Mike Bartlett. The play looks at problems in politics in modern England and my character Stephen Crossley is an atheist who has a tight connection to the English Prime Minister. I feel this is a good monologue as it has strong themes as it talks about the idea behind God and how my character is trying to persuade the people at this conference that God isn't real. He tries to convince his audience by saying telling them that God is in the box and that if you open it you will 'stare God in the face and know for certain his existence, dimensions his absolute power and glory', he then goes on to say that if you don't open the box you will always be in doubt and will never know if there is a God. Stephen Crossley then says how if you open the box that you will die 'your free independent life destroyed, you will be gone forever'. I think this has great themes as it questions the theory of a God and is very contrasting to the Shakespeare monologue I picked which is a comedy.

However I won't be choosing this monologue as it does not suit my playing age and there are things in this role that I haven't experienced, for example Stephen at this time is suffering from Lung Cancer and he only has a short amount of time to live. Luckily I haven't experienced this so I can not emphatise and would find it difficult to understand what Stephen is suffering with. Also the age of Stephen is around 65 and I am not the right playing age to perform this monologue so I will not be choosing it as one of my pieces to audition with.

Monologue Idea #5 Contemporary (Alistair from 'Posh')

After finding it difficult to find a contemporary monologue that fitted my capabilities I went to my teacher Sally, she said that she thought the monologue from Posh would be suit what I was looking for and was near to my playing age. Alistair from Posh is in a club that has been going on for many years and it is a tradition at the school of Oxford. They believe they are better than anyone else as they go to a posh school and are getting a private education. I enjoy this speech as I love playing a character that are arrogant because while acting arrogant I gain confidence and I believe give a better performance. I also really like this speech because its quite complex with all the emotions he is feeling. Alistair at this point in the play has had quite a bit to drink and is pissed off with the manager of the pub where he is eating because he believes the manager isn't showing him enough respect, the first line gives a great view into how Alistair feels towards the manager, from first impressions of this monologue we understand what Alistair is so annoyed about, "Calling us Gentlemen as if he's got any idea, any idea of what the word means" He says how he has no idea what a gentleman is and in some ways Alistair feels he is not being treated right but I believe Alistair is being disrespectful to the restaurant manager. As later on in the play he destroys the room in which they are having their private dinner and even asks the managers daughter to perform sexual acts. This is why I love this monologue so much because it is challenging as the character is multi dimensional as he has many different things playing through his mind. For example he is trying to show off to his friends while also trying to make a statement and at the same time he is a bit drunk as he has had a lot to drink "Asking us if we want that many bottles because that's quite a lot for ten people, not this ten people mate". I will be using this monologue as I think I suit the character well as I naturally have quite a posh arrogant sounding voice. It is also close to my playing age and the right gender.

Monologue Idea #6 Contemporary (Robin from 'No Quarter')

No Quarter a play by Polly Stenham is a monologue I thought I would have a look at for my final contemporary piece, I feel it contrasts the foolish nature of my Shakespearian monologue and contrasts the arrogant superior objectives shown in posh. No Quarter is a play about a house in the woods where Robin stays, in this monologue he is talking to his drug dealer and saying how they had plans "We had a plan, we had several", he then goes on to talk about what they were going to do as to try and entice him, "I was going to show you the lake and the woods and we were going to go get high and drink what was left of the wine cellar and listen to smooth jazz and shoot rabbits" Robin then says how it would be good to try and persuade him more, "It was going to be ace, it still could be ace". He says this as to show that they could still have a good time and do all the ace things as Robin describes them. 

I like this character a lot as I feel I can relate to how he is feeling, I feel that Robin is quite a lonely person and wants company because he doesn't get much of it. I have felt this way before and I feel I can use affective memory in order to play this character to the best of my capabilities. The character is also not far of my playing age so I think it is suitable for me to play. I also think its a good script as Polly Stenham is an established writer and I believe this play is some of her best work.



After analysing different monologues I have chosen the three I would like to perform. These are Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Alistair from Posh by Laura Wade and Robin from No Quarter by Polly Stenham.