James Bowden is the founder of The Dorset School of Acting – nationally recognised and Dorset’s first and only full time independent drama school.
After graduating from Rose Bruford in 1994 James has been fortunate enough to have worked regularly as an actor in theatre and TV.
Photo Credit: adapted from Steven Pisano via cc
The pitfalls in choosing the right monologue are daunting. How do you choose the right one?
My favourite monologue faux pas
Whilst sitting in on an audition session at Drama Centre a young 18 yr old Grammar School lad from Essex presents his contemporary piece … The Caretaker by Pinter!
Now he was still too young, but could possible have shown Aston or Mike so we wait and he starts his monologue only to be the 60 yr old eponymous character!
He even says the character’s age in the speech!
When he’s finished one of the panel looks at him and asks Why did you make it so hard for yourself? Why didn’t you do a speech about an 18yr old Grammar School boy from Essex?
The point is that auditioning is hard enough as it is let alone performing a speech that you have nothing in common with and would demand some acting!
Make life easy for yourself, look for a monologue that is close to you in age and experience. It should tell a story and have some dramatic shape but don’t stand their screaming at the audition panel and swearing every 2 words…it’s not nice and imagine what it would be like to watch 40 monologues like that all day!!
Drama schools want to see the best of you so find a piece that shows aspects of you and that you can connect with.
Stay clear of monologues found on the internet because if you found it so did 9000 other young hopefuls!
Keep away from monologue books, if you do find a speech you like in one check out the play and choose a different monologue by the same character.
The foundation course run by Dorset School of Acting helps students to find the right speech for them whilst giving the tools to be the best they can in a Drama School audition.
Check out the course!
About DSA
The Dorset School of Acting is nationally recognised and Dorset’s first and only full time independent drama school.
The DSA offers a vocational course preparing students for further training at drama school or a professional career in acting depending on ability.
With advisors from the most prestigious drama schools in the country, the school provides a systematical approach to the art and craft of the actor whether in classic and contemporary acting or musical theatre.
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