How to Approach a Monologue | Theatre Directing

on behalf of TV lesson calm my name is Joseph Adler and I'm producing artistic director of gable stage in Coral Gables Florida how do you approach a monologue well first of all I think it's important to know and I felt this way for years that basically a monologue is a tool to get the role and as a tool it's essential but it's has really very little to do with acting I mean the fact of the matter is that for me acting is about making the scene about the other person obviously in a monologue you're up there alone so you're making the scene about something not someone non-existent and that changes the the thing measurably right from the start but it is a discipline you have to learn and teaching someone to audition and to do monologues is not necessarily the same as teaching them to act once they get the role there are plenty of people who can give you a good monologue who don't necessarily grow during the rehearsal process however that being said you have to learn to do a monologue so what do you do you pick up you pick a monologue that is hopefully age-appropriate you pick a monologue that people may not be familiar with to the extent that they've seen the same monologue 15 times during that same year and you pick a monologue that gives you an opportunity to show your stuff to give you an opportunity to see someone's approach to a monologue here's an actor doing a scene from Shakespeare's measure for measure the stands it with me upon a true contract I got possession of Juliet has been saved that we do the denunciation lack of out with order this became not to only for propagation of add our remaining in the coffer of her friends from whom we thought of me to hide our love till time have made them for us but a chance is the stealth of our most neutral entertainment with character to grosses writ on Juliet with child perhaps now there a couple of things we could say right right at the beginning first of all it's so important that you direct your attention when you're doing the monologue that your focus and the direction you are looking in is one which makes it easy for the people who are viewing you to see you now obviously you shouldn't be doing it to them sometimes an actor comes to me and says is it alright if I do my monologue to you this is to me something you never want to do because I'm not interested in becoming part of that monologue I don't have to act with that actor and if that actor is directing it at me I have to give him the reactions that's just the way it is so don't ever direct it at the person that you're not doing the audition for but make sure that the direction you are taking it to is one where he gets or she gets a full view of what it is you're doing now let's take a look at that same actor not directing the monologue to the person in the audience that they're auditioning for but making sure they're visible totally visible to them and most important taking time bus stands up with me upon a true contract I got possession of Juliette his bed you know the lady she's fast my wife save that we do the denunciation lack of outward order this we came not to only for propagation of add our remaining in the coffer of her friends from whom we thought it meet to hide our love till time and made them for us but it chances the stealth of our most mutual entertainment with character to grosses rate on Juliet with child perhaps it is important to take your time so that truly you have an opportunity to prove that you understand the language and you understand the meter of the poetry on behalf of TV lesson calm i'm joseph adler thank you for watching

Channel: TVLessonDotCom

Views: 60,154

Rating: 4.9085441 out of 5

Keywords: monologue, theater, acting, paul louis, joseph adler, instructional video, audition, ace, pass

Id: keiHGOqpdGQ

Length: 3min 45sec (225 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 28 2012