What Is a Monologue?

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There are four main ways in which monologues are used in drama. The best known is the soliloquy, a monologue in which a character expresses their thoughts to themselves. A famous example of this type of monologue is “To be, or not to be” from Act 3, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which the titular character contemplates suicide: 

“To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovere’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.”

It’s also common for a character in a play to address a monologue to another character. This might be a character using the extended format of the speech to explain themselves, appeal to someone, or perhaps, as in the case of this monologue from Act 3, Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, offer a full explanation of a situation. Here we have the fairy Puck telling King Oberon that Queen Titania has fallen in love with a donkey:

“My mistress with a monster is in love. 
Near to her close and consecrated bower, 
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour, 
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals, 
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls, 
Were met together to rehearse a play 
Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day. 
The shallowest thickskin of that barren sport, 
Forsook his scene and entered in a brake. 
When I did him at this advantage take, 
An ass’s noll I fixed on his head. 
Anon his Thisbe must be answered, 
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy, 
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, 
Rising and cawing at the gun’s report, 
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly, 
And at our stamp here o’er and o’er one falls. 
He ‘Murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls. 
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong, 
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong; 
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch, 
Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things catch. 
I led them on in this distracted fear 
And left sweet Pyramus translated there. 
When in that moment, so it came to pass, 
Titania waked and straightaway loved an ass.”

Another way that monologues are used is when a character wishes to speak directly to the audience. Also known as an aside, this device is often used when there are other characters present who it is implicitly understood cannot hear the monologue. An example is this speech from Act 1, Scene 2 of Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton, in which Isabella bemoans the fact that she is being encouraged to marry a stupid man:

“Marry a fool!
Can there be greater misery to a woman
That means to keep her days true to her husband,
And know no other man! So virtue wills it.
Why, how can I obey and honour him
But I must needs commit idolatry?
A fool is but the image of a man,
And that but ill made neither. Oh, the heart-breakings
Of miserable maids, where love’s enforc’d!
The best condition is but bad enough:
When women have their choices, commonly
They do but buy their thraldoms, and bring great portions
To men to keep ’em in subjection;
As if a fearful prisoner should bribe
The keeper to be good to him, yet lies in still,
And glad of a good usage, a good look sometimes.

By’r lady, no misery surmounts a woman’s;
Men buy their slaves, but women buy their masters.
Yet honesty and love makes all this happy
And, next to angels’, the most blest estate.
That Providence that has made ev’ry poison
Good for some use, and sets four warring elements
At peace in man, can make a harmony
In things that are most strange to human reason.
O but this marriage!”

Finally, there are one-person shows, which are play-length monologues. Well known examples of this form are short works of Samuel Beckett such as Not I and Krapp’s Last Tape. More recent examples include Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, which began life as a one-woman play before being adapted into a hit TV series. 

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Casting directors and creative teams often request that an actor prepare a monologue to perform during an audition. They do so because a monologue allows an actor to demonstrate a wide range of acting skills as well as show their ability to understand the text. Monologues also enable an actor to really inhabit a character in a way that is less possible than with dialogue alone (though you may be asked to perform a piece of dialogue in an audition too).   

Svetlana Dimcovic, a theatre director currently on attachment at the National Theatre Studio, tells StarNow: “Monologues are stylistically different to dialogue and have been used as a dramatic form for centuries. It is important for actors to have range and be able to perform both, from one-person shows to soliloquies in Shakespeare or pieces spoken directly to camera in television or film.”

Humorous monologues let you show off your comic timing, while those dealing with difficult subjects highlight your emotional range and your engagement with an audience. A monologue by a character who quotes other characters could showcase a talent for accents. A classical monologue gives a casting director a glimpse of your facility with speaking in verse.

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When it comes to choosing a monologue for an audition, there are several factors to consider. First, some general points: 

• Make sure you respond to the brief. If you’re asked to perform a monologue from Shakespeare, don’t go rogue and choose one by Alan Bennett. 
• Choose a speech that you understand and enjoy. Your performance will be all the more persuasive and engaging for it.
• Keep it short. Anything up to two minutes is usually fine, unless specified otherwise. 
• Avoid foul language or particularly controversial subjects, both of which risk distracting from your performance.  
• Choose an “active” monologue, meaning one that moves the action of the drama along, rather than a speech that sees a character reminiscing about an event in the past. Active monologues are more exciting to watch and offer greater opportunity to show your range. 
• Resist the temptation to write your own monologue. It’s your skill as a performer that’s on show here, not your talent as a writer. There are thousands of excellent dramatic monologues to choose from, so do your homework to find the right one for you.

Next, ensure that the monologue is a good fit for you as an actor and allows you to showcase your strengths. This usually means picking a speech by a character with similar casting to you, whether that’s age, accent, or background. 

Bearing all that in mind, finding the right monologue for a particular audition is a matter of reading, reading and reading some more. Websites such as StarNow and Backstage are a great resource for audition monologues, as are hard copy anthologies. These should only ever be regarded as a jumping off point, however. When it comes to preparing a monologue, it’s essential that you read the entire play from which your chosen monologue is excerpted. In fact, reading plays is a good habit to get into, even if you’re not actively hunting for a monologue. If you come across something that you think would be a good fit for you, make a note of it for the future. 

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Reading the entire play from which your monologue comes is crucial if you want a full understanding of the character and the circumstances in which they find themselves. Daphna Attias, co-artistic director of theatre company Dante or Die, says, “When I’m auditioning performers, I am usually interested in their personal take on a monologue, their thoughts about the text, and how they analyse it. I am always excited when a performer delivers a piece of text in a way I didn’t expect or think about and brings their own experience into it.” 

Seeing the play performed—whether in a full production or via clips online—can be helpful too, but be careful not to mimic the performance of another actor. The aim of the audition is to show what you can do with the monologue, what choices about a performance you have made, rather than falling back on someone else’s interpretation. 

Once you have a good overview of how the monologue sits within the play as a whole, it’s time to tackle the speech itself. Dimcovic advises “breaking the text down for meaning, subtext, and as part of the character’s journey. Play with it. There is no need to fix things too early.” 

Consider, too, the physicality of your performance. “I encourage people to think about if they want to do it on their feet or not so they can be comfortable with it ahead of the audition,” says Attias.

When you’re clear on the direction you want to take with the performance, Dimcovic recommends finding someone to be your rehearsal audience. If that person works in theatre, that’s great, but you don’t need an expert as your audience; the story you’re telling with the speech should be clear to whoever is watching. If it’s not, or if character inconsistencies appear, use this feedback to hone your performance. 

That done, it’s time to learn your monologue. Every actor has their own tricks for this, but some find it helpful to record themselves and listen back. Some like to type or write the speech, and some repeatedly read it aloud.

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The good news is that delivering a monologue is not all that different from any other type of performance. “Being in the moment is important. Taking the audience with you is key,” says Dimcovic.

In monologues, of course, the actor is speaking to themselves or the audience rather than to another character, so you might need to use your imagination in order to make your performance believable. Dimcovic advises “imagining a mirror you’re talking into, or someone who isn’t there.” In either case, “sometimes monologues feel like deep, private outpourings, and trusting the text will take you through.”

Whether you’re performing a monologue onstage or in an audition, it can be tempting to engage too intensely with the audience you’re addressing. “Often, inexperience in delivering monologues manifests as too much forced eye contact with the audience. Do not fixate on the audience and ‘eyeball’ them,” advises Dimcovic. “It is a good idea to clear up which parts, if any, are direct address to the audience and which are written as if there is no audience. That should help with focus.”

Finally, as with any element of an audition, try to relax and enjoy yourself. You chose this particular monologue because you like it; now it’s time to share that excitement and admiration with your audience.