Good monologues?

[silvy]

An acquaintance of mine is attempting his very first steps as an actor. So far, he has done two monologues: one was an adaptation of a Chejov's tale (about a man who wanted to kill his wife because she was being unfaithful), and another to a Pushkin's tale ("The Shot" was the name).

He is looking for new ones, and I wonder if some of you could help me. They have to be rather short, as it is part of a program where dancing, singing, etc, is also involved. As this performance takes place in a Russian cultural institute, it would be better (though not restricted to it) if the monologue was written by a Russian playwright.

thanks a lot

Silvy

[dirac]

silvy, the collected plays of Chekhov a/o Turgenev would seem a logical place to start. If he's adapting short stories, Gogol would provide rich basic material to work with -- maybe a monologue version of "The Nose"?

When I was taking theatre classes, I recall being able to find several anthologies of monologues for actors. A trip to the library or a keyword search on a bookseller's website would probably provide him with plenty of selections to choose from. Hope this helps.

[Paul Parish]

Can't help you too much with Russians, but Tennessee Williams has got some great ones in English...

In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brick has a good one about his friend who died....

The best of course are for the female characters, but I think there are a couple for the brother in Glass Menagerie.....

Shakespeare has great ones -- Macbeth's speech beginning "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" is not long but packs a wallop.

But they're maybe too familiar.

Robert Browning wrote a whole series of "dramatic monologues" -- poems a couple pages long, that are tremendously fertile -- "My Last Duchess" would be a great piece to present. And they have the virtue of being not just condensations of great stories but themselves great poems.

[canbelto]

Robert Browning wrote a whole series of "dramatic monologues" -- poems a couple pages long, that are tremendously fertile -- "My Last Duchess" would be a great piece to present. And they have the virtue of being not just condensations of great stories but themselves great poems.

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Along those lines, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Lady Lazarus" are great narrative poems.

[Mel Johnson]

And a couple of virtuoso turns: "The Story of Jerry and the Dog" from Edward Albee's one-act play "The Zoo Story", and Doc's speech to the title character in Heggen and Logan's play Mister Roberts, "Have a seat, buddy-boy, I have a bone or two to pick with you!"

The novelty of American material might work in your friend's favor.

[dirac]

I was just curious, silvy, as to what your friend eventually chose. I hope it worked well, whatever it was!

[silvy]

My friend finally choose to adapt Gogol's "The Nose", but it shall not be a monologue but a "duet" (what is the correct name in drama?) with another actor. They shall be playing a military officer who loses his nose, and a doctor who is asked to replace it.... only that it shall be a dream. The whole thing will happen in Czarist Russia, before the Revolution, and my friend shall end the play saying "I smell changes" (this is a bad translation from Spanish, I know,but I hope you can get my meaning; in Spanish the word "oler" means "smell", and can be used figuratively, meaning sort of "anticipate that there will be changes soon")

As you see, my friend is very imaginative.......

[carbro]

The whole thing will happen in Czarist Russia, before the Revolution, and my friend shall end the play saying "I smell changes" (this is a bad translation from Spanish, I know,but I hope you can get my meaning; in Spanish the word "oler" means "smell", and can be used figuratively, meaning sort of "anticipate that there will be changes soon")

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The same figurative meaning works in English.

[silvy]

I must tell you that my friend and the other actor finally performed the play, and it was a success - everyone laughed a lot. My friend even came off stage with a measuring tape, and starting measurng the noses of some of the men in the audience......one if them was asleep, and my friend said:"vodka is very dangerous"

It was most hilarious.

[dirac]

Thank you, silvy. Nice to know that all went well!