How to Choose Contrasting Monologues

How to choose contrasting monologues.

First thing we need to look at is rhythm.

Now what do I mean by rhythm?

Rhythm in the sense of the musicality of the heartbeat of your character. So say if you meet someone who is a bit sluggish, who is a bit negative bit of a negative Nancy, who is a bit sluggish in their thought, bit on the back foot - they're probably going to be someone who just sits in a different energy.

Whereas, if you know you meet someone who just can't stop talking all the time, and they're just super excited and want to share all their thoughts, that's going to be a very different energy to the first person.

It's not all about choosing pieces: one that's happy and one that's sad. You're choosing the rhythm, you're choosing a contrast of rhythm within both characters.

And another helpful thing to look at is your song. Please don't miss out the idea that your song is another monologue. It is it's another chance to show another character, more contrast. Another reason why they include it because they want to see what else can you bring! What else can you bring in a musical and/or musical lens?

Think big, bold and beautiful and contrast contrast contrast!

Again, they're not asking you to do one monologue they're asking you to do two or three or with a song because they want to see what else you can do.

Another way you can choose to help to find contrast...

Is to get your phone to record the monologue, and then put them put your phone down and close your eyes. Stand up and play the sound of the monologue. And what I want you to do whilst listening to it is to move your body like how the rhythm is of the speeches. You may find that your your body movements are like to one character, in contrast to your other monologue that your record and play, which may be a bit different to the first. You may even find the body of the character that way as well.

It's something that I did in phonetics when I was learning about accents and it's a really nice way actually to find the the rhythm of the speech the rhythm of the character. People from different accents have different rhythms, which is why I always suggest if you're looking at contemporary monologues, to look at speeches or plays that are around the area that you grew up in because the characters will definitely speak in your natural rhythm. 

All these things are the kind of consider when choosing a contrasting monologue!

Want further help on this? Come dive into monologue help here!