This is topic Shakespeare Monologues: THANKS FOR THE HELP! in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
I don't know how many thespians there are in Hatrack, but I'm going to ask for everyone's help anyway.

My school will be putting on Romeo & Juliet in Feb-March of next year, and I need a good audition piece. The director has said he either wants a piece from R&J, a piece from some other Shakespeare play, or one of each. So, rather than go through all of Shakespeares works, I'm taking this to Hatrack. [Big Grin]

I'm a young male, but I wouldn't have a problem auditioning with a piece for an older male. If you have a link to the monologue you want to recommend online that would be great, but I have Shakespeare's complete works, so just the play and scene would be fine too.

So, if you have a free moment, or know a good monologue off the top of your head, I'd be much obliged. Thank you! [Hat]

*edited for spelling

[ November 21, 2003, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Javert ]
 
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
 
Okay, first off these are not called monologues. They have the name "soliloquies".

Hamlet and Macbeth are good for those. Specifically, a famous soliloquy from Hamlet begins "To be or not to be...that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler...." where Hamlet is suffering from the angst of indecision of whether to commit himself to a course of action to get revenge upon his uncle or continue seething and plotting. But I'm not an expert, just someone who took a year of Brit. Lit. in high school.

You might logon to AIM and ask AmnestyCollege which ones she'd recommend.

PS It's spelled "obliged".
 
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
Soliloquies -- that sounds like another Greek philosopher, along with Apostrophes.
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
Thanks for the spelling correction. [Smile]

Actually I'm not, necessarily, looking for a soliloquy. What I'm looking for is a monologue, because sometimes a monologue can be much longer than one Shakespearean soliloquy. And plus a soliloquy implies that the actor is directing his words to the audience, as if talking to him or herself.

Thanks, I've still got "To be or not to be..." mostly memorized from highschool, so I'll glance through Hamlet and Macbeth.

[ November 15, 2003, 12:22 AM: Message edited by: Javert ]
 
Posted by Chandani (Member # 5879) on :
 
You might also check out Edmund from King Lear. IMHO that's among Shakespeare's best. And Edmund's pretty do-able for a young actor.
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
Any particular scene, or shall I just check out the whole character?
 
Posted by Chandani (Member # 5879) on :
 
LOL! Good point. I guess I was thinking of his speech that begins "Thou, Nature, art my Goddess..." but sadly, it's been too long since I read it and I can't remember what scene that's in. A relatively early one in the play, and at the very beginning, for whatever it's worth. Sorry. Not too helpful. I meant well though.
 
Posted by Gottmorder (Member # 5039) on :
 
Marc Antony's speech from Julius Caesar, one of my personal favorites.

quote:
Friends, Romans, fellow countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
EDIT: If you want the rest of it...

quote:
But yesterday the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world; now lies he there.
And none so poor to do him reverence.
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;
I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:
Let but the commons hear this testament--
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read--
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
quote:
Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad:
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs;
For, if you should, O, what would come of it
quote:
Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it:
I fear I wrong the honourable men
Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.

You will compel me, then, to read the will?
Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar,
And let me show you him that made the will.
Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?
quote:
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on;
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii:
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:
See what a rent the envious Casca made:
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.
Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold
Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
quote:
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They that have done this deed are honourable:
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it: they are wise and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:
I am no orator, as Brutus is;
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him:
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue
In every wound of Caesar that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
Theres a little more to it, but really, the first part is the most well known.

[ November 15, 2003, 01:17 AM: Message edited by: Gottmorder ]
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
Now there's an example of a monologue that's longer than a soliloquy! [Wink]

Thanks a lot...oh yeah, and this IS a shameless bump too. hehehe
 
Posted by Tristan (Member # 1670) on :
 
Here are the complete works of Shakespeare available on-line. You can get entire plays in one page, which is convenient if you remember a line from a speech -- and the play in which it occurs -- and want to search for its exact location. I don't have anything specific to recommend for you, Javert. I have some favourite parts, but they are usually pretty short.

[ November 15, 2003, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Tristan ]
 
Posted by Audeo (Member # 5130) on :
 
My favorite Soliloquoy from Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1

GLOUCESTER
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that 'G'
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here
Clarence comes.
 
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
 
The absolute BEST one is the first soliloquy from Hamlet. It starts out "Oh that this too sullied flesh would melt..." and it has the "frailty thy name is woman" line in it. [Smile] Great one.
 
Posted by Dragon (Member # 3670) on :
 
I had some good ones until I read the part about you being male, now I have to think...
 
Posted by Jill (Member # 3376) on :
 
I wouldn't recommend "to be or not to be". The director will have heard it about a thousand times.

You might want to try anything of Benedick's (from Much Ado About Nothing) if you want something humorous.

There's a great (dramatic) speech from Henry V-- the St. Crispin's Day speech ("we few, we mighty few...").
 
Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
 
Well, as long as you're allowed to do a monologue from Romeo and Juliet, why not Mercutio's Queen Mab soliloquoy? My favorite monologue in the whole play.
 
Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
 
Oh, damn, I was going to suggestt that when I saw this topic. Queen Mab's in the beginning of the second act.
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
Why do I have the feeling that when I finally decide to choose a monologue, I'll be coming back here again and again for pronunciations! hehe

Thanks to all...and please keep them coming. [Smile]
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Here's an important question: what part do you want?
 
Posted by Rhaegar The Fool (Member # 5811) on :
 
Their are two speeches from HenryV "Once more into the breach dear friends..." and "We few we hapy few..." Both of which I know by heart, and I think are just incredible, but might not work for Romeo and Juliet. Try the part from Much Ado About Nothing, where Claudio confronts Hero about sleeping with another man, It is a really good scene, or the scene between The Uncle and Father with denzel washingotn in the barn.

-Rhaegar The Fool
 
Posted by Jill (Member # 3376) on :
 
Ooh, yeah--the Claudio monologue is good. And also the Leonato monologue later in the same scene.

Claudius has a good monologue in Hamlet-- when he's about to pray for forgiveness for his brother's murder.
 
Posted by Rhaegar The Fool (Member # 5811) on :
 
And also just about anything from Apollo.
 
Posted by Julie (Member # 5580) on :
 
I just had to give a monlogue for my Shakespeare class a couple of weeks ago, and I'd recommend Henry V. I did one from somewhere around act three, it started with, "Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more or hole the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility, but when the blast of war blows in our ears then imitate the action of the tiger, stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard favored rage." If that's a little off, you'll have to forgive me because I'm typing from memory and I can't spell anyway. Another good one from the same play is the St. Crispen Day speech, from act four or five.
 
Posted by amira tharani (Member # 182) on :
 
Hamlet's first soliloquy gets my vote, or the Queen Mab one. Or Enobarbus' speech from Antony and Cleopatra, act 2 - the one praising Cleopatra that begins "the barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, burned on the water." It's unusual, very poetic, and quite a lot of fun.
 
Posted by Wussy Actor (Member # 5937) on :
 
Prince Henry or "Hal" depending on your script has an excellent monologue at the start of Act III Scene Two of Henry IV part One. It begins "Do not think so; You shall not find it so: And god forgive them that so much have swayed your majesty's good thoughts away from me." It's the monologue that got me into grad school. Break a leg.
 
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
 
I love either of the Henry V speeches already mentioned by others. Not sure if they suit your audition needs, you need some real gravitas or prescence to pull them off.

Break a leg! [Smile]
 
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
 
Do the one where Mercutio dies. "Oh tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door. But tis enough, twill serve. Ask for tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." etc. etc.
How many other people will end their monologues lying dead on the carpet? At least the director will remember you for that [Razz]
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
'Tis a shame that according to my copy of the play, Mercutio hobbles offstage with Benvolio before he dies. But thanks for the suggestion Bob. [Wink]

As for what part I want? I really don't know. The leads will almost certainly go to the grad students (it's a mixed grad/undergrad show), and they do deserve it because I've seen how good they are. But there are quite a lot of roles still open for enterprising young actors like me. And I've always lived by the rule, "there are no big parts, just big actors!" [Big Grin]

So, I'll take what I can get. To be perfectly honest, I just want to be in the show, and I couldn't care less which part I get as long as I'm in.

Thanks for the help, I'll be looking through all of these for the next few weeks. But please, if you think of more, keep them coming.

THANK YOU! [Group Hug]
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
*shameless bump* [Evil Laugh]
 
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
Well, others have already mentioned the St. Crispin's Day speech (Henry V, IV, iii), but I just love that one. Works well as an audition piece (I think better than the other Henry V piece that's been mentioned.) Actually, that was the first audition piece I ever worked on. I would say that if you want to be impressive, stay away from the ones everybody knows, specifically Hamlet, III, i; King Lear III, ii; and Romeo and Juliet, II, ii.

Some others that are slightly less well known (though still familiar to many) are:


[ November 18, 2003, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: saxon75 ]
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
I think I may have settled on the Crispin's Day speech. Absolutely love it. Now let's see if I can pull it off.

Luckily I have until January to prepare.

On a side note, I noticed that the grads have already been casted in the show (they auditioned for R&J at the same time they auditioned for Glass Menagerie...with different monologues, of course [Wink] ).

I feel really bad for all the women who are going to audition. The only remaining female role is the Nurse, and there are going to be a lot of women going for it.

Wouldn't want to be the guy casting that part! [Eek!]
 
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
The St. Crispin's Day speech is a great one. If I might go so far as to offer some suggestions:

If you've seen the Branagh version of Henry V, I would advise against taking his interpretation of the Henry's movement. The standard interpretation of that scene is that Henry is on a horse, hence, not walking around. Doing the monologue while standing still with feet about shoulder width apart gives it a much more regal sense.

Try to strip down all of your motions, in general. Make every motion deliberate and meaningful. And make sure to avoid slouching.

Don't succumb to the temptation of doing the monologue with an English accent, unless you are actually English, in which case go for yours. The English dialect in Shakespeare's time (to say nothing of Henry's time) sounded very little like the upper-class London accent we hear these days, so you wouldn't really be making it any more authentic.
 


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