A monologue long is a speech that expresses the thoughts or feelings of one character.

 A monologue should have a beginning, middle and an end.  A monologue should always reveal something – be it a story, a secret, an answer to a question, or an emotional outpouring.  A monologue offers insight into the character.

In theatre, the monologue can be a great gift. It's a gift to the audience to look up on that stage and see inside the thoughts of a human being. For the great monologues are private moments, secrets, emotions, heartbreaks, wonders.

In every monologue a character must need to speak. In every monologue you write, you must determine the need for the character to speak. What drives the character? What is the character’s motivation?

Inside Character’s thoughts and feelings Things that character has done

Choose an object and give it a voice. Is it happy? Unhappy? What are its dreams, hopes, and fears? What does it want? What is its past and what does it hope for the future? Write a monologue for this object – imagine it is speaking. What would it say?

How could you just use me like this? I thought we had something together. I thought I meant something to you. When you chose me, I was so excited. ME, you picked me out of everyone else. I was a little worried about leaving home, even though it was always, always cold in there, but I just knew that together we would have the most exciting and fabulous life. I gave up everything for you. And you --- you just threw me away. You used me up, and threw me away. Was this all I meant to you? Was I just some … container to you? Nothing more? You could at least have put me in the recycling bin.

Activity 1 - Moods (10mins) The class begin in a circle and one person enters the stage, acting out a clear and easily readable mood, such as anger or sadness. A second person enters the stage, the acknowledge each other with glances, gestures or routines but do not talk to each other. The second person takes the on the mood of the first. A third person enters the space with a different mood and goes about slowly changing the mood of the other two actors. Once the mood has changed, the first person exits and a fourth enters the space, again with a different mood and goes about slowly changing the mood of the others and so on and so forth until everyone has had a go.

Activity 2 - In the driving seat  In pairs, one person is the car and the other is the driver. The car is blindfolded and the driver stands directly behind the car in the driving seat. Instead of using words, the pair use an agreed system of touches (i.e., left shoulder = left, centre = stop) the driver drives the car around the room, keeping it safe from penalty points, speeding fines and crashes.