4
The Monologue
In This Chapter
You’ll find more scripts and recordings at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.
How Will You Tell the Story?
Every voiceover script contains, within it, a story. It doesn’t matter what the genre might be, there’s a story in the script that is meant for someone to hear. The question to you, as the voice actor, is... how are you going to tell that story?
The tools you’ve learned to use so far—how to use your vocal instrument and some basic microphone technique—only scratch the surface. But they are enough for you to begin experimenting with different ways to tell a story written in a script.
The next several chapters cover a variety of acting techniques that will give you literally dozens of ways to adapt your story telling. You’ll learn a wide variety of performing techniques and work with scripts in several common genres of voiceover, like commercial, narration, audio book and animation.
Regardless of the genre, it is critical that you understand how to tell a story. And that’s what this chapter is all about!
Why Monologues?
By definition, a monologue is a speech by one actor in a play or movie. Monologues can be used for story exposition, character development, or to move the story forward. They generally reveal a lot of information about how the character thinks, feels, and behaves and are an integral part of both character and story development.
One of the great things about monologues is that they can be loaded with emotion, drama, dynamics, attitude, energy and many other aspects of story telling that appear in literally every genre of voiceover. At its essence, almost every voiceover performance is, in one form or another, a monologue.
Tips for Performing Monologues
As an exercise in storytelling, this chapter includes a number of short monologues written in a variety of styles for both men and women. As you work with these monologues, keep in mind the following tips:
- The words are important, but how you tell the story is more important.
- Read through the script at least a few times until you completely understand the story and your role in it.
- Consider who you, the character might be speaking to.
- Imagine what might have taken place immediately before the first line of the script and for any transitions that might occur.
- Give some thought as to why the character might be using a specific attitude, tone of voice or the specific words being spoken. What might that tone of voice or attitude sound like?
- Imagine how the character feels as he/she speaks.
- Experiment with different ways of speaking the lines as you tell the story. Does the character speak with an accent or dialect? Where does the character take a beat, or pause for thoughts? How fast or slow does the character speak?
- Notice how changing your speed, energy, tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, and other factors affects the meaning of the words and how phrases are spoken.
- Contract or un-contract as feels appropriate for your interpretation of telling the story.
- Feel free to change a word or two if necessary to help make the character more real.
- Try delivering questions as a statement. Change the question mark to an exclamation point.
- Change an aspect of your performance (a change up) when there is a new thought or the story twists or moves in a different direction.
- Be careful not to telegraph the ending.
- Don’t “read” the script... be conversational.
- Don’t focus on the words... tell the story!
Monologue Scripts
All monologues in this chapter are original, written by young acting students as part of a competition and are re-printed with permission.
The following monologues are provided by dramanotebook.com © Drama Notebook, all rights reserved. Additional monologues will be found on the website.
Title: “Sorry I’m Late!”
By: Lisa Lordache-Stir, California, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Comedic
Description: An employee explains why they were late to work
I know I’m late for work, but you would not believe the morning I’ve had! Last night, I put all my clothes into the washer and dryer since most of them were dirty. To my surprise, they all shrunk about three sizes after coming out of the dryer! I only had my pajamas I slept in, so I wore them, as you can see. Then, when I went outside to get into my car, my car door wouldn’t open. I put my hands onto the freezing car window and saw that my keys were inside of the car! I had no choice but to walk to work. As I walked down the street, I heard something come from a nearby alley. Out of curiosity, I went to see what it was. Let me tell ya, big mistake. There were about ten, no, twenty ferocious street cats staring me down. I slowly backed away, but it was too late. They chased me down the alley. About five jumped onto me and attacked me. This is why there are a ton of scratches on my body. See? By some miracle, I was able to escape. I thought to myself, how can this morning get any worse? Trust me, it did. I was a block away from the office when I went to the coffee shop right around the corner and got some hot coffee. I realized that I was about to be late for work. I hurried to get out of the shop, and of course, I tripped and spilled the coffee all over the place. My work bag, my pajamas, my shoes, were soaked! I tried to wash off as much as I could in the bathroom, but it’s still there, as you can see. So, that’s why I’m late. I’ll try not to let it happen again. What? It’s daylight savings time? Oh, I’m an hour early? Oh, then never-mind.
Title: “Forks”
By: Amelia S., Houston, Texas, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Comedic
Description: A fork proclaims superiority over the other utensils.
As a fork, I can proudly say that we are the superior utensils. I was talking to Spoon the other day and she was all braggy about how they used her for soup AND ice cream the other night. Pffft. That’s nothin. I have the ability to STAB and POKE and SPEAR. Spoon said, “Oh yeah, what about stirring?” Well, I can do that too. Yesterday morning, the big lady human used me to stir cream into her coffee, and it wasn’t just because all the spoons were dirty like Spoon said. Knives? Well, they generally keep quiet because we all know they have anger problems. Especially the steak knives. Forks are the friendliest. Everyone knows that. Oops. Gotta run. Gonna get used again. Yum, pancakes!
Title: “Rudolph’s Older Brother”
By: Trequan D., Mississippi, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Comedic
Description: Rudolph’s older brother (or sister) tells him not to forget where he is from.
Hey man, bring ya red nose over here... AYE MAN, I said bring ya RED NOSE over here! I see you’re all excited about being Santa’s new favorite reindeer, but never forget where you came from. Yeah, I understand it’s nice to finally laugh, not get called names, and to play in all the reindeer games with everyone else besides just me... but can’t you see they’re just using you? Santa never gave you any attention until last Christmas when he couldn’t see any farther than he could spit. Huh? What do you mean he said, “you’re the light of his world”? He was being serious, that wasn’t a compliment! He taped you to the back of his car because his taillight was out. Now explain to me why you’re OK with that. Matter fact nah, I don’t wanna hear it. Now you’re chilling with Dasher and Dancer acting like you’re a big star just because your nose glows up red... WE HAVE 50 THOUSAND CHRISTMAS LIGHTS THAT DO THAT SAME THING - you know what Rudolph, do what you wanna do, but never forget where you came from.
Title: “Listen up, Doggie-O”
By: Chelsie K., Alaska, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Comedic
Description: A cat tells a dog who’s boss.
Now listen up here doggie-o. I’m the one who calls the shots around here, see? I was here first, and as a feline, I have the advantage in the smarts department. See that bowl there? That’s mine. I catch you so much as sniffing around it, you’ll be sorry. I may be smaller than you, but I’ve got powerful weapons in these here paws. You ever tangled with a cat before? Well, don’t. You’ll find out mighty quick that I’m a force to be reckoned with. Now, over there is my bed. It’s the one that says ‘princess.’ Yours is the one that says ‘woof.’ Which rhymes with goof. As in goofball. Which most dogs are. See, the humans, they respect me. I don’t slobber all over them and wag my tail like a moron. I have dignity and poise. I even keep myself clean, and I would never, ever roll around in stinky stuff in the yard, or chew on dirty socks and then lick the humans. Gross. I don’t perform tricks for treats. That’s degrading. What are you trying to do? Hey, what are you trying to do back there? Go find a dog’s butt to sniff! Ya better watch it, doggie-o. Remember, I’m the boss around here!
Title: “I Don’t Need Therapy”
By: Aamira Waheed; New York, New York, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Dramatic
Description: A teenager explains why he/she doesn’t need therapy.
I don’t see why I’m here. I’m not the one who needs a therapist. Yes, I’m stressed out, and maybe I’ve been a little emotional lately. You would be too, if you lived at my house. All they do is argue. Doesn’t matter if it’s a big thing or a small thing. I mean, the other day, they argued about how to cut the toast. Mom had cut it straight across and dad said it should go on the diagonal. Then my mom said that she wasn’t his mother and it was time to cut the apron strings. Whatever that means. When they realized I was in the kitchen, my mom flashed me her fake smile and passed me a plate of toast. I said I wasn’t hungry. Next thing, she’ll think I’m anorexic. So what if I stay in my room? It’s peaceful there with my earbuds in. Music makes me happy. I’ve been thinking about learning to play an instrument. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my parents. Right away, dad offered to get out his old trumpet. Mom said that he should shut up and let me decide. Then dad told mom that she didn’t have to be such a witch about it. I said I was finished with dinner and asked to be excused. And mom all of a sudden acted concerned and felt my forehead to see if I was sick. I went to my room and I could tell they were still arguing. They were doing that thing where they were trying to keep their voices down, but it’s totally obvious. They weren’t always like this. I mean, they used to be in love. If you ask me, they are the ones who need therapy. I mean, am I missing something here? (laughs) Thanks for saying that. I really mean it, I do. Do you play an instrument? Oh, cello is nice. I was thinking more like drums. Drown out the noise.
Title: “My Sister’s Song”
By: Payton Doerksen, Carman, Manitoba, Canada
Gender: Female
Genre: Dramatic
Description: A young woman overhears her sister singing alone at night.
I don’t mean to eavesdrop on you, but the walls are so thin. I can’t help but listen. I hear you singing at night and it’s very calming, but also kind of sad. It reminds me of an angel ringing a bell in the moonlight. It’s both soft and light, Isabel. I know you hate me for listening and that I’m just an annoying little sister, but I love listening to you. I love you. Sometimes I wonder if something has happened to you. I wonder and I wonder, and I know that you say it’s just my imagination. But your voice sounds so sad sometimes that it frightens me. There are stories in your songs. I know you have a right to privacy and you don’t have to tell me anything. But you would, wouldn’t you? Just please don’t yell at me again. I hate it when you do that, or when you stop talking to me. The only thing worse than yelling is silence. We’re sisters. We’re blood. And when things are the way they are, we’re sometimes all each other has. I guess we don’t have to talk about it anymore, but please don’t stop. It helps me fall asleep...the sound of you singing your heart out.
Title: “Best Friends”
By: Rebecca S., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Gender: Female
Genre: Dramatic
Description: A young woman expresses her feelings about her best friend.
Best friend? Well, I’ve never been much for friends. My intense competitive spirit, social anxiety, fear of the cafeteria and awkward sense of humor tend to work against me. But strangely, the one friend I have come to entrust this weird title was once my arch nemesis. Of course, she had no clue. In fourth and fifth grade Angela had a cubby right next to mine. She had lots of friends and took the ‘Nicest Student’ award away from me in the fifth grade, and I was so angry that I squeezed glue in her cubby, which showed how nice I really was. Yeah, Angela deserved the award. She’s someone who has my back when I say, “back me up.” She laughs at my hilarious jokes when everyone else randomly forgets how to laugh. She takes me to a world where awkward moments don’t exist and jealousy is something to joke about and fights never happen (and if they do I don’t remember them). Best Friend? Nah. Angela and I are more like sisters.
Title: “Secret Love”
By: Logan L., Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Comedic
Description: A confession about a secret love.
There is something that I’ve been hiding from everyone I know. It has been on my mind a lot so I want to get it off my chest. I know this obsession may be overboard, but it is a part of me. It’s been bottled up inside of me for too long because I wasn’t sure what people would think. I have a forbidden love, the kind of love that is not supposed to exist. Some say that this love isn’t natural, but it is everything I need and more. Many people say that it has to be a man and a woman that fall in love, but to those people I say that love wins. I love the warmth that my love gives me; it is very sweet and comforting. I cannot achieve this kind of love with anything else. There is no breaking me apart from my beloved. I don’t care what anyone else thinks anymore because I have found love. So, this is me announcing my love to the world; I love pancakes. Pancakes love me too. The connection that I share with pancakes cannot be compared to anything else. This is not lust; this is pure love in its purest form. If you look at my eyes whenever I see a pancake you may notice that my eyes twitch. Pancakes understand me for who I am; they complete me. The soft and chewy cake is all I need in my life; and now the world knows that I am proud to be a pancake lover!
Title: “So Close to 10”
By: Alyse D., Bluffton, South Carolina, USA
Gender: Male or Female
Genre: Dramatic
Description: The first ride on a roller coaster is described in detail.
You want to hear about the scariest experience of my life? It happened on a roller coaster. Strapped in tightly, I looked up at the tall menacing incline of the Rip Rocket. The harsh winds blew in my face and made my hair knotty as I checked my belt for the fiftieth time. Why did I have to do this? Why did I have to ride my first roller coaster... today? I was this close to making it through my single-digit years without riding one. I didn’t agree to it, but, according to my dad, “It’s time.” I didn’t like it, but he was right. My sisters rode their first roller coaster way before me. Even though I didn’t want to at first, I’m glad I did. Universal was a lot more fun now that I rode coasters. When we reached the coaster, my grandma asked me the long-asked question. “Are you going to go on?” Of course I said no, but apparently they didn’t hear me, because they shoved me into the line! First, we went up a mountain of steep, grimy, paralyzing steps, flinching after each thump on the concrete. Next, we got into the depressingly short loading line, and there it was. That rickety paint-chipped cart would be the last thing I would ever see. It was our turn. We crawled in and I could hear the screams of the past riders. I embraced the feeling that I would soon be at peace. “3, 2, 1...Off you go!” The cart lurched, and the screams of the past were now my own. “I love roller coasters!!!”