The Oberon Book of Modern Monologues for Women

Volume Two

Catherine Weate, Catherine Weate

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781849436212
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Arti performative

Monologues are an essential part of every actor's toolkit. Actors are required to perform monologues regularly throughout their career: preparing for drama school entry, showcasing skills for agents or auditioning for a role. Following on from the bestselling first volume (2008), this book showcases selected monologues from some of the finest modern plays by some of today's leading contemporary playwrights. These monologues contain a diverse range of quirky and memorable characters that cross cultural and historical boundaries. The pieces are helpfully organised into age-specific groups: 'Teens', 'Twenties', 'Thirties' and 'Forties plus'.

PART ONE:
TEENS

BLACKBERRY TROUT FACE

by Laurence Wilson

This play was first performed at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool on 29 September 2009.

Set in Liverpool, Blackberry Trout Face explores the lives of three teenagers who are struggling to cope on their own. Jakey (18), KERRIE (15) and Cameron (13) have been abandoned by their mother, a heroin addict who feeds her habit through prostitution. KERRIE receives a text from her and, thinking she knows where she is, leaves in the middle of the night. She returns in the morning, alone, drenched and dejected. In the following scene, she explains what happened to Jakey and Cameron.

KERRIE

She sent me a text. It said, I’m at a special place. So I thought I knew where she was. There’s this park right near the river, where yer can see the Runcorn Bridge. I’ve been there with me Mum a few times. We’d sit off and look at it and I’d tell her all the stuff I knew about it, while we had a flask of tea and some cookies. We called it our special place. (Beat.) So I thought she had to be there.

It was freezin but I didn’t care coz I knew she was gonna be there, waitin for me. I kept thinking, she’ll hug away the cold.

…

It was still dark when I got there. The bridge was all lit up though and it was all reflectin in the water and it looked dead beautiful.

…

She wasn’t there. So I texted her and waited.

…

I waited for a reply.

…

But the special place she was at, wasn’t our special place.

…

I kept textin her and textin her, telling her where I was; to come and get me, until I had none left. Then the sun come up and the bridge wasn’t beautiful anymore. Just a bridge. Ugly, cold metal. (Beat.) Then finally she texted me back.

…

She said she’s with some old friends from years ago, on the South Coast and that they’re overlookin some river. She said there’s this really nice little bridge goin across it and that it reminds her of me. A special place. She said she’ll tell me about it one day when she sees me. Oh yeah and er… Keep safe.

APPLES

by John Retallack

Apples was first performed at The Empire, Middlesbrough on 2 June 2010.

This monologue is entitled ‘CLAIRE’S SOLUTION’. CLAIRE is 15 years old and was raped at a party by a boy from school after she had passed out from a cocktail of alcohol and drugs. She became pregnant and now has a baby boy, whom she isn’t able to name. Her life has been turned upside down by the baby and she is no longer able to go out with her friends or even get Gary’s attention: she still feels some connection to him despite the rape. CLAIRE has heard that her friend Eve recently slept with Gary but, in fact, Gary raped Eve as well. Eve and Debbie are on holiday in Majorca and CLAIRE feels jealous and resentful of her friends. It seems the only way out is to get rid of the baby. She speaks directly to the audience, except for the line in speech marks.

CLAIRE

We cried into each other’s faces

at least there was no one around to see me bawling

Five minutes later we reached the beck again

we stood at the side of the bridge

The water rose and surged like a black brick road

I thought of Eve and Debbie in Majorca

sunning themselves

not giving a care about the people back home

I imagined them banging a bunch of Spanish hunks

I was fucking jealous

Eve probably didn’t even care about Gary

she had that special way of using people

and getting whatever she wanted

To baby boy

‘What are we gonna do with you?’

He didn’t seem to know

His tantrums started all over again

the noise was incredible

What an ugly idiot he was

My brain was overflowing with babies, boys and bitches

it fucking knacked

I told Eve it was Gary’s baby

she still went and shagged him

I cuddled the little knobhead in my arms for a minute

The crying was unbearable

I really wanted to strangle it

It struck me for the rest of my life

I’d only have the Baby Boy for company

so far he hadn’t been much of a mate

I stood him on top of the bridge railing

we had a dance as the wind eased up a bit

I made a little prayer

scrunched my eyes

and accidentally on purpose threw him off the rail

There was a big plop in the water

and a bit of red where he must’ve smacked off the bottom

I faked a look of horror

Gary’s jaw and my hair colour and cheek...