Contemporary Australian Monologues for Women

Claire Grady, Emma Rose Smith, Claire Grady, Emma Rose Smith

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781760621933
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Acting & Auditioning

'One eye closed, the other locked on my target.'Monologues are a crucial element of theatre, for actors and students alike. From high school study to professional auditions and performances, the monologue exposes the heart of a play and the capacities of the performer.The monologue should be relevant to the performer, and a revelation to the audience. This new collection brings together 30 monologues from contemporary Australian plays. These voices-from ages 14 to 84, from the 1880s to the near future-showcase the best of our national writing for the stage.Featuring monologues written by: DONNA ABELA • JADA ALBERTS • ANGELA BETZIEN • ANDREW BOVELL • MELISSA BUBNIC • MARY ANNE BUTLER • JUSTINE CAMPBELL & SARAH HAMILTON • STEPHEN CARLETON • KATHERINE THOMSON, ANGELA CHAPLIN & KAVISHA MAZZELLA • ELIZABETH COLEMAN • PATRICIA CORNELIUS • WESLEY ENOCH • JANE MONTGOMERY GRIFFITHS • RASHMA N. KALSIE • DANIEL KEENE • FINEGAN KRUCKEMEYER • SUZIE MILLER • KATE MULVANY & CRAIG SILVEY • TERENCE O'CONNELL • DEBRA OSWALD • LACHLAN PHILPOTT • LEAH PURCELL • CAROLINE REID • DAMIEN RYAN • SAMAH SABAWI • STEPHEN SEWELL • NINNA TERSMAN • ALANA VALENTINE

ALISON

From They Saw a Thylacine by Justine Campbell and Sarah Hamilton

They Saw a Thylacine is set in Tasmania in 1936. Alison, 31, learnt to be a zookeeper from her father. On his death she applied for his role but instead the role was given to a returned soldier who neglects the animals, particularly Ben, the female thylacine. Ben has been locked out of her shelter repeatedly and has been crying at night. Alison can hear her from her cottage and on the night this scene is set, she decides to take action.

Imake a snap decision

I’ve got to break into the zoo

And somehow get her out

Of this ghastly night air

If I had Dad’s spare set of keys

It would all be okay

But I don’t I say

Out loud as I push my way through

The back door

A blast of wind

Hits me right in the face

As I shrug off my slippers

And in their place

Pull on my gumboots

Striding out into the dark

Through the howling of the wind

I hear her howling

Through her cage

And the rage I feel

Spurs me on through the back garden

And I begin to run

Pushing into the rain

Heading to the outer wall of the zoo

When above I hear a snap

From out of nowhere there’s a thud

Back of my neck

And I fall to the ground sliding into the mud

For a moment I’m stunned

Dazed with the pain

My face is pressed into the dirt

I raise my arm to feel the back of my head

My hair is drenched from the force of the rain

And the force of the branch

Where it fell has left a split in my scone

I can feel a sharp stinging

From the cracking thud

As the split and the hair

Congeal with the blood with the blood with the blood

It’s not too deep

I can tell

As I pick myself up

Survey the branch where it fell

It’s large it’s large—not too large not too large

I know I’ll be fine

But this time I tread more carefully

On the path leading to the wall

I’m already drenched

And that momentary rush of adrenalin

I felt when I woke

Is waning

The pain in my head

Is strong is strong

Won’t be long before I choke

Damn that lazy heartless bloke

I hear Ben call out

She’ll be drenched

Chilled to the bone

I head past the big oak

Round the corner of the track

I can see the outline of the wall

And I hear her call

She’s just on the other side

Locked in her front cage

I reach the caretaker’s gate

And give it a shake

Though I know there’s no use

A string of abuse escapes my mouth

You wanna know what I said?

It rhymes with ‘brass hole’

Yes that’s what I yelled and more

See the wall’s a good seven foot high

It’s gotta be

It’s a zoo

We know why

It’s to keep the crazies out

Well this crazy’s going in

So I pull off my boots

Hoist up my nightie

And I stick my foot through the little gap

In the wrought-iron gate

The steel is slippery

Cuts into my socks

As I get towards the top

The wrought iron

Rocks off one o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Foreword by Claire Grady
• Iris (14), The Hanging by Angela Betzien
• TB (20s), Prayer to an Iron God by Caroline Reid
• Mara (20s), Jump for Jordan by Donna Abela
• Aisha (14), Truck Stop by Lachlan Philpott
• Mrs Bucktin (30s), Jasper Jones adapted by Kate Mulvany from the novel by Craig Silvey
• Augusta (60+), The Turquoise Elephant by Stephen Carleton
• Jomana (20s), Tales of a City by the Sea by Samah Sabawi
• Celia (40s), The Peach Season by Debra Oswald
• Irina (15), Parasites by Ninna Tersman
• The drover’s wife (40) , The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell
• Mavis (80s), Mavis goes to Timor by Katherine Thomson, Angela Chaplin and Kavisha Mazzella
• Jojo (40s), Beached by Melissa Bubnic
• Lucy (30s), Secret Bridesmaids’ Business by Elizabeth Coleman
• Phoebe (30s), Sunset Strip by Suzie Miller
• Medea (40s), Black Medea by Wesley Enoch
• Sam (20-40), SHIT by Patricia Cornelius
• Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton (60s), Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine
• Emma the Greek (19), At Sea, Staring Up by Finegan Kruckemeyer
• Eve (40s), Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America by Stephen Sewell
• Eve (unspecified), Minefields and Miniskirts by Terence O'Connell based on the book by Siobhán McHugh
• Pip (30s), Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell
• Alison (30s), They Saw a Thylacine by Justine Campbell and Sarah Hamilton
• Sonali (20s), Melbourne Talam by Rashma N. Kalsie
• Petra (40s), Brothers Wreck by Jada Alberts
• Woman (50s), Money by Patricia Cornelius (In Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves and Christos Tsiolkas)
• Christie (60), Mother by Daniel Keene
• Antigone (20s), Antigone by Damien Ryan
• Mot (40s), Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler
• Sappho (ageless), Sappho … in 9 fragments by Jane Montgomery Griffiths
• Rosie (19), Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell
• Source list
• Copyright Details