Help needed with a Shakespeare monologue, must be blank verse.

[steggers123]

DS has an audition coming up for an acting degree and he has to perform a Shakespeare monologue, which hasn't been an issue in the past, but this particular university is asking that the monologue chosen is in blank verse. Seeing as I don't know my iambic pentameter from my elbow I wondered if anyone had any suggestions.

[iklboo]

Quick look on Google suggests Hamlet as a good start for blank verse.

• Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines.
• It has a conventional meter that is used for verse drama and long narrativepoems.
• It is often used in descriptive and reflective poems and dramatic monologues — the poems in which a single character delivers his thoughts in the form of a speech.
• Blank verse can be composed in any kind of meter, such as iamb, trochee, spondee and dactyl.

[IslaLettuce]

I would ask his drama or English teachers for help. All I will add is choose a piece that is not done by every student who ever auditioned! I.e. Don't go for the obvious to be or not to be pieces. Best of luck

[hopsalong]

No, blank verse can't be in any metre: it means unrhymed iambic pentameter.

But that doesn't matter very much anyway, because almost all of the verse in all of Shakespeare's plays is blank verse (exceptions are the songs). So provided you pick a bit that isn't in prose (i.e. lines don't run to right-hand margin of page), you'll be in luck! Choose something for interest's sake, I'd say.

[FloatyFlo]

Ooh I reckon I'd go for a bit of Iago!

[ThisYearWillbeBetter]

Shakespeare habitually wrote in the blank verse form, using iambic pentameter.

Basically just don't pick a speech in prose, but the major we've heard them 50 billion times before audition speeches are all in blank verse. Just don't pick the Porter's speech from Macbeth. But any of the big speeches will do.

[GetAHaircutCarl]

OP go on the website for RADA and look at the graduates from 2016.

Beneath each photo is an audio file and each student reads a Shakespeare monologue.

This will give you an idea of what is expectected in terms of monologue choice and delivery ( don't do shouty).

[corythatwas]

This is probably far to late for the OP, but if anyone else is reading, can I just pass on some advice for dd who has spent the last couple of years auditioning and listening to others auditioning (and has finally got a place).

The monologue needs not only to be in the right metre: it needs to be a part you could reasonably be cast to play. For most 18/19yos, that is not going to be Hamlet (and definitely, definitely not Richard III). The lesser known plays are better: go for someone who suits your age, appearance and personality.

Also look out for a monologue that will allow you to display a breadth of emotions, though do try to avoid the screaming and ranty. Make sure you have read the whole play and have a rounded idea of the character.

[Bobochic]

Oh, that's fantastic news cory. Well done your DD on her place and her determination.

[corythatwas]

Thank you, Bobochic.

[Bobochic]

I shed a little tear for you cory. You and your DD have really been through the mill and you never complain. I really hope things will go well for her from now on.