Drama... Please help me find a speech for DD's drama scholarship audition

[WhoLetTheMogsOut]

DD (10) wants to try for a drama scholarship at senior school. For this she will need to do an audition where she performs a speech from a play.

Any published play is OK. The speech should last between one and two minutes and afterwards she will need to discuss the play and the character.

DD is very into drama, but I'm not so much and have got no clue where to find a suitable play or speech! If anyone can think of anything that fits the bill, I would be really grateful.

DD has a good sense of humour and would probably be most comfortable with a speech with some element of this... but absolutely any suggestions would be very welcome, humorous or otherwise.

Thank you in advance!

Richard III's opening speech is pretty funny - he describes how it's not his fault he's deformed so he's going to kill everybody. If she's up for a bit of dark Shakespearean humour, Richard is good. There's also then LOADS to talk about the character, so she could read some online notes about him and have something to say. There are some sexual references, but nothing graphic.

Sadly, there are FAR more male speeches than female ones.

Could she do something from a movie? Scripts are usually available online if that counts as 'published'.

Some of these might be helpful?

Which plays has she read? (Other than the obvious Shakespeare.) If she's keen on drama she probably has a few favourite things already about which she could talk with some understanding and enthusiasm.

Do they specify any period? If I were auditioning candidates I'd be most impressed with those who had a strong knowledge of completely contemporary work.

Have you tried a google search for ‘drama monologues girls’ or similar wording? There are lots of sites e.g Ace your audition.
Best of luck to your DD.

These suggestions are brilliant - thank you!

I am really grateful for all this; I do want to support her and help her, but this has made me realise how little I know about this side of things. Fingers crossed!

If you could give a few more details of requirements people might be able to offer more specific advice.

Is she being supported / taught by a drama teacher who has experience of scholarship auditions? Or is this something she'll be doing without other help? Has she auditioned before? Acted in or written any drama? Does she get to see much live theatre? So many questions!

OK, she is currently going to drama classes at school as an extracurricular activity. They are run by the school drama teacher and the teacher will not suggest an audition speech or help them to rehearse it - this is school policy, because the drama scholarship is for the senior school which is linked to the junior school she currently attends.

She used to attend a different drama club (not linked to school) up until a couple of years ago. As part of that, she acted in small, informal plays; however, these were for significantly younger children and I don't think anything from them would be suitable.

She has not written any drama (maybe the odd sketch in school or for fun) and has not auditioned before, although she did enter and win a poetry performance competition last year. She was nervous but went through with it and hopefully it boosted her confidence.

She doesn't get to see much live theatre and I'm only now realising that this is something I should have organised to help support her.

The school drama club seems to focus on smaller monologues or presentations, rather than on putting on plays. They seem to be geared towards the LAMDA Speaking of Verse and Prose exams. She did Grade 1 last year and will do Grade 2 this year.

DS has done a drama audition as part of the entry process to a vocational performing arts school.

The usual advice is to pick speech by a character that fits the age and gender of the auditionee, i.e. a character they might actually be cast as. This makes it easier to relate to the character and give a realistic performance.

Personally I would avoid Shakespeare for a 10-y-o girl, with the possible exception of the witches speech on Macbeth (the RSC has a current production of Macbeth with the witches played by small girls), or maybe Ariel from The Tempest. Drama teachers will be very familiar with both plays though, so unless your DD can give a spectacular performance she probably has a better chance of making an impression with something less well-known.

Girl characters in plays that have themes a 10-y-o can discuss are tricky to find. You could look for published playscripts based on books with child characters (e.g. Wendy in Peter Pan). Another suggestion would be to look at speeches from the LAMDA syllabus, as many of those come from published plays.

Your DD should be prepared to answer questions about the plot, characters and themes of the play, how her character fits into the play and what role they play in the story and themes, and also production-type questions about what costume her character might wear or how a svene might be staged. The answers don't necessarily need to sophisticated given that she's only 10, but it's good to be able to show she can think critically and creatively about a dramatic work beyond the level of working out how to perform a single speech.

Oh, the poetry performance win is a brilliant start!

I don't want to make assumptions about the type of school she's at (or your relative financial position) but, yes - if you can manage to take her to some plays that would be the Very Best thing. (I'm assuming the scholarship is about stage drama rather than film?)

Your local theatre if you're not in London. Non-West End contemporary theatre if you are. Grown up plays - not just children's stuff! Live screenings are wonderful but being in the auditorium (able to think about how you yourself might perform in the space) is better.

It's coming up to Christmas - there's sure to be a play on at the senior school. Will the primary school children be taken or can you get tickets.

Between Google and your online bookshop of choice she should be able to ingest as many monologues as possible - so she'll know what the competition might be doing!

Also of course there is an infinite amount of theatre available on the Internet.

I'm listening to The Turn of The Screw right now on R4 - do you know it? Though Flora might be a little too ...

Sorry for hogging your thread, btw.

QuaterMiss and TheatreTaxi (ha, clue's in the name there!) - thank you so much! I will get googling for potential monologues and performances. So many great angles and ideas on this thread which I had never thought of.

She's too young for the National Youth Theatre - but if she's serious about drama she should know what they do. If you read through the whole website together you'll both know a lot more than you do now.

Nb The playscripts of most performed plays are easily available to buy (or to order/borrow from a library). Once she has decided on a monologue I strongly advise that she reads the whole play!

Lovely thing to be preparing for!

My DD is a drama scholar I would absolutely pick something age appropriate something from Hetty Feather or Alice in Wonderland would be good. Particular as she needs to have read and understood the play. We also do drama festivals, at 10/11 it is much better to do something simple really, really well than something complex not so well. Very few 10/11 year olds can give the depth of feeling that Shakespeare requires.
Lots of drama scholarship auditions for senior school include improv as divising a piece is an essential part of GCSE drama so it is worth thinking about that.

The NYT monologue that QuaterMiss suggested is best one as there will be younger characters in it. Buy it and read the intros through with your daughter deciding which one grabs her attention. Daisy Pulls it Off has some good age appropriate monologues in it. Get her to learn it inside out and upside down then book a couple of lessons with a LAMDA teacher or actor to help with the blocking. The competition will be super slick and rehearsed but they are looking for natural talent..go for it!!

Just ordered that NYT monologue book - it looks like an amazing resource.

And I will get her to read the whole play once she has picked something! (luckily she will probably be quite keen to do that!)

Btw, thank God for Mumsnetters - I would never have known this stuff otherwise. Big thank you from me and from DD

@KickAssAngel
@Quatermiss
@FadedRed
@TheatreTaxi
@Lonecatwithkitten
@Nodressrehearsal

Just revisiting this thread to say a massive thank you to everyone for all your advice. I really was clueless and did not know where to start.

DD ended up doing a speech from "The Witches" (Roald Dahl) and put a lot of work into preparing it, rejecting all my suggestions about how to perform it (which was probably very wise of her).

SHE GOT THE SCHOLARSHIP!! and is chuffed to bits. And so am I.

Thanks again xxx

CONGRATULATIONS TO HER!

And to you of course OP. That's such good news.

Thank you for updating.

How lovely! Congratulations to your DD. That's so great to hear she got in I remember reading this.

Congratulations excellent age appropriate piece to have performed.
We are now on to the next stage, stage school applications for sixth form. This is for musical theatre so monologue, song and dancing.

Try this link: stageagent.com/monologues

Wow!! Congratulations to your DD, and to you for your support to her. Lovely to hear a happy ending. Thanks for the update.

Oh sorry completely failed to RTFT. Congratulations to your DD!

Lovely news, congratulations to your DD, WhoLetTheMogsOut!

Great choice of monologue material and it sounds like she worked hard to prepare (the emphatic rejection of all parental suggestions sounds strangely familiar!), so very well deserved.

I hope she has a great time as a drama scholar.