119:, epiphanies, and others, in that, they involve one 'voice' speaking but there are differences between them. For example, a soliloquy involves a character relating their thoughts and feelings to themself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters. A monologue is the thoughts of a person spoken out loud. Monologues are also distinct from apostrophes, in which the speaker or writer addresses an imaginary person, inanimate object, or idea. Asides differ from each of these not only in length (asides are shorter) but also in that asides are not heard by other characters even in situations where they logically should be (e.g. two characters engaging in a
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In ancient Greek theatre, the origin of western drama, the conventional three actor rule was preceded by a two-actor rule, which was itself preceded by a convention in which only a single actor would appear on stage, along with the chorus. The origin of the monologue as a dramatic device, therefore,
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Interior monologues involve a character externalizing their thoughts so that the audience can witness experiences that would otherwise be mostly internal. In contrast, a dramatic monologue involves one character speaking to another character. Monologues can also be divided along the lines of active
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Actors in theatre, and sometimes in film and television, may be asked to deliver monologues in auditions. Audition monologues demonstrate an actor's ability to prepare a piece and deliver a performance. These pieces are usually limited to two minutes or less and are often paired with a contrasting
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Ancient Roman theatre featured monologues extensively, more commonly than either
Ancient Greek theatre or modern theatre. One of the key purposes of these monologues was to indicate the passage of significant amounts of time (that would be tedious to actually play out in real time) within scenes.
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From
Renaissance theatre onward, monologues generally focused on characters using the extended speech to pursue their dramatic need. Postmodern theatre, on the other hand, often embraces the performative aspects of the monologue, even to the point of challenging the boundary between character
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and narrative monologues. In an active monologue a character is using their speech to achieve a clear goal. Narrative monologues simply involve a character telling a story and can often be identified by the fact that they are in the past tense.
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This type of monologue is referred to as a linking monologue. Other monologue types included "entrance monologues" and exit monologues. In each of these cases a primary function is indicating the passage of time.
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monologue: comic and dramatic; classical and contemporary. The choice of monologues for an audition often depends on the play or role.
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is not rooted in dialogue. It is, instead, the other way around; dialogue evolved from the monologue.
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The
Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama
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Henry W. Prescott (January 1942). "Exit
Monologues in Roman Comedy".
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Henry W. Prescott (January 1939). "Link
Monologues in Roman Comedy".
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Henry W. Prescott (April 1939). "Link
Monologues in Roman Comedy".
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107:. There are, however, distinctions between each of these devices.
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Postmodern theatric(k)s: monologue in contemporary
American drama
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83:. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media (
375:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–32.
340:"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare"
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portrayal (e.g. acting) and autobiographical speeches.
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Csapo, Eric; Miller, Margaret
Christina, eds. (2007).
255:"The Greatest Movie Speeches/Monologues of all time!"
346:. Pleasanton Unified School District. Archived from
91:, etc.), as well as in non-dramatic media such as
123:interrupted by one of them delivering an aside).
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75:, "speech") is a speech presented by a single
42:performing a monologue in the 1984 stage play
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16:Speech presented by a single character
285:"Dramatic Monologue: An Introduction"
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689:"Monologues from Movies & Plays"
647:from the original on 28 October 2013
287:. The Victorian Web. 10 March 2003.
27:. For the speech of a narrator, see
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162:Example of a dramatic monologue by
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677:from the original on 14 July 2010.
611:"monologue (drama and literature)"
572:Geis, Deborah R. (December 1993).
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311:"Soliloquy – Definition and More"
265:from the original on 1 April 2016
317:from the original on 6 July 2013
313:. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
253:jaimie-k (22 September 2010).
71:, "alone, solitary" and λόγος
23:. For the Malayalam film, see
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407:The Making of Theatre History
580:University of Michigan Press
801:
768:Film and video terminology
115:Monologues are similar to
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19:For the Soviet film, see
111:Similar literary devices
641:"Monologue Information"
615:Encyclopædia Britannica
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667:"Audition Monologues"
404:Kuritz, Paul (1988).
344:Betty Thoe's Homepage
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758:Fiction-writing mode
531:Classical Philology
488:Classical Philology
440:Classical Philology
350:on 2 September 2013
695:. 4 October 2018.
209:Performance poetry
194:Internal monologue
189:Dramatic monologue
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40:Christopher Walken
763:Figures of speech
671:Ace Your Audition
643:. Angelfire.com.
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537:(1): 1–21.
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234:Spoken word
101:apostrophes
97:soliloquies
773:Monologues
737:Categories
240:References
45:Hurlyburly
722:Monologue
703:5 October
651:16 August
625:16 August
559:162389976
516:224792284
468:162249208
354:16 August
321:16 August
295:16 August
174:Auditions
77:character
65:μονόλογος
57:monologue
29:Voiceover
25:Anantaram
697:Archived
675:Archived
645:Archived
619:Archived
391:70335135
315:Archived
289:Archived
269:29 April
263:Archived
214:Rhetoric
183:See also
121:dialogue
81:audience
748:Fiction
229:Diseuse
204:Oratory
127:History
53:theatre
726:Curlie
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105:asides
103:, and
93:poetry
59:(from
38:Actor
743:Drama
555:S2CID
547:JSTOR
512:S2CID
504:JSTOR
464:S2CID
456:JSTOR
144:Types
117:poems
89:films
85:plays
73:lógos
69:mónos
61:Greek
705:2018
653:2013
627:2013
597:2014
584:ISBN
425:2014
412:ISBN
387:OCLC
377:ISBN
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