Useful Resources

Act On It - Getting Out resources

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Monologue 1 - Space

I want to go to outer space, to ride on a star. A shining star, it’s bright, it’s beautiful. I want to put my arms out wide and spin and turn and float. I will have space all around me. I will be in a dream. I will be free. I will lift myself up slowly and rise up high, each step I take in space will be a triumph, a way out of this time, a way forward, into space, a new space, a better space. Me, my space, my very own space. I will follow my star.

Are the stars keeping two metres apart? Are the stars wearing masks? Are the stars sad? What if I find a sad star? Is a shooting star really a crying star, are the sparkles we see really tears, the tears of a star? The beautiful shooting tears that light up the sky. Has space already been made sad? Am I too late? Am I too late to find my star?

One Autumn day the fair came to the town where I lived and I went into space. I went into space when I was on the waltzers, I was seven years old and I was with my older sister and the fair ground guy really fancied her, and he made our car spin really fast, faster than I’d ever moved. I closed my eyes, I went into space. I was free.

Workshop idea:

Think of a memory when you experienced a feeling of letting go or being free. What words describe the feeling?

Answer the following questions.

Where was I?
When was it?
Who was I with?
How did I feel? Did my feelings change?
How can I describe the feeling to others?
Create a few lines of dialogue that could accompany the scene.

Monologue 2 - Routine

I’ve stopped chewing. I’ve stopped chewing because it’s boring. I don’t want to chew anymore. I hold the food in my mouth. Then I get ready to swallow it, without chewing.

Chew. No. I get a lump in my throat, I am scared. Breathe, in and out. One foot in front of the other. Keep the routine going. We all need routines apparently. We are missing our routines. We have stopped chewing our food. Get a new routine. Breathe, in and out. One foot in front of the other.

A new routine? Now there’s a thought. I think it would need to be harder, something to make us sweat, something to make us tired, a hard routine. If life is hard it’s easier, and you just breathe without thinking, you chew your food without thinking. No sitting down, that’s part of the new routine. No stopping. Let’s get going again, start again, make it harder so we can breathe without thinking. In through the nose, out through the mouth…. Catch your breath, rosy cheeks, warm hands. A new routine.

Workshop idea:

Think of a routine we all take for granted such cleaning our teeth or walking to the shops. Use three tableaus to show the beginning, middle and end of the routine.

Play with the tableaus.

Exaggerate the physical pictures
Use movement to connect the tableaus into a sequence. Play with the speed; fast-forward, slow-motion
Say a word with each tableau
Repeat the sequence using vocal and physical skills to communicate a character or the opening of a story

Monologue 3 - Hope

Why does a kit kat have two fingers? Some have four, kit kat snap, gone. Stock up. Toilet paper, pasta, kit kats. The new currency. Snap. Change. Gone. Gone are the things we knew, here is the new life.

Do you have any Kit Kat? I have, I have a room made of Kit Kats. Can we panic buy Kit Kats this time? If no one sees you eat a whole packet of Kit Kats, then maybe it doesn’t count. You can say you didn’t. It wasn’t me. I don’t know where they have gone.

Stop.

Slow down.

Think.

I remember my dream. I hope it’s chips for tea. And maybe a Kit Kat afterwards.

Gone are the rules we knew. Hope. Hope for better rules, rules that let us play the game too.

Can I play? I will share my Kit Kat.

Workshop idea:

Use an object as a stimulus to create a character. The stimulus could be an image, an object or a sound.

What does it make you hope for?
Who would hope for this?
Why does this give hope?
Use Hot Seating or Thought Tracking to develop the character
If you are working with a group, bring the characters together to explore dialogue and improvise a scene

Monologue 4 - Friends

Smiling I say hello. It’s nice to have friends. It’s hard to give up if they stare at you. They watch you.

I don’t want you to be my friend. I felt his paw on my arm, his eyes were doing that thing they do, where he stares at me and tries to make me love him. I felt his breath, his stinky dog breath on my arm. Then I cried. He pushed his paw on my arm even harder. He loves me.

Why am I being unkind when he loves me. Get off me, I pushed him. I hated myself. I love him too. Why aren’t I kind? Why can’t I be kind? I should be nice.

A numbness sits and holds me. My feeling of a broken heart. My heart. Your heart. I break us. I wish the world for you. You are my friend.

Workshop idea:

Write a letter to a friend.

Why are you writing?
What do you want to communicate?
How do you want to make them feel?
Read the letter aloud and apply acting techniques to communicate the meaning

Monologue 5 - Loss

I have shrunk. I am down here; you can’t see me because I have shrunk. I sit alone. I don’t take up much space now. You can’t hear me. I’m sorry. I am, I am really sorry, but it’s too hard. I have forgotten how to be, and you have forgotten how to see me. Or did you plan this? Did you plan to make me shrink? Take down the photographs and reminders of who I was. I don’t see me in today’s pictures. I am too small now, I am disappearing. Has the TV got bigger? The trees are so tall. Why are people in charge getting bigger? I have shrunk. I am lost. Who has taken my place? I am sorry.

I don’t go out anymore. I don’t do the things I used to do. I eat my lunch in the morning and wear my pyjamas in the afternoon. I wash my hair when I have to Zoom. I don’t dream of my future. I sit still. I am not free anymore.

Workshop idea:

Think of the experience of lockdown. Create a scene to communicate a feeling of loss relating to one or more of the following:

Routine
Structure
Friendship
Opportunity
Freedom