Suggestions for Great Contemporary Monologues: Top 3 Picks for Actors
Acting Pal is being increasingly used to learn lines, particularly large bodies of text i.e. monologues.
Student actors in particular are often asked to select certain (contemporary) monologues and perform them.
We thought it might be helpful to list a few great choices and suggest ways that you can leverage Acting Pal to learn those lines.
Mandy (article link) has suggested a few great contemporary monologues. Here are the top 3:
Red by John Logan, 2009
Character: Ken
(Explodes.) Bores you?! Bores you!? - Christ almighty, trying working for you for a living! - The talking-talking-talking-jesus-christ-won't-he-ever-shut-up titanic self-absorption of the man! You stand there trying to look so deep when you're nothing but a solipsistic bully with your grandiose self-importance and lectures and arias and let's-look-at-the-fucking-canvas-for-another-few-weeks- let’s-not-fucking-paint-let’s-just-look. And the pretension! Jesus Christ, the pretension! I can't imagine any other painter in the history of art ever tried so hard to be SIGNIFICANT! (KEN roams angrily). You know, not everything has to be so goddamn IMPORTANT all the time! Not every painting has to rip your guts out and expose your soul! Not everyone wants art that actually HURTS! Sometimes you just want a fucking still life or landscape or soup can or comic book! Which you might learn if you ever actually left your goddamn hermetically-sealed submarine here with all the windows closed and no natural light - BECAUSE NATURAL LIGHT ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! But then nothing is ever good enough for you! Not even the people who buy your pictures! Museums are nothing but mausoleums, galleries are run by pimps and swindlers, and art collectors are nothing but shallow social-climbers. So who is good enough to own your art?! Anyone?! (He stops, slows, realising). Or maybe the real question is: who's good enough to even see your art? ... Is it just possible no one is worthy to look at your paintings? ... That's it, isn’t it? … We have all been 'weighed in the balance and have been found wanting.' You say you spend your life in search of real 'human beings,' people who can look at your pictures with compassion. But in your heart you no longer believe those people exist... So you lose faith... So you lose hope... So black swallows red. My friend, I don't think you'd recognise a real human being if he were standing right in front of you.
This piece is a powerhouse choice because it allows you to demonstrate a massive status shift, moving from explosive, pent-up frustration to a quiet, intellectual dismantling of a superior figure.
Linda by Penelope Skinner, 2015
Character: Neil
The first thing I want to say is that I’m not going to belittle you or or or disrespect you by lying to you or by being dishonest. (Linda chuckles. Swigs at her drink. Neil takes a deep breath.) Any more than I already have, obviously. (He clears his throat.) The second thing I want to say is that it was an insane madness, Linda. I can’t explain it I can’t all I know is when she came upstairs and told me you were down here I knew like a like a like a like a like a like an arrow in my heart that I love you. That I need you. That I don’t want to lose you. That it was just a silly meaningless She fell for me and she’s well you saw her and I just I’ve been feeling a bit and maybe being in the band went to my head. When she told me she was attracted to me I felt like all those years as a teenage boy dreaming of the day I’d be a rock star and pretty girls would throw themselves at me and it just seemed so unfair that it was happening now. When it was too late. When it felt too late and then some nasty little thought came into my head saying what if it’s not too late? You know? What if what if I can just do it a few times and no one will ever find out? Because maybe despite my boring old middle-aged husband and father schoolteacher exterior perhaps as it turns out I really am a rock star. God it sounds pathetic. I know it’s pathetic. I know it is. (Linda presses her fingers to her forehead.) I don’t know how it happened. I thought I was better than this and I tried so hard to be better than this but I don’t know. It turns out I’m just like the worst kind of wanker and all I can say is it’s not what I want. I don’t want her. I don’t love her. I love you. (He watches her for a moment. She doesn’t respond.) And however you feel right now whatever it might seem like I can promise you this: I’m still me! I’m Neil! I’m your Neil! I couldn’t I didn’t know what to do. I made a terrible terrible mistake. But please please give me a chance to make it right. I need you. We’re a family. We need to stay together Linda please. I’m begging you. I’m fucking Oh God (Neil starts to cry.) Please please.
This provides a brilliant opportunity to display vulnerability and desperation as the character frantically cycles through different tactics—logic, flattery, self-deprecation, and begging—to achieve his objective.
The Wasp by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, 2015
Character: Carla
You thought you were so much better than me. You had your mum and dad at your beck and call. Anything you wanted. School work was easy. Teacher pleaser. Neat fucking uniform. Goody fucking two shoes. And I’d been waiting to wipe that smile off your face for years. You didn’t know. You didn’t fucking know what my life had been like and you judged me every day. The day I killed the pigeon you want to know what had happened that morning? I’ll tell you what had happened. I had watched my dad smack my mum round the face so hard her eye popped out. Clean out of its socket. I watched her put it back in while I called an ambulance. That’s just the kind of thing he did. Most days. And pretty soon it wasn’t just mum it was me as well. So when I used to go rounds yours and see what life you had at first it was like a fucking refuge for me. They were nice and stuff. I liked being there. It was all so calm. But then I started to realise that actually the longer I spend with you and your perfect sunshine family the more my family looks like a black hole of shit. And then your face when I killed the pigeon. The shock. You knew fuck all. You were still a child and even though we were the same age I was an adult already. I couldn’t be your friend. You pissed me off. You didn’t know anything. You didn’t understand why I’d done it. And even if I’d explained to you then and there; you still wouldn’t have understood. Would you?
This is a compelling selection for showcasing raw intensity and grounded storytelling, as the character uses a traumatic backstory to sharply subvert the power dynamic against a privileged peer.
A great technique for learning this text is the first-letter mnemonic method. This involves transforming each word into its initial letter and using the resulting string as a prompt. See our previous blogs for more details.
Acting Pal’s Memorisation Mode does the work for you. The moment you upload a monologue, we extract the dialogue and convert it into a string of letters.
Cameron Dejahang
Co-founder & CEO, Acting Pal
See also
FAQ
Where can I find good contemporary monologues?
Resources like Mandy.com, drama school reading lists, and play publishers (e.g., Samuel French, Nick Hern Books) are excellent sources. The three examples in this post (Red, Linda, The Wasp) are widely respected contemporary choices.
How do I memorise a long monologue quickly?
The first-letter mnemonic technique is highly effective for large blocks of text. It forces active recall by giving you only the initial letter of each word as a prompt. Acting Pal automates this with its Memorisation Mode.
Can I use Acting Pal for monologues?
Yes. Acting Pal is designed for monologues as well as scenes. You can upload the text, use AI voices to hear it read back (or leave silence for your part), and use the teleprompter and memorisation tools to learn it.
Are these monologues suitable for drama school auditions?
Yes. Red, Linda, and The Wasp are all contemporary plays (post-2000) with complex characters and strong emotional arcs, making them suitable for many drama school and casting auditions. Always check specific audition requirements first.
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