Observation is Vital
The threat of Storm Agnes looming over Ayr did not deter a good crowd of members, plus a couple of new faces, from attending Ken O’Hara’s monologue workshop.
Ken, an artist, musician, and actor, has a wealth of experience of giving life to the characters of dramatic monologues, having toured with productions including Alan Bennett’s A Chip in the Sugar, Catherine Czerkawska’s The Price of a Fish Supper, and Greg Oliver Bodine’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
Ken began by giving us would-be monologue writers excellent advice: have a killer first line and closing lines which hint at the future. Consider the pauses in speech…and punctuation. The monologue should unveil a surprise or revelation about the character’s life and psyche.
Observation is vital, Ken explained – look and listen for character inspiration all around you. Create a ‘voice’ – use colloquialisms, jargon, dialect, slang and, of course, expletives (real folk f****n’ swear).
Ken demonstrated the above by transforming into inebriated and sweary Rab from A Price of a Fish Supper. Earlier he’d explained that the first time he read Czerkawska’s script, the character of Rab leapt to him from the page – his mannerisms and quirks, his shaky hands and his drunken posture. Rab’s shabby out-of-shape jacket and beanie hat also help Ken ‘become’ the old fisherman. Reading the first two pages of the disjointed, but very clever, script, Ken brought Rab to life in the Mercure. The quality of both his performance and the play’s script, hint at a powerful story to follow.
Ken swiftly morphed into Graham from A Chip in the Sugar (excellent Yorkshire accent and great delivery) then boomed as a very theatrical Dickens, from A Christmas Carol displaying amazing versatility as he read a scene from the classic festive story, effortlessly swapping from the characters and unique voices of Scrooge, Fred, the Two Gentlemen and Bob Cratchit.
So how much help does a monologue scriptwriter give to the actor? Ken discussed set descriptions, stage directions and parenthetical directions.
Then it was time for our pens to get some practice; Ken had devised a monologue writing exercise. He allowed us ten minutes and gave us several prompts to choose from including:
- Santa comes home after a Christmas Eve shift. He is not happy.
- Superman is fed up saving the world.
- An alien in human form reports on what he/she has observed on Earth.
The room went quiet as our brain cogs spun furiously and we scribbled in our notebooks.
After coffee break, volunteers read out their work. Superman proved to be popular – everyone loves a superhero!
We had –
An indignant Superman who insisted he did not wear red pants, but instead wore ‘fitted shorts.’
A Superman lamenting the lack of phone booths in New York City thanks to cell phones – where would he change?
A fed-up Superman turning down the plea to help save an Ayr hotel from burning down (very topical).
Red pants were the source of another Superman’s super-powers – but he accidentally managed to get superglued inside a phone-box without them. Now, how was he going to get out?
We also had two unhappy Scottish Santas – one ‘jiggert’ after a carry-on wi’ parcels fleein’ aff the sledge, the other ‘scunnert’ wi’ nae chimneys, and weans wanting iPhones for Christmas – no dollies or train sets!
Next, two bemused aliens – one being confused by the observation that humans have a tendency to lie all the time, the other being a perplexed ‘human’ Yoda.
Well done to all the writers – as usual a remarkable achievement to create such fantastic pieces in such a short time.
Ken’s workshop finished with a quick Q&A session, when he answered the question, I’m certain many of us had pondered … How does he memorise all the words of an hour-long monologue? The answer is, it takes him around six months preparation and rehearsal, learning and memorising the script in manageable chunks, to get up to performance standard.
Wow – a lot of dedicated hard work.
And so, the curtain came down on another great night at Ayr Writers’ Club.
Many thanks to Ken for an enlightening and inspirational evening. His next project is a one-man play Robert Burns: A Short Life.
Can’t wait to get my ticket for that show!
Linda Brown
