Why Monologues

I am frequently asked why I am undertaking to perform monologues rather than getting involved in local amateur theatre productions or striking out again into the world of professional theatre. I think the underlying question is whether I am a bit of an egotistical snob.

When I retired from law in 2015, I needed something to keep my mind alive and vital. I needed a challenge. Theatre is not new to me. I was a professional actor throughout the 1970s. Then, being an actor meant surviving by taking jobs as a waiter, caterer and contract work in social services. I turned to a career in law late and for reasons of both financial security and social justice concerns. Once I had settled in my legal studies in the early 1980s and then my career I could not conceive of time for acting. I gave up my professional acting memberships in 1995.

In 1989, I did write a monologue dealing with the AIDS crisis and I performed it in 1990 as a fundraiser for a fledgling AIDS organization in the small city of Peterborough where I was working as a legal aid lawyer at the time.  I was terrified to be on stage alone. But I did it, and the play was a success. But the acting bug did not take root again.

A few years later, when my partner and I moved to the remnants of an 1860s farmstead near a small rural village, I got involved in an amateur theatre production – a murder mystery. It was not a happy experience, with actors quitting at the last moment, not knowing their lines, and having to deal with set construction, publicity and ticket sales. However, the audience loved the show. Regardless, I decided that amateur theatre was not for me. So, I put theatre involvement out of my mind once again.

Then, in 2004 I met 3 people from the area who had all been professional actors in their previous lives and who wanted to now undertake challenging productions – Pinter, Chekhov, Langford Wilson, Lee Blessing – and for a few years we did just that. It was wonderful to work with people who took this art seriously, who worked hard. But with each of us having busy other careers, and family obligations, it eventually became more of a chore than a satisfying undertaking. The group disbanded about 2008.

I do not have access to a Name. I do not have access to funding. I do not have access to a trusted director. But I do have a talent. And I want to be challenged. I do not have time or the interest to get back into the audition circuit. I am committed to the wonderful relationship I have with my partner and need and want to have a flexible schedule to accommodate our time together. Monologues provide me with the flexibility I require and with the mental challenge I thirst for. If I do not feel comfortable with the end result of learning the script, then I do not need to perform the play for an audience. It is enough that I have undertaken to learn  it and in the process challenged my skill, my intellect and my mental function.