Let's assume you've found your visual mark and that it is appropriately located.
The challenge now is to remain visually active on the mark throughout your performance. More simply put, really “see” the thing that you've chosen as your visual mark, which is the person you're supposed to be talking to in the context of your monologue.
Here's what usually goes wrong. You successfully find a mark but then you don't actively “see” the mark on a moment-to-moment basis as you would see a person's face when you're in conversation with them.
Having your eye on the mark but not really seeing what you're looking at gives you a glazed, dear-in-the-headlights kind of look. The glazed look in turn makes it seem that you're talking to no one. The result, no matter how appropriately you say the lines, it's going to seem as if you're reciting your lines to no one in particular. That's going to make your performance less than believable.
Another thing to remember is that your eyes are not going to stay glued to the visual mark that you've chosen throughout your entire monologue. If you did this you would look like a zombie. (If the character you're playing is a zombie, then definitely keep your eye glued to the mark.)
Your eyes like to move. When you're in a stimulating conversation with someone, you're eye does not stay glued to their face. Your eye is probably elsewhere at least 50% of the time. Your eye will look at them and then bounce away to something else and then back to them. By doing this it “refreshes” (just like a computer) the image of the person's face.
To let the eye function in this natural way, all you have to remember is one thing. The mark I choose is the person I'm talking to. I will let my eye go to that mark just as it would in a conversation. My eye will go to the mark when it wants direct eye contact with the person I'm supposed to be talking too.
When you look to that mark, really see the mark, whatever it happens to be. Let's say it's an exit light at the back of the theatre that you're auditioning in. See the exit light.
Often times actors will say, “Shouldn't I be seeing the person I'm talking to?” If you have great powers of visualization and this is easy for you to do, then great. Do it. However, you should also be seeing the thing your eye has actually chosen as a visual mark like the exit light mentioned above.
Even if you're good at visualizing, are you really talking to the person you're visualizing? The surprising answer is no. When you're performing your monologue, you're talking to the people in the room even though you’re not looking at them. This brings up the most common misconception about performing monologues.
Next… Who am I really talking too?
Labels: Audition Monologues