Our culture is primarily verbal. Everyone talks everyday and we talk a lot. As soon as you meet someone, you either say something to them or they say something to you.
In a functional conversation where both parties are really talking “to” each other the flow of the verbal interaction is not guided by the content of the words. It's being guided by high-speed, nonverbal interactions (“sensing”). These fleeting events are seldom noticed on a conscious level. Before every utterance you automatically sense if the person you're talking to is ready to hear you speak. When you sense they are ready, you speak. This all happens in fractions of a second. If this doesn't happen, they literally will not catch what you’re saying and you'll have to repeat it.
As soon as you've spoken to them another nonverbal interaction occurs. You automatically sense if they've heard what you've said. If you sense they didn't get it, you'll repeat what you've said. Observe two people in conversation and you will see these two crucial nonverbal interactions at work. Without these interactions virtually any conversation will fall apart.
Let's put these two nonverbal interactions to work in the context of doing a monologue.
You've taken the stage and located your visual mark. As you are experiencing your way through the brief nonverbal moments before you speak, you are also sensing when your viewers are ready to hear you speak. As soon as you sense that they're ready, let the line happen. Once you've spoken the line, sense if they're received it. While you're sensing if they've received it, you're also sensing when they will be ready for your next line.
With the first couple of lines it's likely to take your viewer a second or two to be ready. During those lines they are acclimating to your presence, your vocal quality, look, etc. By the third or fourth line they've acclimated and will become ready to hear your next line more quickly than the first couple of lines. This means that the pace will quicken as you move through the rest of your lines. However, regardless of the pace, you should continue sensing when your viewers are ready for your next line and if they received your last line, and you should do so with every line you speak.
Next… Monologues should be banned.
Labels: Audition Monologues