𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲 – 𝗧𝗶𝗽 #𝟮: 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗹𝗱?

There seems to be a prevailing attitude that if the character in a monologue is 55-years-old, then only an actor in that age range can perform it. Likewise, if a character is 22-years-old, then only a younger actor can tackle it. And that, quite frankly, is nonsense.

If it were the play itself that was being cast, then yes, clearly the actor would need to be somewhere in the same age range as the character he or she is auditioning for. But a monologue taken from a play is taken out of context of the source material and becomes a separate, stand-alone piece of work. It becomes, in effect, a tiny little play in and of itself.

Therefore, providing the text of the monologue doesn’t contain any age-related information (which, by the way, you can often simply edit out) or isn’t written in a style that would denote great maturity or profound naivety, there’s absolutely no reason for you to have to restrict yourself so slavishly to a character’s age in the original material.

That little monologue is your little play, and if you have an affinity for a particular piece, it doesn’t matter where it comes from, only that you can inhabit it and make it your own.