Contrasting Combinations for Men and Women: Contemporary Drama and Classical Comedy

Written by Ashleigh Gardner

January 24, 2019

Having contrasting monologues in your rep is a must for every actor, and understanding classical texts is also a necessary skill if you want to get into any acting program. Below, we’ve compiled ten sets of monologues – 5 for women, 5 for men – consisting of dramatic contemporary monologues and classical comedic monologues. Dive in!

Female: Contemporary Drama / Classical Comedy

For My Silent Sisters by Tara Meddaugh & Lysistrata by Aristophanes

For My Silent Sisters by Tara Meddaugh
Marta is a Romanian teenager who has been lured away from home with the promise of a job as a translator in England. Instead, she is brought to a “training facility” for girls to be sent to brothels in Europe.

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Lysistrata by Aristophanes
The women of Greece have had it with their patriarchal society. Lysistrata speaks to the men of Athens and tells them what mistakes they have made.

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Sex & Death In London by Crystal Skillman & As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Sex & Death In London by Crystal Skillman
London. A pub in Clapham Junction, London. Outside, the London riots are raging. Two teenage girls, Tink and Cyn, have broken into the pub and are waiting on their friend, Terra. Henry is the father of Terra, who has gone missing amid the riots. He has snooped on Terra’s open laptop at home and discovered Terra’s plans to escape to the pub with Tink and Cyn. This monologue lies just before the end of the play. Henry is about to leave to find his daughter when Tink stops him. It is the most real and honest thing she has said for the entire length of the play. It’s a side of her we haven’t seen before – the real her. She explains what she saw down at the bridge on the lake. Terra, pregnant, and Alex, Terra’s boyfriend, were talking when Terra jumped into the lake and drowned.

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As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Rosalind, the daughter of the banished Duke Senior, has fled the castle of her uncle to the woods and dressed as a boy to disguise herself. While there, she runs into Orlando, the wrestler from the castle who was also banished. She has fallen in love with him, and he with her, but because he doesn’t know she has disguised herself, he thinks the boy talking to him is an actual boy in the forest. In this intercut monologue, as Rosalind is disguised, she flirts with Orlando and tells him about her fake family history, views on different kinds of people, and how she feels about people in love. She teases him playfully, all while maintaining her mask of being a boy. And she also suggests, for his sake and practice for his “Dear Rosalind”, that he think of the boy in front of him as a sort of practice beloved before he meets his Rosalind again.

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The Telling Trilogy by Crystal Skillman & A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

The Telling Trilogy by Crystal Skillman
This monologue is from “The Telling,” the first short play in The Telling Trilogy. The Daverns Inn is up for sale, and it must be sold. In the basement of the inn, a small sealed box sits in the center of the room. Vic, the sister who has come back, has returned by request of her sister, Ty. Ty and Vic told stories to each other when they were small girls; they also had a penchant for setting traps for each other. In this monologue, Ty tells Vic about a dream Ty had, and Vic tries not to listen because the image is much, much too real. In the dream, Ty tries to get Vic to go down to the basement, a place they were never supposed to go. But when Ty runs down the stairs first, she tumbles down the staircase and finds herself immobile in a pool of her own blood.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
The wood near Athens at night; the mischievous Puck has dropped some magic potion into the eyes of Demetrius and Lysander, causing both to instantly fall in love with Helena. They were previously chasing her friend, Hermia. Helena responds to this new confusion, thinking it is a cruel trick.

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Plummet by A.D. Hasselbring & The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

Plummet by A.D. Hasselbring
Outside her place of work, Laura replies to her former husband and tells him why she is better off for having divorced him.

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The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Ephesus; the home of Adriana. Luciana, Adriana’s sister, is being pursued by whom she thinks is Antipholus, Adriana’s husband. In truth, it is Antipholus’s long lost twin brother, also named Antipholus. He is trying to seduce her, and she, thinking this is her sister’s husband, shames him for making advances upon her.

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Ghost by A.A. Gardner & The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

Ghost by A.A. Gardner
Lyle, a postal courier, has just invaded Petra’s apartment to badger her about why she ghosted him two years ago. Petra attempts to make him leave by telling him repeatedly that the event that happened between them (having a sexual encounter in a church closet at a wedding) was nothing. However, Lyle can’t take “I wasn’t in love with you” for an answer. He keeps pressing for an apology, saying she hurt his feelings. Petra replies with this monologue: a pointed barb at Lyle that mocks his mental health and insults his perception of friendship. (At the core of this monologue lies a keen knowledge that Petra was once in love with Lyle, but cannot face him, so she resorts to meanness.)

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
Julia, a young gentlewoman, and her friend and servant, Lucetta, are talking about leaving Verona to go to Milan and visit Proteus, Julia’s beloved. Lucetta doesn’t want to go because she says the journey is long and difficult, and she tells Julia to “qualify the fire’s extreme rage” (to temper Julia’s lust and desire for Proteus). Julia responds by saying that every time Lucetta tries to quell her feelings for Proteus, they only become stronger.

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Male: Contemporary Drama / Classical Comedy

Wild by Crystal Skillman & Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare

Wild by Crystal Skillman
The shore of a beach during the early afternoon. Vin, a stranger Peter has never met before today, is sitting on his towel on the beach. Vin is a grad student at Northwestern, and Peter is the Junior Client Reporting Associate at Mesirow Financial. Peter’s father is dying, and his family does not accept that Peter is gay. His family passive-aggressively blames Peter for his father being in the hospital. In addition, Peter has been unfaithful to Bobby, his partner, and slept with a woman. Peter is struggling with low self worth and venting to Vin, who is willingly listening to Peter’s troubles.

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Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare
The Boar’s-Head Tavern, Eastcheap. Early in the play, Prince Harry (Hal) spends his time in taverns and bars, making friends with the commoners and drinking his youth away.  He has renounced the court and enjoys his fame in the bar scene. In this monologue, he muses on the good times he has had, and is currently having, drunk in a tavern.

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Porch by Alex Kump & All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare

Porch by Alex Kump
In this scene Jeff describes to Vincent about when he knew he was in love with him. He talks about the physical sensation of being in love with someone, and then talks about how one is definitely sure when they’ve fallen in love.

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All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
Roussillon (France). Bertram’s palace. Helena, a chaste gentlewoman, asks the braggart Captain Parolles, a confidant of her love, Bertram, why men are such enemies of virginity and how women can guard against their assault. Parolles answers with this discourse. He utilizes various sexual puns throughout the conversation which add to the comedy of the piece.

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Burning The Old Man by Kelly McCallister & The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

Burning The Old Man by Kelly McCallister
Earth, a new age hippie type, is telling Bobby about who he used to be and who he is now, now that the love of his life has died.

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The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Petruchio wishes to marry Katherina (“Kate”) against her will at the request of her father, Baptista Minola. (Kate’s younger sister Bianca cannot marry until Kate has married first, and Bianca, being the favorite of her family, gets what she wants.) Petruchio is a jokester and treats Kate with disrespect. He teases her, berates her headstrong personality, and makes sarcastic jibes about her appearance all in an effort to get her to lighten up a little bit. But Kate. Hates. Petruchio. In this monologue, Petruchio has come to woo Kate, and after a battle of wits with her, sarcastically tells her how much he “likes” her, using dry humor to confuse her opinion of him.

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Gilt by Stephen Greenhorn, Rona Munro and Isabel Wright & Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Gilt by Stephen Greenhorn, Rona Munro, and Isabel Wright
Chris has spent much of his life living on the streets. When we first meet him he is staying in a dingy flat with Jo, a teenage girl who is equally lost and alone. However, when Jo is given fifty thousand pounds by a man she has slept with in order that she keeps quiet about the affair, she moves out, leaving Chris on his own. He, meanwhile, has been running ‘errands for the boys’. This has involved picking up bags in designated places and delivering them to Al who works in the bar of a hotel. On the last occasion, Chris, thinking there might be money in the bag, dared to look inside. To his horror he found a dead body hacked to pieces and covered in blood. Chris is repulsed by the sight of it and, once he has delivered the bag, makes a decision that this will be the very last time.

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Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Constable Dogberry and his partner, Virges, have arrested Borachio and Conrad for being the cause of a ruined wedding. Dogberry, a passionate, bumbling, and misspoken man, is a good police officer, but his way of doing things doesn’t quite line up with procedure. He’s also not that great with vocabulary. In this monologue, Dogberry rolls up his sleeves, extremely upset and offended, after Borachio has called him an “ass” for apprehending him. (Keep in mind that Dogberry is sensitive and proud of his job, and that’s why he’s so upset to be called an “ass.” His overreaching anger makes this monologue all the more hysterical.)

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a sex thing by Katie Frazier & Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare

a sex thing by Katie Frazier
This monologue starts the play. Here, David talks ethereally about his relationship with Ann. From afar, they seem as though they have the perfect relationship. David swept in a rescued her from an abusive relationship, and now they have been happily married for 3 years. On paper, they look great. He romanticizes the notion of him sweeping her off her feet initially, but, what happens now?
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Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare

Navarre, Spain. The King’s park. Berowne, who has forsworn his pact to avoid all women in favor of contemplation and academic study, falls madly in love with the bewitching Rosaline. He has just given the clown Costard a letter to deliver to her, declaring his passion.

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Ashleigh Gardner received her AA in Theatre/Drama/Dramatic Arts from Valencia College and her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright and an actor.
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