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This is Dr. Charles Grimes. And I'm talking on behalf of Expert Village, about rehearsing
a monologue. Rehearsing with a partner is always a good idea if you're going to go about
doing these monologues. For one thing, you need the support, you need the companionship,
and you need someone to give feedback and help you. Finally, the presence of a partner
can help you, as an actor, energize all your objectives and begin to really do what it
is your character is doing in that particular moment. So, let's do another exercise that
will allow you to take advantage of a partner's presence. Let's do what I call a "no" exercise,
or an interjection exercise. And simply, the person with the monologue is going to go through
the monologue with lots of breaks and the other person is going to say "no" or interject
a variety of comments, simply to force the other person to come up with more energy and
more specificity in each of his or her choices. And it's great to rehearse with a friend.
You just feel less alone. Let's give that a shot. And I'm going to move around just
a little bit. And Hank, once again, is going to try to convince me. ...issue is a singular
issue and quite distinct from your previous work. Certain elements, however, might well
approximate a... No! What! What are you saying! Go back to the beginning. I don't get you!
In all events, McCann, I can assure the mission will be accomplished....No, no! How do I know
that?! ...aggravation to you or myself... How do you know that?! Are you satisfied?
Okay. So we're at a stand-off. Very tense, okay, as you might have picked up. But what
I managed to do was to throw in what McCann might have been thinking in those moments.
He didn't say it, but he might well have been thinking. And a monologue only looks like
a monologue. The other person they're speaking to is always just about ready to speak, but
doesn't. So, the person doing the monologue, that character continues to utter and overrides
what the other person is always just about to say. So what we did was to literalize that
situation, give you another technique to work with as you're rehearsing with a partner.