We tend to think of monologues as more of a theatre thing. When we study Shakespeare at school, our teachers will bang on and on about the importance of his monologues (or soliloquies, which is clearly just our teachers messing with us by giving us a harder word to spell in essays). They're supposed to be a major theatrical device and that's all fine and everything but it requires going to the theatre to enjoy them. Thank god for movies for saving us from a form of entertainment where it's inappropriate to eat popcorn. Every so often, amid the snappy back-and-forths and moody moments of introspection, an actor in a film is allowed to unleash a stream of uninterrupted (or mostly uninterrupted) dialogue. It's usually an opportunity to show the audience that, wow, this person can really act or wow, this screenwriter is kind of amazing or wow, this movie is really self-indulgent or some combination of those wows. For a monologue to be memorable it needs to makes us really feel something, whether it's devastated, intimidated, amused or suddenly inclined to fight in a war. The following 10 monologues are sure to give you some of those feels no matter how many times you see them.
Brydie is an Australian writer and performer living in London and she complains exactly the same amount about the weather as every other Australian living in London. Yes, that is her natural lip colour, no, she will not be taking any further questions at this time.
