The problem with a monologue, especially at this stage in an actor’s development, is that it is usually treated as an emotional speech. The actor carries the whole piece with one emotional pitch, one pace, and one tone. This is fine for a few lines of dialogue, but then the words merge together into a single emotion with a repetitive, repetitive voice, the body locks, and the ending feels far away.
A beat is a beat change, which is a shift or change of tactic, whether that’s a reaction to another character, a recall of information, an additional revelation, or a defensive retreat. These beat changes are not always obvious on the page. Sometimes a joke becomes a threat. Sometimes the calm, explanatory becomes a plea. A confident, authoritative statement may have a sudden doubt. You need to feel for the pressure changes.
Take the monologue (either printed or in your rehearsal notebook), and read it all the way through once without acting it. Grab your pencil and go back and forth through it, marking any changes of thought. This is not yet a formal exercise, so don’t worry about whether these beat shifts feel natural or if the shifts are in the right spot. Ask yourself, “What is the character thinking now, differently, than before?” When the thought changes, when the thought shifts from explaining to confronting, or from hiding to pleading, you’ve found a beat change.
Once you’ve identified a beat change, label each with a playable action, which avoids simple emotion descriptions such as “angry,” “sad,” or “confused.” Those descriptions are certainly true, but they don’t really help the actor in his or her rehearsal process. Label each of the beats with a playable action such as persuade, test, confess, challenge, appease, escape, taunt, deny, or command. With each action assigned to the beats, the monologue begins to be driven by active, instead of emotional goals and the character begins trying to do something other than simply express himself, which can keep the audience engaged in the monologue.
This is where a second problem can arise, specifically pacing. Actors are still working through new text and often race through beat changes as they work through the next line. Instead of rushing through, work through each beat independently at first. Work on the first beat three times, in each instance speaking it toward one place in the room, finding one place to breathe, allowing one final thought in each instance. Do the same with the second beat. This keeps the whole exercise from speeding up and prevents endings from disappearing.
For now, make simple physical choices. In one beat, a lack of motion can mean the character is holding something in. A small step toward an imaginary listener can show the character is now more direct. A turned-away body can be used to avoid another character, but be sure you choose to do so because you’ve been asked to. If you don’t, it becomes busy but doesn’t get much clearer. Remember to choose physical choices based on the beat changes, not the other way around.
Now when you work through the monologue as a whole, listen for the beats; is there a reason for the beat change? You don’t want choppy beats but a flat piece, so this is a good point to check in and see if things are working out. A good sign is you feel confident that you can stop mid-monologue, at the end of any beat, and be able to explain the change in tactic that was occurring at that point. If you can give the action, breathe into the beats before each beat change, and keep each beat as a choice, rather than an emotion, the monologue is a lot easier to rehearse and master.