Introduction to Drama
Senior 3 · English
Introduction to Drama
5 lessons
Lesson 4 of 5
Alone with the Paper: Acts, Scenes and Stage Directions; Monologue, Soliloquy, Aside and Role-Play
30 min
Let's begin
A novel is divided into chapters; a play is divided into acts and scenes. And because a play has no narrator to tell us what a character is thinking, playwrights have invented special ways of letting us hear thoughts: the soliloquy, the aside and the monologue. Read these two scenes from a longer play, then learn how the parts of a script fit together and how each technique works.
Read: The Paper, Act 2
Two scenes from an imagined play, written for this lesson.
THE PAPER
Act 2, Scene 1
Behind the school kitchen. Evening. A single lamp above the back door. BRUNO hands AKALIZA a folded sheet of paper.
BRUNO: Mathematics. Tomorrow's paper. My cousin's friend works at a printer's.
AKALIZA: (not taking it) How do you know it's real?
BRUNO: Because I paid for it. (Aside, to the audience.) Five thousand francs. My whole holiday's work. It had better be real.
AKALIZA: Put it away, Bruno.
BRUNO: Just look at question one. One look. (He pushes it into her hand and exits.)
(AKALIZA is alone. She holds the paper away from her body, as if it might burn her.)
AKALIZA: One look. That's all he said. One look, and I'd know whether the circle question is there, the one I always get wrong. (She half unfolds it, then stops.) And then what? I walk into that hall tomorrow and write answers that aren't mine. Mama hangs my certificate on the wall, and every time I look at it, I see this kitchen wall instead. (Pause.) But if everyone else has seen it, and I haven't … then I'm the only fool in the room. (She looks at the paper for a long moment.) No. If I fail, I'll fail as myself. (She tears the paper in two, then in four.) There. Now there's nothing to look at. (She exits quickly.)
(Blackout.)
Act 2, Scene 2
A classroom, the next morning. Desks in rows. Students sit in silence, examination papers face down. MR HAKIZIMANA stands at the front.
MR HAKIZIMANA: Good morning. Before you turn your papers over, I have an announcement. Last night we learned that someone has been selling a mathematics paper to students in this district. It was a fake. Every question on it was invented by the seller. (Murmurs. BRUNO freezes.) The paper on your desks was printed under lock and key and opened in front of the invigilators ten minutes ago. So if anyone here paid for the other one, I am sorry about your money, but I am glad for your future. You may begin.
(BRUNO puts his head in his hands. AKALIZA turns her paper over, reads the first question, and smiles. The lights fade.)
End of Act 2
Definition
act: one of the main divisions of a play, usually marking a large stage in the story. A short play may have one act; many full-length plays have two to five.
scene: a smaller division of an act, in one place and one continuous time. A new scene begins when the place or time changes.
monologue: a long speech by one character to other characters on stage, or to the audience.
soliloquy: a speech in which a character, alone on stage (or believing they are alone), speaks their thoughts aloud, so that the audience hears what is in their mind.
aside: a short remark that a character makes to the audience or to themself, which the other characters on stage are understood not to hear.
role-play: acting out a situation, usually without a written script, to explore it or practise for it.
Comprehension
- Where and when do the two scenes take place?
- Why does Bruno believe the paper is real?
- What two fears pull Akaliza in opposite directions in her speech?
- What does Akaliza finally do, and what does "If I fail, I'll fail as myself" mean?
- What does Mr Hakizimana announce, and why does Bruno "freeze"?
- Why does the playwright let the audience hear Bruno's aside about the five thousand francs?
- How does Scene 2 reward Akaliza's choice? Is this ending realistic? Explain.
Show answersHide answers
- Scene 1: behind the school kitchen, in the evening. Scene 2: in a classroom, the next morning.
- Because he paid for it, and his cousin's friend works at a printer's.
- Her fear of cheating and of living with a certificate she did not earn, against her fear of being "the only fool in the room" if everyone else has seen the paper.
- She tears up the paper without looking. She means she would rather fail honestly, with her own work, than pass by cheating.
- That the paper being sold was a fake with invented questions. Bruno freezes because he bought it and now knows he has wasted his money, and perhaps studied the wrong questions.
- So that the audience knows how much he paid, which the other character does not hear, and so that his later shock in Scene 2 is stronger. It also shows his worry in a comic way.
- Her paper is real and she can answer it; she lost nothing by refusing. Open answer on realism: some will say it is too neat; others that leaked papers are often fakes or scams, so it is believable.
How a script is built
| Part | What it does | In "The Paper" |
|---|---|---|
| Title and cast list | names the play and lists the characters, often with a short description | (at the start of the whole play) AKALIZA, an S3 student; BRUNO, her friend; MR HAKIZIMANA, a teacher |
| Act and scene headings | mark the divisions of the play | Act 2, Scene 1; Act 2, Scene 2; End of Act 2 |
| Opening stage direction | sets the place, time, lighting and who is on stage when the scene begins | Behind the school kitchen. Evening. A single lamp … |
| Directions for entrances and exits | show who comes and goes | He … exits. (Several characters leaving together: Exeunt, Latin for "they go out".) |
| Directions for movement and manner | tell actors what to do and how to speak | (not taking it); (She tears the paper in two …) |
| Directions for light and sound | change the atmosphere and mark the end of scenes | (Blackout.); (The lights fade.) |
| Dialogue | the words spoken, after the character's name | BRUNO: Mathematics. Tomorrow's paper. |
Four ways of speaking on stage
| Technique | Who is on stage? | Who hears it? | What it does | In "The Paper" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialogue | two or more characters | all of them | moves the plot and shows relationships | Bruno and Akaliza argue about the paper. |
| Monologue | one speaker and others listening | the other characters (and the audience) | gives information, persuades, or shows a character's authority | Mr Hakizimana's announcement to the class |
| Soliloquy | the speaker alone | only the audience | reveals private thoughts, doubts and decisions | Akaliza's speech after Bruno leaves |
| Aside | several characters | only the audience | shares a secret or a joke with the audience; creates dramatic irony | "Five thousand francs. My whole holiday's work." |
Four ways of speaking on stage
Worked example
Monologue, soliloquy or aside? Three questions
- Is it long or short? One or two lines suggests an aside; a long speech suggests a monologue or soliloquy.
- Is anyone else on stage? If the speaker is alone, it is a soliloquy. If others are there and listening, it is a monologue.
- Are the other characters meant to hear it? If others are present but must not hear it, it is an aside.
- Apply it: Akaliza's speech is long, and Bruno has exited: soliloquy. Mr Hakizimana's speech is long, and the class hears it: monologue. Bruno's line is short, and Akaliza is on stage but does not hear it: aside.
Worked example
Writing a short soliloquy from a dilemma
Situation: Gisa has found a wallet with 20,000 francs and an ID card in the street.
- Start with what the character sees or holds: GISA: (alone, opening the wallet) Twenty thousand francs.
- Give one side of the argument: New shoes. A phone credit for a month. Nobody saw me.
- Turn, with a pause or a question: (Pause. He looks at the ID card.) Mukamana Jeanne. She looks like my aunt. What if this is her rent?
- Decide, and show the decision in action: No. (He closes the wallet.) The police station is on my way home. (He exits.) A soliloquy lets the audience watch a mind change.
Tip
Face the audience for an aside. When you perform an aside, turn your head or body towards the audience and lower your voice a little, while the other actors carry on as if they cannot hear. The audience will understand immediately that it is sharing a secret with you.
Warning
- A monologue is not the same as a soliloquy. Both are long speeches by one person, but a soliloquy is spoken alone, to share private thoughts.
- Don't start a new scene unless the place or time changes; don't start a new act for every small event.
- In role-play, stay in your role. If you laugh or step out of character, the situation stops feeling real and loses its value.
Role-play: two situations
In groups of three, act out each situation for two minutes without a script. One person watches and gives feedback: Did the speakers stay in role? Was the conflict clear? Was it resolved?
- A. A friend offers you the answers to tomorrow's test. A third student overhears and must decide whether to tell a teacher.
- B. A tourist at a market believes a trader has given the wrong change. The trader is sure she has not. A passer-by tries to help them understand each other.
After each role-play, write one line that could be turned into an aside and one that could start a soliloquy.
"What is a Soliloquy?", a literary guide for students from Oregon State University's School of Writing, Literature and Film. Note how the speaker separates a soliloquy from a monologue and an aside, and check your answers to the examples in this lesson.
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Practice
- Give the term: (a) a smaller division of an act; (b) a short remark to the audience that other characters do not hear; (c) a long speech made alone on stage; (d) a direction meaning several characters leave.
- Monologue, soliloquy, aside or dialogue? (a) A judge speaks for two minutes to a full courtroom. (b) A thief, alone in a dark shop, wonders whether to steal. (c) During a wedding speech, the bride's brother whispers to the audience, "He's said this three times already."
- When should a playwright start a new scene? Give two reasons, with examples from "The Paper".
- Find in "The Paper" one stage direction for each purpose: (a) lighting; (b) the manner of speaking; (c) an exit.
- Write an aside of one or two lines for Akaliza in Scene 2, after the announcement.
- Write a soliloquy of 80 to 100 words for Bruno, alone after the examination, following the steps in the second worked example.
- Prepare and perform role-play A or B. Afterwards, write three sentences explaining what you learned about the situation from acting it out.
Show answersHide answers
- (a) scene; (b) aside; (c) soliloquy; (d) Exeunt.
- (a) monologue; (b) soliloquy; (c) aside.
- When the place changes (from behind the kitchen to the classroom) and when the time changes (from evening to the next morning).
- (a) (Blackout.) or (The lights fade.); (b) (not taking it); (c) (He pushes it into her hand and exits.) or (She exits quickly.)
- Sample answer: AKALIZA: (aside, to the audience) A fake. And I nearly read it.
- Open answer. Check that Bruno is alone, that the speech shows his thoughts changing, and that it ends in a decision or realisation.
- Open answer.
Sources and credits
- Play extract "The Paper", Act 2 (imagined characters and school), definitions, script and technique tables, worked examples, role-play situations and practice: written by Ganzaa.
- Diagram "Four ways of speaking on stage": drawn by Ganzaa.
- Video: "What is a Soliloquy?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers, OSU School of Writing, Literature and Film, embedded from YouTube, not copied.
Written by Ganzaa.