Pace Year 2: Pop-Up Prep- Monologue Cafe
The idea to produce Monologue Cafe came from a desire to continue working in the area of increasing access to the arts for young people, which I had begun exploring in the previous Project Delivery module where we delivered Shakespeare workshops in a school. I was passionate to use this event production module to put on something that would help real people and saw a real gap for an event to help young creatives thinking of auditioning for drama school at some point in their future. Whilst I was at school, there was very little support offered to anyone considering a route outside of traditional university education, so something like Monologue Cafe would have been just what I needed on my way to Guildhall!
The first step of the process was securing a venue. I was really keen to work with Theatre Royal Stratford East after being part of a project there myself over summer and witnessing firsthand how good their relationship with their young people is. I also had discussions with a lot of people whilst I was there in August about how drama school seemed unapproachable to them and that it wasn’t something they’d ever consider even trying. I was shocked to be hearing this from such talented people and these conversations stuck firmly in my mind throughout the conceptualisation of Monologue Cafe. I met with Daisy Hale, a producer at Stratford East, and was offered the Gerry’s Cafe space, adjacent to the theatre, as in-kind support, meaning I didn’t have to pay for the hire. This was an unbelievable offer of a space perfect for my vision from the best partner organisation I could have hoped for in this endeavour.
Now that I had my venue I was able to put a callout for artists. I was looking for young people from all backgrounds that were willing to share a monologue they were thinking of using as an audition piece at the showcase on the 12th February. I was lucky enough to receive applications from a great variety of young people, all of whom had different reasons for wanting to perform. It was great to see there was a desire for the service that I was offering.
“I would love to perform my monologue as I am currently auditioning for drama school and would be grateful to see other monologues as there could be some potential monologues for the future!”
“I would like to perform at Monologue cafe as I would love to learn how to develop my technique as an actor and to gain better knowledge of the industry I will be going into. I have also applied to drama schools this year so this course would help me improve my confidence as an actress with going into auditions.”
“Between working two jobs to pay the rent and juggling unpaid creative projects, it is very hard to find the money to go to speech tutoring or acting classes with coaches who will help me improve my audition technique. The opportunity to perform at Monologue Café would increase my confidence when in the audition room, having already gotten the speech up on its feet and worked it in front of an audience”
Once all of the young artists had been invited to perform, we hosted them at Guildhall the weekend before the event for the Monologue Cafe workshop. This gave them the chance to work with Guildhall actor Nick Apostolina, who devised the workshop content with me, and lead the work on the day. This was a great chance for the performers to all meet each other and to begin to build up a sense of community between the people who would be there on the night. It was a great opportunity to have them all at Guildhall because even by inviting young people into our space, we are already braking down the perceived barriers and making conservatoires generally more approachable places for everyone.
The showcase evening was a huge success. All of the young performers were brilliant. They performed with maturity and skill which had the audience engaged from start to finish. It was also great to see so much of what had been explored in the workshop transferred into the performances that evening. The night finished with a panel discussion and Q&A for our ‘experienced artists. The panel comprised of Guildhall students Nick Apostolina and Reme Rodgers, both of whom performed on the night. They were joined by Mountview musical theatre student and recipient of the DaDa full scholarship, Josh Wright, and co-founder of Outspoken Arts and Barbican resident artist Endy McKay. The panel gave some great insight into the world of auditioning and training and had some brilliant advice for all of our audience members.
Overall, Monologue cafe was a huge success receiving great feedback from audience members and performers alike. We were asked by numerous audience members when we would be back and when the next event would be. Using the skills I have learned and contacts I’ve gained through this module on PACE, I am very keen to do more Monologue Cafes after seeing the success of this one and witnessing the positive effect it had on everyone involved.
