Let's get REAL.
TRIGGER WARNING. If you're ready to grow and move up a level, read this now. If you're struggling today, that's fine, come back to it when you're able to.
I'm going to talk to you today, how I like to be talked to.
Disclosure: It involves no bullshit.
This is a KICK up, not a PICK up.
Often I get asked for monologue suggestions.
I'm alright sharing some Shakespeare options once I've seen you act and had an actual conversation with you and you've invested in yourself.
Shakespeare is different because it is dense, it is old, and how the hell can you figure what kind of character is good for you if you genuinely struggle figuring classical language and only just heard about it all?!
It's a skill that requires honing. I'll always expect you to go away and read and watch the play your speeches come from, at least once.
Like contemporary writing, you need to know the context, what is said about your characters by other characters and understand the world that has been created by the writer, for your character.
You can't really get that if you've read or watched it once, can you?
I know it's tough, and hard and will take time to "get", especially if you aren't naturally gifted at it.
But if you don't do that; it's not good enough.
Also, there are a finite amount of classical speeches and plays. They were literally written hundreds of years ago. There can't be any more. Ever again.
Now I say that, that's more reason for me to suggest you can find them yourself. Anyway...
But here's what really gets my goat of late.
"Can you suggest some contemporary monologues for me?"
At the end of the day:
YOU have to do the work.
I've heard a few times lately: "I just don't have the time right now to find any" or "I don't even know where to start" or "I don't have the time..." for whatever reason; Uni, work, family commitments.
If you don't prioritise doing the work?
You won't get into drama school.
You won't book the job.
You won't feel confident in your choices.
You will give up as soon as the going gets tough.
Life happens, I get it.
But look.
If you don't make the time, someone else will.
And they will be a success and smash it. And you won't.
There is someone else, somewhere else, dealing with much bigger problems than you.
And they're still going to the work.
And they will reap the rewards.
I'm not saying this to blow my own trumpet but guys...
🎺
My Dad died in August the year I started applying for drama schools.
Then I lost a school friend who was a year older than me that December.
Whilst on a foundation course, training from 8.30am until 6pm Monday to Friday, full time, in Guildford, I was also working at Mecca Bingo in Croydon on a Friday to start at 5pm I think or 5.30pm (I'd leave school early that day) and I'd finish earliest 11pm.
Then I'd eat dinner at 11pm; sometimes we'd get off a little early and we'd literally run to the Wetherspoons to make the food ordering cut off time. Otherwise, I remember buying chocolate from vending machines at Clapham Junction often.
Then I'd start work at 9.30am or 10am Saturday and work until 10.30pm earliest, sometimes lock up around midnight. I hate being late, so I'd usually be at least 30 minutes early before my shift to iron my uniform. On Fridays that was hard but I'd do my best.
Then Sundays I would work too, same sort of hours, I'd usually leave during the late cash line session because the journey via train was between 60 minutes to 90 minutes and the last train was earlier that night... That's without the walk to and from the station to work, and home.
It was a 15 minute walk from the station in Croydon to get to Mecca and a 40 minute walk from Guildford train station to my house share on Hornbeam Road. And I don't walk slow. Never have.
So that's bed time at approximately 1.30am after the journey and walk home.
(On "school" days too, I'd often get there earlier as I actually didn't want to always walk with my housemates. I needed some time just for me and my head. I was in front of and with people, all, day, long, every, single, day.)
So that's a two hour journey. In between acting training and then "work" work.
Then I picked up Monday shifts of an evening too because I had fees and bills to pay and was quite frankly, aware that this was all on me. No one else.
Then I got a job at Hollister to work night shifts, folding clothes.
Do you think I still had time to do my work? Learn my lines? Learn routines? Fill out my applications? FIND MONOLOGUES? Read plays to find said monologues(?!?!?!?!)?
(Also, whilst on my foundation we had to do a Mock Audition every single week which meant researching each school and finding new speeches to try out. COME ON PEOPLE.)
As I'm sure you can imagine, no, I really didn't have many spare minutes at all...
🤦🏽♀️
Remember this was pre-covid too, so all auditions and lessons were in person. Amazon wasn't yet at it's peak. Plays weren't as available online.
💾
Do you see how willing I was to earn money so that I could achieve my goal?
Do you see how willing I was to make it work?
Do you see how willing I was to do the work?
Despite the guilt of not being home with my Mum, despite the guilt that my Dad dying prompted all this, despite my friend Ryan dying in Southend Hospital the day before NYE, I think at 22, a young talented, amazing guy who had bags of potential; despite dealing with my grief and figuring all this out with no mentorship, no coach, no one on YouTube making some of this really easy for me...?
Do you see the energy I put in to the work? The craft? Into my acting career?
It's almost insulting when someone tells me they're too busy or don't know where to find their own speeches.
🙃
I squeezed in line-learning on the train. I remember being stood on packed trains on a Friday evening, reading plays. Searching for the speech that would set my soul on fire.
Every lunch break I would eat a Greggs Chicken Bake because it was cheap and easy, then I'd do more work in a studio. I'd even pick up my teacher's lunch and bring it back to him because he was also so busy working through and striving for excellence.
And of course...
There were sometimes I dropped the ball and you know what?
I remember that PISSING me OFF SO MUCH.
🤬
Mecca Bingo, believe it or not, was a pretty high-stake job. I was handling thousands of pounds every shift, morning and afternoon on weekends, I was responsible for the audience/guests having a great night out, sales and encouraging people to spend their money.
I was one of the best cash line hosts in the company...I know that might not mean a lot to some of you but I made Mecca bingo a lot of money over the two years I worked there. Cash line is the main income for bingo companies - it's fast paced and involved me guaranteeing certain prize money and taking risks; getting a bollocking from management when those risks didn't pay off, doing quick maths and creating an atmosphere of excitement and opportunity (I know... "Bingo, really?!").
I had to speak, press buttons, do maths, entertain people, hit time deadlines, cue music and hit income deadlines in the space of short fast games, also ensuring we made the "Link" games, where guests could win £10,000, sometimes £100,000! If I wasn't on the ball... Jeez, things got dark fast.
I had to be the swimming swan; stressed underneath; ever graceful above.
🦢
It was amazing, I loved that job. It had the excitement of theatre the faff of being a producer, the fun of stand up and the pressure of Live TV.
🥸
Again, I'm not yapping on about this to impress you.
🦚
I'm telling you to impress upon you that I was really working hard, in every area of my life at this point and in high-pressure situations.
😓
No, was not an option.
Shortcuts, were not an option.
🚦
I had a job to do. I had a few actually...
🤯
I see so many people half arse-ing these days. Every time I visit a chain restaurant people don't care, they don't want to be there. There's no conversation. No pride in the work. A good waiter or host can make a killing and have a really good time and open up lots of opportunities just by being their best selves, but yet no one seems to realise that anymore...
🥰
When I worked I gave 100% of my focus on the task at hand. No phones distracting us on shift. Good customer service. Smiles and energy. Making people feel good. Going the extra mile. Because that's what I had to do to feel satisfied in myself. I rarely see that these days.
😔
And I'm so over not seeing that in actors.
😤
So over it.
I would be aching at the end of everyday.
I'd go sit in the fridge at Mecca Bingo on my 15 minute break because I was usually so hot and sweaty on adrenaline that I needed to cool off. And probably learn lines, release my jaw and do some stretches because I didn't have time anywhere else to do that extra work!
Aching. But knowing the hard work would be worth it. It's a great feeling.
Not for the success but knowing that despite all this shit I was going through, I would be proud of myself, and I knew that half-arsing wasn't an option.
I didn't have family in the profession or connections or a claim to fame.
I had me and my work ethic.
🚀
So, guys:
What does your work ethic say about you? Be honest.
I'm a coach that will push you. Not do the work for you. I'd run a MILE if a coach just started dishing out monologues from a Monologue book compiled in 1999 without even seeing you act and speaking to you. Don't fall for it.
Applying for drama schools and being able to have this much autonomy over your work is an incredibly exciting time.
Read that again:
Applying for drama schools and being able to have this much autonomy over your work is an incredibly exciting time.
💃🏼
Until you're Olivia Coleman or Bryan Cranston, you will most likely NOT get to pick and choose your work in the real world of being a professional.
Why waste that opportunity?
🤦🏽♀️
And no, watching someone else nail a speech in an audition and just taking that one is not a good enough reason to do a speech either.
😠
Wake up! Be excited by this! Go to bed 30 minutes later or get up 45 minutes earlier to DO THE WORK. Find the time.
Stop looking for an easy out by asking me to do it for you.
🫠
You do have time, you're just prioritising the things that aren't going to get you closer to your goals. If they are actually true goals.
Or are you just wanting to be famous?
🙄
If so, please unsubscribe.
Why are you doing this if you don't want to become the best actor you can be?!
You can deliver excellence, despite all your shifts, you one job, your three jobs, your struggles and your problems.
Someone else going through the same or worse will.
Quit making excuses.
Quit daydreaming and get the work done.
Stop trying to cut corners and getting someone else to do the work.
Your work.
Someone is always more willing to work harder than you.
Pull your weight.
🏋🏼
If you want to be excellent, it takes work and it takes grit and not letting your excuses get in the way.
I can help you become a professional.
The best you can be.
Not a half-arsed amateur.
If you want easy? I'm not the coach, mentor or person for you. And maybe acting isn't for you - go join an am dram theatre company and have some fun on your weekends.
🙂
If this has lit a fire under your butt, send me a fire emoji on IG, email or TikTok once you've read this.
I really hope to see a lot of 🔥 from you all.
All love... actually... this one isn't from a place of love. It's from a place of excellence and striving for greatness
🏆
Pippa 🫡
