Inner Monologue

The Inner Monolog: Your Key to Success

by Evan Nossoff

Copyright Evan Nossoff, 1998; all rights Reserved. Please contact coach@sacactors.com prior to publication and/or distribution of this sheet. Permission is freely given upon request; we just wanna keep track of it.

We all have an inner monolog. It's those thoughts flitting through our mind as we puzzle out how to live our lives; the sensations brought to us by our eyes, ears, nose, and senses of taste and touch; the feelings life evokes. It's your "stream of consciousness." At any given time, you have multiple tracks going, a complex jumble of thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

Your character also has an inner monolog. It's up to you to develop it. In spontaneous, natural acting, the inner monolog provides the raw fuel for the performance. If you are relaxed, grounded and in the "here and now" and allow yourself to be reactive, the inner monolog triggers the reactions that make up your stage performance.

Actually, you already do this, though perhaps not consciously. Becoming aware of the role the inner monolog can play in your acting helps you organize your acting preparation and gives you a powerful tool to solve acting problems.

One of the most powerful ways to use the inner monolog is believability. For example, if you are giving a loving monolog you might focus on those things about your acting partner that evoke feelings of love __ their eyes, the way they share energy on stage (if they really do), the sound of their voice, their shared commitment to the theater. Inner monolog lines can be things like "I just want to fall into your eyes." "You are such fun to be with on stage." "Thanks for helping me run lines." The power here is that the emotions elicited are based on reality. One word of warning __ you have to work carefully to sort out what you are doing as an actor and what the real interpersonal relationship is, especially if the stage relationship is a negative one.

Believability should provide most of your acting stimulus. At times you may want to conjure up external stimuli __ the image of someone you love as deeply as the stage character you are talking to. And you can use evocative inner monolog phrases __ "I do care about you", "you are my life line", "I'll care for you for ever" __ to heighten your emotionality.

The key is to keep the outer monolog going along simultaneously with the inner. One major danger with this approach is that actors insert pointless pauses and other tempo breaks waiting for the inner stimuli to reach full magnificence. Oops. Full magnificence may be nice, but pointless pauses let the air out of your performance. To avoid that fault, keep the inner monolog simple at first so you can keep both flowing.

Don't be afraid to expand your use of inner monolog stimuli, but let it be what it is and keep moving. For example: you want to visualize a snake to stimulate terror You think snake, but the visualization does not come. What do you do? Relax and move on. There will be some positive impact on your performance; the impact will grow over time; and you won't let the air out of your performance. As you gain experience working this way, your ability to make the inner monolog more detailed and real for yourself will expand.