Hear Me Now is back
Friday 12th August 2022
If you are an actor of colour, or with a disability, and you need an audition monologue then check out this invaluable book: Hear Me Now: Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour. It’s the second volume of the series, following the success of the 2018 original, and it features more than 100 brand new monologues. As Fin Kennedy, onetime artistic director of Tamasha, says, it is part of a larger phenomenon: “Since the original book’s release, Hear Me Now has evolved into something of a movement. It has gone from a workshop and a writing process, to a book, a podcast, a festival and now a published series. Along the way it has seamlessly dovetailed with the wave of protest which swept the globe in 2020, as BLM raged against the murder of George Floyd.” One of the joys of this collection is that it is not dominated by the usual big names of playwriting, but includes dozens of fresh new voices. Its editor and moving spirit, along with Tamasha theatre company, is writer-producer Titilola Dawudu, who says that the project has given space for actors and writers to share their frustrations about the arts industry, as well as holding a collective hope that things are getting better: “We have witnessed the releasing of so many imaginations.” In a foreword, BAFTA-nominated actor Ashley Madekwe, says, “It brings together a collection of monologues written for people of Colour by people of Colour. Actors and writers from diverse backgrounds and physical capabilities teamed up to create monologues that are each more than just a ‘speech’; these monologues tell a story.” The new volume is the result of collaboration between ten theatres from across England, helped by 100 actors, 50 writers, 10 facilitators, five dramaturgs, as well as signers, access workers, audio engineers and directors. It will be published on 25 August. Can you hear them? It’s well worth listening.
- Hear Me Now: Audition Monologues (Volume Two) is published by Methuen Drama.
© Aleks Sierz
