Breaking 4th Wall in Monologue? (1 Viewer)

[e__llie]

So I (finally) found a monologue I really like. Its an actress getting ready to do a show and it starts addressing her anxieties about performing in front of a bunch of people shes never seen and basically she goes talks about how at the start of the show she would like to go front and centre, ask for the house lights to be turned on and just take in the audience so they're equal. The thing is the audience lights are actually supposed to turn on and shes supposed to do this directly to them.

I asked my teacher and he gave me a really vague answer so idk have any of you ever done anything like this? Do you think i'd be allowed/would it be really dumb and mess up my performance?

 

[KingOfActing]

In my opinion, it's a slight technical aspect that wouldn't add much to your performance. I'm not sure as to whether you're allowed to have someone else toggle the lights during your performance, so at best it'll just be slightly awkward.

My advice is to focus on your actual monologue (your acting + lines, aka the things you're actually marked on) and ignore technical aspects of it, at least for now. Simple and minimalist monologues tend to work best. You can add smaller details like this one later on.

Regarding the title of the question, breaking the fourth wall in general is fine when done well. If not done well, it tends to be awkward and uncomfortable to watch.


_{^{What the triple post}}

 

[e__llie]

In my opinion, it's a slight technical aspect that wouldn't add much to your performance. I'm not sure as to whether you're allowed to have someone else toggle the lights during your performance, so at best it'll just be slightly awkward.

My advice is to focus on your actual monologue (your acting + lines, aka the things you're actually marked on) and ignore technical aspects of it, at least for now. Simple and minimalist monologues tend to work best. You can add smaller details like this one later on.

Regarding the title of the question, breaking the fourth wall in general is fine when done well. If not done well, it tends to be awkward and uncomfortable to watch.


_{^{What the triple post}}

Yeah my drama teacher was telling us that, especially with props its better to mime and keep it simple. My problem was I thought it would be weird if she asked for the lights up and they didn't go up but I think I'll just cut that line and go with it (it does feel a bit awkward now that I've gone through it more), it's a really long one too so I'll probably have to cut stuff anyway.

Thankyou!