Hear Me Now, Volume Two

Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour

Titilola Dawudu, Titilola Dawudu

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781350297401
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Hear Me Now, Volume Two is a unique collection of over 80 original audition monologues, expressly created by a range of writers including Vera Chok, Josh-Susan Enright and Bea Webster, brought together by producer Titilola Dawudu and Tamasha Theatre Company. They are ideal for actors of colour searching for speeches for auditions or training, writers, teachers, and theatre-makers who are passionate about improving diversity. The volume is introduced by BAFTA-nominated actor Ashley Madekwe, and will also feature a section on Top Tips for auditioning from Tamasha and a host of actors, including Ted Lasso 's Kevin 'KG' Garry and Cherrelle Skeete of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Following on from the successful first volume, and featuring a variety of themes, scenes and characters, Hear Me Now, Volume Two is an essential tool for actors of colour to showcase their range, and seeks to inspire, empower, and create a legacy for generations to come.

Juliett Part 1

Written by Raven Maguire

Story and character inspired by Sasha Georgette

Description: A Jewish girl exploring her identity is faced with a big decision.

Playing age: 17–21

Juliett sits down facing a camera. She fixes herself up, hits record and starts to talk.

Okay.

Clears her throat.

This is awkward.

So, it’s the 9th of May, 2019 and it’s 1 am. If your name isn’t Juliett, then turn this off now! It’s fucking private!

Composes herself.

This is my first vlog diary entry and it may well be my last. Who knows? I just need to talk openly.

First of all, I feel terrible.

I just had a bucket of fried chicken and it was delicious. I enjoyed it very much!

I’ve figured out that I only slip into being ‘not plant-based’ when I’m drunk and I don’t get drunk much, so, you know, it’s kosher.

Adam was the one who wanted the chicken and it was his bar mitzvah, so it was the right thing to do. He was so cute, I can’t believe that he’s not a baby anymore! He used to follow me everywhere.

Then tonight? He was there with his friends, all grown up. He doesn’t need me anymore, I mean Mum still does everything for him, but he doesn’t need me.

Who knows? Maybe he might use me one day for dating advice, but that won’t be for a while.

Aw! He might have a girlfriend, or boyfriend one day.

Okay. This isn’t supposed to be some drunken blah blah. I’m not even drunk anymore anyway. The chicken sobered me up and I’ve got a cup of tea, with oat milk.

Looking directly into the camera.

So, future Juliett, you better take this seriously.

I don’t know what to do. I got an acceptance email from Université PSL, three weeks ago. Pretty awesome, I know. Mum wouldn’t be happy though. I haven’t even told her I applied to colleges in France. We’re best friends, but even when we talk for hours, nothing actually gets said. Still, I can’t imagine being without her.

When I saw her at the bar mitzvah tonight, I realised that even though Mum and I are similar, the main difference is that she fits in and I don’t. This is her world. I know it’s supposed to be my world too, because I’m her daughter and all, but it was just so clear tonight. She looks the same as them. She sounds the same as them. She is a New Yorker through and through and everyone likes her. She just belongs and so does Adam, and everyone else there, really.

I don’t belong at my own brother’s bar mitzvah, how fucked up is that?

It’s Dad’s fault, not mine. Why did you have to leave? We’d all be living in France, beautiful dainty European life. Mum gave up everything she had here, and then you just left us there.

I HATE YOU. I can’t believe I’ve never said that out loud; I hate you dad. Why haven’t I ever said it?

Do I really hate him?

What kind of person does that? It’s not even the fact that he left. Lots of parents get divorced, I know that. It’s the fact that still to this day, that’s what? Sixteen years! Sixteen years of neglect. He’s living his life, being all popular and happy, and then can’t even say happy birthday to his own daughter!

Bet he wouldn’t be so popular if people knew that about him. He’s even on Facebook. I found his page. He literally lives his life like he never even had kids. Like he never had a family.

He doesn’t love me, or care about me, or think about me, ever. Thanks to him I don’t fit in. I don’t belong here in New York, cause he made sure that they were in France when I was born, and I don’t belong in France cause he didn’t let me grow up there, and I don’t belong in Israel cause I’ve never even been there! I don’t belong anywhere.

Beat.

Why would I even wanna go to France?

Juliett Part 2

Written by Raven Maguire

Story and character inspired by Sasha Georgette

Description: A young Jewish woman moved to France for university, then the pandemic hit.

Playing age: 18–25

Juliett sets up a camera and presses record.

Juliett (shivering)    It’s so cold!

She sits down facing the camera.

Here we go! It’s been a while. I just found my old hard drive with my first vlog on it and realised that if I didn’t make that video, I wouldn’t have had the courage to tell Mum about France.

So …

Clears her throat.

It’s the, wait what date is it even? (She gets her phone out to check.) It’s the 13th of March already? Wow.

So, it’s the 13th of March 2021, and it’s 7 pm. This is my second video.

A lot has happened since my first entry.

I’m living in Paris. I’m in my second year, studying political science and we’re in lockdown. This is the disaster us millennial Jews have been preparing for since birth!

I’m in my tiny studio apartment with little Bijoux. She isn’t a kitten anymore! I don’t know what I would do without her, she’s even been going on walks in the park with me.

She’s so cute, where is she?

Bijoux! Bijoux? I give up, it’s like I’m her pet.

I’m so glad I studied French all those years, because French people don’t like speaking English. I thought my pronunciation was pretty solid, but apparently I have a strong accent.

I would say that I fit in. I love the jazz bars, the fashion, and the whole culture, really. It’s so rich. I just wish that I could access my family history here without needing to contact my dad.

I made friends with an old man in the park. He likes to be up with the sun just like me, so after sharing a nod and a smile for a few months, we started talking. He’s told me so many interesting stories about what it was like being Jewish in Paris in the ‘old days’. He’s like my fake grandpa. I wonder if my real grandpa is still alive and what stories he would share with me.

I just have so many questions, and I don’t know who to turn to.

Jessica said I should send my DNA to one of those ancestry sites. Maybe I will. Who knows?

It’s not like finding out about my history will make me fit in more. Can you imagine? ‘Oh I know I’m from this family, my DNA told me so, so you strangers, who are nothing like me, who don’t know me, you better accept me.’ What’s the point in that? It’s not even about being accepted anyway. It’s not about fitting in. I don’t care about that. I feel so guilty for even feeling bad. I can see my privilege. I know that I have it good compared to so many others. But, I still can’t shake the feeling that for generations I just wanted to know where I came from. I just want to feel safe and not have to run from country to country, tirelessly trying to gain a sense of belonging. Acting like a chameleon in the hopes of growing roots somewhere!

Her phone rings, she answers with her happy phone voice.

Hi Louis! Yeah, I’m good, merci. How are you? Oui, I would love to start working in the cafe again! Yeah, I’ll be there for the opening day on the 19th for sure! Merci – À bientôt!

She puts the phone down, smiles, and stops the recording.

Jumoke

Written by Saikat Ahamed

Story and character inspired by Tolú Fagbayi

Description: Jumoke, inspired by the magic of Merlin, lives in Cornwall musing on the mystery of her new home and also her journey to get here as a British Nigerian woman.

Playing age: 18 to mid 20s

Jumoke is sitting on a deck chair outside a caravan in a field in Cornwall. She is staring at something in the distance.

Jumoke Some of the others, they look at me and think, yeah, she’s one with nature. Look at her spending all day every day communing with the trees, conversing with the leaves, and I don’t correct them. Because they love that. Here.

And maybe there is a special power about this place. Magic – ley lines – might be the same thing. I don’t know. Never paid attention in geography. Or magic class.

Whatever it is, it called me. It called me here to this spot.

From this chair, on this grassy knoll, from this spot on a clear day – and granted this part of the world, clear days aren’t always guaranteed, thank you English summers, but on a clear day you can see it. That’s what I’m looking at. Not the trees. You get trees in Peckham.

No. You can see it, the seat of his power, rising from the waves like the mighty sword itself.

Tintagel.

Tin-ta-gel.

Even the feel of it in my mouth is like magic. Like a summoning.

Never knew the name Tintagel growing up. I mean SE15 may be the same coun...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword by Titilola Dawudu
• Foreword by Fin Kennedy
• Foreword by Ashley Madekwe
• Thank you
• Audition Tips
• The Monologues
• A Gift
• A Letter to Moon
• A Summer’s Day
• A Warm Embrace
• Abe
• Althea
• And Breathe . . .
• Ash, Bringer of Justice
• Asha
• Ava
• Breakfree
• Business Woman
• Castaway
• Climbing
• Closet Politics
• Daddy
• Deafening Silent Me
• Delusions
• Don’t speak until I’m finished
• Dr Mirza
• Duty of Care
• False Crimes
• Fate
• Flâneur
• Forgiveness
• From Bradford to Pinwheel Galaxy
• Garden
• Good Intentions
• Hamster
• I am really, really real
• I Can’t Lose It All
• I’m Feeling Good
• I’m Not That Guy
• Imperfect Pleats
• In His Head
• Infusion
• Invisible and Breathing
• Jana, Force of Nature
• Jaxon
• Jennifer Zafar
• Juliett Part 1
• Juliett Part 2
• Jumoke
• Kilanova
• Life is for the Living
• Life is not an RPG
• LOL, do you know what I mean, like?
• Look the Part
• Lying on a Bed of Lies
• Me Time
• The Mind Reader
• Mum’s the Word
• Music
• Negative Space
• Nisha
• Oblivion
• Oceans Apart
• On a Roll!
• On Form
• One Last Embrace
• Panic
• Pen
• Penelope
• Picture That
• Plan B
• Precious
• Raheel
• Rehmat
• Samaritan Worker
• Searching . . .
• Sebastian
• Secret Ingredient
• Setting A High Bar
• Shoot, Shag or Marry?
• Simon Not Salman
• Six-Piece Suit
• Sky’s the Limit
• Slutty School Teacher
• Sorry I Can’t Make It
• Space Marshal
• Spit
• Stefan
• Strawberry Surprise
• Stuart
• Take Over the World
• The Final Interview
• The Eternal Kiss
• The Leaving Speech
• The Lupin
• The Planetary Death Machine
• The Yips
• The Theory of Things
• To Ravi, From Miles Davis
• Unrequited
• Vegan Sausage
• What’s in a Name
• Where I Fit
• White Coat
• Why I Fight
• Winner
• Zero Tolerance
• Copyright