I should have done a post on this ages ago because it’s long been a FAQ. You want to perform Three Oranges in some kind of shortened setting, maybe a drama competition, classroom scene practice or some kind of 1-Act or scene festival. But where to begin? To keep this post from getting insanely long, I’m going to split this into two posts. Up in this post? Monologues!
Ah, monologues. The staple of auditions, drama classes and drama competitions everywhere! (Obviously, we’re talking about comedic monologues here. I don’t think anything in Three Oranges could even remotely pass for drama.) My top picks for TLOTO monologues are:
- Prologue. Narrator. Male or female. This is a nice big long monologue and has a lot of opportunity for both comedy and passion from the right actor.
- Act 1, Scene 2. Truffaldino. “Ladies and gentlemen…” through “I make everyone laugh!” Just cut out the few Tartaglia lines and play the questions to the audience. This scene can be a real crowd pleaser and only really needs one prop (the IV bags). It has a lot of opportunity to play to the audience and could really be played by either a male or female.
These are really the best opportunities (especially in terms of length if I’m remembering rules correctly from my own high school days) but there are also a few shorter pieces that may work in some circumstances:
- Act 1, Scene 2. Prince Tartaglia’s list of woes from the top of the act.
- Act 1, Scene 3. Fata Morgana’s curse.
- Act 1, Scene 1. Pantalone’s recap of Act 1 at the top of the act.
- Act 3, Scene 1. Truffaldino’s speech with the Soccer Moms joke.
Have you performed any of the monologues above (or any others from TLOTO not mentioned) in competition, for an audition or in class? How’d it go? Please share your tips and experiences below for the benefit of the next actor to take it on!
Fun Fact: We went to a drama competition my senior year of high school and it was my first time ever doing a comedic monologue. I did the one from Nunsense where the Mother Superior gets high. I came in second in the state of NJ which wasn’t half bad all things considered. My point in telling you this is… do me proud! 🙂
And now, a gratuitous photo of me in that role from my high school yearbook:
Don’t worry about looking stupid here, folks, I’m doing it for you!
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
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