Monologue

A player holds a monologue which is partly or completely outside of the fictions space and time. This can either interrupt all other play or go on alongside. The monologue is a tool to give other players insight into the speaking characters story and create game openings between them. It has the added benefit of making the speaking player feel like a main protagonist and give them closure to their own story.

Different uses

Monologue box

The player marks a square in the air, rather like a TV-screen around her face, does the monologue or meta comment, and then closes the box with the same gesture. This technique has at least once been mistaken for a way to give off game messages, but that is not its purpose.

Ping the glass

Every player has a glass and something to ping it with. (A pen, a spoon, whatever is convenient.) When a glass is pinged, the owner of the glass gives an inner monologue, and marks the end of it by taking a sip from the glass. This technique can be used either for players to elicit monologues from others, or just as a marker for the monologue itself. It was first used in New Voices in Art in 2007.

The Monologue as a tool for the Gamemaster

The type of Monologue that is often used during Slow take-off and Slow Landing. All the players stop their talking (most often also their activities) going into a neutral, pausemode, optionally closing their eyes. A Narrator (or Game Master) tells a fragment of text verbally that can be used to direct the story or the situation into a new stage. This is also called a Narrative Voice Over and is a kind of cut scene.

Asking for a monologue

Monologues can also be requested by a Director or an other player as in When Our Destinies Meet. Then it becomes a kind of cut scene.

Double monologue

Two players alternate between monologueing for each other in short bursts. One player expresses their inner monologue until the second player takes over, often picking up on a thought or a word from the first. It can be a powerful tool for exploring character relationships, finding common ground and/or potential conflicts.

Examples and Referances

This is very much in use in Jeepformgames like Doubt,Growing Up,The Journey. It gives a feeling of a Brechtian theater where the narrator not only talks to the audience, but sort of acts out like a director at stage. Refer to plays of the type as The Caucasian Chalk Circle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caucasian_Chalk_Circle).