Political monologues for women

Cafe Society
1

I have a young co-star in a play who needs an audition piece for a class that has to do with political or patriotic themes. Has to be from a published dramatic or comedic work- can’t be a political speech- and preferably recent (last 40 years anyway). I’m not sure if something from VEEP or another TV show or movie would count, so I’d prefer a play.

I’m not that informed about modern political drama. Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks
J

2

First, I wouldn’t limit your search to monologues originally written for women - there’s no reason she can’t read a speech for an audition that was originally intended for a man.

Second, some play suggestions:
Farragut North by Beau Willimon
Stuff Happens by David Hare
The Return to Morality by Jamie Pachino
Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Suzan-Lori Parks

3

There must be something good in The Contender by Rod Lurie, about a female Vice Presidential nominee.

If she doesn’t mind being the villain, check out The Manchurian Candidate by George Axelrod. Angela Lansbury was in the 1962 original; Meryl Streep was in the 2004 remake.

4

I would think Lady MacBeth has uttered something appropriate.

5

How long does it have to be? Can it be from the black comedy Fargo?

Marge Gunderson [to Gaear] So, that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money? There’s more to life than a little money, you know. Don’tcha know that? And here ya are, and it’s a beautiful day. Well. I just don’t understand it.

6

You don’t say how young the co-star is, but The Vagina Monologues is loaded with political passages.

7

Try CJ Cregg’s monologue on guns in In The Shadow Of The Gunmen Part II episode of The West Wing.

8

Elizabeth I’s Tilbury speech Elizabeth I's Tilbury Speech - The Virgin Queen [BBC 2005] - YouTube

Just about anything by Malala Yousafzai

Barabara Jordan’s speech at the Watergate impeachment hearings, or her DNC keynote address.

9

Does it have to be from a play? There are some absolutely brilliant little speeches in the TV series Yes, Minister.

I could probably find something a bit more monologue-y. There’s a good bit where Hacker explains who reads the different British newspapers.

10

Limiting myself to plays of fairly recent vintage:

Your friend might consider the work of Amy Herzog, particularly her 2010 play After the Revolution, which is about a young woman who comes from a family with a tradition of Marxism, coming to understand her grandfather’s blacklisting during the McCarthy era.

If you can find it (I don’t know if the script has ever been commercially published), Holland Taylor wrote and performed a one-woman play called Ann, about Texas governor Ann Richards.

If “patriotic” is not limited to American patriotism, there is also Peter Morgan’s 2013 play The Audience, which is about the weekly meetings between Queen Elizabeth II and her prime ministers, starting with Churchill and going through David Cameron. Morgan also wrote the movie The Queen, and is the creator of the current Netflix series The Crown.