2012 ACTT Male Audition Pieces

The Professional Actor Program

505 Pitt St Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: +61 2 9213 4500 info@actt.edu.au www.actt.edu.au

Welcome to your audition at ACTT!

Preparing for the Audition This booklet contains recommended audition pieces (monologues) for The Professional Actor Program (Advanced Diploma of Arts in Stage and Screen Acting). You will be required to prepare three monologues for your audition. Two pieces should be selected from this booklet* and your third monologue can be one of your own choosing. One piece may be Shakespearean, but it is not a set requirement of the audition. Additionally you may be asked to sing a few verses of a song acapella, also of your own choosing so please be prepared. *NOTE: We want to see you at your best. So if you have already prepared monologues from other leading acting institutions with which you are confident, you may be able to use these in your auditions for ACTT. To enquire about this, please email your chosen pieces to info@actt.edu.au Choosing audition material Keep in mind that the panel wants to see you at your best, so make choices that appeal to you but that also suit you (age, type, nationality etc.) To show your acting range, select strongly contrasting pieces. Your pieces should be no longer than two minutes. Do not use audition pieces you have devised or written yourself, or ones that are extracted from poems or novels. Please keep your selection to established monologues. What does ACTT look for in an audition? ACTT is looking for moments that make us listen and feel something for you in your performance. Our training methods are oriented to prepare actors for theatre as well as film and we will be looking to discover if you will be able to allow an emotion to connect you with the lines and situation of the piece. We know that you will be nervous and we will take this into account but please be aware that if you have learned the lines well, the nerves will become performance energy and not paralyse you. Hints for preparing your audition piece/s: Be well-prepared, and allow sufficient lead time - two weeks for each monologue is a good guide. We do not expect highly polished work and it

can in fact work against you if you are locked into one way of performing a piece. Know what each scene and speech is about and read the entire play from which it comes so that you are aware of the context of the piece. Think about doing your preparation with another person as your scene partner or your audience. Basic furniture only will be available, but do not plan to use hand props or costumes. Dont use an accent other than your own unless absolutely essential to the piece. When preparing, ask some vital questions of the piece including: How does this piece affect you? What emotions does the character go through? What does your character want? What are the circumstances? What is the character doing physically? Make bold choices in your interpretation and in your performance. Have fun with it! What to bring and wear? Wear loose comfortable clothing and soft-soled shoes (no high heels, boots, thongs or bare feet please!) to allow you to move and work easily. Avoid wearing jewellery that could fall off, get tangled, or become lost or damaged and please remove any tongue or facial piercings. Ladies, please wear little or no makeup. Bring bottled water to drink on the day. Audition books can provide useful tips on how to prepare. A good selection is available from Ariel Books, 42 Oxford St, Paddington or Performing Arts Bookshop, 262 Pitt St, Sydney, 2000.

The Audition
The audition consists of two stages. In Stage One you will perform your monologues to a panel. Selected applicants will then be invited to attend Stage Two, which is usually held later on the same day - no additional preparation is required. An interview may also be arranged during auditions. Stage One You will be assigned an audition day and time to present your pieces. Arrive at least half an hour ahead of time to warm-up. Please keep the whole day free. You will be encouraged to use one of the current ACTT students who are present on the day to work to in your monologues.

The panel may or may not offer any direction to re-work a piece. Please keep in mind that you will be auditioning with only the panel and possibly another actor in the studio. Stage Two This will usually take place on the afternoon of the same day. You will work with one of our acting teachers on a series of group and individual exercises. No additional preparation is required for Stage Two Interviews People being considered for a place will also be invited to attend an interview to determine their motivation behind applying for ACTT, their longterm goals for working in the industry and ability to finance their study. (This may occur during a scheduled audition or at a later time.) Selection of Applicants Selection is based entirely on the audition results. Applicants who receive an offer will be notified by telephone and mail. Offers are made based on the applicants potential for a career as a professional actor. When an offer is made, you will be given seven days to make a decision to accept and pay a deposit. Whichever stage of the audition process you reach, regardless of whether you are offered a place, you will receive feedback. This may include advice about what was observed and how you may be able to better prepare another time. ACTT reserves the right to make offers to applicants who achieve outstanding results during the interview/audition process. General While auditions are generally quite daunting experiences, dont panic! The audition panel is made up of staff that have considerable experience in these matters and who understand the nerves and worries of auditionees. Every effort is made to create an atmosphere that is as relaxed and as comfortable as possible. While allowances are made, you do need to be well-prepared however, and determined to show yourself to your best advantage. A warm-up room will be provided for you before your audition and you are expected to arrive at least 30 minutes early to prepare. ACTT students will be on hand to assist you and to work as scene partners in your audition. Should you have any questions please call us on (02) 9212 4500. Break a leg!

2012 Male Audition Pieces

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Twelfth Night Macbeth Henry V Measure for Measure A Midsummer Nights Dream Hamlet King Lear Look Back in Anger Dreams in an Empty City Chopper In Our Town Run Rabbit Run Blackrock Erskineville Kings The Sum of Us The Breakfast Club Greek Night Letters Five Kinds of Silence Death of a Salesman Wild Honey Dylan

Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare John Osbourne Stephen Sewell Andrew Dominik Jack Davis Alana Valentine Nick Enright Marty Deniss David Stevens John Hughes Steven Berkoff Robert Dessaix Shelagh Stevenson Arthur Miller Michael Frayn Sidney Michaels

Twelfth Night Act IV, Scene III William Shakespeare Sebastian

This is the air, that is the glorious sun, This pearl she gave me, I do feelt, and seet, And though tis wonder that enwraps me thus, Yet tis not madness. Wheres Antonio then? I could not find him at the Elephant, Yet there he was, and there I found this credit, That he did range the town to seek me out. His counsel now might do me golden service: For though my soul disputes well with my sense That this may be some error, but no madness, Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune So far exceed all instance, all discourse, That I am ready to distrust mine eyes, And wrangle with my reason that persuades me To any other trust but that I am mad, Or else the ladys mad; yet if twere so, She could not sway her house, command her followers, Take and give back affairs and their dispatch, With such a smooth, discreet, and stable bearing As I perceive she does. Theres something int That is deceivable. But here the lady comes.

Macbeth Act IV, Scene III William Shakespeare Malcolm

Be not offended. I speak not as in absolute fear of you. I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds. I think withal There would be hands uplifted in my right, And here from gracious England have I offer Of goodly thousands. But for all this, When I shall tread upon the tyrants head, Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country Shall have more vices than it had before, More suffer, and more sundry ways, than ever, By him that shall succeed. It is myself I mean; in whom I know All the particulars of vice so grafted That, when they shall be opened, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state Esteem him as a lamb, being compared With my confineless harms, Macbeth is bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name. But theres no bottom, none, In my voluptuousness. Your wives, your daughters, Your matrons, and your maids could not fill up The cistern of my lust; and my desire All continent impediments would oerbear That did oppose my will. Better Macbeth Than such an one to reign.

Henry V Act IV, Scene III William Shakespeare Henry V

This day is calld the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is namd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall see this day, and live old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say To-morrow is Saint Crispian. Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say These wounds I had on Crispins day. Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But hell remember with advantages What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words, Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly rememberd; This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall neer go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he neer so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispins day.

Measure for Measure Act III, Scene I William Shakespeare Claudio

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where, To lie in cold obstruction and to rot, This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling region of thick-ribbd ice, To be imprisoned in the viewless winds And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless and incertain thought Imagine howling, tis too horrible. The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature is a paradise To what we fear of death.

A Midsummer Nights Dream Act III, Scene II William Shakespeare Puck

My Mistress with a monster is in love. Near to her close and consecrated bower While she was in her dull and sleeping hour A crew of patches, rude mechanicals That work for bread upon Athenian stalls, Were met together to rehearse a play Intended for great Theseus nuptial day. The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort, Who Pyramus presented, in their sport Forsook his scene and entered in a brake, When I did him at this advantage take. An asss nole I fixd on his head. Anon his Thisbe must be answerd, And forth my mimic comes. When they him spyAs wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, Rising and cawing at the guns report, Sever themselves and madly sweep the skySo, at his sight, away his fellows fly; And at our stamp here oer and oer one falls. He Murder cries, and help from Athens calls. Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong, Made senseless things begin to do them wrong. For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch; Some sleeves, some hats-from yielders all things catch. I led them on in this distracted fear, And left sweet Pyramus translated there; When in that moment, so it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.

Hamlet Act III, Scene I William Shakespeare Hamlet

To be, or nor to be, that is the question Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, theres the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. Theres the respect That makes calamity of so long life, For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Thoppressors wrong, the proud mans contumely, Than pangs of disprized love, the laws delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of thunworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have, Then fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. Soft you now, The fair Ophelia. Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered.

King Lear Act I, Scene II William Shakespeare Edmund

Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom, and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me, For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother? Why bastard? Wherefore base? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true, As honest madams issue? Why brand they us With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? Who in the lusty stealth of nature take More composition and fierce quality Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed, Go to th creating of a whole tribe of fops, Got tween asleep and wake? Well then, Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land: Our fathers love is to the bastard Edmund As to th legitimate. Fine word legitimate! Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top th legitimate -: I grow, I prosper; Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

Look Back in Anger John Osbourne Jimmy

Anyone whos never watched someone die is suffering from a pretty bad case of virginity. For twelve months, I watched my father dying when I was ten years old. Hed come back from the war in Spain, you see. And certain god-fearing gentlemen there had made such a mess of him, he didnt have long left to live. Everyone knew it even I knew it. But, you see, I was the only one who cared. His family were embarrassed by the whole business. Embarrassed and irritated. As for my mother, all she could think about was the fact that she had allied herself to a man who seemed to be on the wrong side in all things. My mother was all for being associated with minorities, provided they were the smart, fashionable ones. We, all of us waited for him to die. The family sent him a cheque every month, and hoped hed get on with it quietly, without too much vulgar fuss. My mother looked after him without complaining, and that was about all. Perhaps she pitied him. I suppose she was capable of that. But I was the only one who cared! Everytime I sat on the edge of his bed, to listen to him talking or reading to me, I had to fight back my tears. At the end of twelve months, I was a veteran. All that that feverish failure of a man had to listen to him was a small, frightened boy. I spent hour upon hour in that tiny bedroom. He would talk to me for hours, pouring out all that was left of his life to one, lonely, bewildered little boy, who could barely understand half of what he said. All he could feel was the despair and bitterness, the sweet, sickly smell of a dying man. You see, I learnt at an early age what it is to be angry angry and helpless. And I can never forget it. I knew more about - lovebetrayaland death when I was ten years old than you will probably ever know all your life.

Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell Chris

His whole body was trembling; the pupils of his eyes had almost disappeared. There was a dry blade of grass in his hair. He was whispering. I put the gun under his chin. I was breathing heavily, I was covered in sweat, but I felt clearer than Id ever done in my life. I put the gun under his chin. The sky was blue, perfect, crystal. Id never felt that kind of power before. I put the gun under his chin. His eyes were trying to look at where my fingers were. I said to him I can still hear myself, I said to him God loves youThen I blew his head offI went back to the village and satThey brought me food. When night came, they covered me. I sat there the rest of that day and the nextThey brought candles; they burnt incense in front of meOther villagers cameThey wanted me to be a god. The Federal cop got me out. Another two days and I wouldnt have even been a corpse to bury

Chopper Andrew Dominik Chopper

So, am I? Am I charged with this? Oooh, shit. So thats it? I mean, like, what? Am I, how do you call, flavour of the month or something? Whats going on here? Are you just gonna bloody get me on popular opinion or something? I dont know this bloke, Mr Downie. Ive never, never seen his face. I wouldnt know that bloke right? Was he young, the bloke who got shot? What? He was young. Young then, was he? What? What are you writing everything down for? (indicating the photo) Thats not me, mate; I got no interest in that sort of thing. You know that. Mr Downie, you know - you know how I work. Right? We go back - I know you got nothing personal against me and, andI mean perish the thought I should do something like that. I mean, look. (indicating the photo) Fuck! Do you reckon I shot this bloke? Seriously? Like, in your heart? I mean, in your heart? Oh mate.if you think that, right? Well, Im buggered then, arent I? Oh, fuck. I meanhow can you think that? (beat) Well, of course I shot the prick. If you knew the cunt youd shoot him too. I did the prick a favour. Hey? Dontcha think so? Last week it was, Neville who?. This week hes a criminal superstar. The bloke what Chopper shot, number whatever. (laughs) Yes, well, hes still got one perfectly good leg and thats more than enough for him. Please do not impersonate the actors representation of the above character in the film version.

In Our Town Jack Davis David

He was seventeen when he joined up. Put his age up, his name was Tim. A sort of cousin. He was just a stray who came to live with us when he was about thirteen or fourteen. We joined up together, [He laughs] and when we got our orders to go overseas they had a send-off, sort of farewell party for all the enlisted men from Northam. Anyway, Tim and I went along. There was a big crowd, two hundred or more. The only bloke who came along and spoke to us to wish us luck was the local pound keeper. Anyway we left, got a couple of bottles and went home to the reserve and sort of had our own party. You know the brass had some notion just because we were black we would make good forward scouts. Anyway, like me, thats what they made him. A dangerous job. He wasnt cut out for the army. As a kid he was always scared...afraid of the dark...his own shadow...physical violence...a real dreamer. It was at Wewak. They sent him up ahead of the patrol. He came back and reported a large concentration of Japs on the side of a hill, but the Lieutenant wasnt satisfied. So he sent him back again. He came back and reported the Japs position again, even the number of Japs, and this bastard of an officer sent him back for the third time. I offered to go, but they wouldnt let me. I found him the next day in the valley on the bank of a creek. He had managed to stuff his field dressing into the wound in his chest, but it wasnt enough. [Silence] The Japs. They were starving. [Silence] They stripped all the flesh off his legs, his thighs. They cannibalised him. And I cant help thinking if he had been white it wouldnt have happened.

Run Rabbit Run Alana Valentine Phil Pike

We had a team that went to all the country areas. We went to Dubbo and we went to Wagga Wagga. I was the team manager of that tour. Got them their hotel, told em when training was on. We went to Newcastle. We played in Maitland. We played there. And the people came out to see us. And we still knew we was alive. Mate. I remember a particular bloke who followed Souths, he turned around and he, dead-set, he, dead-set, did not.... would not eat for about three or four days after we lost that court case. And he was just so emotionally wrecked. He never went to work. He never went to work and he turned around an the poor bloke... he was shattered. He was absolutely shattered. Football was his life. He watched Souths in Newcastle. He watched them in Canberra. An his wife turned around and he stood there in the kitchen and I remember I said to him very clearly. I said, Mate, look look look look, the game of Rugby League is not worth doin your marriage over. Hes got three kids. She turned around and said, Look, wake up to yourself. She says, This is just a football team. He shouts, A football team? You stupid woman!. And they had this massive argument in the kitchen.

Blackrock Nick Enright Ricko

You back me up, Ill back you up. Then whatever happened were not in it. I know you didnt kill her! I did. I fucken killed her. Shana come on to me, then she backed off. Spider says its a full moon, heaps of other chicks down on the beach, take anyone on. I knew which ones were up for it, mate. We both did. We checked them out together. And they were checking us out, werent they? You and me and every other prick. The whole fucken netball squad. So, I get out there. Wazzas getting head from some bush-pig up against the dunny wall. One of them young babes, Leanne? I dont know, comes running up to me, calls my name, Ricko, hey Ricko! She grabs me, pashes me off. Shes on, no, shes fucken not, shes with some fucken grommet, he takes her off down the south end. I head towards the rock. I hear my name again. Ricko. Ricko. Its Tracy. Tracy Warner. I go, right, Jared was here. Its cool. Ill take his seconds. Shes on her hands and knees. Says will I help her. Shes lost an earring, belongs to Cherie, she has to give it back. Theres something shiny hanging off the back of her T-shirt. I grab it, I say, here it is. She cant see it. I give it to her. I say what are you going to give me? She says shes going home, shes hurting. I say, hurting from what? Guys, she says, those guys. Take me home Ricko. Tells me Im a legend, says she feels okay with me. Look after me, Ricko. Take me home. Puts her arms round me. I put mine round her. I feel okay now, Ricko. She feels more than okay. I say Ill take you home, babe, but first things first. I lay her down on the sand, but she pushes me off. Oh, she likes it rough. I give it to her rough. Then she fucken bites me, kicks me in the nuts. My hand comes down on a rock A rock in one hand and her earring in the other. It was like it just happened. The cops wouldnt buy that, but. Would they? Now if I was with you... Will you back me up, mate? You got to. You got to. Please. Please, Jazza.

Erskineville Kings Marty Deniss Wace

I dont owe anybody anything. He couldnt lift up his fuckin arms, he couldnt even hold a fuckin fork. There was nothing wrong with his brain, he knew what was going on. I knew what was going on. But we both just kept on together day after day and hes just wasting away. Oh, those nurses theyre just flinging him about, theyre saying Stand back, we know what were doing. And I said, Well if you know what youre doing why does he look like a rag doll, fuckin hold him up. Oh, and then he had to have someone with him, you know to wipe his arse, help him piss, he wouldve had to have someone with him every fuckin minute for the rest of his fuckin life, waiting around with a shit bucket and a mop. And this one day, the first year fuckin nurse comes in and she just dumps down this tray of shit in front of Dad, this brown shit and a cup of jelly, this childrens lime green shit, just dumps it in front of him and hes looking at it, and hes just humiliated. Just dumps it in front of him. You know, and I saw it. I saw his eyes, everything just disappeared. I was holding his hand and he squeezed it and I said Do you want to say something Dad, and hes said something I didnt understand what it was, so I said, Why dont you whisper it Dad, just whisper it , he whispers it, in my ear. I said, No Dad, No I cant do that. And he just looks at me. And he says it again. I just stood there. And then I did it. I just did it. He told me to do it. So I did what I was told. He shouldnt have hit you so hard. He shouldnt have hit you so hard. And now what was inside of him is inside of me.

The Sum of Us David Stevens Jeff

Its not that flamin easy. Doesnt just happen to order. The choice is a bit more limited for one thing. Maybe some place like San Francisco, all the blokes wear their dicks on their sleeves, they reckon. I dont want to live like that. Dad. I dont want to live in a world that just begins and ends with being gay. I like having all sorts of people around: kids and old folks, every sort of person there is. I dont want to live in a world without women. I like women. Me and the girls in the office get on great. They know and they dont care. We laugh about it. Fancy the same blokes sometimes. Even fancied a couple of girls. Done it with a few of them just to make sure I wasnt missing out on anything. I quite enjoyed it actually. Something different. But they just dont turn me on like men do. I like doing it with blokes, Dad. I dont think thats ever oing to change because I dont want it to. I dont want to be limited by other peoples ideas of who I am. Yours or anyone elses. Youve been great, mate. The best Dad in the world, I reckon. Fairest, thats certain fact. I dont often say it, but its Christmas, so thanks, mate for everything. You give me the first class shits at times, and I suppose I do you, but I dont think theres many got a father like you.

Please do not impersonate the actors representation of the above character in the film version.

The Breakfast Club John Hughes Andy

Do you guys know what I did to get in here? I taped Larry Lesters buns together. Yeah, you know him? Well then, you know how hairy he is, right? Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some skin too. And the bizarre thing is, is that I did it for my old man. I tortured this poor kid because I wanted him to think I was cool. Hes always going off about, you know, the wild things he used to do, and I got the feeling he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right? So, Im sitting in the locker room and Im taping up my knee and Larrys undressing a couple of lockers down from me and hes kinda skinny, weak, and I started thinking about my father and his attitude about weakness, and the next thing I knew I, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him. Then my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards when I was sittin in Vernons office, all I could think about was Larrys father and Larry having to explain what happened to him. And the humiliation he must have felt. It must have been unreal. I mean, how do you apologise for something like that? Theres no way. Its all because of me and my old man. God, I fucking hate him. Hes like, hes like this mindless machine I cant even relate to anymore. Andrew, youve got to be number one. I wont tolerate losers in this family. Your intensity is for shit. You son of a bitch. You know, sometimes I wish my knee would give and I wouldnt be able to wrestle anymore. He could forget all about me. Please do not impersonate the actors representation of the above character in the film version.

Greek Steven Berkoff Eddy

She would put you off women for life / but not me / I love a woman / I love her / I just love and love and love her / and even that one / I could have loved her / I love everything that they possess / I love all their parts / I love every part that moves / I love their hair and their neck / I love the way they walk across the kitchen to put the kettle on / in that lazy familiar way / I love them when they open their eyes in the morning / I love their baby soft skin / I love their voices / I love their smaller hands than mine / I love Iying on them and them on me / I love their soft breasts / I love their eyelashes and their noses / their teeth and their shoulders / and their giggles / and their desperate passions and their liquids and their breath against yours in the night / and their snores / and their leg across yours and their feet in the morning and I love their bellies and thighs and the way each part fits into mine/ and love the way my part fits into them / and love her sockets and joints and ball bearings / and love her hip bone and her love soaked parts that want me / I love her seasons and her sleeping and love her walking and speaking and whispering and loving and singing and love her back and her bum nestled into you and you become an armchair / and love her for taking me in / and giving me a home for my searing agonies / my lusts / my love / my dreams / my sweetness / my honey / my peace of mind / and love pouring all my love into her with open eyes and love our fatigue and love her knees and shoulder blades and pimples and love her waiting for me / and love her soothing me as I tell her about my days battles in the world / and love and love and love her and her and!

Night Letters Robert Dessaix Robert

Ive cancelled the cooking course. And my German. Its all pointless. I feel like a scaly bag of filth. People can smell death. Im an affront. If I go out there, theyll sniff at me. Know Im rotting. And the terrible thing is Ive never felt more alive in my life. Every sound, every flicker of movement, every skerrick of meaning in every word, I hear it, I see it. When you touch me, I feel it. Its like a cut. Like Ive lost three layers of skin. And I dont want you to touch me and I do want you to touch me. And I want your love and I dont want you to love me. And its all unbearable. I dont want to go out there and I do want to go out there. And I want everything thats out there and I want to dance and I want to make love and I want to sing and I want to be humiliated and I want to feel. And I want it now. Because now I know I cant have it.

Five Kinds of Silence Shelagh Stevenson Billy

One night I dreamt I was a dog. The moon was out, I could smell it. Ice white metal smell. I could smell the paving stones, wet, sharp. The tarmac road made my dog teeth tingle, it was aniseed, rubber, and then the lampposts, glittering with smells, they were, studded with jewels of sharp sweet spice, wood, metal, meat. And the stars pierced my dog nose like silver wires. A woman came out of her house, sickly the smell of her, rotten, she smelt of armpits and babies and fish and a hundred other things screaming at me like a brass band. I knew what shed had for her tea. I knew she was pregnant. I could smell it. She didnt look at me, walked straight on by, thought I was just a dog. I laughed a quiet dog laugh, you think Im a dog but Im Billy, Im me. The night smells of soot and frost and petrol and beer. Im at my own door now. I dont need to see it, it comes to meet me, a cacophony, the smells are dancing towards me, the smells of home. Im inside the house now. Hot citrus smell of electric light. My wife, my daughters, stand up as I come into the room. Oh, home, the smells I love, all the tiny, shimmering background smells, and the two I love the most, the two smells that fill the room like a siren. One of them is fear: burning tyres, vinegar, piss. And the other one is the smell of blood, matted in Marys hair. I gave her a good kicking before I went out.

Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller Biff

Now hear this, Willy, this is me. You know why I had no address for three months? I stole a suit in Kansas City and I was jailed. I stole myself out of every good job since high school. And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! Thats whose fault it is! Its goddamn time you heard that! I had to be boss big shot in two weeks, and Im through with it Willy! I ran down eleven flights with a pen in my hand today. And suddenly I stopped, you hear me? And in the middle of that office building, do you hear this? I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw the sky. I saw the things that I love in the world. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I dont want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why cant I say that, Willy? Pop! Im a dime a dozen, and so are you! I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash-can like all the rest of them! Im one dollar an hour, Willy! I tried seven states and couldnt raise it! A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? Im not bringing home any prizes anymore, and youre going to stop waiting for me to bring them home! Pop, Im nothing! Im nothing, Pop. Cant you understand that? Theres no spite in it any more. Im just what I am, thats all. Will you let me go, for Christs sake? Will you take that phoney dream and burn it before something happens?

Wild Honey Michael Frayn Osip

Hot summers day. Like today. In the forest here. Im going along this track and I look round and there she is, shes standing in a little stream and shes holding her dress up with one hand and shes scooping up water in a dock leaf with the other. She scoops. She drinks. Scoops. Drinks. Scoops again, and pours it over her head. Its one of those days when you can feel the air heavy on you, and you cant hear nothing but the buzzing of the flies... She pays no heed to me. Just another peasant, she thinks. So I go down to the edge of the stream, right close up to her, as close as I am to you now, and I just look at her. Like this, like Im looking at you. And she stands there in the water in front of me, with her skirts up in her hand, and she bends, she scoops, she pours. And the water runs over her hair, over her face and her neck, then down over her dress, and all she says is: What are you staring at, idiot? Havent you ever seen a human being before? And she scoops and she pours, and I just stand gazing. Then suddenly she turns and gives me a sharp look. Oh, she says, youve taken a fancy to me, have you? And I say: I reckon I could kiss you and die. So that made her laugh. All right, she says, you can kiss me if you like. Well, I felt as if Id been thrown into a furnace. I went up to her - into the stream, boots and all, I didnt think twice- and I took her by the shoulder, very lightly, and I kissed her right here, on her cheek, and here on her neck, as hard as ever I could.

Dylan Sidney Michaels Dylan

Im me. I smoke too much. I drink too much. I never like to go to bed. But when I go to bed, I never like to have to get up! I sleep with women. Im not much on men. Necrophilism thats with dead bodies leaves me cold. I never watch the clock and it doesnt pay much attention to me. I write poems and I read em out loud. I lie, I cry, I laugh, I cheat, I steal when I can. I must have an iron constitution as Ive been abusing it for years to an extent whichd kill a good horse in a matter of hours. I love people, rich and poor people, dumb as well as smart people, people who like poetry and people who never heard of poetry. Im lifes most devoted, most passionate, most shameless lover. I must be. And I like a good party and a good time and applause and lots of pats on my back and pots and hats full of jack which I like to spend without stinting. Comforts make me comfortable: nails in my shoe, an ache in my tooth and grit in my eye do not. I have lived in a time when men have turned Jews into soap. Ive been, I must tell you, ever since those days, a wee bit confused about the godly nature of the human creature. But Im not as confused as anyone I ever met or heard of. Because I am me. And I know me. Ive sung a few songs in thirty-nine years just for the pleasure of singing, but now I have come to a point in my life when I think I have something to say. I think its something about having the guts to thumb your nose at the social shears that clip the human heart in our mushrooming, complex, cancerous age. Im hot for fireworks in the dull of night. I want the factual, killing world should go back to fancy kissing for its livelihood. Im about to write an opera with Stravinsky. A play on my own, my first, called Under Milk Wood. And Ive been offered to play the lead in a play on Broadway. Things are looking up. But Im spitting a lot of blood and blacking out more often than Im used to, and think I had a touch of the d.t.s this past week as Ive started seeing a little things that arent there mice for example. Miss Meg Stuart, my friend, suggested that I come to see you, Doctor, as its entirely possible and not a little ironic, now that things are finally looking up [Long pause.] that Im dying.