Act Normal: Mark Wheeller Contemporary Monologues

By Mark Wheeller

Act Normal includes 31 contemporary monologues from Too Much Punch For Judy, Hard To Swallow, Missing Dan Nolan, I Love You, Mum - I Promise I Won’t Die, Game Over … and many more of Mark’s plays and musicals.

Written with young performers in mind and available for classroom or audition use, they offer a range of characters and topics – both comic and serious - along with acting notes for each monologue. Many of the monologues are verbatim, providing a unique opportunity for actors and directors to explore this exciting form. Act Normal is the first exclusive collection of Mark’s monologue work.

‘Surprise your teacher, your friends, your family, your audience and last but not least, yourselves!’
– Mark Wheeller

Monologue topics:

 True stories and verbatim pieces

• British World War II evacuee experience
• Testimony of world champion blind athlete Graham Salmon
• Account of sisters involved in a drink-driving accident
• Story of a woman’s battle with anorexia
• A young woman’s struggles breaking into the football world
• Two pieces on the life-changing consequences of a car accident
• Recounting of a prison assault
• Dan Nolan’s 2002 disappearance
• Grooming and human trafficking
• Students excluded from the mainstream education system
• Accidental drug overdose
• Young people and self-harm
• Online predators

Fiction

• Absurdist, allegorical tale about a fantasy King
• Unplanned teenage pregnancy
• Fandom and mourning an idol (reference to David Bowie)
• Theatre in Education piece on road safety

Featured plays, with character options and ages

(NB: all are suitable for performers of any age and gender)

• Blackout - Operation Pied Piper - Jean, aged 9
• Graham – World’s Fastest Blind Runner – Junie, pre-teen/ Graham, adult
• Too Much Punch For Judy – Judy, young adult/ Duncan, adult
• Hard to Swallow – Anna, young adult/ John, adult
• Sweet (W)FA / Lethal In The Box – Miss Vallas, adult/ Spanner, adult
• Chicken! – Nut-Job, teenager/ Chris, teenager
• Legal Weapon 2 – Andy, young adult
• Wacky Soap – Storyteller, adult
• Missing Dan Nolan – Pauline, adult / Sarah, young teenager/ Andy, adult
• One Million to Stop The Traffik – Mary, adult
• Kids Who Look Out of the Window – Tonisha, teenager
• Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures – Jane, adult/ Driver, adult
• I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die – Jack, teenager
• Scratching the Surface – Louise, adult
• This Is For You – Susan, adult
• Can You Hear Me Major Tom? – Mark, adult/ Jasmine, adult
• Game Over – Lorin, adult

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salamander Street Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781913630591

Mark Wheeller

Mark Wheeller began writing whilst a student at Marlwood Comprehensive School, Bristol. After teaching drama for thirty-six years he retired in July 2015 to concentrate on writing and delivering Drama/Theatre workshops to students and teachers across the world. Mark is one of the most-performed playwrights in Britain. Too Much Punch For Judy has been performed over 6,000 times and Chicken nearly 6,000. Missing Dan Nolan and Hard to Swallow are both set texts for the GSCE Drama 9-1 exams. His work has been a staple part of the Drama curriculum both in the UK and abroad for the past three decades. Professional productions of Hard to Swallow, I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die and Chicken regularly tour schools and many of Mark’s works are available on DVD, with digital formats forthcoming in late 2020.  His study guides include Drama Schemes, The Story Behind Too Much Punch For Judy, Drama Club & Hard to Swallow – Easy to Digest. He has three children and lives just outside the New Forest, with his wife Rachael, and Labrador, Dusty.

Book preview

This edition first published in 2020 by Salamander Street Ltd.,

272 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4JR ([e-mail])

Act Normal © Mark Wheeller, 2020

All rights reserved.

Extracts from ‘I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die’ (2019), reprinted with permission of Methuen Drama, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Extracts from Scratching the Surface (2016), This Is For You (2020) and Can You Hear Me Major Tom? (2020), reprinted with permission of Pping Publishing.

All rights whatsoever in these monologues are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before rehearsal to MBA Literary Agents Ltd, 62 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DW (attn: Sophie Gorell Barnes). No performance may be given unless a license has been obtained.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

PB ISBN: 9781913630607

E ISBN: 9781913630591

Printed and bound in Great Britain

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Further copies of this publication can be purchased from www.salamanderstreet.com

CONTENTS

Blackout – Operation Pied Piper (1983)

Blackout – Operation Pied Piper (2)

Graham – World’s Fastest Blind Runner (1984)

Graham – World’s Fastest Blind Runner (2)

Too Much Punch For Judy (1987)

Too Much Punch For Judy (2)

Too Much Punch For Judy (3)

Hard to Swallow (1989)

Hard to Swallow (2)

Sweet (W)FA/Lethal In The Box (1991)

Sweet (W)FA/Lethal In The Box (2)

Chicken! (An early version) (1992)

Chicken! (2)

Legal Weapon (1996)

Wacky Soap (2000)

Missing Dan Nolan (2002)

Missing Dan Nolan (2)

Missing Dan Nolan (3)

One Million to Stop The Traffik (2010)

Kids Who Look Out of the Window (2011)

Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures (2014)

Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures (2)

Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures (3)

I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won’t Die (2016)

Scratching the Surface (2016)

This Is For You (2017)

Can You Hear Me Major Tom? (2019)

Can You Hear Me Major Tom? (2)

Game Over (2019)

Game Over (2)

Game Over (3)

Acknowledgements

To all those (as named in the verbatim monologues) for offering their words to make my plays as truthful as memory will allow. Without them none of this would be possible.

Thanks to the co-authors of plays/musicals as I have detailed in the monologues they refer to.

Rachael, and my family, who encourage my commitment to writing these plays. My Mum and Dad for support/encouragement all through my life.

David Bowie for opening my eyes and ears! Roy Nevitt for inspiration as a young YT director to see that there was more to productions than a glitzy musical!

The members of Stantonbury /Epping / Oaklands / Oasis/ Romsey Community Youth Theatres, Alderbrook School, Beaumont School & The Victoria Shanghai Academy who put so much work into premiering the plays these monologues come from to give them such a solid start in life!

Equally, Ape, StopWatch, TiE It Up Theatre Companies have also been central in making a name for my plays and offering me the opportunity to watch them develop with a professional company & directors.

I should also thank the many schools/youth theatres who have subsequently worked on these plays and offered them an ongoing platform.

Danny Sturrock for his multimedia work/website input, videography, all of which have propelled my work into this century.

The adult team (Amy Barnett, Kat Chivers, Paul Ibbott, Dave Jones, Richard Long, Matt Sturrock & Chris Webb) at Oasis Youth Theatre/RSCoYT who added in a variety of ways consistent artistry to my more simple efforts.

Profound thanks to George Spender and those in the Salamander Street team for taking my ideas and running (fast) with them.

Sophie Gorell Barnes and all at MBA for their continued support and belief.

Introduction

I have, for a long time, wanted to produce a collection of monologues from my plays because there are a lot and I know they work well for young performers (and probably older ones as well!). When I came to write this introduction I wanted to say how many there were, so I counted them… twenty-nine. I decided thirty was a much better figure, and am glad because I have now added one from my musical Wacky Soap, which offers an interesting contrast to most of the others!

I have granted requests for my monologues to be used in compilations of other such books so, it seemed I wasn’t the only one to think that they were worthy of such a collection, but my previous publisher (Zinc) never went with the idea.

The onset of COVID-19 and the advent of socially distanced learning led to many requests from teachers for monologues. I was constantly suggesting Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures (in which every other scene is a potent monologue) and it brought the idea to the forefront of my mind again. When I suggested the idea to George Spender (Salamander Street) he reacted with a… Yes! Do it now! … response. So I did!

In so doing, I also discovered a number of ideal duologues and suggested that I do a book of them too… which was also met with a similarly positive response! Thanks, George!

Young people as performers and