When Flashpoint’s Olunike Adeliyi took to the stage during Toronto’s first monologue slam last Sunday night at Trane Studio, she was covered in fake blood, had a cigarette drooping from her mouth and wore a tight cocoon-fitting dress: she was a hardened working girl.
The character that appeared on stage before her three-minute dialogue recited scenes from Julius Caesar as a self-proclaimed white supremacist; then there was the belligerent alcoholic director before that.
Monologue slams have surfaced in the underground theatre districts of New York and London and now Toronto. So, what exactly is a monologue slam?
Basically, you have 12 contestants, four judges.
Each contestant has three minutes to perform a monologue of their choice — it could be a scene from a notable play or film, or it could be something they’ve written. So once everyone has performed their bit, the judges pick the best six. After a small intermission break the judges re-group and then tell each contestant to perform the same set, but with a different twist. That’s when improv comes into play. Then the best one is picked from that.
Adeliyi and Andre Newell (co-founders of ToSlam!) spent years using a kids drama program as their testing ground after witnessing how important slams are becoming for actors in places like New York.
“For struggling actors, it can be a long time between gigs, and there really isn’t much out there that can improve confidence before their next audition,” Adeliyi said. “It’s also good to develop characters and fine tune personalities — it’s a place to network and showcase skills.”
Up on the dimly-lit stage, which resembled the backdrop from the standup bit on Seinfeld, it looked daunting for the actors, who were hand picked by Newell and Adeliyi. With all eyes on stage, three minutes can feel like 30 minutes. During the performance, you can hear a pin drop if the actor isn’t speaking.
Adeliyi is busy preparing for the second monologue slam, set to kick off in January next year, but no specific date has been set yet.
“Next time, we’ll be hosting auditions for actors as opposed to selecting them,” she said. “But, we were really happy with how things went last week and are looking to make this a regular spot to showcase up-and-coming Toronto actors.”