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