Prepared by:

Raquel N. Castillo
Adramatic monologue is a
kind of modern play which
features one actor
speaking and acting out his
or her innermost thoughts
and emotions as the main
character of the play.
 As a poetic form, the dramatic monologue
was the favored mode of a particular
literary period, between 1830 and 1930.
It is well exemplified by Robert
Brownings My Last Duchess, in which the
persona speaks directly to the reader,
as an actual historical person rather than
the poet.
 Asa theatrical form, the dramatic
monologue has often been used for one-
person
performances on historical personalities and
events (e.g., Winston Churchill and
World War II), and on the life and works of
writers (e.g., Emlyn Williams on
Charles Dickens).
 In Philippine theater, the form has been
especially favored, first because it needs
minimal sets and props and is therefore
inexpensive to produce; and second
because it lends itself to many creative
variations. The dula-tula (literally, play-
poem), for example, is a variant, in which
one actor/narrator alone speaks, and the
other(s) play all the parts.
 In Tony Perez s Alex Antiporda, 1974, a
student, Alex, goes through a
monologue which is his reply to a question
asked of him in an oral exam by an
imaginary panel of philosophy professors. In
explaining what is meant by
Martin Bubers I-and-Thou relationship, he
reveals his own pain at being treated
as an object by his closest friends.
In Anton Juan Jr. s Taong
Grasa (Tramp), 1985, a
common half-deranged
tramp,
who is clad in rags and black
from dirt, speaks of his daily
struggles to exist and
his plight as a nonperson.
 InChris Millado s Ang Nazarena (The
Nazarene Woman), 1983, part of a
trilogy on three women from Jose
Rizal s novel Noli me tangere (Touch
Me
Not), Sisas scene is a dramatic
monologue, counterpointing the
other two, which
are duets, featuring the same
actor.
 In Buwan at Baril sa Eb Major (Moon and Gun in
Eb Major), 1985, also by
Millado, a play in five scenes with prologue and
epilogue, two scenes are
dramatic monologues. Ang Socialite, has a
wealthy young woman preparing to
attend a street demonstration in which she
expects a confrontation with the
military. In Ang Asawa, a teacher goes to
identify and claim the corpse of her
husband, a member of the New Peoples Army
who is said to have been killed
in an encounter, but who, she finds, was shot
at close range, while eating.
 Kudeta (Coup detat), also by
Millado, 1990, is a humorous
monologue in which
a radio announcer talks, eats, dozes
off, receives and relays reports from
his
reporter-in-the-field on the
attempted coup detat of December
1989.
 Alimuom (Steam of the Earth) by Reuel
Molina Aguila, 1989, has a reformed
armed soldier seeking out his fellow torturers
under the Marcos regime, in order
to silence them so that his own
involvement in the torturing of political
detainees will not be exposed.
 Kuwadro (Portrait) by Isagani R. Cruz, 1980,
is about Katerina Alonzo, an aging
actor, formerly a sarswela star, recalling the
glories of her past.
 Tonyo, Pepe at Pule (Tonyo, Pepe, and Pule),
1991, by Rene O. Villanueva, Malou
Jacob, and Paul Dumol, respectively, shows
Antonio Luna, Jose Rizal, and
Apolinario Mabini struggling with personal
pains and conflicts during the periods
of reform and revolution, 1887-1903.
 Teresa,Gregoria, Teodora, 1993, by Malou
Jacob, Rene O. Villanueva, and Rene
Villanueva-Honorio Magbalic, respectively,
present a triptych of three women
Teresa Magbanua, Gregoria de Jesus, and
Teodora Alonzoliberating themselves
from the structures of hispanized and feudal
mores. D.G. Fernandez
References:
Cruz, Isagani R. Josephine at Iba Pang Mga
Dula. Manila: De La Salle
University Press, 1988.
Sinfield, Alan. Dramatic Monologue, 1977.