Matilda Monologue Information

Choosing the right monologue is an important part of your audition preparation. A polished monologue
gives you a chance to show off your acting skills and demonstrate your connection to the production.
Here are some suggestions on how to get started.

1. Familiarize yourself with the show! Read the script, listen to the music, watch samples of
performances on YouTube, and thoroughly read all of the audition information, including the
character descriptions, that has been provided.
2. Ask yourself: Which role(s) do I see myself in? Which role(s) do I think the directors will see me
in? Consider all of the possibilities!
3. Choose a monologue that captures the essence of the characters that you would like to be
considered for, but read through all of the options. Be open to the discovery that this exercise
may lead you to!
4. Make character choices! Read the monologue and think about the character: who is this person
and what do they want in this specific moment? What is the story the character is telling? How
can you, as the actor, use your body and voice to best express this moment/idea/story? And
then try things - play with body language, posture, facial expression, and vocal expression!
Commit fully and tell the story.
5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Perform your monologue in front of your loved ones and ask for
feedback to help you improve your audition and increase your comfort and confidence.
6. Memorization is a plus, but is not required. We want to see your best work...if you’ll be stronger
with your script in hand, use it! Have fun! We are excited to see your performance.

Youth Monologue Options

MATILDA (Option 1): Once upon a time, the two greatest circus performers in the world – an
escapologist who could escape from any lock that was ever invented, and an acrobat who was so skilled
it seemed as if she could actually fly – fell in love, and got married. They performed some of the most
incredible feats together anyone has ever seen. And people would come from miles around: kings!
queens! celebrities! and astronauts! And not just to see their skill, but also to see their love for each
other, which was so deep that it was said that cats would purr as they passed them, and dogs would
weep with joy.

MATILDA (Option 2): I know where Nigel is Miss Trunchbull. He’s over there under those coats. Where
he’s been for the last hour actually. You see, unfortunately, Nigel suffers from the rare but chronic sleep
disorder, narcolepsy. The condition is characterized by the sufferer experiencing bouts of chronic fatigue
and falling suddenly asleep, often without knowing or any waning at all. You see he fell asleep and we
put him in the coats for safety. He’ll probably think he’s in bed when he wakes up.
BRUCE: Okay, look, alright, I stole the cake. And honestly I was really, definitely, sort of almost thinking
about owning up… maybe? But the thing was, I was having a lot of trouble with my belly. You see, the
Trunchbull’s cake was so good that I’d scoffed it down too quick and now it was beginning to fight back.
(His belly rumbles.) Ooops. See? (Rumble) (Pause) It was the biggest burp I had ever heard, the biggest
burp I had ever heard about. It was like the entire world went silent for that burp to exist, as a huge
cloud of chocolaty gas wafted from my mouth and drifted… across the class… past Lavender… past
Alice… past Matilda… and then my great big beautiful chocolaty burp, which now seemed to have a
mind of its own, wafted full into the face of the Trunchbull.

LAVENDER: Hello. I’m Lavender by the way. Matilda’s best friend. There’s a bit coming up that’s all about
me. Well, not exactly about me, but I play a big part in it. But I’m not gonna say what happens because I
don’t want to spoil it for you. (Pause) Alright, look, what I do is I volunteer to get the Trunchbull a jug of
water. And then...not! I don’t want to tell you any more because I don’t want to ruin it! (Pause) Well on
the way back I find a newt. A newt is like a really ugly lizard that lives in water, so I pick it up and - No! I
will not say any more! (Pause) I’m going to put the newt in the Trunchbull’s jug! It’s going to be brilliant!

NIGEL: Hide me! Someone poured a whole can of treacle onton Trunchbull’s chair! She sat down and
when she got up her knickers stayed stuck to the seat! Someone told her I did it but I never and now
she’s after me! Oh Matilda... they say she’s going to put me in Chokey! They say it’s a cupboard in her
office that she throws children into! They say she’s lined it with nails and spikes and bits of broken
glass...please don’t tell her where I am.

Adult Monologue Options

MR. WORMWOOD: I would like to offer an apology for some of the things that have been going on here
tonight. They are not nice things and they are not right things and I would like to state garrantorically
that we do not want any children that might be here tonight watching this to go home and try these
things out for themselves. I am of course talking about... reading books. It is not normal for kids to
behave in this fashion, it stunts the brain, wears out the eyes, makes kids ugly, stinky, fatty, sweaty, batty,
boring, gaseous and crucially, it gives them head lice… of the soul.

MRS. WORMWOOD: Escapologist he says! What about me then? I’ve got a whole house to look after —
dinners don’t microwave themselves you know! If you’re an escapologist I must be an acrobat to balance
that lot — the world’s greatest acrobat. I am off to bleach my roots and I shan’t be talking to you for the
rest of the evening, you… horrid little man!

MRS. PHELPS: Matilda! What a pleasure to see you; here in the library again, are we? Your parents must
be so proud to have a girl as clever as you. And do you tell them lots of stories like you do with me? Oh, I
love your stories, Matilda. And that’s not a hint, by the way. But if you did happen to have a story you
wanted to tell me — I’m not hinting, but if you did happen to have a story you wanted to tell me — Now
look, are you going to tell me a story or not?
THE TRUNCHBULL (Option 1): Silence! Oh, that’s alright, Jenny. We all get carried away sometimes. Even
me. Well, done Bogtrotter. Good show. Well? Come along Bogtrotter. Oh, did I not mention? That was
the first part of your punishment. There’s more, The second part. And the second part is… chokey! Do
you think I would allow myself to be defeated by these maggots? Did you? Who do you think I am, Miss
Honey? A weakling, an idiot? A fool? You?

THE TRUNCHBULL (Option 2): In this world, children, there are two types of human being. The winners
and the losers. I am a winner. I play by the rules and I win. But if I play by the rules and I...do not win,
then something is wrong, something is nnto working. And when something is wrong you have to put it
right. Even if it screams. (pause) What are you looking at?

MISS HONEY: I’m not strong like you, Matilda. You see, my father died when I was young. Magnus was
his name. He was very kind. But when he was gone, my aunt became my legal guardian. She was mean
and cruel like you can hardly imagine. And then, when I got my job as a teacher, she presented me with a
bill for looking after me all those years. She’d written everything down: every tea bag, every electricity
bill, every tin of beans. And she made me sign a contract to pay her back every penny. She even
produced a document that said my father had given her his entire house.

THE ESCAPOLOGIST: Have I been so wrapped up in my grief for my wife that I have forgotten the one
thing that mattered to us most? I love you so much, my daughter, I shall spend the rest of my life making
it up to you. We shall be together forever. Don’t cry little girl, nothing can hurt you. You’ve nothing to
fear; I’m here.

SERGEI (With a Russian accent): You are the Wormwood daughter? The Wormwood is a stupid man. And
being stupid he assumed I was stupid too. And that’s a very, very, stupid — and rude — thing to do. But
you know this? At least there is one clever one in the family. What is your name little girl? I like you
Matilda; you seem smart. Sadly, in my line of work I don’t often get to meet smart people like you. Most
of the people I deal with, their thinking is all backwards.