ALEX from Alone at the Beach by Richard Dresser

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Role Description

Introverted dramatic monologue. Could work for a woman or a man, but requires a delicate emotional journey and strong, surgical behavioral choices.

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Full text with punctuation

ALEX: Four years ago my brother, that is, my twin brother, we were in business together. And he got sick and couldn't work all summer and then in the fall he went into the hospital and I visited him every single day after work and he was farther and farther gone until he hardly knew me or my parents and still we thought he would somehow recover. But of course he never did, and he died in early December and watching him like that was like watching my own death, we looked exactly alike and talk to each other without words. When he died I knew that I had lost all my faith in God or the future or anything at all. I got rid of our business and I moved back in with my parents and there was really just nothing, I mean every day was exactly like the last one and we hardly spoke to each other. I lost track of time and stopped reading papers or listening to music or doing anything at all. I just stayed in bed and after a while I couldn't really tell when I was awake and when I was asleep and what I had dreamed and what had we actually happened. There were times when I even thought that I was the one who had died and that was what death was, living in this world where there was no time and nothing happened, so I decided I had to do something in order to be alive. I started fooling around with computers because the information was real, it was not like believing in God or an afterlife or something. A computer is really very simple. It makes a choice between one thing and another, A and B. And it makes another calculation on top of that. And another on top of that. And out of all these simple choices, something much bigger and more complex is reached. I needed this information, these simple choices, because with more and more of them, built on top of one another, it was a way of reaching up and out of myself to get to a higher place where it was different from everyday life but I knew it was true. And I have this feeling about what I do that it is like climbing way up on this very fragile tower into the night-time sky and seeing the world from a different place and it is a way that I can maybe someday reach a point where I will have faith of my own again without using computers or anything else. That's what I would really like someday.

A level only

Four years ago my brother, he got sick and then in the fall he went into the hospital and still we thought he would somehow recover. But of course he never did, and watching him like that was like watching my own death. When he died I knew that I had lost all my faith in anything at all. I just stayed in bed and after a while I couldn't really tell when I was awake and when I was asleep. There were times when I even thought that I was the one who had died, so I decided I had to do something in order to be alive. I started fooling around with computers because the information was real. A computer is really very simple. It makes a choice between one thing and another. And out of all these simple choices, something much bigger and more complex is reached. It was a way of reaching up and out of myself to get to a higher place and it is a way that I can maybe someday reach a point where I will have faith of my own again without using computers or anything else. That's what I would really like someday.

A & B

Four years ago my brother, that is, my twin brother, he got sick and then in the fall he went into the hospital and I visited him every single day after work and still we thought he would somehow recover. But of course he never did, and he died in early December and watching him like that was like watching my own death, we looked exactly alike and talk to each other without words. When he died I knew that I had lost all my faith in God or the future or anything at all. I moved back in with my parents and there was really just nothing. I lost track of time and stopped doing anything at all. I just stayed in bed and after a while I couldn't really tell when I was awake and when I was asleep and what I had dreamed and what had we actually happened. There were times when I even thought that I was the one who had died and that was what death was, living in this world where there was no time and nothing happened, so I decided I had to do something in order to be alive. I started fooling around with computers because the information was real. A computer is really very simple. It makes a choice between one thing and another, A and B. And it makes another calculation on top of that. And out of all these simple choices, something much bigger and more complex is reached. I needed this information, these simple choices, because with more and more of them, built on top of one another, it was a way of reaching up and out of myself to get to a higher place where it was different from everyday life but I knew it was true. And I have this feeling about what I do that it is like climbing way up on this very fragile tower into the night-time sky and seeing the world from a different place and it is a way that I can maybe someday reach a point where I will have faith of my own again without using computers or anything else. That's what I would really like someday.

Memorization text for isolations

In a way I did to save myself what happened was four years ago my brother that is my twin brother we were in business together and he got sick and couldn't work all summer and then in the fall he went into the hospital and I visited him every single day after work and he was farther and farther gone until he hardly knew me or my parents and still we thought he would somehow recover but of course he never did and he died in early December and watching him like that was like watching my own death we looked exactly alike and talk to each other without words when he died I knew that I had lost all my faith in God or the future or anything at all I got rid of our business and I moved back in with my parents and there was really just nothing I mean every day was exactly like the last one and we hardly spoke to each other I lost track of time and stopped reading papers or listening to music or doing anything at all I just stayed in bed and after a while I couldn't really tell when I was awake and when I was asleep and what I had dreamed and what had we actually happened there were times when I even thought that I was the one who had died and that was what death was living in this world where there was no time and nothing happened so I decided I had to do something in order to be alive I started fooling around with computers because the information was real it was not like believing in God or an afterlife or something a computer is really very simple it makes a choice between one thing and another A and B and it makes another calculation on top of that and another on top of that and out of all these simple choices something much bigger and more complex is reached I needed this information these simple choices because with more and more of them built on top of one another it was a way of reaching up and out of myself to get to a higher place where it was different from everyday life but I knew it was true and I have this feeling about what I do that it is like climbing way up on this very fragile tower into the night-time sky and seeing the world from a different place and it is a way that I can maybe someday reach a point where I will have faith of my own again without using computers or anything else that's what I would really like someday