<p>I am preparing 2 classical monologues and am wondering if anyone would have any input on letting me know if one of them is infact classical. The play "Peer Gynt" by Ibsen written in 1867. Ibsen lived from around 1820s- to early 1900s. It says Chekov to present is considered contemporary. Chekov was born in 1960 but didn't write his first play until 1890s... Sorry if this is hard to follow. If anyone can let me know if PEER GYNT would be considered a classical piece that would be great... It is also written in verse...</p>
<p>It's really your call in a lot of ways...Does the monologue show your ability to handle heightened language of Shakespeare, the Greeks, or other classical writers? That's really what they want to see in a classical monologue, regardless of the year it is written. It's often hard to classify the "Modern" playwrights, like Strindberg, Ibsen, Shaw because they were written early, but their language is very contemporary in a lot of cases...I did a Strindberg monologue written in 1888 for a contemporary monologue last year, because the language was really modern. I don't know Peer Gynt that well, but if you feel confident that the monologue shows that you are capable of classical language, then it should be fine, since it IS written before the 20th century.</p>
<p>This is not part of the monologue but is an excerpt from the show... It seems to have a classical feel.</p>
<p>Peer:
I held my breath, and stood stock still.
I heard his hoof squeak against the ice,
And I could see his antlers branching high
Above my head - seeming to scratch the sky.
I fell upon my stomach, inched uphill,
Hidden among the rocks; so shiny,
So fat a buck - mother, it was a thrill
To see him! Even I felt tiny!</p>
<p>Actually, I was wondering about the classical/modern issue. Is it okay to do Shaw or Wilde as a contemporary monologue? Or, for that matter, as a classical one?</p>