French Literature Reviews - 2026

The Monologue in Theatre (1950-2000). Solitary Speech
Theatre and Performance

The Monologue in Theatre (1950-2000): Solitary Speech

Florence Fix, Frédérique Toudoire-Surlapierre (eds.)

Presses de l'Université de Dijon, 2006

Publisher's overview:

Solitary speech—soliloquy, monologue, semi-monologue—is an enduring constant of contemporary European theatre that challenges both the dramatic text and its performance.
From the 1950s to the end of the twentieth century, playwrights increasingly favored the "solo performance" format. For anyone viewing theatre as a medium of exchange, solitary speech (whether the actor is alone on stage or pretends to ignore the presence of others through a pseudo-dialogue or double soliloquy) suspends the action and isolates the character. How does this "solitary speech" function? What happens to the theatre and its audience when it unfolds upon the stage? What are the scenic and aesthetic implications of a device that questions the linguistic, semiotic, and artistic foundations of theatre itself? What anthropological and ontological perspectives emerge from this? This volume sets out to answer these questions, which this theatre of solitude and provocation poses to the spectator.

Giving Voice to the Monologue: Impossible Communication, Solo on Stage

The monologue has long served as a device in dramatic literature, functioning as a bridge between a character's interiority and the audience's perception. By isolating the performer, this form disrupts traditional patterns of dialogue and exchange. The volume examines how the shift toward solo performance during the latter half of the twentieth century altered the relationship between the stage and the spectator, addressing the aesthetic and semiotic implications of a device that questions the foundations of theatre.

Within the broader history of European theatre, the transition from dialogue-driven narratives to solo formats reflects changing attitudes toward communication and identity. The study considers how the absence of an interlocutor challenges the foundations of dramatic action, including manifestations such as the pseudo-dialogue and the double soliloquy. Readers interested in the evolution of twentieth-century dramatic forms and the shifting dynamics of the theatrical encounter may find these perspectives relevant to their research.