The Central Sphere [Main & Supporting Cast]
Right Old Wrongun for The Captain
One-Timer: This role appears only once within the story. These roles are memorable roles with plenty to chew on. Perfect for actors looking to supplement their voice reel or portfolio with a relatively quick turn-around.
Description: Looking to sink your teeth into a monologue? Allow me to introduce you to the Captain.
This fisher is the former skipper of the sentient, talking boat, Matchwood. Haunted by a long life at sea, the Captain once regaled the young ship with a harrowing story of an encounter with the sea monster they call ‘Nassian’, or ‘Destroyer’ - two words the Captain was often found muttering on dreary days of long voyages while staring out into the open sea.
The Captain is now long gone, but the tale they told Matchwood will never be forgotten - especially as Match is beginning to notice eerily familiar irregularities in the water…
Voice: Needing a voice with real gravitas, weight and age, but no specific gender. This monologue is awe-inspiring, but incredibly dark at points. The Captain is riddled with survivor’s guilt, and it shows.
The tone should sit somewhere between a passionate storyteller spinning an Epic with grand gestures, and a traumatised witness recounting, in a hushed voice, a story too horrifying to believe.
It’s clear that telling the tale is important to the Captain, as it keeps the memory of those who lost their lives that day alive, but it means they have to relive every detail every time they tell it.
Accent-wise, I imagine the Captain with a South-Western English accent, or something Celtic (Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Cornish), but I’m open to hearing other interpretations! As long as it works with the tone of the monologue, feel free to experiment!
Vocal Inspiration
Thomas Wake (The Lighthouse)
Quint (Jaws)
Daniel (Amnesia: The Dark Descent)
- english
- male young adult
- male senior
- all english accents
- all american accents
- english (british)
- english (northern)
- welsh
- radio drama
- female senior
- irish
- male adult
- female adult
- scottish
- female young adult
- androgynous
- dra
(Torch-lit energy, quiet storyteller) As children, we are told by our mothers that all the monsters are long gone. That the giant lizards all shrank and now scurry under rocks at the sound of our approach. That dragons and trolls were wiped out by ancient heroes of courage and honour. The serpents of the deep oceans are nothing more than ripples on the surface, transformed by bored imaginations. The monsters that sink ships are merely rocks and icebergs, and sailors who become lunch are just gobbled by sharks and eels.
I, like all children, believed my mother. Mothers don’t lie, after all. My mother believed what she told me to be true. There was no reason to think that monsters really exist, since she had never seen one, and despite the tall tales of many sailors, she had never met a one of ‘em who – in all honesty - could claim to have actually seen an unnatural creature. Aye, my fine ship. I stand here to tell you… I have seen such a thing.
(Mid-story: grand, leading to a quiet, haunting footnote) We pulled our half-drowned shipmates back on board and waited for our saviours to arrive. It was then that we heard it. The ‘Rhythm’, my Captain called it. The ‘Rhythm of the Deep’, a sound so strange…at first I thought it were the engines of our sister vessels, as they steamed towards us. It was only the face of my captain that made me think different. Normally a red-faced man, all the colour had washed away and he now stood white as a ghost – even his bushy, black beard had turned icy white. “We’re done for lads”, he sobbed, before putting the barrel of his own musket to his head and pulling the trigger.
