Perth Voice Interactive

A COMPETITIVE monologuist from Joondanna has won silver at the World Monologue Games for a two-and-a-half minute speech where he broke into seven languages.

Jay Jay Jegathesan came in second in the main professional category, with judges scoring his performance of a self-written piece The Script Doesn’t Matter as an 8, just behind France’s Tracey Collis who won with a 10-pointer. 

Jegathesan’s second place was all the sweeter for having pipped the number one ranked world champion Hugo Capelato of Brazil, who got the third place this year with a 7-point speech. 

The global ranking points carry over year-to-year, and this year’s showing put Jegathesan at number 4 ranking in the vaunted main professional category.

Jegathesan said it was “a real honour” to finish on the virtual podium. 

“I never imagined I would get here. I came out of a 25-year acting retirement in 2020 when I took part in the first games, and prior to that, my last major acting credit was for The Tempest in the early 1990s at UWA’s Dolphin Theatre for the University Dramatic Society.”

He says “there is great value in participating.

“I won the bronze in the ‘endurance’ category of the inaugural games in 2020 with a piece called Soul Catcher, and I was lucky that up-and-coming West Australia director Steven John Mihaljevic saw this, and offered me a role in a film he was writing at the time called Violett.

“This has turned out to be the first feature film I am in.”

Jegathesan also holds number 2 ranking in the endurance category, with Australian actress Louise Chapman in top spot.

Before the Covid pandemic competitive monologuing was typically held live on stage, but in 2020 Australian producer and writer Peter Malicki started up the online-based World Monologue Games allowing competitors to film remotely.

With performers from 120 countries so far, Australia is a strong performer: We hold 151 ranked spots out of the 495 top rankings across six categories.

Meanwhile Violett has some local showings coming up at The Backlot Perth in January 2024, having already nabbed a couple of honours at the 2023 West Australia Screen Culture Awards.