Lungs By Duncan Macmillan Monologue Jun 2026

: Macmillan specifies that the play should be performed on a bare stage with no scenery, props, or costume changes. This means your performance must rely entirely on your voice and body to create the setting.

– Starts with deceptive calm, builds into a panic attack about overpopulation, then lands on “But I want one anyway.” Contains the play’s central paradox. lungs by duncan macmillan monologue

The monologue in "Lungs" showcases the power of language to create intimacy, connection, and understanding between people. The play highlights the importance of language in shaping our relationships, perceptions, and experiences. : Macmillan specifies that the play should be

At first glance, Duncan Macmillan’s lungs (2011) is the ultimate contemporary two-hander: a raw, 90-minute, no-interval dialogue between a man and a woman, simply named W and M, as they navigate love, panic, parenthood, and planetary collapse. But actors and directors have discovered a secret buried in its overlapping, breathless rhythms: lungs contains two of the most demanding, interwoven monologues in modern theatre. The monologue in "Lungs" showcases the power of

Lungs is not a traditional monologue play. It’s better. It’s a failed conversation—which means each character lives entirely inside their own unyielding perspective. For an actor, that’s a gift. You don’t need a scene partner to argue about the apocalypse. You just need the courage to stop pretending you have any answers.

“I read that every time we breathe it’s mostly nitrogen, actually. Only 20% oxygen. And every time we breathe out it’s full of what trees breathe in. So we’re already breathing each other.”