Qualifying for the final were competitors from Greece, Spain, France, Kenya, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and Australia. Pete Malicki who founded the games 4 years ago, said that this was the most fiercely fought final he had ever seen in the 4 year history of the games, and in the final reckoning, Tracey Collis of France wrested Gold over Jay Jay 10 to 8 points on judges’ scorecards, with world #1 and defending champion, Hugo Capelato of Brazil taking the Bronze on 7 points.
The World Monologue Games has seen more than 8,000 performers throwing their hats in the ring from 120 countries around globe ever since the 2020 pandemic which restricted opportunities to act and perform saw the birth of the Games emerging out of the ashes of Covid. This innovative festival was designed specifically for lockdown conditions, with a format designed to minimise cast, crew and locations. Submissions had to be shot in one continuous take and feature a single performer only, with a duration of only one to two and a half (1 – 2.5) minutes in the Main Professional category.
Commenting on the Silver, Jay Jay shared that, ‘A real honour to finish on the podium in the Main Professional category world final. 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.
‘There is great value in participating’, he explained, ‘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’.
Violett is already a multi award winning film, including best film at the 2023 West Australia Screen Culture Awards announced in November 2023, with the film playing in December 2023 and January 2024 at the Kookaburra Outdoor Cinema and at The Backlot Perth.
The world rankings updated following the 2023 finals, sees Jay Jay ranked #2 & #4 in the world respectively in the Endurance and Main Professional categories. The rankings are calculated based on performances over 3 years.
World Rankings
https://worldmonologuegames.com/rankings
The full broadcast of the World Final can be seen here:
