Audition Tips

This post is to follow my previous post about preparing: Audition Preparation Tips. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. If there is anything I haven't covered, not explained well, or even if you are unsure of student finance or applications - I'm here!

Okay, as a lot of you know, first impressions are everything. The reality is that you have to think of every single element of your audition with the intention of making everything go in your favour. So let's take it step by step:

• Arrive early and on time. I'm not sure how many times I can say this but it really does put you in the right frame of mind. You don't want to be running and rushing around all scattered.
• Do not rehearse your monologues before you go in. Have confidence when you step into that school that you know your monologues line by line perfectly. Do not let the nerves make you panicky.
• Be confident from the moment you step in to the audition room. You literally need to ooze confidence and charisma. Have you ever seen a play - possibly Shakespeare, and seen an actor such as Mark Rylance come on to the stage and immediately felt his presence? You can't take your eyes off of them because they have presence. Unfortunately this does not come naturally to everyone - but confidence does a lot for first impressions. And do not confuse confidence with arrogance.
• Don't be awkward. A lot of auditionees have said to me at previous auditions that they felt that the audition panel would like you more if you shook their hands. Would they honestly recall a shit actor because they shook their hand? No. Disregard that myth. If you don't normally shake hands with people then don't. The only school that I have ever shook hands with the panel both at the preliminary and the recall was RADA - and that's only because I felt so comfortable and it felt right. Don't be awkward, don't force it.
• Stand away from the panel when doing your speeches. The tendency we have is to stand too close to the panel, when in fact, it's better to be further away. It might feel odd performing so far away but if you don't, you'll only be instructed to back away.
• Perform your best speech first. First impressions are made within the first 30 seconds. Before the audition, plan to perform in a certain order so that you can showcase your best talent first. My recommendation, with the assumption that you have one dramatic and one comical piece, would be to do the comedy second. That's what I have done.
  
  
• I've separated this point because I feel it is one of the most important. Just before you start, what do you think to yourself? "I'm so nervous".. "Calm down".. "What's my first line?" - I'm guessing that last one there. This is not what you should be doing. From the moment they say to you "when you're ready", you should be in the mind frame of the character.
  
  What you should be thinking is "what's my first thought?"
  
  As Portia, I'm thinking to myself that I need to confront Brutus, I need to tell him what's worrying me, he needs to know that I feel neglected. This raises your stakes and gains focus. Perhaps even at home even practise some method acting and improvise the thoughts of your character - whatever works for you.

• Pick a spot and stick to it. Personally I hate performing to a wall, but to make it easier you need to determine where that character is. Make the decision.
• Pace yourself when performing. Get a copy of your monologue and mark where you naturally take a breath in the monologue and then get another pen to mark in pauses for effect. Throughout this entire audition process i can most probably count the small amount of auditionees that have used the correct pace.
• Pitch is extremely important when shaping your monologue. If your entire speech is set in only one tone it goes nowhere. There needs to be a change to create impact. If you are familiar with the work of Stanislavski then creating units and objectives go hand in hand with pitch. 
• Beware of habits such as pointing with your fingers, speaking with your hands, moving your head too much or moving on the spot. All of these little movements tell them that you're nervous and haven't blocked your monologue properly.
• When you finish, pause and hold your ground for a good three seconds before coming out of role. It looks extremely bad if you just let the end of the monologue just drop. I remember at GSA when performing in front of the other auditionees, one of them was saying his last line while retreating to his seat. Definite no-no.

Reading my previous post about interviews, you should have enough to go on. This was more about the practical side. Any more questions ask away.