Here, read this!

   Let's talk about auditions. These are hardly ever fun, no actor really likes them, but rarely can we avoid them and find work as an actor. And it is all about the work, YOUR work.

You go to an audition, be it for film or stage, and the stage manager or director hands you a "side". A side is a small scene or monologue from the show, just to see how you might sound. Sometimes the side is not even for a character you would ever play, the director just wants a sense of what you can do.

So you are handed the side, and now have a few minutes to read it over before you audition. And now many, many actors make a critical mistake. THEY TRY AND MEMORIZE THE PIECE!

Forget it. In under 5 minutes you may be able to memorize a short piece, but if that's what you focus on, that's what it will look like. You will stand there looking like an actor trying to remember a piece they just learned. Yes you may get through it, it may be impressive that you have a great memory, but will you really get the part based on that? Or will the next actor that walks in, who has NOT memorized the piece, but has thought out how they will say it, get the job? Right, the job will go to the better actor, not the better memorizer.

Now, we are talking about a cold reading, which we often find in a stage audition but more so for film. A prepared piece is different, you would have time to memorize and think out a character.But for a cold reading, spend your precious time wisely.

Read the piece through, aloud if you can. Get a sense of the overall emotion, happy, sad, lonely, angry. Now see if there are places where the emotions change, or shift slightly. Make note of those moments, shifting emotions gives you a fuller landscape (our topic in the next blog). And then read, re-read as much as you can. No memorizing, you are not expected to do it. Get familiar enough from your rereads that you can glance up during the audition, (eye contact, remember that blog?).

Break a leg!

J.T. Turner
The Actors Sensei


Coaching and group lessons offered at The Actors Company Studio in Ipswich.