Act Acting » Acting Audition » Can you Help? I'm looking for advice.

Can you Help? I'm looking for advice.

Question:

That is a very good question. I’m not quite sure since the letter I received is slightly ambiguous. Here’s an extract: "you will be given a short script which you will perform with one other entrant during the audition. Please be prepared to wait approximately two hours to be seen." The two hour wait might imply that we shall be given a script beforehand, or it may not. Not too helpful am I!

You can’t be helpful if you don’t know, but I agree that you’ll get the script when you get there, and have two hours to create the scene to be read. OK, so keep in mind that you won’t be expected to put a perfect reading up or have the script memorized A to Z. What the director WILL be looking for, tho, is a fleshed out direction you would take the character in. You’ll need to glean clues from the text as to what type of person this is you’re asked to play: does he say anything or more important, does the other character say anything that can give you an idea how this person behaves? For example, if the exchange is something like this: A.    Lovely day, isn’t it? B.    What makes you say that? A.    You know, you always have to challenge me on everything I say, don’t you? You have a pretty good idea these two people have a history together that has been under some strain for some time. Which tells you they know each other, probably even like each other, but are in the middle of a crisis (we know that, or else why bother writing the damned play in the first place?). You know that A. is uncomfortable around B., but is trying to salvage something in this exchange that allows him/her to avoid a confrontation. Likewise, you can tell B. is out to pick a fight. These are the type of exchanges you need to look for when you review the "sides" (as they’re called) that you are given. Also, look to the given circumstances. In the made-up dialog above, if I told you that A and B were husband and wife, you’d have a different direction to go in than if I told you they were bunkmates at summer camp. The stakes, for example, would be much higher (I can always request a new bunkmate, it’s not so easy to get a new wife.) for the married couple. At this point, you can start to layer in the prior circumstances: is it given that it’s morning? So maybe sex last night was not so good, or even non-existent, particularly for B (which is usually a good prior circumstance to play, since sex confuses each and every relationship you can have in your life, friends included). Maybe A feels guilty that B didn’t have a great encounter. Maybe A rolled over and fell asleep afterwards (a few of the broads here in alt.acting can better explain the efficacies of that than I can). Maybe they both had too much to drink last night. Maybe they just met last night. If this isn’t given to you (and make sure you hunt for your clues), then by all means, create something for yourself to work with, but be careful: make sure it fits in with the story you’ve been given (don’t make A & B out to be complete strangers who meet on the bus that morning, as an example…it’s clear they’ve had some sort of close relationship). And remember, the director is looking for a fresh, novel approach. He can always bring you back to his vision, but it’s hard to bring a stick-in-the-mud up to speed. — Carl We’re bigger than Jesus! – JWLennon

Response:

That is a very good question. I’m not quite sure since the letter I received is slightly ambiguous. Here’s an extract: "you will be given a short script which you will perform with one other entrant during the audition. Please be prepared to wait approximately two hours to be seen." The two hour wait might imply that we shall be given a script beforehand, or it may not. Not too helpful am I!

Ryan, I would inquire about the availabilty of getting a script to read in advance of the audition, and barring that, when you arrive at the audition, ASK if you can look over the script in advance of your audition. They most likely will say yes. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ryan Ryan, a very important question before we start a discussion on this: will you have access to the script ahead of time, or is this to be a cold reading? — Carl We’re bigger than Jesus! – JWLennon Hi folks, Just looking for advice, I hope you kind people will respond :- I have an audition next month for a television drama series and have been informed that I shall be asked to do a reading from a script, most likely with another actor. Unfortunately I don’t have much experience with this type of audition – I did something similar for a short film but made a mess of it, I just couldn’t relax and my effort appeared too superficial. Can anyone offer any tips??? RB.

– KellyL AFTRA/Actor/Director Usenet: an Erisitic construct of the Temporary Autonomous Zone

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