Auditions, Auditioning and Audition (the book)

I've had my first dose of being on the other side of the audition table for the first time recently, as the HR dude for The Oral Stage. They were casting for their upcoming 2 productions, Orkishly called Quikworks and Biggworks (the Biggworks play's called The Illusion, by Pierre Corneille but the adapted English version by Tony Kushner). Interestingly, not long before that I bought quite a treasure called Audition by Michael Shurtleff, quite cheap at Kinokuniya (sorry I think I bought the last copy there). And of course, not long before that I had a successful audition for Rose Rose I Love You, which I'd like to reflect on with all I've learned since.

Auditions
I'd previously heard of some producers' dislike for posting auditions on kakiseni.com . Also, I'd heard of their dislike for open auditions at all. I never quite understood why until I did myself - not so much the latter but the former. I did get a considerable amount of response from the posting - I was quite surprised how quickly some came in. For the first set of auditions, the number of people who followed-up with properly booked auditions was about 2/3rds of the number of people who made contact. And the number of people who actually showed up was about 2/3rds of that. The result at the end of the day was that about 2/3rds of those who came in were suitable for casting (note that this production was looking to take in newbies). 2/3rds of 2/3rds of 2/3rds is 29.630%, or under 30%. Having 15 decent candidates at the end of 2 days (about 8-10 hours in total) isn't the best of results. And some of the nonsense people you have to go through for these results.

Oops. I just realised that I've mentioned some of this before.

The 2nd set of auditions proved better in terms of quality. Of course, the people who came were more experienced (with an exception or two). But more of the candidates who came were through word of mouth, many of whom I've worked with before. So - people through word of mouth tend to be more eligible than through mass calling.

Interestingly, and perhaps shockingly, of all the people who got rejected only ONE asked for feedback on how to be better. Here's my response in user-friendly format:

• Keep going for auditions – the practice is good.
• Keep trying your best – casting is very subjective and sometimes it may not be a matter of ability.
• Watch plays – they provide great sources of inspiration and learning (sometimes it’s what to do, sometimes it’s what NOT to do).
• For monologues – have a couple prepared, and get them from established plays (unless you’re an amazing writer). Make them interesting, they don’t have to follow the piece that you got them from but that could serve as a guideline. Practice it, you’ve all the time in the world to prepare a monologue. By “interesting” I mean dramatically interesting – you must be heavily emotionally involved. Something must vary over the duration – your emotion could change, your tone must change, your feel, your thoughts. Your physicality may or may not vary, depending on your piece.
• For readings – much like the above, without the preparation time. You don’t have the context the piece is from, so you can do ANYTHING you want to with it. Make it interesting. Make it ridiculous. It’s all up to you, just make sure it shows what you’re capable of. For example, you could take a piece and go “1st half I’m angry with you, 2nd half I’m madly in love with you”. A useful guideline is to 1) think of all the possible ways of reading that piece, 2) choose the one that’s slightly unusual that you think you could pull off and 3) do it.
• For improvs – watch Whose Line Is It Anyway on TV and Actorlympics on stage. They’re great inspiration. Basically, you can do ANYTHING with what you’re given – a useful guide is to take the most unlikely thing (if you prefer funny) or the worst thing (if you prefer drama) and make it happen, then react to it. The key is to keep introducing events to a scene so it flows and things keep happening so you got things to react to. For example (going with the funny), the scene is “you’re about to have sex with your boyfriend and something happens”. So you ask if he has a condom, he goes “yes” and pulls out some chewing gum. You react, you start arguing. Your Dad walks in (new event). You react, now you start defending yourself. Your boyfriend reveals that your Dad is his uncle (new event). You react, shock and horror. Your Mum walks in (new event). Of course, you could choose to end it with that, depending on how long you’ve been going on. You get the idea?
  

Some lessons I've learned about how I've posted auditions on kakiseni.com:

• Make it very clear that you need to book your audition time (maybe don't even put a time there to force them to make contact)
• Minimum 20 minute slots are better - maybe 30mins is ideal (allows for breaks)
• State consequences of tardiness (if any)
• Make it clear that it's theatre

On a final note on these auditions, I think the director's choice of cast is most interesting. Not necessarily in a good way.

Audition
Picked up this book on a whim when at Kinokuniya (love the place, they need another one in a more friendly location) and thought I'd need to audition seriously well over the next few months to make sure I'm constantly performing. Even though it's old (printed in the late 70s), it kicks ass. Damned useful reference for that 30mins (or thereabouts) where you have to give it your all for that job.

It's main crux is the 12 guideposts he recommends people to follow in bringing a reading to life - Relationship, "What Are You Fighting For?" Conflict, The Moment Before, Humour, Opposites, Discoveries, Communication and Competition, Important, Find the Events, Place, "Game Playing and Role Playing" and "Mystery and Secret". Some notes on what I liked and learned:

• Ask "Where is the love?" in every scene and always find one (or a distinct lack of one). Find it in your scene-partner (or blame him/her for the lack of it) and fight for it. Love is a powerful creator of emotional commitment.
• Make things IMPORTANT. The character talks about something or is in a scene because s/he finds it important. It may be inane to you, but regardless it's life or death for your him/her.
• The desire to change someone else is very powerful and always leads to conflict between people. Use it.
• Revenge is another very very powerful emotion.
• "Ignore so-and-so" does NOT mean shutting him/her out. It an intentional means of communicating silently to get what you want.
• Limiting yourself may be the most dangerous thing to do. Always find a way to have your character do it. ie don't say "But s/he wouldn't do that!"

Aside from that, there are a great many notes and pointers about 'the little things' that make all the difference. The book's scattered with little anecdotes and examples from the writer's experiences, and it's always nice to hear of how now-greats such as Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro had such humble beginnings. Highly recommended.

Auditioning
My Rose Rose I Love You audition turned out quite nicely in that I almost didn't go, thinking it'd be too soon after Tunku. Very happy I went, as I landed a supporting lead role with my name on the postcard (and in the papers - NST's Streets p8 20th Oct)! Wahey and happiness!!! I had a great audition, though I'm not quite sure what cinched it for me. Definitely it's an overall thing - a decent amount of skill and talent and a healthy dose of confidence and self-worth. Let's see if I can compile a list of what worked:

• Not getting intimidated by a room full of Girl Power
• Not caring that I wasn't listened to after a minute of "Tell us about yourself" (I didn't ramble on, just waited as they were obviously deciding on something)
• Going in wanting to give them my shining best
• Singing like I just didn't care

What didn't work:

• Not being daring enough with my reading (I read for a lead role but didn't take enough time or create enough physicality where relevant)
• Not sufficiently different between my 1st and 2nd reading

I think I should have asked for a minute or two to just skim through the script to get a better idea of the scene. Perhaps even asked the context. In the end, absolutely no regrets. I got far more than I expected to, and am working with such a different group that the experience alone is invaluable.

Thanks, guys.