Audition Fun & Games
Following our first audition of the season on Monday for Hi-De-Hi I began to recall all the previous auditions I have taken part in with the KLP and what different styles they all take.
When I first joined the group, way back in nineteen ninety-something, traditional auditions were the way to go. You know the score – let the director (& panel) know what parts you are auditioning for, wait in the other room with the rest of the hopefuls and get called in a few at a time to read a scene, then go back out and wait again. But over more recent years, auditions have taken a bit of a different turn.
Some directors – still favour the ‘closed’ audition, but others prefer the more ‘open’ approach with everyone in the same room watching everyone else audition too.
We’ve had ‘improvised’ auditions – where you need to show that you can become the character – sometimes in front of the whole group, sometimes just in front of the audition panel. And probably the most enjoyable audition over recent years was reading a scene in different styles again and again (in the style of a children’s TV show, Eastenders, policeman etc). That one was for Shakespeare in case you wondered, and proved an incredible way to get to grips with what the scene was actually about. If only we had done that when we were at school.
Panto auditions are usually great fun, and give you the chance to try out different accents/ideas and of course have a singing audition too. This year I believe Rebecca our director has prepared separate audition parts for both the front end and the back end of the Panto cow!
This weeks audition was with Guy as a director, and you know you are going to be in for an interesting evening with him at the helm – not to mention Ros as SM on the panel, clearly enjoying every minute. We read scenes, we improvised, we sweated with the heat (and the nerves), sang songs, and had a great time. The turn out was great and Guy will be faced with a tough choice on many counts for this one.
So next week we have the Panto audition (20th July) , with Rope and Quartet the following week (24th & 27th July). Don’t be shy – come on down and get stuck in. The more the merrier – we don’t want to make it easy for the directors do we?