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"Is it wise to have coaching?

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Some drama schools advise you against going to a drama coach

or teacher for help in the choice and preparation of audition

speeches.

 

However, in my experience, I find that most of the successful

applicants have received some form of coaching or training. But

obviously, you should be very careful in the choice of coach. Bad

advice and training are worse than none at all and may result in

the kind of drilled, artificial performance that is anathema to

those who are judging you.

 

Go to someone experienced, of proved ability, preferably to

someone with a professional stage background and who is

actively concerned in the theatre.

 

A good coach will advise you as to choice. of material and many

pitfalls will be avoided at the outset.

 

Even professional actors don't always know what suits them

best and this applies still more to the inexperienced student.”

The technique of auditions

"Always make sure that you know the length of the speech that is

stipulated by each drama school. These times vary but are

usually not longer than two or three minutes. It is wise to

choose speeches that are slightly under time. Panels on audition

days are working to a very tight schedule and it would be a pity

to be cut off just as you were working up to the climax of your

performance 

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Find out how many speeches are called for, and, if set speeches

are given, how many of them have to be learned by heart. Your

'own choice' speeches should always be memorised.

 

It is surprising how many turn up for auditions not even

knowing their lines”. (Rona Laurie, 1985)

Copy and paste the link in the address bar for a more in-depth explanation:
 

https://youtu.be/9KoWBRMBecA

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What to choose

 

"1. It should be a character you think you can understand. If

the situation is outside the range of your own experience, you

should be able to imagine the motivation of your character and

draw on those parts of your own nature which can be used to

create the rôle.

 

2. You should choose something about which you are enthu-

siastic-maybe an experience you can identify with: or it may

be the language that gives you a "lift'. Good writing has a way

of raising the actor to its level.

 

3. Try to find a speech that is complete in itself, which is, as

far as possible, self-explanatory. Long introductions are tedious

and a waste of precious time.

 

4. Look for speeches that have a shape, such as a definite

climax.

 

5. Search for the best plays of their kind. There are good and

bad black comedies, kitchen comedies, farces, thrillers, period

plays, melodramas, burlesques, verse plays and tragedies. The

better a speech is written, the easier it will be to make a success

of it at an audition. Cheap material has a way of cheapening the

performer.

 

6. Search for the best contemporary writing. There is a wealth

of untapped material to be found in plays of today.

 

7. If you have already chosen a well-born character in Shakespeare, choose an easy character who speaks in a modern idiom

and in more of a relaxed style.  And don't let the old-fashioned bogey of "Elocution' raise its head during your audition, in any of your work.

 

8. Finally, be ruthless when deciding what to choose. It is not so much a matter of what you enjoy doing as what you make your audience enjoy: not so much what you feel as what you make your panel of judges feel. Remember they are sitting there hoping to be moved, stirred, excited by what you are creating in front of them.” (Rona Laurie, 1985)

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Copy and paste the link into the address bar for a more in-depth explanation:
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3-nPMrJXd0

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What not to choose.

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Possibly the most helpful advice I can give at this stage con-

cerns what not to choose. So many people ruin any chance of

success that they might have by an unwise choice.

 

1. Avoid very well-known speeches; 'purple passages' from

Shakespeare, for example, however drawn to them you might be: "To be or not to be" "All the world's a stage"

and "The quality of mercy is not strain'd" for instance. All I can say is that it certainly will be strained among the judges, who have

had to sit through these 'golden oldies' time and time again. I am sure that those of us who sit on panels could draw up lists of

speeches which we hope never to hear again. In fact RADA has issued the following list under the heading Speeches not to be

performed for Audition:

 

FEMALE

Viola from 'Twelfth Night': 'I left no ring with her.

Phebe from

'As You Like It': 'Think not I love him though I

ask for him.

Ophelia from 'Hamlet': ALL her speeches.

Helena from

"A Midsummer Night's Dream':

'How happy

some o'er other some can be!'

Rosalind from

'As You Like It: The Epilogue.

Kate from "The Taming of the Shrew': Her final speech.

Julia from

"The Two Gentlemen of Verona':

'Nay, would I

were so ang'red with the same.

 

MALE

Mercutio from 'Romeo and Juliet': "Oh then I see Queen Mabhah bron-rom Y welfan Night' : Ace Il scene 5.

Lancelot Gobbo from

The Merchant of Venice': "Certainly

my conscience will serve me to run from this Jew, my master.'

Launce from

"The Two Gentlemen of Verona':

"Nay,

'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping.

 

2. Don't over-assess your present acting ability by choosing a speech that is much too difficult for you. Speeches of such

technical difficulty that they would test the skill of even the most experienced professional are often chosen.

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3. Don't choose a character for whom you are physically completely unsuited. You should always take your physical attributes into account. Few of us are able to be realistic about what we really look like, but when choosing material to perform, one's appearance should always be borne in mind. For example, avoid the characters of Rosalind and Helena if you

are very short. And you may think that you will be a wow as Cleopatra, but unless you have considerable physical allure,

you are unlikely to be successful in the part.

 

4. Don't choose two speeches which are in the same mood, or which are written in exactly the same style. It is much better to

show a range and this gives you more chance of success. You may act one of the speeches badly, but the other one, the

contrasted one, so well that you are able to give a true picture of your potential. You will not have put all your eggs in one

basket.

 

5. Don't make a choice into which you have been pressurised by someone else and in which you feel ill at ease and insecure.

 

6. Don't choose a comedy speech unless you are well aware the difficulty of bringing it off successfully under the audition

conditions, in front of a panel of judges which doesn't laugh and very often presents a dead-pan front.

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Copy and paste the link into the address bar for a more in-depth explanation:

​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKH2rfl7whY

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Preparing the audition speeches

 

So now we will imagine that you have chosen two contrasted speeches, of the appropriate lengths and ones which you are

confident will give you a chance to show what you can do, and what your potential is.

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Copy and paste the link into the address bar for a more in-depth explanation:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKH2rfl7whY

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How should you set about preparing them?

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1. Allow plenty of time. It is surprising how many people leave learning the lines until the last minute; some even till the night

before. You can't even begin to act until you know the lines so well that you don't have to worry about remembering them.

Forgetting the lines and having to be continually prompted creates a very bad impression at an audition and is usually fatal

to the result.

 

2. Re-read the whole of both plays. Far too many people plunge into audition speeches without studying the full text of the play.

The actor has to visualize the situation in the play at the point where the speech occurs and to know what stage of develop ment the character has reached at that moment. Obviously this is going to affect the timing, the emotional temperature of the

speech and the movement.

 

3. Don't start learning the lines until you are sure that you fully understand them. It is a good idea, in Shakespeare for example, to turn the whole thing into modern English of the sort you would use yourself, to make sure you understand the words before learning them.

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4. Consider the movement and the voice and speech of the character as an integrated whole. The movement must be in

character, in period and properly motivated. If possible, try to find out beforehand the size of the acting area that is to be used

for the audition.

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5. Learn the lines in conjunction with the moves and business. In this way one will help the other and make for an integrated

characterisation, involving mind, heart, voice and body. 

 

6. Don't over rehearse. If you do, you will lose freshness and spontaneity and give the kind of artificial, 'drilled' performance

which is the very thing that judges dislike most. Necessary preparation before rehearsal steep yourself in the atmosphere of the whole play and try to get inside the skin of your character. (Auditioning. A practical guide for the would-be actor & drama student, 1985)

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Copy and paste the link into the address bar for a more in-depth explanation:

https://youtu.be/KCUpYl_uZao
 

When I first started to think about this idea on very rare occasions, the arts and the neurodivergent worlds are understood as separate entities, when the idea of acting or facilitating come into play. There are places and people out there who do know and can help you (the student or would-be actor), to where you need to be and it doesn't have to be studying in a conventional way or going to the places, where you should go if that is the right choice for yourself or your child. If you feel at least one, a couple or all of the things are not for you. There is always one way to get to the same goal, of wherever that is or wherever that may be.

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© This section is quoted by Matthew Roze 2022

 

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