I'm going to keep this post short 'n' sweet and current. I'm not going to try and write about the last six months, otherwise my head would explode and that would just be messy. I shall keep this to one subject and save other potentials for another occasion. On this post I'd like to talk about my last audition and why whilst it didn't go well and was disappointing, it has provided interesting food for thought.
For quite some time I have been keen - nay gagging - to get my teeth into something. A play that's interesting and a character that's rich and nuanced and challenging. Something that feels like 'proper acting' as opposed to coming on and doing a turn and buggering off again or trying to make something out of a sketchily written character.
Earlier this year I accepted a part for an updated version of a Jane Austin play with two lesbians as the lead characters. I didn't think the play was all that, but the cast seemed keen and the director as though she knew what she was doing. Unfortunately at the first read-through it became clear, they no longer had a director, but worse they started hassling for each member of the cast to invest £80 each. And I mean hassling! Of course I appreciate that it is expensive to put on shows and I would not have minded had it been broached at the audition, but I quickly became quite annoyed with the pushy and persistent Round-robin emails, particularly as I was struggling to pay my rent. Final straw for me came when I received an abrupt response to my message that I'd found them a make-up artist saying that it was hardly a priority at this time but money was, so I pulled out. This is something I have never done before, but I was just becoming too angry and this was before even the first rehearsal! Besides, it wasn't a great play, and I had wondered how the story-line would be even relevant today had the two leads not been lesbians. In some ways I wish I had been to see it performed, it would have been interesting to see what they did with it. I think I was just too damn tight after them trying to squeeze money out of me I didn't have!
Talking of seeing shows I auditioned for but didn't end up doing for whatever reason... it would be a useful learning experience to see it performed, be it good or bad. Whilst skintness has sometimes got in the way, I really shouldn't allow pride to get in the way of this, (although I can think of at least one example where I'd rather rip my own eye-lids off than pay to see the outcome, but that would be cutting my nose off to spite my face and there's already too many mixed metaphors!). One play I auditioned for but chose not to continue the process I blogged about here . I didn't end up seeing it performed which is a shame (I think it was during a particularly busy and skint period), but I heard plenty about it from friends who did. As predicted it was fairly shambolic and made them quite angry. It was a play about veganism, and part of my problem with it was I found it too 'soap boxy'. It being a subject that I believe in, practise and care about, it would have to be done well for me to be in it and as stated before I thought the writing was dire. As I recall, I also had a problem with how the writer/director ran the auditions.
That being said, you might be surprised when I say that last week I auditioned for same person again... This time it was for a one-woman show (the one I'm allegedly writing is going precisely nowhere at the moment) I shall call "Strike a Light" about the tobacco industry. In contrast to the vegan play I thought it was interesting, well written (though badly formatted) and would be a terrific challenge. I was given a section to audition which would really separate the wheat from the chaff; I would have to play two characters shagging, switching between the two, including the narration in between. I thought it was a gift, I practised hard, Skyping myself performing (in the artistic sense of the word) the sex-act to my good friend in order to get it down pat in time for the audition. The writer/director who I shall call Jason Black, collected me from the station and drove me to his ramshackle house and within minutes I was performing the sex-act/audition piece with gusto for him.
Many notes I've been given recently (for mainly comedy pieces) have been "speed up" or "drill through it", but here I was given the opposite; "slow down and take your time". To be honest, I think I was so pleased to have remembered it all, having had only a day or two to memorise and work with it, I did plough through it at the rate of knots, so I did it again at a more leisurely pace. We looked at accents, I had to be American but more Southern than my adopted New Yoik. Since I didn't know from the piece where precisely she was from (though perhaps the clues where there if I'd looked harder for them) I had to 'make a choice'. I thought I'd done quite well in the character and spacial separation, not perfect, but it was a challenging piece and I'd made some bold choices (e.g. my character should be taken from behind!) I thought... However when Jason Black demonstrated how much more I could have done with it, including rich miming skills I hadn't even thought of including, I could see how much it was lacking. That said, I thought the audition had gone rather well (I think I must be the worst person to judge these things!), yes - there'd be a lot to do, but I was (am) confident I could do it. However, JB made it clear he would not be offering me the part. He would want someone more 'ready' to perform it and have minimal input, although I was welcome to audition again if I worked on it some more.
The next day I received a rather blunt email informing me he was not going to recall me. The sudden retraction surprised and dismayed me - what had I done to warrant this?! So I asked for feedback. This is what he wrote:
- Accent differentiation
- More precise differentiation between character stances and each characters typical gestures
- Snapping between characters
- Audience connection (listening to the audience and responding to them)
- Voice and timing control
- Accuracy of accents
- "Seeing" your imagined space in more detail
- Finesse of physical and emotional response to that imagined space. (how your body touches, manipulates, and responds to that space, and the items and characters within).
Useful. Thoughtful... (Of course I've thanked him for it). He suggested I do a workshop with Jonathan Kay, who does clowning. I've heard he's very good - and challenging! I would have done one by now but I was irritated by the "suggested donation of £50 per day" or whatever it was and the advice in the blurb that 'the more you put in, [money-wise] the more you'll get from it'. I have no problem paying for a workshop, but if there's a fee - call it a fee for goodness sake! Anyway, JB assures me that it is money well spent and a good investment.
So there we are.... over a year ago I rejected Jason Black's piece and last week I was rejected. But I have some valuable insights to take away from it (and possibly I am a little more humble...possibly...)
