If you’re a budding actor with dreams of putting on a show beyond your living room, a course at a performing arts school may well help you get there. But there can be a lot at stake – the auditions themselves aren’t cheap as most schools ask you to cough up between £35 and £85 just for the pleasure of applying, unless you qualify for a fee waiver. Then there’s travel and accommodation costs to consider. With all this in mind you’ll want to ace your auditions and give them your best shot.
We asked students who’ve successfully auditioned to let us in on the unexpected things that can go wrong, the cringeworthy mistakes they wish they hadn’t made, and their top tips for getting noticed on the day.
Jak Malone, 24, studying acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
What can go wrong: Looking back at my first auditions, I definitely wasn’t ready. I thought all Shakespeare had to be done in a posh voice. I’m mortified admitting this now, but I put on a received pronunciation (RP) accent for it, which is not what they want at all. They want to hear you.
I also didn’t talk to anyone about my audition choices, I just went straight ahead and did them. It was a pride issue. I wanted to get in on my own merit and didn’t want anyone to help me. It wasn’t until I got onto a foundation course and took an audition technique class that I realised my mistakes.
What Malone says you should do: If I were to do it again, I’d talk to people about my monologue choices. And remember, an audition panel is just trying to find your rhythm, so don’t go in there and present what you think they want, present yourself.
I also catch other people’s nerves, so on audition days I like to keep to myself and be with my thoughts. If you want to go along the corridor to work on your pieces, or take a moment to reflect, breathe, or shut your eyes for a minute, then do it. Don’t feel pressured into doing what other people are doing.
Michaela Blackburn, 20, studying acting at the London College of Music
What can go wrong: In one singing audition, I showed the pianist the wrong tempo. I was nervous and went too fast. So when he started playing, I got really behind; it was a nightmare. I also didn’t prepare for some auditions as well as I should have, and woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick. Nerves can affect my voice, too.
What Blackburn says you should do: The best way to beat nerves is to prepare. I eat or drink pineapple before an audition. It sounds odd, but it works for me because it clears my throat. It’s good to know what you do when you’re nervous, and what works for you to combat it. You also need to stand up to the little person in your head that’s saying you’re not going to do well.
Ellie Ruiz, 19, studying musical theatre at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
What can go wrong: Looking back at my first (unsuccessful) auditions, I didn’t have a clue. Picking monologues should take a lot of consideration – but I didn’t know that then, so I just used Google, which was my biggest mistake. If you Google “female monologues”, you get a lot of random American plays, and I just picked one, hoping it would be good.
Later, at my Central audition they asked me to do my monologue to a person and I blanked. I didn’t know her and I was looking into her eyes, trying to remember my words. I was connecting with her and reading her emotions, so I completely forgot my lines. I thought, oh God this is it, it’s over, but I remembered them in the end.
What Ruiz says you should do: To pick a monologue, find a playwright you like and then look at all the different plays they’ve written. It’s best to stick with something close to you. Don’t worry if you forget your lines on the day. A lot of the time the panel will be impressed if you can recover from it. In fact, it can almost be good to mess up, so you can show them that. Obviously don’t do it on purpose, though.
Griffin Mosson, 22, studying acting at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
What can go wrong: Occasionally an audition panel will throw quite a ridiculous direction at you, just to see if you can do it. For example, I’ve been asked to redo a monologue as a particular colour, like the colour red. I’ve also been asked to do a monologue as an animal, like a bear.
That kind of redirection threw me completely in my first year of auditioning. I would do the same thing, just a tiny bit differently, so I didn’t feel like I was putting myself out there too much – but you need to stand out.
In the beginning I also thought I could get noticed using my clothes. I wore a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt to some auditions, which makes me cringe. I found it in my cupboard and thought it made me look “studenty”. But I don’t think it made any difference – in fact it probably made an adverse difference.
What Mosson says you should do: You might get a direction that you don’t fully understand. Often it’s just about throwing yourself into it and being brave. They want to see what kind of person you are and that you are willing to try. And wear what you want. Don’t overthink it.
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