The Courses & Tutors

Tips from the audition panel

Choose a piece and a character which fascinates you.

You can really tell when someone has chosen a piece that they connect to and auditions almost always work better if the actor has chosen something they love.

Use your nerves.

Everyone gets nervous; it’s something which never goes away. It’s your job in an audition to show how you harness your nerves to bring a character to life for an audience.

Listen carefully to what the panel tell you.

As well as taking a moment to focus, listen to the instructions the panel give you. If they ask you to stand in a certain place or do your pieces in a certain order, make sure you follow the instruction. Listening is such an important part of acting so make sure you show that you understand that.

Connect with the panel.

Don’t be frightened to take a moment to make eye contact with the panel and regain your focus once you’re in the audition room. At drama school auditions certainly, the panel will have seen all manner of ways in which actors focus themselves, so don’t be afraid to do whatever it takes to do your best.

Know your character.

Think about what your character was doing directly before we meet them in your monologue and how that is affecting them. Think about precisely where they are and what their relationship is to that place. Think about exactly who they are talking to, what they think of that person / those people, what they think the person / people think of them. What do they actively want to achieve by saying the things they say? Make sure you have fully harnessed your imagination to their situation. Make sure you’ve read the play and understand it.

Photography: SRTaylor Photography 22