Tips for drama school auditions

Having been through the Drama School system (way back in the "Fame" era) and watched many hundreds of audition pieces (some sadder than a bag of nails), I have compiled my own list of Do's and Definitely Don't Do's to hopefully give you a better chance of being picked out from the 300 that will be seen that day.

These are based on my experiences of the people who work in Drama Schools,

take the advice or not

Mr D.



Audition pieces

Avoid ..Lady M speech & Hamlet like the plague...It'll be seen at least 30 times that day and they will be betting in the greenroom exactly how many times it will be seen that day!

Avoid ..Extreme confrontational monologues with harsh eye-contact directed at the panel...we don't want them feeling uncomfortable in your presence just yet: now do we?

Avoid ..Stereotypic Accents unless utterly brilliant...one of the panel (and a lot of the students) will really be Irish, Northern etc. If you have to use an accent, learn it from someone who speaks it, you must be able to pinpoint the street of the person that you learnt it from .

Avoid ..Strong political monologues...a major turn-off. Save the Axe-Grinding for the Students Union

Never Ever say "Sorry, can I do that again?". If you make a mistake, be positive and replace it with "that wasn't right" ,breathe, then do it again .

As daft as it may sound: The main reason for you to perform your monologue to the panel is not to show them how good you are: They'll find that out for themselves. The reason should always be to show them how fantastically well written the piece is and how enjoyable it is to get stuck into such a good role. (it's called "theatrical passion" and is the "It" that most of your competitors will never have)

What to wear?

You need to look yourself. Only wear your clothes, the ones you feel good in and are used to moving in; nothing new, extra trendy nor noisy. You need to rehearse your pieces in the clothes that you are going to wear; imagine the embarrassment of your trousers or bracelets making more noise than you do (I've seen it happen!) One last point, never carefully fold jackets.

Don't hide your hair girls, if its long and gorgeous, let it be tied off of your face but still show it off. ( and don't go for extreme hair cuts...bald doesn't get you Juliet, and extremely short hair may get you a season in Blackpool as Peter Pan)

Plain T-shirts or sleeveless tops are ideal (not Black, that's for Techies ), they need to see your shape & size without them being subjected to too much (over sexiness won't work).

Wear facial or tongue piercings and you may as well just save the train fare: or you'll traveling home with the 75 others that said "I've always wanted to be famous ever since I can remember"

Make-up

Strive to look yourself at your own personal level. Go for your own natural look...even it takes hours. Please don't over-tan or, worse, fake tan yourself ; it can show over self indulgence and lethargy.



In conversation



They want someone who will benefit from the school and, more importantly, be of benefit to the school.

Therefore, do your research,

Mention how exciting their course is and why it's right for you, especially the ------ lessons, (as that's one thing you've been trying to find out about for ages).

Ask them something that will allow them show off their School:

e.g.. " Are there many opportunities to see the other students perform?"

"yes? wonderful. I saw your production of ------- last night,...outstanding" etc etc

Having said that, don't over-milk it...after all, it is a school for acting.....but (as you know), to a luvvie a sincere compliment goes a long way .

The members of the panel are human so when you've finished , thank them.

When you've left the room, one of them will say ,"I liked X" and that will smooth the other one's misgivings....

Well would you pick a frightening Goth who has obviously more baggage than Samsonite?



Oh, and start reading "the Stage" and "Contacts". They do.