Acting

Audition Process for University

• Must be made through UCAS
• Personal statement

Self-Tape

Shakespeare Piece:

• Don’t worry if you haven’t explored Shakespeare!
• The approach is the same as any other monologue
• Watch productions – Globe Player, Digital Theatre+, YouTube etc.

Contemporary Piece:

• Choose a piece within your age rage
• Be brave with impulses
• I would suggest recording 3 times and picking the best – Don’t overdo it!

Short song:

• Sing a song which gives you the most characterisation through song

Outcomes – 2-3 Weeks – Recall – Waiting List

Recall in-person audition:

• Have a headshot!
• Be prepared to have an interview – but don’t spend too much time thinking about the right thing to say. They want to meet you, not the version you think they want you to be.
• Wear comfy clothes – preferably black as it is neat
• Write a personal statement involving your interests
• Dance and physical movement
• Contextualise your script
• Revisit your self-tape pieces – may be asked to do a different one – Be prepared.

Things I learnt:

• It is a competitive industry – People who have had more training may seem slightly further ahead, but not always – Try your best!
• People who are able to develop take criticism – It’s the process

 

Your Monologue

• What is the tone?
• Who are you?
• Where are we?
• What’s the relationship?
• What is the drive of the conversation?

Spend a lot on the 1st and last line. The impact

How to find shifts in the monologue:

• Where am I directing my energy
• Pick a monologue which is when you’re speaking to a character

You:

• Pick a monologue you enjoy doing
• Pick a speech that sparks joy (especially with contemporary

Inspiration:

• Watch performances from:
  • National Theatre
  • Digital Theatre +

 

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

The Whelan Tape Technique

Step 1: Get a monologue or scene. 

 

Step 2: Prepare to record.

 

Step 3: First recording:

Actors record a scene onto tape, without emotion or interpretation.

• The actors must say the words normally in the recording – Don’t act.
• Tape is played back whilst the actors 'act out' the scene.
• Act the scene without saying the words.
• You can see the emotion and drive of the scene by walking around the space, not saying the words but hearing the recording in the background.
• First reading - only make simple choices like moving to or away from another character.
• Impulse – the actors respond in the moment.
• Be bold with impulse.
  • Impulse shouldn’t be about showing the audience what is happening. 
  • Don’t just impulse – what is the intention?
• The director should be making notes - but keeping the ideas away from the actors so the imagination is free.

 

Step 4: Record the same material again: 

Actors record a second reading of the scene allowing it to be affected by their impulses from the previous enactment.

• Don’t fall in love with what you did the first time – it is a mistake to feel satisfied with the first image (2003, p. 40)
• The scene is played out to the tape, but the actor is encouraged to make bigger emotional choices.

 

Step 5: Record again:

The process is repeated but this time all the actors copy the actions of the speaker.

• You may find a tiny bit of expression recorded in the script. 
• The director should tell the actors to tone it down - don’t speed up too much - no interpretation. 
• Gives the effect of watching a shoal of fish.

 

Step 6: Record again:

This is where the actors start to be more experimentative and enact using everything they’ve learnt so far.

• Mirroring movements
• Bold choices
• Don’t be explicitly obvious in what you’re doing as it is cringe (e.g. point to the stars in the sky)
• Guard the concentration - stay present - don’t apologise to the audience - don’t feel sorry for yourself!

 

Step 7: Record again:

This time the director gets to pause the run.

• The director can pause the tape when they see something interesting, and the actor must stick with the emotional choice they have made.
• The actors must radiate when the pause occurs - do not stop!
  • Radiating means continuing the acting that is happening but there is no text - you should always do this as it gives out performance energy.
  • Don’t withhold any impulse!
  • Allow the impulses to happen – you’re not consciously trying to make it monotone. 
• This is when the actor can find what we find interesting in gesture (this normally goes bad) - a sense of doing too much acting.
  • Having fewer gestures can be much better when it is simpler. 

 

Step 8: Actors Recite the whole thing.

The final stage is where the text and action are married for the first time.

• By the time you come to do the lines you virtually know them
• Quite often you find yourself not knowing what the text is, but your body remembers to turn to look at someone, which prompts your memory.
• We use this technique for every scene in the play - there is no discussion about what any given scene is about - no interpretation just constant play.
• There is no good or bad at this stage - rehearsals are about discovery.
  • Phelim says if we were to say something was good then we would be encouraged to do it again - this would stop us from remaining open, playful, and inventive.
  • He will not block anything - the audience will tell us what works.

 

Experimentation within the recordings:

Repel – the actors move away from each other.

Impel -  the actors move towards the other. 

Compel – the actors remain at the same distance. 

 

Index the context of the scene

• Give the scene a name – (describing the whole scene)
• Breakdown the text:
  • Go through all the events – What happens? What are the characters’ intentions?
  • Find evidence (a solid opinion) of what is happening.
  • Events help you structure the play to create meaningful units - a clear sense of the point (these are necessary). The actor then has the freedom to play with text.
  • Look for turning points in the script.

• How you enter a room shows the effects of the scene 
• A subject change isn’t a change of event or an event.
  • If two characters have the same intention the scene doesn’t work
  • Emotions and intentions aren’t the same thing – the character can be looking at something with a different emotion that is “normal”.

Now the time to experiment …

Phelim’s theatrical language – The Natural World

‘Everything must have a movement quality or must change from one to another’ (Scheinmann, 1977)

Moulding – Earth

• Actors move as if the air is thick.

Radiating – Fire

• The actor thinks of an image.
• This gives performance energy into the space.
• This is where a feeling of heart from the chest radiates into the space.

Floating - Water

• Perform as if your body is floating.
• The air is light and supports the body.

Flying – Air

• Perform as if your body is pushed by the wind like a plastic bag.
• Movement is quick and there are many changes of focus.

 

Phelim noted …

Atmosphere

• Take movement into an atmosphere of doubt or reunion or virtually anything.
• Air is filled with quality, and you must respond accordingly.

Game Playing

• Games and movement qualities provide the parameters within which we are to have total freedom to improvise (in class, we played physical games like ‘two-step.’)
• So long as the actors enter a shared atmosphere where they watch, listen, and respond to each other - anything will work.
• There are no mistakes - we must respond to whatever happens as if it were meant to happen.

 

Bibliography

Chamberlain, F. (2003) Michael Chekhov. London: Routledge

Scheinmann, D. (1977). Shakespeare, Stilts & Sticky Tape | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive. (Online) Available at http://totaltheatre.org.uk/archive/features/shakespeare-stilts-sticky-tape. Stockholm by B. Lavery (2007)

 

 

Details

Written by: Kimberley Gomersall

Category: Acting

• Acting