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How to Choose a Drama School audition piece
Choosing the right piece for your drama school audition is vital. Get it wrong and you're finished almost before you start.
Difficulty Level:
hard
Time Required:
Variable
Here's
How:
- Think of all the obvious audition pieces: the great soliloquies, the fireworks, the classics. Reject them!
- Do a brutally honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as an actor - be your own severest critic! List them.
- Draw up a word picture of the sort of piece which will best suit your strengths and conceal your weaknesses.
- Speed-read as many plays as you can, looking for speeches of the right length and style. Note down all possible passages.
- Look at collections of audition pieces.
- Ask friends, teachers, other actors for suggestions. Read them all.
- Draw up a shortlist and explore the possibilities of each one thoroughly. Look at sub-text, emotions, movement and body language possibilities. Reject any which do not offer sufficient scope but don't try to cram too much in.
- Reject all those with which you do not feel totally comfortable.
- Make a recording (video or audio) of your performance of the remaining choices. Listen/watch with a director's ear/eye. Ruthlessly reject any which are not up to scratch.
- Rehearse your chosen piece in every aspect - voice, facial expression, movement, stance - until it becomes second nature.
Tips:
- Steer clear of the obvious speeches. If they're obvious to you, they will be to everyone else! Imagine the boredom of having to watch the same piece numerous times!
- Make sure the piece meets the guidelines set by the school. You might think you are best served by something different: they won't!
- Don't allow your interpretation/performance to become too rigid. Be prepared to respond to signals (or even suggestions) from your "audience".
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