Audition - Monologues And Song

Hey guys!

I have an audition coming up at Guildhall in March and was wondering whether you have any suggestions on what monologues and song to pick.

- One must be in verse from either Shakespeare or another Jacobean playwright.

- One must be from a modern play

- And one should be a lighter piece from any period.

- And an unaccompanied song.

Also it says that pieces from Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett are very frequently chosen by candidates. Does this mean I shouldn't necesseraliy pick anything from them? I wasn't sure whether they were endorsing them or not.

I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thank you guys.

Rob

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Reply 1

laurenlauren

I'm guessing if they say something is frequently picked and they point it out in the letter that they send you, that they are suggesting NOT to pick them. I can't offer much more help, just choose pieces that you feel comfortable with that you believe that you can perform to a high standard. Break a leg!

Reply 2

Joe_JBB

I was considering drama school for a while, and found out that they like you to pick something from a character who's your age, so don't play Macbeth if you're only 18 (like one of my friends was going to do :rolleyes:

). Apart from that, can't offer much more help. Oooooo, don't pick anything that needs an accent either!

GOOD LUCK!

Joe

Reply 3

Acaila

Ok, how old are you? What parts are you good at? What do you look like? What kind of plays do you enjoy?
It's kinda hard to suggest audition pieces for someone you know nothing about!
Also, what's your singing voice like?

I'd avoid the ones they mentioned. Also, I'd avoid anything from a monologue book - whatever you do, make sure you read the whole play!

Reply 4

TheRob

thanks for the replies!

I've just turned 20 and I really enjoy dramatic pieces. Also, some comedy. there are sooo many plays by shakespeare and it's really hard to find out which ones have characters that are my age.

What's my singing voice like? hmm kind of hard to explain online but it's definitely not deep and its kind of a "boyband"-voice. haha

What do I look like? lets seeee. 182cm, brown hair, green eyes and at times i have a beard. that makes me look like 25 :p:

anyway, if you could suggest any character/play by shakespeare or any other playwright i would really appreciate it. :biggrin:

thanks.

Reply 5

Acaila

What kind of parts are you usually cast in?

For Shakespeare, I'd avoid Hamlet, Macbeth, R&J, etc. the usual famous ones. Grab the complete works, and look for long bits in some of the plays that you perhaps haven't seen and don't know so much about.

Does it have to be Shakespeare incidentally?

The only definitive speech popping into my head right now is Enobarbus' "The barge she sat in like a burnished throne" speech from Antony and Cleopatra Act 2.

Reply 6

Acaila

On second thoughts, that may not be good as it's descriptive rather than character.
Any Shakespeare characters that you like and would be believable playing? Look for those kind of parts.

Reply 7

TheRob

well i havent a done a lot of theatre actually. did 2 plays. christmas parol, where i played christmas past. and lysistrata, where i played a soldier. it was a supporting character. i did a couple of independent movies too.

actually, now that you mention it, it doesnt have to be shakespeare. could be one of his contemporaries/another jacobean playwright just as well.

what do you guys think bout the following:
king lear - act 1 scene 2 - edmund
king lear - act 2 scene 3 - edgar.

also one of my friends said he thinks itd be kinda interesting to portray either Chiron or Demetrius. i kind of agree with him. they sound interesting. i just dont know whether theres a monologue for them in the piece. i havent read it yet. just a summary.

btw, thanks for Enobarbus. gonna check him out.

im gonna try to find my monologues as soon as possible so i can practice. my guildhall auditoin will be on may 13. i havent received the mountview date yet. and university of the arts will be late-may. i can pick a date :smile:

i mean theres still enough time left but the sooner i start the better are my odds not to suck at the audtion hehe :wink:

anyway, thanks for the support :smile:

Reply 8

Acaila

No problem :smile:

I haven't actually read Lear (will be doing it this semester though), but I believe the ones you mentioned are a bit overdone, and it's always better to do something a bit more original.
This website has great info on overdone monologues, audition tips, other playwrights to explore, etc.
http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.dunmore/

Have you had any song ideas? :smile:

Reply 9

TheRob

Thanks for the link. It's been A LOT of help. thank you. im about to start a "looking for monologues"-session. haha that should last a couple of hours.

about the song....no not really. i mean would it look stupid if i, lets say, performed a song by savage garden? should it be more modern or something classical? am confuzzled :confused:

Reply 10

Acaila

Much as I love Savage Garden (and used one of their songs when I needed a pop song for an audition), from what I know of acting auditions at these sort of places, they expect musical theatre songs.
For acting courses, it's not such a big deal to find a not so overdone song as on musical theatre courses, but if I were you, I'd still avoid the biggest famous shows like Les Mis, just to be safe. Any musicals you particularly like?

Reply 11

TheRob

hola!

im gonna have to think bout the musicals again. gotta check cds and such :biggrin:

btw, ive just found a monolgue that i really really really liked. it just made "click" as soon as i read it.

its a the very last one. its proteus from twon gentlment from verona. what do you think of it? too short? also, im not really sure what age he could be....

Reply 12

Acaila

If it clicks, then it sounds good :smile:

Monologue looks decent enough, though obviously I don't know how you would be doing it. Can't say I know how old Proteus is I'm afraid, it's not a play I know.

Reply 13

TheRob

I'm still loooking, also there's a ton of other Jacobean playwrights on that website you posted. :biggrin:

Reply 14

Acaila

Yup! Sure is!
I had the misfortune of having to read things like Duchess of Malfi last term...

Reply 15

TheRob

okis. im back again. k, i got all my shakespeare/jacobean monologues together. gotta read thru them again and decide which ones to take.

right now im kind of struggling with finding a monologue from a play that was written after 1945. i mean there's SOOO much material to go through. does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? :biggrin:

rob

Reply 16

Acaila

Ah, feeling the Shakespearean monologue burn - I've got to learn one for Thursday morning that I don't know a word of right now. Somebody needs to learn to prepare better.

Think of plays you've seen, playwrights you've enjoyed works of, think of the genre you'd like to work with.

Reply 17

TheRob

well....the problem is that i am from austria. so, most plays ive seen/worked on were in german. and since not every single piece has been translated into english im kind of having a hard time finding something in english that i've already seen. :rolleyes:

Reply 18

Acaila

Have you studied plays written in English in a drama or English class?
Bear in mind there may be English translations of German plays.
What sort of character do you want the monologue to convey?
What are some playwrights you like?

Reply 19

TheRob

heey.

im back :smile:

lets see....playwrights that i like areee arthur miller, edward bond, joe orton, david mamet, hmmm....edward albee, michael frayn. yea, these are some of them :smile:

right now im checking out all their plays, characters etc. its keeping me busy :biggrin:

id kind of like my character to be dramatic. not funny. maybe a lil bit desperate!? in love, would be sweet. hehe hopefully, ill find something.

anyway, i got a letter from central school of speech and drama and was surprised to find an attached audition speech list. at least for the jacobean era. there are really popular shakespeare monolouges on it. such as romeo "but soft...." and yea. that kind :eek:

me. heheh i have to prepare 2 from that list. and one that was written after 1960. my audition is on march 23, if im not mistaken. and the university of arts one is on march 17. aah i gotta hurry lol :rolleyes: