There are no auditions to become a student at Stage Academy, our classes are open to all regardless of experience and ability providing a safe and welcoming environment for young people to express themselves and develop their performing skills. As a performer however, auditions are unavoidable, but there are many things you can do to make them a positive and fulfilling experience. Here are just a few of my top tips for audition success.

Be Prepared

As the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. To more work you do in preparation for your audition the more confident and at ease you will feel on the day – leading to a performance that shows you off at your best. An audition is far more than the time you spend in-front of the audition panel.

  • Read the material – you must understand the context of the material you are using, if it is a song from a musical, listen to the whole cast recording. If it is a monologue, read the rest of the play. What you learn will inform your acting decisions making your performance far more believable!
  • Research – make sure you know the answers to who, what, where, why, when in relation to your audition pieces. Also find out about the writer, producer, director and casting director so you can answer questions with confidence and enthusiasm.
  • Line learning – it sounds obvious, but make sure you are totally confident in your audition material, know it to the point that it is second nature. You shouldn’t be thinking about what line comes next, you need to focus that energy on your character choices and performance. For more help with line learning see my blog post here.

Be Yourself

“Use your wonderful youth and who you are. A lot of the time you can look at other actors and go ‘they’re so brilliant at doing that, why can’t I do that?’ But you are a complete individual and there’s no-one else on the planet like you. You by nature of being you will make it your own, so just believe in that and let that happen.”

Helen Mirren

It is so important to play to your strengths as a performer, as the quote says, this will allow you to make it your own and thus stand out from the crowd. At Stage Academy alongside working on performance skills we focus on self-confidence, teamwork, ambition and responsibility which can all contribute towards audition success.

Enjoy!

It’s easy to get so worked up over an audition that you forget to have fun. I am guilty of it. We become so focused on impressing and wanting to get that job that we forget why we got into drama and the performing arts in the first place. Remember your love, remember your passion and see every audition as an opportunity to perform. Enjoy every moment!