Pen's Nest

Beast and I went to see "Into the Woods" this afternoon. It was overall very pretty, and funny in parts—though not as funny as it is on stage—and not too obnoxiously CGI'd, and well enough sung not to be infuriating. I enjoyed Christine Baranski and her two sidekicks stepdaughters, and Chris Pine as Cindy's Prince—synecdochic described his performance as "doing William Shatner doing The Prince" which is exactly and perfectly true. As I was watching I had the echoes of Robert Westenberg in my mind, because although the performances were different, they had the same kind of sensibility about them.
( And yet... )
( A couple of others we've seen lately )

( Back to 'Into the Woods' and the magic of theatre )

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}



I've signed up for the 100 blogs challenge, with Amateur Theatre as my subject matter. I've been a member of an amateur theatre group for well over twenty years now, involved as a member of the musical chorus, occasionally as a principal, as a director, and with the management and running of the group, so I think there's plenty of material for me to draw on.

There's not much point in trying to set everything down in an orderly way. I can't even define what 'the beginning' is, so I'll write about topics as they occur to me, and hope to be interesting.

So, read on!

The Audition

I went to an audition yesterday morning. My Company is to put on Sweeney Todd in October, and I couldn't be more delighted. I adore the show, and for years I've wanted the chance to be in it. But I didn't believe we could cast it… and now, I think we can, and we'll have a great show on our hands.

But back to the topic at hand, which for today is, The Audition.

I don't know anyone who likes auditioning. It's the most frightening part of the entire process. You're up there, unsupported by rehearsal, by fellow-actors, by costume or set, you're not rock-solid sure of your notes (because have you *seen* the score for Sweeney?) or when to come in or where to get your pitch from the morass of bizarre rhythms that is your introduction. There just hasn't been enough time to rehearse with the pianist. Plus, the person reading-in the dialogue has had no practice.

I had to wait for quite a while before I even got up onto the stage. This was an open audition, by which I mean that everyone was seated in the hall, watching each audition. I mostly approve of this system: it's much less nerve-racking to have something to watch instead of being in a room full of excessively nervous people all reinforcing one another's terror. It gives you an audience you can play to. Plus, there was applause for everyone, which helps, particularly if you don't get the part and therefore won't ever be singing that number again.

But in this case, it meant I had to sit through five or six Sweeneys, three Mrs Lovetts, six (or seven?) Johannas, four Anthonys, two Pirellis and a Toby before I got on stage to do my Beggar Woman, by which time I'd drunk three glasses of water and been to the loo twice. It does give you an appreciation for the importance of preparation, I must say, sitting watching other people getting up onto the stage to do their stuff.

How 'easy' an audition is depends a lot on what you have to sing/say. The Johannas, for instance, got to sing Green Finch and Linnet Bird, and that's a lovely song… the first three or four times, anyway. It's a coherent piece, and once you've started you keep on going, and if you sing it without the book you can add actions, and that's fine. For the Beggar Woman, the audition was three very short bits, each of which had at least one mood change, and two of which had dialogue which had to fit over music in time for me to pick up the musical cue to sing again. And my reader-in was not familiar with it, and kept not being able to find his lines, so. Yeah. I mean, the Beggar Woman is a very bitty, jagged role with lots of mood changes so fair enough, but man, it was a tough thing to audition.

I'm not sure whether the fluttery tummy, dry throat, trembly feelings in the legs, etc were worse for having to wait, or if I'd perhaps had a chance to settle down a bit by the time it was my turn. I think I did myself justice, or at least, I did perform most of what I'd prepared, and I think it came across. Then again, who knows? Possibly I was rubbish. It's pretty hard to tell, when you're too nervous to think straight. Oh, and speaking of nerves, I was more keyed up than even I had realised, and it took me all afternoon to calm down again.

It just goes to show, though, why auditions are so, so much more frightening than performances. I've had stage fright before, but audition fright is worse because you *don't* have that level of confidence that comes from knowing what you're doing, from having a whole production around you to complete the picture. For an audition, you come in cold and have to establish a character out of almost nothing, and if you screw it up there isn't another scene later in which you can make amends. But it is essential, because what else can you do?