Set the scene: it\u2019s a Tuesday afternoon. Acting work is quiet. All you\u2019ve had in the past month is a Dyson hoover call back so it\u2019s safe to say you\u2019re feeling a tad restless. Suddenly, your phone rings. It\u2019s your agent. You\u2019ve got an audition for an exciting new project. Hurrah! They need you off book. Obviously. Oh, and it\u2019s for tomorrow. Aaaaand panic.<\/p>\n
Ok, so there are the obvious tips on how you can prepare for your audition:<\/p>\n Recently, Spotlight published casting director\u00a0Kate Rhodes-James<\/a>\u2019 suggestions on audition prep. However, from one actor to another, I thought we\u2019d take a different route and look at the not-so-obvious tips. I\u2019ve collected together advice that has been passed on to me from various people that I\u2019ve actually found to be really beneficial.<\/p>\n One of the first bits of advice my dad ever gave to me was this: \u201cFail to prepare, prepare to fail.\u201d He was actually referring to my first ever interview that was at my local hairdressers,\u00a0Choppy Chops<\/em>\u00a0and I\u2019m still not entirely sure how much I could have prepared for making tea and sweeping up hair\u2026 but anyhow, I\u2019ve continued to apply his advice to auditions and it always stands me in good stead. Cheers dad. So, here are my top 5 tips on how to successfully prepare for an audition. Love from me, Bryan Cranston and my dad.<\/p>\n Apologies to the person sitting opposite me in Costa at Waterloo station last Wednesday morning for having a mini breakdown. It\u2019s just that I was watching Beyonc\u00e9 and Alexandra Burke duet on the 2008 X-Factor and got a bit caught up in the moment.<\/p>\n Whilst we\u2019re on the topic of mind-blowing inspirational footage (if you please) if you haven\u2019t already, give Bryan Cranston\u2019s\u00a0Advice to Aspiring Actors<\/a>\u00a0a watch. There\u2019s something so comforting about him reassuring us not to worry about the outcome and to just simply enjoy the audition, doing what we do best. Walter White, you absolute babe.<\/p>\n Watching certain footage can really inspire me just before an audition. Whether it\u2019s your favourite sitcom, actors\u2019 audition tapes or certain talent show auditions. There\u2019s something about watching someone else performing at the top of their game that makes me just want to do exactly the same. Now, obviously it depends on what you\u2019re auditioning for, so tailor it to your needs. A few months ago, I auditioned for a part in a really gritty drama where the character I was up for has to hear some gut-wrenching news. I thought back to moments in my life that absolutely shook my world. So I YouTubed the moment in ITV\u2019s Cold Feet where Rachel got hit by a lorry. Honestly. I can\u2019t even.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not suggesting Tough Mudder, but doing something to energise yourself before an audition can be extremely beneficial. A gentle jog always helps me to not only feel more alert but also helps to relax me. When you\u2019re in the audition room, you need to be present. The feeling I get post-exercise always helps me to achieve that. Or you might prefer a physical vocal warm up. Shake your arms and legs like your life depends on it, whilst jumping up and down and reciting the alphabet. Do whatever floats your boat. Just do us a favour: perform your warm ups in the comfort of your own home. There\u2019s something about an actor lunging into downward dog in the Spotlight waiting room that feels, well, wrong.<\/p>\n Depending on what sort of text you\u2019ve got, listen to a piece of music that resembles it and say your lines\/perform it over the piece of music. This not only physically frees you up when rehearsing for your audition but it also helps with getting those lines nailed too. Experiment with the tempo and use the music to help you find stuff that you might not have found before. ***WARNING*** It is worth mentioning what you\u2019re about to do to whoever you live with, so that you can get some privacy. I learnt the hard way and assumed everyone was out, so thrashed myself around the living room to No Doubt\u2019s\u00a0Don\u2019t Speak<\/em>\u00a0whilst reciting lines, only to open my eyes to one of my flatmates staring at me, deeply confused (she works in advertising). You can\u2019t explain that stuff to anyone with a 9 to 5. In the end, I just said I\u2019d had a bad day. And now she thinks I\u2019m unstable. Ah, the price you pay for the love of your art, eh?<\/p>\n Do yourself a favour and take the pressure off where you can. You\u2019ll enjoy the audition more. Wouldn\u2019t it be great to go into auditions and just enjoy the process without the dilemma of not getting the job? Be honest, when you have an audition, do you ever think the following things?<\/p>\n If I get this\u2026<\/p>\n So keep things in perspective and don\u2019t lose yourself in the chaos of it all. Stay rational and prepare as well as you can. You\u2019ve done brilliantly to even get in the room. And if this audition doesn\u2019t \u2018go your way\u2019, something else will. Just take it from Bryan. And my dad.<\/p>\n A director once told me that there were always 3 auditions:<\/p>\n Sometimes, I actually can\u2019t remember my journey home after an audition, as I\u2019ve been too busy replaying the audition in my head and going over how I could have done things differently. I remember in one audition a few years ago, I was so nervous that I ended up talking about trees. The audition had absolutely nothing to do with trees. No-one asked me about trees. I just started talking about them. How big and\u2026 green they were. I hated myself afterwards. Couldn\u2019t look myself in the eye. I went home and watched endless episodes of Gogglebox and devoured my own body weight in tiramisu.\u00a0 Anything to erase the memory of the whole tree business. So, get a coffee with a friend, go to the cinema, go to an exhibition, do anything to prevent yourself from the mental torture of wishing you\u2019d said the line \u201cBut how?\u201d differently. No-one else cares, so neither should you.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll wrap it up now. But good luck! Just stay focused, don’t talk about trees and you\u2019ll smash it.<\/p>\n And just in case you need it, I\u2019m gonna leave\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9 and Alexandra\u2019s inspiring performance<\/a>\u00a0here.<\/p>\n Katie Redford is an actress & writer originally from Nottingham, now based in London. She recently won\u00a0BBC Comedy Writersroom<\/a>\u00a0and has also just joined the cast of Radio 4’s\u00a0The Archers<\/a>. When she’s not in work, you can find her in the soft play centre in Epsom where she takes the children she nannies\u00a0for, so she doesn’t have to do any actual work.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The insider guide to successful preparation, to\u00a0ace that upcoming audition. Acting auditions can be sudden and stressful. Here are Katie Redford’s top hints and tips to making the most of that precious\u00a0audition prep time – whether you’ve got only got a few hours, or have been blessed with a few days! One of the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":1845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[41,44],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-getting-work","tag-agents","tag-starting-out"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/spotlightuk\/image\/fetch\/w_{width},c_limit\/https:\/\/spotlight-cmsmedia.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/1478\/katie.jpg\")
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Inspire Yourself Silly<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Break Into a Sweat<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Move to Music<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Keep Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Plan Something for Afterwards<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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