Auditioning for Romeo & Juliet

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Tomorrow morning marks the beginning of auditions for my school's production of Romeo and Juliet. This will mark my second time auditioning for a lead so I'm pretty nervous.

I know the character pretty well and I'm used to the language but I'm getting the nerves. Any tips to combat my nervousness?

[bluestarultor]

Just remember that you're taking your first step to fame, and as a first step, you're allowed to stumble. If you pick yourself up and keep going, you may find yourself in more important roles. Shakespearean acting is nothing but preparation for sitting in a captain's chair. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart#Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

In short, break a leg and have fun. It's a school production. Chances of you being discovered by someone big in this are the same as being struck by lighting, twice, standing in the same spot, when it's brassy day. You trip over a line, worst case scenario, you'll probably just get a smaller role, and it won't be the end of the world. Don't sweat the small stuff.


Edit: I mean crap, John Travolta didn't get the lead the first he did Grease. He was Doodie. The movie was an upgrade for him. Chillax.

[Specterbane]

Start getting a good night's rest. As hard as it is, you've prepped about as much as you can. Have some faith in yourself and you'll do fine.

Or put another way, BELIEVE IN THE YOU THAT BELIEVES IN YOU!!!!

Seriously though, have confidence and do you're best. Good luck tomorrow.

[Premmy]

Try and think of your audition as something you're doing purely for the fun of it, not something important. Think of it as something you're doing for it's own sake, not to get a part, but just an audition you want to do because auditions are fun.

[Drownball-Champ]

Just go in and have fun. If you get the part then great, if not at least you had fun auditioning.

[DarkDrgon]

kill the others, that way you're the best! or just go out there, and get the part anyway. Whatever works for you. either way, good luck.

[Magus]

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to
you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,
as many of your players do, I had as lief the
town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;
for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special o'erstep not
the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is
from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the
mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure of the which one must in your allowance
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that, neither having the accent of Christians nor
the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature's journeymen had made men and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

O, reform it altogether. And let those that play
your clowns speak no more than is set down for them;
for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to
set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh
too; though, in the mean time, some necessary
question of the play be then to be considered:
that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition
in the fool that uses it.

Go, make you ready.

[Hatake Kakashi]

Just remember that you're taking your first step to fame, and as a first step, you're allowed to stumble.

Also remember that no matter how horribly your audition might or might not go....

http://www.shakespearefilms.com/images2/romeo-and-juliet.jpg

...some dumbass has already fucked it up worse than you ever could. And they still made a movie out of it. That helps with the nerves, ne?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Hey now, in the 400 odd years since Romeo+ Juliet was written only one version has even approached being passable and it's that one.

[Token]

Smarty's right. I mean, Mercutio was a black drag queen. Best version of all time.

[Bells]

this might be a weird advice but try to laugh. Like... do something that is amusing or funny to you a few hours prior to the audition or the day before it.

It's relaxing, and as long as you don't pick something too distracting you wont loose focus.

Other than that, a beer before stage! Also known as the BBS Technique

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Take an actual sword and kill the guy playing Tibault. Fuck you Brecht, theatre is about realism!

[Magus]

Also remember that no matter how horribly your audition might or might not go....

http://www.shakespearefilms.com/images2/romeo-and-juliet.jpg

...some dumbass has already fucked it up worse than you ever could. And they still made a movie out of it. That helps with the nerves, ne?

Hey now, in the 400 odd years since Romeo+ Juliet was written only one version has even approached being passable and it's that one.

Smarty's right. I mean, Mercutio was a black drag queen. Best version of all time.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/unconventional-director-sets-shakespeare-play-in-t,2214/

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Smarty's right. I mean, Mercutio was a black drag queen. Best version of all time.

While this is a point in favour it was mostly because when it came out lots of "shakespeare critics" had a brain explosion and it was hilarious.

[Fenris]

http://www.uni.edu/music/trombone/images/website_pdfs/performance_anxiety.pdf

This is kinda aimed towards music but I feel a lot of the tips can apply to theater as well.

[Seil]

Just breathe, man. Know that if you fall, you'll only fall in front of a couple 'a people. Know your audition stuff - your monologue or your song or what have you.

When I get nervous, I tremble, and I ramble. Auditions are usually the people auditioning and a panel of theater-related people. I've screwed up in a monologue; however, that was about farting so a theater-person made a joke about "brain farts," and I continued.

[Fifthfiend]

Smoke weeeeeeeeeeed

EDIT: lol I feel kind of bad saying this to a 15 year old

[Magus]

I'm not sure why anyone wants to play the leads in these things, anyway. I suppose in Romeo there is no decent villain to play but I had far more fun playing Iago in Othello or Cassius in Julius Caesar than I ever had as any of the heroes.

I mean I suppose those are "leads" in that they are the main antagonists but the lead is usually identified with the protagonist.

What I am saying is that if you don't get the lead, don't worry, you can play some other major character and possibly have more fun than you would worrying about playing Romeo. I have the feeling the guy who played the Duke of Cornwall had a blast grinding out Gloucester's eye with his bootheel, for example (just to bring up King Lear for no apparent reason).

I mean, as long as they don't stick you with the role of the apothecary or the clown or something lame like that.

[Krylo]

You could just get the best of both worlds and play MacBeth.

[Magus]

Sure...if his school wants the entire cast and crew to be maimed or killed in a horrific way! Cursed, it is! Cursed!

[BitVyper]

You could just get the best of both worlds and play MacBeth.

Oh god....

We need a massive Shakespeare fighting game crossover. Now.

And all of the characters need to speak in Capcom English.

Edit: Maybe Julius Caesar is the last boss?

Edit: Or your tenth grade English teacher... hmmm...

[greed]

Falstaff is god tier. Only appears in a perfect run through like Akuma.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I'm not sure why anyone wants to play the leads in these things, anyway.

For the bitches yo!

[Specterbane]

Oh god....

We need a massive Shakespeare fighting game crossover. Now.

And all of the characters need to speak in Capcom English.

Are you suggesting Romeo be sitting at a desk, legs kicked back, leaning back in his chair; when all of the sudden Juliet fly through the wall on a horse--

Romeo: Whoa, my lady! Rest ye Stead's Flanks!

(I don't think Capcom would pull off iambic pentameter.)

[BitVyper]

Oh oh oh, and the Third Murderer is a secret character, and he has a cloak so you never see his face. You get him by beating the game with Banquo.

Edit: And Marlowe's Faustus appears as a joke character, like Dan.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I made callbacks. But not as the characters I would have liked. Ugh.

[Magus]

They stuck you as the apothecary, didn't they? Those bastards.

[Terex4]

I made callbacks. But not as the characters I would have liked. Ugh.
Gotta start somewhere. Auditions are like job interviews, you'll be nervous for the first few unless you're one of the few swelling with self confidence and over time you'll be performing like your best friend is watching you.

[Token]

Gotta start somewhere. Auditions are like job interviews, you'll be nervous for the first few all of them unless you're one of the few swelling with self confidence entirely out of the moment, and therefore a horrible actor. and over time you'll be performing like your best friend is watching you.

Fixed that for you.

Gunsy, the nervousness is a good thing. Don't try to pretend it isn't there; work with it and channel it. Acting is about channeling emotion, and it doesn't make you nervous, you're either in denial, or not doing it right.

I'd give you audition tips, but it seems a bit late for that. As for not getting the part you wanted, suck it up. You made call-backs. That's fantastic. Remember, there are no small parts, just small actors.

[bluestarultor]

Fixed that for you.

Gunsy, the nervousness is a good thing. Don't try to pretend it isn't there; work with it and channel it. Acting is about channeling emotion, and it doesn't make you nervous, you're either in denial, or not doing it right.

I'd give you audition tips, but it seems a bit late for that. As for not getting the part you wanted, suck it up. You made call-backs. That's fantastic. Remember, there are no small parts, just small actors.

Yeah, any performance is about channeling emotion. Nervousness is just one type of energy, and to quote Owen Burnett from Gargoyles when Xanatos is prepping to fight Oberon, "energy is energy."

Can't say I've acted in much, but I did field marching, and I have to say all the fury incited by the worst instructor I've ever had and hating pretty much everyone around me, as well as myself for having let people talk me back into signing up for it year after year, made me the most energetic person and therefore best performer in my section. As last clarinet, no less, which was just one more way the teacher tried to screw me over as we butted heads.

Kick in the balls, he told me, I quote, "it's a good thing to have such a strong player in the back row."


Basically, if a person can channel all of that constructively, you can channel a bit of healthy nervousness constructively.

[Premmy]

is it hard for most people to stir up their own emotions? Is everybody some brand of method actor? I generally can go from happy to sad easier than I can go from sad to happy and the same goes for anger, fear, e.t.c. once I'm in negative mode I get stuck, but I can bum myself out pretty easily if I'm already neutral or happy.

[bluestarultor]

is it hard for most people to stir up their own emotions? Is everybody some brand of method actor? I generally can go from happy to sad easier than I can go from sad to happy and the same goes for anger, fear, e.t.c. once I'm in negative mode I get stuck, but I can bum myself out pretty easily if I'm already neutral or happy.

I think you misunderstand method acting.

To put it this way, a good actor has to have a good understanding of the part and what it requires. Shakespeare is stylized enough that method acting isn't liable to help much. It's similar to writing in a way. A good writer knows their characters inside and out, to the point they're people and the story writes itself. A good actor knows what their character is thinking and feeling and seeks to portray that through the various styles of acting.

[Premmy]

Thank you for giving me a definition of acting....... no idea what that has to do with:

"You have to psyche yourself up? I don't, I can just flip my emotions like a switch"
but thanks

[bluestarultor]

Thank you for giving me a definition of acting....... no idea what that has to do with:

"You have to psyche yourself up? I don't, I can just flip my emotions like a switch"
but thanks

No, the first and second paragraphs were unrelated. In clearer response to method acting, method acting is where you remember that time you were six and your hamster died when you need to be sad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting). Sorry if that's not what you were talking about.

To explain the second part, method acting is not always the best choice depending on the production.

For the current concern, I don't think normal people can flip their emotions like a switch. You need to work yourself into it somehow, and if you can just snap your fingers and go from happy to sad, you're probably a sociopath.

[Premmy]

No, the first and second paragraphs were unrelated. In clearer response to method acting, method acting is where you remember that time you were six and your hamster died when you need to be sad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting). Sorry if that's not what you were talking about.
Most layman view "method acting" to be the

"Spend extended amounts of time trying to understand the emotions of their character, heath ledger in a room alone with Killing joke for a month" idea.

I could very well be wrong, but these days the "Remember when your hamster died so you can cry" method
Is pretty much the standard, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting#Contemporary_approaches)or at least so very common that people who go the extra, Heath Ledger, mile are called "method actors" by other actors using what is technically method acting.
Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves in their characters to the extent that they continue to portray them even offstage or off-camera for the duration of a project.
To explain the second part, method acting is not always the best choice depending on the production.
No disagreement here.

For the current concern, I don't think normal people can flip their emotions like a switch. You need to work yourself into it somehow,
I can remember all the times I've felt X emotion and get there in about five minutes max, in ideal situations.

My point was more addressed to the idea that someone might need longer ala Token's "Use your nervousness leading up to the audition" idea, because that sounds like

"Be stressed out for the hour/ few days up until the audition/show so you can be convincingly stressed" which to me,

1: Just seems extreme and probably not healthy, as well as a hindrance to your non-acting life
2: Is not gonna work when you play a happy, stress-free character

I generally find it easier to get people worked up then to calm then down, so from my perspective it's better to learn to be calm before and then emote later than to prep yourself hours beforehand.
Granted, Token MIGHT have been saying use that feeling you had this time for later performances, could have gone either way, honestly.

and if you can just snap your fingers and go from happy to sad, you're probably a sociopath.

I think you misunderstand sociopathy.

To put it this way, a sociopath has no understanding of human empathy and what it is. Sociopathy is severe enough that treatment isn't liable to help much. It's similar to Antisocial Personality Disorder in a way. An antisocial person doesn't care about the rights or desires of others, to the point they just do whatever they want. A sociopath doesn't know waht other people are thinking and feeling.

[Fifthfiend]

I can drop from chillin' to rage faster than you can say Least I Could WELP there you go see I'm already fucking furious.

[Premmy]

We all know you're a sociopath

[Krylo]

I can drop from chillin' to rage faster than you can say Least I Could WELP there you go see I'm already fucking furious.

What's fantastic here is that it's impossible to tell if he's playing the part of Karkat or just being himself right now.

[Terex4]

What's fantastic here is that it's impossible to tell if he's playing the part of Karkat or just being himself right now.
I'm pretty sure Fifth is Karkat.
Fixed that for you.
I approve of this rewrite.

[Darth SS]

I'm stuck thinking of that awesome scene with Ricky Gervais and Sir Ian McKellan.

"I told Peter Jackson, 'I'm not a wizard you know.' How I did the part was I read the lines and then imagined what it would be like to be in that situation. And THAT is acting."

[bluestarultor]

Most layman view "method acting" to be the

"Spend extended amounts of time trying to understand the emotions of their character, heath ledger in a room alone with Killing joke for a month" idea.

I could very well be wrong, but these days the "Remember when your hamster died so you can cry" method
Is pretty much the standard, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting#Contemporary_approaches)or at least so very common that people who go the extra, Heath Ledger, mile are called "method actors" by other actors using what is technically method acting.

Method acting IS pretty standard, and all of it that you've talked about are variations on it. Traditional acting is much more mechanical, knowing the lines, action, and delivery, but leaving the character in the text.

I mean I already read the full article before I made my post just to double-check and you're cherry-picking it.

My point was more addressed to the idea that someone might need longer ala Token's "Use your nervousness leading up to the audition" idea, because that sounds like

"Be stressed out for the hour/ few days up until the audition/show so you can be convincingly stressed" which to me,

1: Just seems extreme and probably not healthy, as well as a hindrance to your non-acting life
2: Is not gonna work when you play a happy, stress-free character

I generally find it easier to get people worked up then to calm then down, so from my perspective it's better to learn to be calm before and then emote later than to prep yourself hours beforehand.
Granted, Token MIGHT have been saying use that feeling you had this time for later performances, could have gone either way, honestly.

That's not what people were talking about at all. Stress is not something you "go for." It's just a natural part of the gig. What everyone was talking about was to use the energy from it constructively. Channel the adrenaline into enthusiasm and such.

I think you misunderstand sociopathy.

To put it this way, a sociopath has no understanding of human empathy and what it is. Sociopathy is severe enough that treatment isn't liable to help much. It's similar to Antisocial Personality Disorder in a way. An antisocial person doesn't care about the rights or desires of others, to the point they just do whatever they want. A sociopath doesn't know waht other people are thinking and feeling.

I know perfectly well what sociopathy is, but I expressed myself wrong. A sociopath is a toxic mix of antisocial and narcissistic behaviors. As such, you have the lack of concern for others and society from the antisocial and the superiority and lack of empathy from narcissism.

Another thing they get from narcissism is their ability to crank the charm to 11. Sociopaths can act however they need to to get what they want from others before those people cease to be useful. They can be anything you want them to be right until you're used up. They'll tell you what they know you want to hear and do it convincingly. That's what I was trying to refer to.

[Premmy]

I mean I already read the full article before I made my post just to double-check and you're cherry-picking it.

No, I'm telling you that I know what the hell I'm talking about and since you're not gonna hear that when I SAY it out of my mouth, I have to say it out of YOURS by using your ammo to remind you of that fact, but apparently it's not working.

That's not what people were talking about at all. Stress is not something you "go for." It's just a natural part of the gig.

Not always, sometimes people are comfortable and positive about a part.

When they're comfortable and positive about a part, they can behave more naturally than when they're trying to force happiness or some such through their stress, see my, "It's harder to de-stress someone than it is to piss them off" stuff I said a good fifty times. And sometimes people are stressed for a short while, but study and think about their part and GET comfortable. Trying to hold onto the negativity and fear in the hopes that it'll keep you jazzed enough or that you can Tai-chi it into something useful can be a very bad thing.

As he said, it's just as foolish to act like you're not stressed, but wallowing in it isn't such a good idea either.

I know perfectly well what psychopathy is, but I expressed myself wrong. A sociopath is a toxic mix of antisocial and narcissistic behaviors. As such, you have the lack of concern for others and society from the antisocial and the superiority and lack of empathy from narcissism.

Another thing they get from narcissism is their ability to crank the charm to 11. Sociopaths can act however they need to to get what they want from others before those people cease to be useful. They can be anything you want them to be right until you're used up. They'll tell you what they know you want to hear and do it convincingly. That's what I was trying to refer to.

Okay,

A: You missed the point of that paragraph entirely
B: The point that psychopathy has nothing to do with this conversation is something you also missed because

Pretending to feel something has nothing to do with ACTUALLY FEELING SHIT.

Which is my point, I can stress myself out pretty damn well. I spent a good chunk of my youth doing it 24-7. I'm firmly aware of what it feels like, what you think of, and what it can do. I know this because I am a very emotional person who cannot control his thoughts or focus very well. I have had to learn how to have a modicum of control over my emotions as a necessary aspect of living with normal people.

I don't pretend to get pissed or sad on command, I just ALLOW MYSELF TO BE ANGRY OR SAD. It is harder for me to wrangle these emotions in to be happy or present an image of happiness. It's harder to go from sad/angry/afraid to happy/calm in my experience because Anger, Fear and Sorrow are extremes, that are all closely related, whereas Serenity is a balance, and Happiness is an extreme of it's own.

[synkr0nized]

What's fantastic here is that it's impossible to tell if he's playing the part of Karkat or just being himself right now.

Not enough future and past Fifthfiends banning one another from threads, though.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I was given Paris. Then I talked to the directors... Now I'm an understudy for Mercutio.

[synkr0nized]

Obviously the latter is a much better/more involved role, but is it preferable to be an understudy and not actually in the play [barring circumstances]?

[rpgdemon]

Obviously the latter is a much better/more involved role, but is it preferable to be an understudy and not actually in the play [barring circumstances]?

Sure it is. Everyone in theatre is going around breaking legs. The understudies are the real stars.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I can only hope that legs are broken. The guy we have as Mercutio goes over the top but not in the fun way.

[Magus]

Am I the only one who ever played Shakespeare fairly naturally instead of in that faux-hammy way that everybody does it in?

Like my Cassius was a sardonic cynic as opposed to angry asshole.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Am I the only one who ever played Shakespeare fairly naturally instead of in that faux-hammy way that everybody does it in?

Like my Cassius was a sardonic cynic as opposed to angry asshole.

I get what you're saying. When some people do it they aren't actually trying to portray a person but an exaggerated personality. The way I play Mercutio is as a sarcastic guy with a little bit of "ho yay" thrown in for good measure whereas the guy we have doing it is Caesar Romero's Joker.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

If you want to play a person and not an exaggerated personality you probably shouldn't be doing shakespeare... lollI'msofunny.

[Premmy]

What the fuck is all this subtlety doing in my Shakespeare? I don't remember putting it there, what a silly place to put it, this must be a prank!