Audition For Actors



So today Gary has introduced a new Unit to the class which is called 'Auditions For Actors' the main reason for this unit is to help us prepare for Drama School next year. This unit consist of gathering four monolouges both Shakespear and Contempory learning it and using it to audition. The first monolouge i had to do was a contempory, personally starting off doing contempory seemed to be easier for me becuase it consist of naturalism and acting from the emotions inside which im best at. I went away into the library to have a look at the different monolouges i could use for my audition. I came across a book called 'Skylight' by David Hare. I took it out and began to read through it, the questions i asked myself is, who is she, where is she, how did she get there, why is she there and what is she thinking, can she relate to me, and if so how?. I also checked the age she was. The main characters name is Kyra and shes 18 which was comfortable to me becuase i could act that age. As i began to read through the book there was one stanza that really stood out to me, this stanza was placed in the middle of a scene where she was arguing with the boyfriend that left her a few years ago. I really took my time to read out this paragraph and try and understand why she was so angry at this point, the reason for this is becuase Kyra still feels emotionally unstable for Tom leaving her for another girl. Knowing this helped me figure out what sort of tone i can use for this monolouge actions and and whether to bring out a sort of desperate needy emotion to show the love Kyra still has for her previous boyfriend. I then went away knowing this information and answered some of these questions.

Contempory Monologue:

 

What makes an engaging or compelling character?

My opinion of an engaging and compelling character is when the character has an interesting background or comes from an interesting but weird background. Also I think having the effect of tension and suspense in a character makes the story very much interesting and brings a flavour towards the scenes. Also an engaging character should include a lot of rhetorical questions which also makes the reader think instead of the story just being given to them that easily. When a character also leaves a cliff-hanger which would make the reader read on to find out what happens next.

How do you create one?

In order to create an engaging and compelling character you need to firstly understand the character. Recognise who they are where they’re coming from and where they are going. After doing this you then place yourself into the characters mind and try and connect with the role. If the character has an emotional role such as my character then I think about previous emotions and episodes that’s happened in my life and try and adapt it with my role so I can feel similar to how the characters feeling. By doing this not only will you be engaged with the character emotionally and mentally it would be easier for you to connect with the audience/reader.  In addition to this to make an compelling and interesting  I think you have to pick up different things that your character may do such as if they have a routine of how they wake up in the mornings or if they have different habits, things like this makes the character and the story more interesting.

 

What can you do to make the people in your head come over on the page? Describe your character in an environment familiar to him/her, carrying out some habitual action

In order to make the people in your head come over on the page, you could put yourself in your characters shoes. For example laying down and breaking down each routine that your character may do, if your character wakes up break down each emotion routine and habits that they do each morning whether as soon as they wake up they check their phones or immediately goes towards the kitchen and makes a coffee. This helps breaks into your character, in particular with my character when she wakes up she checks her phone and then sits up and stares at the wall while she has a thinking process, then gets up has a coffee and watches the news usually she coughs a lot in the morning because of her smoking habits. My character normally has a habit of waking up and staring at the wall, this is because of the problems that’s currently happening to her in her life, because she is living a life full of guilt and constantly arguing with husband. In order for me to understand my character I had to pretend as if I just woke up and repeat all the things that my character would normally do every morning this helped me a lot break into my character. This also helped me imagine how exactly my character must feel in her everyday life.

 

Characteristics:

My characters name is Kyra she’s in her teens and lives in North London.  She lives on the first floor flat in North – West London underneath the evidence of a room well lived in with patterned carpet which have worn to a thread and a long wall of books. Kyra is returning to her flat, blue with cold. She is quite small with short hair and practical manner. She has a heavy overcoat wrapped round her, and I wearing thick woollen gloves. She is carrying three large plastic bags. She puts two down at once on her work table and takes the third into the kitchen area. Also in the first scene we are able to identify at the main door which is still open a tall young man, he is eighteen. He is also carrying three plastic bags. His name is Edward Sergeant, he comes in a place or two then stands uncertain, hearing the sound of a bath running. This creates a lot of suspense how a random male appears at the door which also brings a lot of tension in the beginning we as readers are wondering what is due to happen next. Kyra does not have any other family apart from the young man in her life, Krya normally wears a long sort of cloak to bed and normally re thinks about the day and the wrongs in her life before she sleeps. My character is a usually and depressed person, I was also able to find that when Kyra sleeps she often has flashbacks of the murder scene that took place once in her life. She has such a heavy guilt on her conscience. Kyra comes from a middle class background and she is in love with the young man that appeared at the door she does not work and struggles to get money. She fears the guilt and problems she has given towards the people that she loves because of the murder that took place before, I think the thing that Kyra would love to change is to not be involved with the death of the unknown person, she wishes that she was not part of it because her conscience would not let her rest and she blames everything on herself. Kyra normally wears thick heavy boots most times trainers kind of scruffy and old.

Habitat:

Kyra usually gets in from work at around 4/5 she normally wears a long black jacket, hair messy and held back with some baby hairs sticking up. Her face is quite pale from overworking causing her to be tired. Fingers have no nail varnish and around the edges you can see that she bites them. She is carrying a blue and black bag full of shopping and is wearing heavy boots. As soon as she unlocks her door she drops her bag hangs her jacket and walks into the kitchen turns on the kettle to make a cup of tea. Kyra normally seems always depressed and as if something is constantly bothering her mind, she repeatedly sighs whilst drinking her hot tea and she curls herself into a ball shape and watches the news as soon as she gets in without removing her clothes. We can also see that her work clothes are quite scruffy and not well looked after. She has a habit of biting her lips and staring into thin air.

 

Character questionnaire:

My character takes a dull black brief case to work it looks quite tattered and old; it has a buckle on both front side and carries it holding it on her shoulder. My character does not own a car so she only gets by using bus or train. She doesn’t own a purse as well as she thinks it’s too convenient she prefers holding her money in her pocket because it’s easy access. Her pockets inside is made out of cotton which is warm and she mostly carries a pack of tic tacs some money and tissues inside her pocket.

 Name and age?

My characters name is Kyra and she is at the age of 18.

 Who gave it?

In the story we are unaware of her parents and who has given her the name ‘Kyra’ I have also noticed that throughout the story she has never mentioned her parents maybe because they have passed away or of unhappy past experience with her parents.

 What is most noticeable about your character’s appearance/physical presence?

Kyras’ hair and face is one of the physical appearance that stands out this is because in the story she is seen to have quite a pale sort of look with some spots and pimples this also foreshadows her emotions, Kyra is a depressed moody sort of character and we are able to see that her mood affects the way she presents herself, she has pimples and spots because she does not care to look after herself, her pale skin could also suggest that because of her always being moody and stressed out its caused her to become such a blank and cold person inside. Another physical appearance is that her hair is always tied back with some hair hanging out this shows that as a girl we mostly love to make sure our appearance is beautiful and our hair looks good, however Kyra is the complete opposite as she doesn’t care how she looks because she has no body in her life to impress.

How does he or she feel about it? Describe his or her voice, verbal ticks, pet phrases etc. Describe a gesture your character makes.

 

 Where does he or she now live? Describe the city, town or village, the house itself. Be very specific. Any feelings about this place? Has s/he lived elsewhere? What does s/he remember of these places?

Kyra is now living in a 2 bedroom flat in North London; the area is quite and can seem very lonely it is normally cold around that area and everyone mostly stays indoors.

 

What part of her home is her favourite?

The living room where she goes straight to every morning, for her daily coffee, biscuit & to watch the news.

 

Least favourite?

She doesn’t have a least favourite part of her home.

 

 

What does your character’s bedroom/sleeping place look like? (lots of detail please)

My characters room is painted white with some grey patterns, her bed is normally left messy due to her always rushing to go to work in the morning, and never having time to make her bed. Her floor is laminated and the curtains are brown. All of her shoes which are mainly boots are all lined up under her bed. Her wardrobe is full of grey & black clothing which are just dumped in her closet. Her jacket hangs on her wardrobe door. Her table only contains a brush, hand mirror and mascara.

 

What does he or she wear to sleep in?

Kyra sleeps in a night gown, and she always wears a white vest under, with grey or black socks.

What does your character dream of at night?

At night my character dreams about the days of when she used to be in love, when she was younger and was stress free. She longs for the days when she was deeply in love with the man of her life, before they broke up. She also dreams of how good it will feel to be with her long lost family that she no longer sees. There is no explanation of where her family are.

Who are/were her parents? / Rest of family? What does she feel for them?

Kyra does not give any explanation of where her parents are or what has happened to them.

During lesson we was given a task to walk about the room how our character normally would when she wakes up, what does they do are they happy in their homes, sad, lonely? this really helped me shape into my character and become my character. The whole of the class firstly layed down on the floor and transformed themselves into their character. For me i had to think to myself that i am no longer me, i tried to adapt all the knowledge i know about my character into my mindset and become her i firstly thought of her house what she would be wearing, how her hair would be tied up, the special clothes she wears to bed, how she curls her self into a ball whilst asleep and how she would always dream about the love she has for Tom and the days when they were together before she falls asleep, after settling into this mindset i then got up from my 'bed' how Kyra would firstly, rolling onto her side rubbing her eyes and looking at the other side of her bed hoping that Tom is laying next to her but unfortunatly he is not. She then walks into the kitchen and makes her everyday morning coffee and switches on BBC news 24. She yawns stretches and looks at the morning newspaper. Kyra is always aware of whats going on in the world and is so curious as to why things are happening this way instead of worrying about herself and her emotions.

After being in the mindset Kyra is always in our next task was to go home just as our character would. This meant for me travelling on train bus and foot back home. This actually felt quite weird and sometimes fustrating as we were not allowed to break out of character. After the reasearch i had done on my character i noticed that Kyra is always depressed due to her emotional break down and this affected the way that she would walk, her head was always down in the dumps and her face was always straight. Having to walk like this in the street felt so down and depressing and then i finally understood how my character feels everyday as if there is no hope for her in life.