Auditions

The forthcoming tour of Matilda is auditioning at the moment. The Children’s auditions have been taking place in Manchester, with adults in London. As you can imagine it is a rather thorough process, with various rounds as the whole cast is slotted together like one big jigsaw piece.

I haven’t actually been on an audition panel for quite a few years, but I always find it fascinating, and is experience I take into educational settings to workshop auditions with prospective theatre students. How do you enter the room? How much small talk should you expect? How best do you engage with an audition pianist? What brief or material have you been given? A big piece of advice I often give is that the panel are always on the side of the person auditioning. So often it can feel like it’s “us vs them” but the reality is that we’re willing that person on to show themselves off to the best of their ability, so as comfortable as we can make that person feel before they audition, the better.

Everyone in theatre/TV/film industries will talk of rejection from auditions or job interviews. It’s inevitable when we see almost 600 people for just a handful of roles! It more often happens that those let go are insanely talented, with so many other factors coming into play as to why they aren’t taken further in the process, such as how the understudying needs to play out amongst the ensemble cast, or that a role requires a certain vocal range or vocal quality.

All being well, the Matilda tour should have its cast in place in the next month or so, with rehearsals due to begin in later summer!