I firmly believe in living by the rule of always saying ‘yes’. Obviously, this doesn’t extend to activities that hurt or cause my premature death. But, on the whole this mantra has served me pretty well over the years.
So, last week, when an email came through pointing out an Audition Masterclass with Directors Bruce Guthrie and Polly Findlay that might be of interest there really could only be one answer. I dispatched my email and lo and behold (thanks predominantly to a last minute drop out) I secured a place.
On Wednesday the script – An Incident at the Border” by Keiran Lynn – came through and I was to prepare a section reading the character of Reiver. It was a wonderful script and the character I was to read was so much fun – somewhere between The Office and Blackadder. Perfect!
I duly chose a passage and – for the first time in a while – went through a new script gleaning the facts; who says what about me; what I say about myself; and, what I say about others. I had forgotten what a powerful exercise it is and how the character emerges as you start to understand their relationships in the piece. I also Actioned the text, which is so much easier than when I was at younger thanks to the publication of Actions: The Actor’s Thesaurus – a book of active verbs.
Speech prepared, I headed off yesterday morning to Out of Joint’s rehearsal space in Finsbury Park for the workshop. There were about 20 of us in total and we all watched as each person came in for their ‘audition’. I did have a bit of a panic after the first two people were completely off book (I was very familiar with the text but by no means word perfect) but it quickly became clear they were in the minority and – as we were told a number of times – it wasn’t an exercise in line-learning (phew!).
It was a long day, made longer by the fact that I wasn’t up until gone 4pm (the day started at 10.15am) – but eventually it was my turn and, as is so often is the case, in a flash it was over.
The feedback I received was extremely encouraging. They liked my strong character choices; felt I had a good ability to listen to notes and take direction; and one of the Directors (to save their blushes I won’t say which) even said that they wouldn’t have believed I wasn’t a seasoned actor based on the audition – hopefully they weren’t just saying that to be nice?! It wasn’t all praise and there are things to consider in future – but that is surely a big reason for going.
Every step I take forward my confidence grows as does my understanding of the industry. I am also enjoying meeting other actors at varying stages of their careers and sharing ideas about how to progress in this crazy business.
Who knows what it next but there is one thing for sure – whatever it is, I will say ‘yes’!
William Baylis 