Guildhall School of Music and Drama audition- 9th December 2015
my guildhall audition has been my favourite of all my auditions so far.
i was about an hour early, and i walked into the Sundial Court and the guy on reception told me to go to a gate outside just up the road and he would open them from his computer, which he did and i was then in like a courtyard type thing. on the left was a door with an ‘acting auditions’ sign. i went down to the basement and hovered outside the door for a bit because i could see a doorway with people in it, who i thought must have been still there from the morning audition, but there was one boy outside that room on a sofa, so i went in and said hi to him- he was a friend of someone who was in the room that had just auditioned and was waiting to hear her result.
the first thing i thought about this place was that it looked like a club or music venue of some kind. this was the accommodation block for guildhall students, not the actual building itself, but it was honestly so cool- there was a stage at one end with guitars and amps and wires draped everywhere, a bar at the other end, a load of big sofas and chairs dotted around with a few potted plants, all in quite a grungy, dim room. a girl called evie then arrived a few minutes after me, and this was her first audition i think. we got chatting and she was absolutely lovely. the morning group then came out, and out of 12 of them, 4 had got recalls, including the girl whose friend was waiting for her. i saw lots of hugs and congratulations flying around which was so nice considering in the morning, these people would not have known each other, so i figured everyone in my group would also get to know everyone well.
more people came until there were 11 of us ( and there was one latecomer). it was so so friendly, there was no tension and everyone was fairly young- the average age here was a lot lower than that of my RADA.
a recent graduate called us through to a room with a big table which we all sat around and wrote down our monologues. there were 3 graduates, 2 boys and a girl, who talked about guildhall for a bit. they gave us numbers to pin on ourselves, with their apologies: they explained that this was just for the movement workshop, so they could differentiate us before they got to know us in our auditions/interviews. i was number 10.
we left our bags in that room as a graduate took us into a little studio for our movement workshop. there were two people auditioning us, a man and woman, both fairly young they made us walk around the space with varying tension levels and intentions etc., then got us lined up against a wall and made us imagine in front of us was a pet shop window, and we were to walk up to it and look at the animals within, so like everyone was ‘aw’ing at the window, but the auditioners were like stop, we want no ‘show acting’, just do it as natural as possible. they then got us, one by one to walk up to them and say “hello, my name is ___, today I have travelled from ___. All my life I have been afraid of ___ but have enjoyed ____” followed by the first line of our classical monologue. for example: “hello, my name is annie and today i’ve travelled from hull. all my life i have been afraid of the underside of mushrooms, but have enjoyed fine art. lo, she is one of this confederacy.” then sit down. they explained that they want truth, not show acting, so like to strip down gestures and accents, and do the pieces truthfully. they also said that they wanted eye contact- whereas normally you look above the heads of the panel if you are addressing an audience, look at them, but if you are addressing another character, one of the graduates will act as your other character. they also said to pick out of the 3 monologues our favourite, so we had to chance to perform that one, then they would chose the next, and give you some direction and alterations on that one, and they may or may not ask for a third or a song.
we went back through the loungy area, to be called one by one. the people who went first were free to leave and get dinner once they had done which most of them did, but being 11 I hung around all day. 4 of us girls did a little vocal warm up together, sharing exercises and stuff which was so cute and fun, and then we just sat on the sofa and chatted. As I was waiting for 3 hours ish, I got to know these people so much better than at typical in and out auditions. we all agreed that we recognized the woman on our panel from some tv show,although none of us knew what and none of us dared ask
my graduate for my audition (i think his name was ronan or something) had a BEAUTIFUL accent, I think it was welsh or something, but I sat outside the studio with him and we chatted about into the woods and random stuff like that, then we got called in and the panel just chatted with me for a bit and asked which piece i would like to do, so i went for my kara again. kara’s monologue is to the audience, so i was making eye contact with the panel- and i LOVED it. It was so different but there was something about observing them viewing it which gave it another dimension and i really felt the character a lot more than i have ever before. they were super friendly and lovely, and asked me who my helena monologue was to, so i said hermia and they laughed and pointed at ronan(???? I’m gonna call him ronan), who i performed it to as if he were my hermia. the panel stopped me a little way in and reworked it so i was more ‘pissed off than sad’ in their words, which i enjoyed. ronan was so bloody cute, acting all upset and stuff as i shouted at him. i then got a chair and we chatted about me- they had my personal statement on the desk and were asking me about it which was nice to think they had read it and were interested. i was then free to leave.
after talking to the other auditionees, i found that they had similar experiences- a re working on their second monologue, and no need for a song or a third speech. one girl said that her contemporary was a sad piece, but she was asked to perform it like it was the funniest thing in the world. it was all a bit mad, but so so fun.
all the earlier auditionees came back and we went back into the separate room to get our results- 2 of the 12 got recalled, one boy and one girl.
on the way out, we were all trapped inside the gates which just wouldn’t open which was a bit of a laugh, then 3 of us got the tube back to King’s Cross together.
all in all i had a very long but fun day. i loved the whole experience, school and vibe, and will definitely be auditioning there again.
