Peter pan audition week 2023
This week was entirely filled with the audition process for "Peter Pan the British Musical", were we got shoved into the deep end with the auditions being set out like a professional musical theatre audition with the three separate sections- acting, singing and dancing. I've done auditions for musical theatre before, but never have I done one that is set out in such a high pressure professional manner like this one- being judged on not just skill but professionalism and work ethic, pushing us all to prove our commitment as a performer whilst showing that we can push ourselves to tick all the boxes.
Monday 6th November 2023 Monday marked the being of the audition process, starting us of strong with the acting section of the audition. I feel like this is the section of the audition that some of my other classmates were less nervous for, but because I was auditioning for the role of peter I felt extremely apprehensive although I was still extremely excited. This was because Peter Pan as a character is incredibly athletic and sporadic when it comes to his movements, therefore in preparation I had planned out actions that I was going to do throughout the scene- the only issue was remembering my placement and were all the draws and objects were for I had to imagine them when performing. Although I did put a lot of preparation and practise into my audition- I added a lot of elements therefore I had more to remember, and more to go wrong making me more apprehensive, because I really didn't want to mess up one of the movements or forget a section. Despite all this I still feel my audition went smoothly- I did make a few mistakes, but used my previously developed improvisation skill when working on our globe project to help me think fast and fill in the gaps.
characterisation
To really get into the character of Peter Pan I began by characterising his walk and daily facial expressions- by this I mean the way his face moves naturally without being prompted by emotion/the way it rests when not in conversation. I personally find these steps to be extremely important, because it lays down the base layer for the rest of your character, and without them I feel there are gaps within the way I perform the character. This is because your character will not always be talking and interacting with other characters- so your going to have to have to understand the way they will stand and think as a person on their own without being prompted. After I had done this I re read over peters main scenes to see the way he communicates with different characters and how that adds to his personality, for example when peter interacts with hook he is purposefully more childish- constantly trying to irritate hook, but when he interacts with Wendy he has a sense of disregard for her at the beginning, but when he figures out she could be his mother he shows a lot more interest in her. So just from reading the lines and character interactions I could figure out more about his morals and the things that will interest him throughout the scenes which helped me understand the character more.
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Tuesday 7th November 2023 Tuesday was the second day of auditions, but instead of going straight onto the singing- we went into some chemistry reads instead, just blocking out the first scene with Wendy and Peter and the later scene with peter and hook. I felt like this day really helped me visualize a sense of what the show could be like- relying on other actors notes and their performance to really bring the scene to life. I personally found it really beneficial and enjoyable to do some chemistry reads, because it gave me a good idea of how to plan out the more choreographed scene with other actors- never really getting to do shows in the past that required choreographed discussions, now giving me a better idea of how they work and what you want to get from them. I also feel like having to take in sections of the script really quickly was a good part of the chemistry reads, because it got me into that rhythm of just diving straight into a scene and not lingering around it, which is something I tend to do in apprehension, because I struggle to take in large amounts of information at once, so I found getting it up on its feet straight away to be highly useful to me.
Wednesday 8th November 2023 Wednesday was the third day of auditions, doing both the singing section and the physical movement/dance section of the process. I didn't really feel any apprehension for this day initially- feeling comfortable singing in front of people, and having confidence in my physical ability to keep up with high stamina movements which gave me a sense of calm going into the day. But the minute we started to delve into some choreography- having to take it in quickly whilst remembering past movements, I found it a lot more stressful than I was expecting to. I have never really had any dance experience when it comes to performing, apart from being expected to "free style dance" to the rhythm- but never anything that delved into choreography or beat counts, so going straight into that without preparation was something I found slightly difficult. Personally I felt the most difficult part was making sure you were doing the right steps at the right time, because even if you only made a slight mistake you would then fall behind with the music, meaning you would also be out of time with everyone else, which is really hard to cover up because it sticks out so easily when someone's out of time. So even though staying in time wasn't a problem- I would find myself being out of time purely just from making a slight mistake within the choreography. To combat this I asked what the beat count for a certain movement that ran into another of the movements was- just so I could see our dance instructor go over what movements were with what counts. This then meant I could say the counts out load and know exactly what number signified the transition into a new movement, which stopped me from freezing and getting as confused. I also learned that when make a mistake, don't try and carry on from were you last left of- instead listen to the music and jump straight back in with the move that matches were you are in the song, preventing mistakes from being as noticeable as they were before. Despite the initial anxiety, I really enjoyed the dance section of the audition finding it incredibly fun and rewarding when you executed it correctly.
Thursday 9th November 2023 By Thursday we had finished the official auditions, so instead this day was spent looking over some of the lost boys scenes/ensemble work, focusing in on our secondary characters (the ones we would want if we didn't get our first choice). For me this character was a lost boy, because they're characteristics are similar to that of Peter, so it would already be a character I could slip into without loads of preparation. The scene we did was the one were Tink tells the lost boys to kill the "Wendy bird"- which is actually just Wendy. For this scene I played the role of Nibs who unlike the other lost boys enters the scene a bit later due to the fact he has seen the "Wendy bird" in the forest, and runs in to tell them what he has just witnessed. I personally find the lost boys to be more childish, and "child like" than peter- even though he has strong immature qualities- because although he is also a kid, he is the leader and the one that has been there the longest, in a sense he's like their mentor, so I feel like the lost boys are toddlers compared to him. This is why I added a more eager and excitable voice to the character, giving them more of a child like sense whilst maintaining the acrobat like movements peter has. Overall I really enjoyed playing a lost boy and found them to have a sense of innocents that I enjoyed exploring.
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