Auditions for 'A Christmas Carol'

It was audition ( A trial performance, as by an actor, dancer, or musician, to demonstrate suitability or skill) day today, where everyone was told to select a few characters that they might like to play and to practise reading their lines at home. I prepared myself for the audition by selecting 5 characters and reading their lines 10 times each. However, this did not prevent me from stumbling over my words, so it is ideal that I should read each line a greater number of times in the future.

The first character I auditioned for was Belle, who is the ex-girlfriend of Scrooge. Although I rehearsed the lines many times and my original approach to the character was much gentler, this was not what happened at the audition. The character was some what more aggressive than I had planned. I read it with too much tension and too fast and I kept my eyes glued to the script. It would have been very inapproprate to adopt 'the tonic state' (A state is which, there is steady, rigid muscle contractions with no relaxation and an incredible amount of tension. Which is suitable, for aggressive, evil characters) for this character, as she is meant to be sweet and kind.  I should have rehearsed this character even more, as I found it difficult to read the lines correctly, while ocassionally taking my eyes of the script to ineract with the other actor. Also, I should have had better control over my facial expressions, to clarify the way in which the lines were meant to be interpreted. Non verbal communication is important when acting. If verbal communication (communicating by use of words- spoken or written) and non-verbal communication (communication, without use of words e.g. facial expressions, body language,gestures, posture, eye contact), people are more likely to look at the non-verbal aspect of communication (*ICS AQA Psychology book)

Later, I was asked to read Mrs Crachit's lines, who is the wife of Bob Crachit. I decided to give this character a cockney accent ( an accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class). I read her lines about 20 more times as I waited to be called, which allowed me to read, without constantly looking at the script (the written text of a play, film, or broadcast) more easily, but my eyes still remained on the page most of the time. Also I thought that I read my lines in quite a monotonous way (read in adull, tedious, and repetitious fashion; lacking in variety and interest) and so thought that the character needed more energy.

From these auditions I have learnt that I need to be more consistent with the way I read from scripts. I need to make sure I keep a balance between having too much energy and very little. I need to really sharpen up on sight reading, which I could do by practising at home.