Audition for Antigone

Audition preparation

Before my audition, I prepared a short extract from the play 'Medea' to perform. In my research of Medea, the ancient Greek tragedy is based on the former princess of the kingdom of Colchis and wife of Jason, 'Medea'. Her position is threatened as her husband deserts her for a Greek princess of Corinth. She proceeds to take vengeance by killing Jason's wife along with her own 2 children. She killed her own children not because she did not love them, but she felt it was the best way to hurt her betrayer.

The extract was of the nurse in Medea. The nurse is a servant to her and her children, and as an outside commentator on the events of the story she expresses her concern for the safety of the children and the others who have done wrong by Medea, foreshadowing further happenings. Though her loyalty lies with her, she cannot help but see the doom that lies ahead. I chose this extract of Medea because I felt it was a challenge to my normal type of roles. This character shows powerful emotion and a different type of role I normally play. This will give me a chance to improve my different expressions in different characters. When practising my lines, I highlighted key sentences/words that i could change the tone/emphasis/speed on in order to reflect the distress and fear this character feels, as she voices her worries of Medea's plans.

I find it easiest to practice my lines by simply reading through it over and over again. Once I've memorised the words, I then apply the context into the monologue to give it it's meaning and help me to adjust my body language and speech.

In addition, I investigated the Greek play that I would be playing a role in, 'Antigone'. (click here)

Audition evaluation

After my audition I felt quite disappointed with my performance as I stumbled a lot on my lines on lot the pace etc. of my speech. I think I could have revised my lines more in advance to the audition, as I was still struggling the remember the lines. i also think it is partly the type of play. I'm not that familiar with performing Shakespearean/Greek etc. plays and have always found them more difficult to analyse. This is due to the difference in the style of language as these plays were written way before our time.

In the interview section I explained how I was interested in possibly playing 'Ismene', the sister of Antigone who although agrees with her sibling's anger and frustration that one of their brothers' bodies ordered by King Creon was to be left without a burial, and that anyone who went against this would be punished. However she fears the worst for her sister's plans of actions (going forth with burying Polyneices) and how her rebellion may have serious consequences. She is caught between wanting to stand by Antigone, and obeying the powerful orders of Creon to avoid penalization.

What I've learned from this audition experience is that I need to spend more time fully understanding my monologue longer in advance, as this I feel lets me down the most.