Why Your Character Shouldn't Know What Happens Next
That sounds ridiculously obvious, yet it creates one of the easiest traps to fall into during an audition. Once you've rehearsed a scene repeatedly, you know that the...
Acting Advice
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Browse acting advice, audition tips, training articles, industry guidance, actor lifestyle stories and film reviews.
Why Playing the Emotion Can Make the Emotion Disappear
It's the sort of note that can send an actor straight towards the emotion. The next take gets quieter, the eyes become heavier, the pauses become longer and somewhere in...
Acting Advice
Why the Most Interesting Choice Is Sometimes Doing Nothing
There is a moment in some auditions when you can almost see the actor thinking, "I should probably do something here."
Acting Advice
The Tiny Physical Habit That Can Make a Character Feel Real
Sometimes an actor does something so small that you barely notice it, yet afterwards the character feels oddly complete.
Acting Advice
Why Trying to Look Confident Can Make an Audition Worse
There is a particular version of confidence that appears almost exclusively in auditions. The actor walks in with excellent posture, smiles brightly, speaks clearly,...
Acting Advice
The Line Before Your Line Is Often More Important Than Your Line
Actors spend a lot of time thinking about their lines. Where to pause, which word matters, whether a sentence should be funny, angry, vulnerable or casual. That's...
Acting Advice
Why Your Best Audition Choice Might Be the One You Nearly Threw Away
There is a peculiar moment during audition preparation when an actor has an instinct, immediately distrusts it and replaces it with something more sensible.
Acting Advice
The Audition Mistake That Happens Before You Say a Single Word
That sounds perfectly reasonable if the script says the character has just discovered a betrayal, lost their job or caught somebody lying. The problem is that the actor...
Acting Advice
Why Some Actors Get Better the Moment They Stop Trying to Look Like Actors
There is a peculiar thing that sometimes happens when somebody steps into an audition room: the person who was chatting naturally in the corridor disappears, and an...
Acting Advice
The Audition Skill Nobody Practises: Changing Your Performance Without Losing It
Imagine you've prepared an audition carefully. You know why your character says every line, you've found the emotional rhythm of the scene and your first read feels...
Acting Advice
The Audition Skill Nobody Practises: Changing Your Performance Without Losing It
Imagine you've prepared an audition carefully. You know why your character says every line, you've found the emotional rhythm of the scene and your first read feels...
Acting Advice
Why Casting Directors Sometimes Remember the Actor They Didn't Cast
Not getting a role can make an audition feel as though it vanished the moment you walked out of the room. Somebody else got the job, the production moved on and, from...
Acting Advice
The Audition You Thought You Blew Might Have Been Your Best One
There is a peculiar ritual actors perform after an audition. You leave the room, get halfway down the street and suddenly remember everything you did wrong. I rushed...
Acting Advice
The Actor Before You Looks Perfect for the Role — Ignore Them
Now you're conducting a detailed investigation into why this stranger is obviously going to get your job.
Audition Tips
"Do It Completely Differently" — What Does the Casting Director Want?
Being asked for a dramatically different take can feel as though your carefully prepared choices have just been removed.
Audition Tips
You Mess Up the First 10 Seconds of Your Audition — Now What?
The interesting part isn't whether you can create a completely flawless encounter.
Audition Tips
You Don't Look Like the Character — Should You Try to Change That?
Or perhaps you're auditioning for somebody glamorous and sophisticated while standing in your bedroom wearing the jumper you accidentally put through the wash at the...
Audition Tips
The Character Is Nothing Like You — Where Do You Even Start?
You once spent ten minutes wondering how to end a conversation with somebody at a bus stop.
Audition Tips
They Ask You to Improvise in the Audition — Don't Panic
You've even survived the part where everyone says hello and you briefly forget how normal human conversation works.
Audition Tips
Why Are There So Many People in My Audition?
And somebody at the far end of the table who hasn't looked up since you walked in.
Audition Tips
Your Audition Was Over in 3 Minutes — Is That a Bad Sign?
Now you're trying to interpret the speed of the audition as though somebody secretly handed you your result in code.
Audition Tips
Your Audition Reader Is Giving You Nothing — What Do You Do?
Now you're auditioning opposite a reader who appears to have all the emotional responsiveness of a parking meter.
Audition Tips
Your Audition Is Running an Hour Late — How Do You Stay Ready?
Actors occasionally face auditions that are running significantly behind schedule. Perhaps earlier sessions overran. A technical problem caused delays. The casting team...
Audition Tips
You Messed Up a Line in Your Audition — Keep Going or Stop?
You're listening. The scene feels natural. You're no longer thinking about the lines.
Audition Tips
The Casting Director's Note Makes No Sense — Now What?
You've spent three days preparing the scene on the basis that the character is furious and wants the other person to know it.
Audition Tips
"Let's Do It Again" — What Does That Actually Mean?
A second take isn't automatically a correction. Sometimes it's an opportunity to see more.
Audition Tips
You're 40 Minutes Early for Your Audition — What Now?
Being early sounds like the ideal problem to have. But those unexpected minutes can become surprisingly dangerous.
Audition Tips
They Changed the Script Just Before Your Audition
You know the lines. You've worked through the relationship. You've made choices you're happy with and finally reached that pleasant stage where you can stop thinking...
Audition Tips
You Recognise the Casting Director — Do You Say Something?
You walk into the audition room, look towards the table and immediately recognise someone.
Audition Tips
Your Audition Is Going Brilliantly — Don't Ruin It Now
You're listening rather than trying to remember what you rehearsed. The casting team seems engaged. A moment lands exactly as you'd hoped.
Audition Tips
Your Audition Reader Is Giving You Absolutely Nothing
They reacted to you. You reacted to them. The pauses felt natural and the emotional turns made sense.
Audition Tips
You've Prepared the Character Completely Wrong — Or Have You?
You know who this character is. You understand what they want. You've decided where the scene changes and how you're going to approach it.
Audition Tips
Your Mind Goes Completely Blank in an Audition — Now What?
You've rehearsed it repeatedly. You knew every line in the kitchen this morning. You knew them on the train. You knew them while waiting outside.
Audition Tips
They Stopped Your Audition Halfway Through — What Does That Mean?
You've found your rhythm. You're listening, responding, and you're just approaching the section you've been particularly looking forward to performing.
Audition Tips
The Casting Director Barely Looked Up — Now What?
No big welcome. No friendly chat. No reassuring smile. One person is looking at a laptop. Somebody else is writing something down. Another seems to be reading the next...
Audition Tips
The Actor Waiting Next to You Looks Perfect for the Role
They're roughly your age. They're dressed perfectly for the character. They have exactly the look you imagined when you read the breakdown. They seem relaxed,...
Audition Tips
They Asked You to Do It Again — That's Not Necessarily Bad News
Then someone behind the table says, "Great. Let's do it again, but this time..."
Audition Tips
The Audition Arrived Tonight — And It's Tomorrow
Then you open the attachment. There are several pages of dialogue, a character breakdown and instructions you somehow need to turn into a convincing performance before...
Audition Tips
You Walked Out Convinced You Blew It — But Did You?
The audition is over. You leave the room, walk down the corridor and, for perhaps thirty seconds, everything feels fine.
Audition Tips
The 10 Minutes Before an Audition: What Should You Actually Be Doing?
You're ten minutes away from your audition. Suddenly the lines you've known all week don't feel quite as secure. The actor opposite you seems impossibly relaxed. Someone...
Audition Tips
Play the Scene Like You've Got Somewhere Else to Be
Try performing a scene with one simple piece of information: you need to leave in two minutes. Don't play rushed. Don't keep checking an imaginary watch. Don't start...
Training
Do the Scene Without Trying to Be Good
Try giving yourself this instruction before your next rehearsal: this take is allowed to be terrible. Not secretly brilliant. Not casually brilliant. Actually terrible....
Training
What Does Your Character Want Right Now?
“What does my character want?” is one of those acting questions you've probably heard so often it can become almost meaningless. Love. Acceptance. Freedom. Justice. Fine...
Training
Give Yourself a Secret Nobody Else Knows
Here's an acting exercise that can make an ordinary scene suddenly feel as though something is happening underneath it. Give your character a secret. Don't add dialogue...
Training
Try Rehearsing the Scene Too Fast
Take a scene you've been carefully rehearsing and completely wreck the timing. Perform it far too fast. No meaningful pauses. No waiting around for emotions to arrive....
Training
What Happens Before the Scene Starts?
Your scene begins with the line, “What are you doing here?” But your character didn't suddenly materialise when the writer typed that sentence. They were somewhere...
Training
Try Playing the Opposite Emotion
The scene says your character is furious, so you play angry. They're frightened, so you play fear. They're heartbroken, so you play sadness. Perfectly logical — and...
Training
Stop Practising Your Mistakes
Rehearsal doesn't automatically make acting better. Sometimes it makes your bad habits incredibly reliable. Repeat a scene twenty times with the same forced pause, the...
Training
The Scene Changes When You Stop Looking at the Other Actor
Actors love eye contact. It feels connected, intense and dramatic — exactly the sort of thing acting is supposed to be. Unfortunately, real people spend a surprising...
Training
Why Real People Don't Wait for Their Turn to Speak
A lot of rehearsed dialogue has an invisible traffic-light system. Actor A speaks. Actor A finishes. Tiny pause. Actor B begins. Actor B finishes. Tiny pause. Actor A...
Training
