A&J Managment Audition

[Viks2030]

Please can anyone advise on what to prepare for an audition .
DD has one next week and we have been asked to prepare a "peice"
How long should it be. Should it be from a book ? play ? film?
Or an actual script.?
Any info would be greatly recieved .
Thanks .

[Jellybabies]

when did you apply?:)

[titania]

Hi Viks how old is your child as that makes a difference?

[Viks2030]

she is 8 on Saturday.
We applied by post last week.
Any info would be great.We really aren't too sure what to prepare

[pg]

It is tricky to find suitable audition pieces whatever age you are, but I think it's particularly hard for children as there are fewer plays etc to choose from. It might be worth looking for plays written specifically for school children (though in my experience, they tend not to be about "real life" until you get to secondary school age).

The important thing is for it to be appropriate for her age and written in the sort of language that enables her to make it sound as though they are her own words. Try to stick with something modern if you can.

If you think about it from the agent's point of view it may help. They will take her on if they think she will get work, so think about the sort of role she might be suitable for in a children's drama for example. They want to assess whether your dd would be capable of realistically portraying the sort of role she is likely to be cast in. It makes sense to give them as much of flavour of her in the piece as you can: they don't want to know that she is a good enough little actress to be able act being an old woman or that she can be a convincing talking elephant!

There are various books of monologues available on Amazon which are aimed at particular age groups, though I haven't read any of them.

In terms of length: anything between one and three minutes would be fine. Make sure you time it in "performance" mode (out loud, to an audience -even if that's just you). Most drama school auditions ask for something around 2 minutes. Don't make it more than three minutes and err on the side of brevity - they can always ask to hear it again if they want to.

[Viks2030]

Wow PG
thanks so much for all that brilliant advice.
We will be sure to be prepared if nothing else comes of it.
Many thanks indeed .
Will let you know how it goes and a big thank you

[wissymo]

maybe she could make something up herself to suit her personality...that is what my ds did! he went for a little comedy sketch!
also i would keep it short enough so she can remember it easily and that will help her to feel more confident!
good luck xx

[Tashy Bear]

I think A&J tend to like "natural" pieces, whether it be poem, short story or monolgue x

[Viks2030]

thanks to all of you for your advice.
We will try to do all thats mentioned x

[Dell71]

My DD was almost 7 when attending her agency audition (not at A&J) and they asked for a 1 minute simple poem (she did one that shows some expression) and a song. The older they get though they require a age appropriate monologue and song.