Unit 8 - Little Women Audition! 25/04/23

Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself

Little Women Audition Process

I took my audition as Meg on the 25th April for our end of show 'Little Women'. I chose the character of Meg as I felt she is quite unseen. In the book and film, her voice isn't heard in key moments such as Beth’s passing, the father’s return and Aunt March’s many opinionated visits. However, in this script I’ve found that she has more lines that express her opinions and you can understand her character a lot more. For example, there is an entire scene all on Mr Brooke and Meg, which then results in her defending him towards Aunt March. It portrays her as a strong woman, who isn’t naive and let the social rules take control of her. Even though, she believes it's proper to find a nice man, start a family and look after everyone, it's obvious over time she has grown to understand the faults when it comes to setting your life's path to the ways of others. This is seen during her many interactions with Sallie Gardiner, who uses Meg's little knowledge of the rich and fashionable life to her advantage by abusing the trust Meg thought they shared. Upon hearing of Sallie's true intentions, Meg never looks back at the part of her life she now realises was her being blindsided by others and focuses on her family and the one man who has always admired and respected her: Mr Brooke. I went for the role of Meg because of the depth and development she goes on, she's the oldest sibling meaning she's the first to try new things and go through different experiences which allows her to be a role model for her sisters when it comes down to their time. She's not the same person when we reach the end from the beginning, and if I get to play her it allows me for the first time on a stage, play a character over the span of five years. This means there needs to be subtly but a range of emotions and reactions just like one does over time. With all of these opinions of Meg and how I would play her in my mind, I made sure in my audition to showcase this. 

My audition was split into two parts, firstly I would perform a scene, which in my case was a duologue where Kane read in as both Mr Brooke and Aunt March, and secondly perform a monologue I had wrote myself from Meg's point of view that would fit in the play at a chosen point. I wrote my monologue to be fitted in to follow the scene of Beth's passing, which would be read before the five year time gap, to show Meg's view of those years that have passed after Beth's death. Over the past few days upon finding out the requirements of the auditions, I had spent time at home and in college, finalizing and writing my monologue so that it reflected truthfully on what I would feel like in Meg's shoes. I did the same with the scene and looked in detail at the scene as I feel like it's Meg's defining moment as a character and a woman in that time, standing up for herself in front of a superior individual which was frowned upon. Once both of those had been completed and I was pleased with the effort I had put into them, I spent the days before the audition memorising and learning the scene and monologue. After learning them and being off script, I was then able to put Meg into the lines and deliver the lines with emotion and feeling. Throughout my monologue, there are constant ups and downs. For example, I talk about our family being poor which is spoken quite reflective yet understanding of it, and then my next line is spoken with a slight laugh as I speak of Amy's complaining. The next line that follows is how proud I am of her as a young woman, which again changes to being spoken with pride and happiness. I did this to showcase the journey Meg has went on during the gap, which hasn't been seen much in the script, to summarise how she has felt during it all. I left to go in the audition going over lines so that I knew the least of my worries would be forgetting lines deep in a scene, and went in focusing on characterization. 

My audition was around 12, which allowed me plenty of time to make sure I was happy with my practise performances before going into the dance studio and performing in front of Kelly and Kane. I was able to help others with their own lines, which I was glad I could help with as we are all in the same boat of just wanting to leave the audition knowing we had done all we could to the best of our abilities. Once it came to my audition, I was the first of the Meg's so that was very nerve-wracking straight away as it meant they had nothing to judge my performance on yet. However, I was confident with everything I had prepared and walked in to begin. The audition was probably the most relaxed audition I have ever done during my time at Stockton Riverside. I think, since I knew how prepared I was and during it Kelly and Kane were focused on the words I spoke and watched intently the way I acted, it prompted me to push my abilities even further. They didn't say much, which meant I wasn't distracted and my whole brain was focused on my intentions and what I wanted to highlight during the 10 minutes I had. Once I had finished the audition, they both went well done and I left to go get the following person. I was so happy with the way it went honestly, and knew the feeling I wanted to feel of doing my very best, I was finally feeling for myself. I had a small wobble during my monologue, where I fully blanked what my next sentence was. However, I managed to recuperate my thoughts and after a few seconds of silence I got back on track. I didn't make it obvious so they might not have noticed since my face still showed reflection and sadness as I was talking about my time with Beth.  Weirdly, the audition held no pressure to me since it was the last one of the year and due to me doing a few auditions already now, I was prepared and knew really what to expect. This also meant I knew what Kelly and Kane expected which was fully understanding of the character, which I only hoped I showed. If I was able to do it again, I would shorten my monologue since I do feel it was going on for a while, even though I feel that it touched on important moments I would just shorten longer sentences where possible. I would also speak out and use my voice more in the scene I did with Kane as Aunt March, as I felt a part of me was holding back on the volume aspect as I didn't think it was something Meg would use. But, I could have added a tone that highlighted the offense I took to her words yet at the same time, the strength I have in spite of her hurtful words. I believe that during some of those lines, Meg was still nervous even to the end of it, but looking back I believe she would have stood taller and been more braver in response to Aunt March.