I said in my first blog that casting is an incredibly nerve-wracking process for directors and that it deserves a blog all of its own. Well, here it is!
So, you’ve got the rights for a play and you’ve got a theatre. By this time you should also have a budget in place and an idea of a timeline detailing when rehearsals should be (this normally happens as soon as you have the theatre). Now you just need one more thing before you can actually start working properly. A cast.
First comes the easy decisions – choose sections of script for audition material, how you wish your audition process to work and when you want auditions to be. These decisions vary company to company, for instance some companies may choose to have those auditioning bring their own pieces instead, but I find using text from the play far more helpful, both for me and those auditioning who perhaps don’t know the play. I also find that for my company, self-tapes for a first round followed by a recall workshop in person works best logistically – although as an actor, I far prefer both to be in person. Once you have made these decisions, it’s time to post casting calls wherever you can – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and (now) a website (https://www.everythingsrosieshows.com/casting).
Once you have posted your casting calls (and depending on how long your period between open auditions and recalls is, you may want to repost to social media once a week), you will start to get emails from people interested in auditioning and this is where the stress begins. Not only do you have the stress of replying to emails with sides which feels like a full-time job on its own (at its peak, I had fifteen people applying to ‘Kindertransport’ per day), but you can also see how many people are auditioning for each part. You wouldn’t necessarily think this is concerning until you start properly keeping track and see that some parts have over forty people auditioning for them, while others are still in single digits. So you keep resharing, this time stating at the top that you are particularly interested in seeing people for X character(s), but while this may add one or two new people to the undersubscribed parts, mostly you still get more of the same parts coming back to haunt you. This will give you sleepless nights. Oh, and then there’s the chase up emails where you will inevitably get confused and email a person who has already sent you their video, giving them a mini heart attack (sorry again Connor).
Soon, the auditions themselves will start rolling in. When you audition for things, people always say ‘the panel are on your side, they want you to do well’ but I had never fully appreciated this until I was on the other side of the table. Every new email I got with a video attachment I would find myself praying to whatever might be listening ‘please be good please be good please be good’. And most of them were…most of them. That’s not to say that the ones that weren’t good were all bad, most of them were just not really suited for the part, which unleashes another set of worries. What if the decision is hard because I only have these performers to choose from? Thankfully, soon some performers who have really taken the time over their auditions come rolling in and you heave a great sigh of relief. These were people who had learnt the lines, had a good connection with their reader (seriously, always have a reader even if it’s just a recording of yourself) and followed any instructions/information I had given and on top of that were detailed and just brought something interesting to their performance. This is going to be difficult but in the fun way. For ‘Kindertransport’, I watched sixty-four self-tape auditions, plus some do-overs but it honestly felt like hundreds. I do have to say though, I remember at least one thing from every audition even if I haven’t necessarily remembered the person’s name. I remember the Eva auditionee who reminded me of a child I used to teach, I remember the person who had beautiful access to their emotion, I remember the person who’s train guard was cheeky and made me laugh. All these people were brilliant in their own ways, just sadly not right for this project (although there are a few tapes I still have for future reference, with the auditionee’s permission of course).
Then come decisions on who to invite to a recall which I use the ‘king of the hill’ method (although I can assure you that everyone is on even footing when they come into the room). Perhaps with more experience, I will find a method that works better, but for now this is how I choose (please comment any suggestions below). The night before the recall is hard. You’re awake most of the night, tossing and turning, hoping that you’ve made the right decisions about who you’re bringing back and whether what you’ve planned will show you everything you need from everyone. Oh, and hoping that the people in the room will like you and still want to work with you after the audition. This may get easier when I have more experience, but I suspect not. After the initial awkwardness of getting started and introducing yourself, you do lose yourself a bit in the process and it’s really fun (still really nerve wracking, but fun). And then it’s the final choice. I don’t know how other directors do this, but for me I walk in a circle around the room, going through notes, watching back clips from the audition and removing chairs (some of which then get brought back when considering someone else), but a considerable number of hours later you have your cast! Or most of them. Some decisions you have to sleep on before you can send out emails.
Well, there you have it, what casting is like for me as a director. I hope you found this interesting and for any actors reading this, remember – we are far more afraid of you than you are of us!
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