The Globe Immersive Audition + Preparation

Audition

For The Globe experience this year I wanted to push myself and go for a more involved speaking role. My first role idea was to go for the one of the tour guides, as it would have been a very big stretch from what I did previously which was a short comedy piece that I performed with Will in the style of Charlie Chaplin. The tour guides run the tour and take the audience around The Globe answering questions if asked any and always having really good knowledge depending on what is about to happen. At first I was working with Elliott, for the tour guides we had been tasked to go and create a duologue showing that we understand the characters we are going for. My only main problem is that I didn't feel comfortable with answering questions because I wouldn't feel like I would know all the research when i'm supposed to or I would buckle under the pressure incase I accidentally get something wrong. 

So my next choice was the Insurance Broker for Mary Ann Cotton. For the audition for this role I was tasked with going away and preparing a monologue to show that I understand the story of Mary Ann Cotton as the idea was to play the Insurance Broker as a Narrator for Mary. For the beginning of my monologue I thought it would be creepy and a little bit eerie if I started it off with the nursery rhyme the children used to sing about her. For my own sort of spin I didn't want to sing it I wanted to talk it with a sort of rhyme to give it more of that creepy feeling. I also linked back to the rhyme at the end of the monologue even calling her a monster cause I know what she is like. The monologue that I had written was an introduction to her with the Nursery Rhyme then mentioning that she had killed members of her family with poison, but didn't go into great detail about it as it what was just the introduction to her. I made the decision to treat the audience as sort of people who were getting involved and wanted to learn the story of Mary Ann Cotton so I added a rhetorical question in it and mentioned how they may have heard the name beforehand. 

When I went into the room I had my monologue prepared and I had managed to learn it all off by heart. My only problem was it was the first audition I had done in a while so at first I was scared I would mess up or I hadn't really gotten the feeling of the character correctly and that it would show. I managed to not stumble over my words and added an accent to it whilst also speaking as clear as possible, I did take a few glances at my monologue as I wanted to get it perfect. My feedback at the end was that the accent I have the character they loved. Also, I was also told I had went down the right path with how I had written my monologue. The main thing i needed to improve on was my projection because i fell into the trope of going quiet when being eerie. 

Wednesday 11th October

Today we got our roles for the Globe and were asked to go have a look at the script that had been put in teams so that we could then go away and learn our lines. I got the role of the insurance broker / narrator for Mary Ann Cotton. Some of my monologue that I made already for the role was still put into the monologue but alot had been changed and added to so that it would make it more factual which works for the role as well since it is sort of a narrator role. I went and worked with Sophia to go learn it together whilst the rest of the Mary Ann Cottons were trying to figure out dates that could work for them all. After I had done a bit of going over the Mary Ann Cotton part I then joined the others and helped give them ideas on the Radium girls they had to come up with as well. Here is my monologue I have to learn ready for the performance. 

Monday 16th October

We started off the lesson with warm ups, moving as a group and if we someone was too fast or too slow we would retry. It took us a couple of goes to stand up and walk as a group and then turn it into a run and stop then sit back down as a group. We had to have no one take charge as it wouldn't work we just had to feel the room then go with the flow as a group. This linked into what we did next which was the execution scene right at the end of the tour. We start with a group of us who aren't the tour guides, the people getting executed or the evil queen. We stood looking at the stage in sort of a group bunched together to make it give it off as the execution platform would be busy. We start off by screaming and shouting and adding in our own chants like 'kill them' or 'take their heads'. We then have the tour guides who come from behind us and after they say a certain word we all turn on them and stare at the audience as they walk through the middle of us. When they end up situated in front of us we then feel the room and all move as one slowly towards the audience taking two steps. The courtier then comes out and says why were all here to which we start cheering again and then they introduce the Queen so we all stop and bow for her. Then we just need to work on keeping up the feeling of it us being at an execution when the executions are happening cause we all end up going quiet at parts where we shouldn't go quiet. 

Towards the end of the execution we get attacked by Guy Fawkes gang, and then have to act like were in a panic since they have surrounded us but then John Walker comes in and shouts us all to stop so we all freeze and just only move our eyes as the audience leave the room. Then thats the end of the tour.

Tuesday 17th October

We started off by going straight back from the start of the execution and just working on the parts where we end up going silent when we shouldn't. We showed Morgan it today, since he worked on writing the execution scene and added in little bits where when the Jack the ripper's are on the execution platform all the victims push through the audience and watch to see who gets executed. When Mary Ann Cotton is getting executed we have some of her children and husbands stand forward as well as I to watch her get executed then we just slowly clap and push back through the audience to join the rest. 

Wednesday 18th October

We did a full run through in the theatre for the night show with Burke and Hare played by Will and Keiran. We had to sit and watch and wait for our parts, so before I ended up going up I sat and watched with my monologue in front of me so that I could see how much I had learnt, when it was time for the Mary Ann Cotton group I did it with Gracie this time, I only ended up taking my script with me incase I messed up a line and needed to get back on track. I only used my script for the last part of my monologue as I had already learnt most of it. I then ended up asking Kelly some questions about what I think I should do after I have ended my monologue and we agreed on me going to the bar afterwards and maybe going back to writing my documents. 

Thursday 19th October

Today we did a run through of the primary school script in the dance studio, it was the same as Wednesday where we had to sit and wait for our moment. This time I was working with Millie T. Since Millie is the Mary Ann Cotton for the primary school script. Before we went straight into performing it we decided to use the piano as sort of the bar that we would have in the globe and we had Zia sat on the end since he is one of the Jack the Ripper suspects and frequents the bar alot. We had Keiran sat on the right of me since he is Mary Ann's husband that she ends up poisoning. Then I'm sat in the middle with documents filling them out waiting for them to enter the room. Once they do a couple of the people playing the Victorian children start singing the nursery rhyme associated with Mary. Then I stand up from my seat and start saying my monologue. Millie spoke to me about how we should react with one another since I know her secrets and I know that she killed her husbands and children I always know she's there but she notices me, even if im infront of her. So it's sort of like im messing with her then I notice the audience and start making my way to them. After I finish I move back to the bar (or piano we had at the time) then sit down and go back to writing up my insurance policy documents. Whilst, Mary comes and poisons her husband next to me I pay attention to it but not alot as im terrified I might end up being next so I just avert my eyes and continue with what I was doing. 

We also had a look at costumes today and this is what I will be wearing for the show.