Peter Pan Auditions Week

Over the week we had off I was learning Hook's monologue as the character I wanted to go for was him. During the week off, I kept going over Hook's song as it was easier for me to get the voice from it and when I felt comfortable that I had my interpretation of Hook, taking inspiration from Dustin Hoffman's Hook from the 1991 film "Hook", I then moved onto to tackle his monologue. First look at I was scared for myself, I was struggling to understand it as he goes Shakespearean so I started researching what some words or lines that he would say meant back then and what they would mean today so that I could be prepared and show that I know the character. I also struggled with his emotion with it being such a big chunky piece of text (since it was a monologue) and because he changes emotions threw out it a couple of times and you also need to remember on top of him being serious there's a bit of comedy involved in it as well. 
At first I was struggling for it to stick in my head as I find it harder to learn monologues as there are no queue lines and nobody to bounce off of. So I just needed to remember when the actions that Smee were doing that would cut in between the monologue. 
Our Auditions are split into multiple parts all with different times and days we had the acting auditions first on the 6th, the singing auditions were on the Tuesday 7th but they got switched to Wednesday 8th. So we did callbacks on Tuesday instead and then movement/dance and singing on the Wednesday. 

Monday 6th November

So, today was our first day back and the first day of auditions for what was going to be a busy week full of them. We had our acting auditions today so that meant it was just monologue for Hook. I had some time to learn it before it was me as I was in the afternoon so I took the chance to go over with someone so they could prompt me if needed. I also took this chance to polish up any final characteristics for my interpretation. I also felt comfortable with the monologue going into my audition.

Acting Audition

I went into the room with a smile on my face ready for what I was about to do as I felt like I was ready fro once. I was nervous at first but as soon as Kelly had asked me the question of "Why do I want this character?" I instantly lost most nerves and was confident in myself. 


The reason I had chosen Hook was I feel like it was a challenge due to it being a role I haven't really looked at before or sort of scene myself falling into. It was something that I was going to have to do a lot of research into and take inspiration from different actors who have portrayed the character. It's also a big jump from last year from Wizard of Oz as Hook is a more powerful character and over the top. So I had to really let loose for the role and just go all out for it. I researched into the monologue and researched into his movements which he moves sort of slyly and flows. But when it comes to fight scenes he is quick off the mark and very sneaky with how he will try and overcome in certain scenarios. It's also an added challenge due to the fact he sings and it isn't something I thought I would see myself on stage doing but I was excited for it as I finally felt confident to sing infront of people. His character is also very physical where as the Tinman was more stiff in movement. 

After I had told Kelly why I wanted to go for Hook she told me to take it away when I was ready. The first thing I grabbed was the chair and moved it closer to me so that I could use it in my scene. There also felt like a bit of added pressure on as well due to there being a student panel in the room with Kelly who would also be scoring down a audition. I started off fine and was fully in the moment using Kelly and the student panel as sort of pirates who were maybe listening to me so I just kept slightly glancing at them with a sly look. I added on little bits like chuckles or big changes in emotions to make it more comedic and to show I understood where Hook gets upset. He normally talks about himself in the 3rd person if there is a problem or if he is upset. I made sure to pronounce some words strong as well especially when he mentions "Peter Pan's" name to show how much he despises him and how much it boils his blood talking about him but also to show how hurt he is as well when talking mentioning about "the children" preferring Peter over Hook. The monologue starts off with it saying in brackets before he speaks `communing with his ego` so my initial thought is hes brandishing his ego and being big about himself because he loves himself and it being like there's a narrator inside his mind. Sort of describing his life like a book. I ended up messing part of the monologue but freezing in character so that I didn't lose the character but Kelly had to jump in and help me with it and afterwards it got to me a bit and I didn't feel like it went well, but some of the panel when finished said well done to me and that I did great. 

If I could do it again differently I would definitely move around more to show that hes thinking and maybe add a bit more to the comedic timings and lines as I felt like maybe I was a bit flat, I had the right emotion and idea just didn't feel like I executed it to the best of my ability. I also feel like I can come in the room more in character. I would also make sure that before going in that I'm not overthinking, as I felt like I was panicking and overthinking too much to the point that when actually doing the audition I froze and had to have Kelly jump in with my line. 

Tuesday 7th November

Instead of singing auditions today, we had callbacks where we were split into groups with at least 1 Peter, 1 Wendy and 1 Hook, sometimes 2 Hook's since alot of people are auditioning for Hook. In my group there was Taron as Peter, Sienna as Wendy and then it was me and Hannah as the Hook's. First Sienna and Taron wanted to run through the first scene with Peter and Wendy when he's trying to grab his shadow and is crying. We got told that the Hooks were to help direct their scene with anything that felt off so I gave Taron some pointers for Peter. I told him he could be more lively and move around alot more as he felt very stationary and stiff, I also told him he needs to be unique when he introduces himself and gave him a tip that maybe he could do the hands on his hip. I was helping him to crow as well which in the end he didn't do but I also helped him by telling him that he needed to fight with his shadow more to then make sense of why he gets annoyed and starts crying. For Sienna she was doing great, I just gave her tips on being more gentle and not to put her hand out first to shake his as she wouldn't hold her hand out for anyone first. I also told her to commit to like bending in for the kiss as it would look more real then slowly react to Peters reaction of it. 
I was struggling to find a part with Hook and Peter that I liked as most of the scenes where they interact I wasn't really feeling at first so it stressed me out. I took a breather and let Hannah run through her Hook so I could go over the lines and learn it to see if that would have a different effect. The part I chose to perform with Taron was when Hook and Peter are on the rocks near mermaid lake and they sing together but we turned the song into just talking as we didn't know the tune. We then made a mini fight scene where I utilised the his hook instead of a sword. We had to perform these in front of everyone. 
I asked around after my callbacks what people thought of my performance and what I could improve on. I got told that I play him more savagery and its a good interpretation of him. My physicality was also good along with the voice. I worked well with the little time I had and pushed past maybe not having the best chemistry with Taron but we made it work. What I could change is that I spoke a little fast and that's something other people picked up on as well but I felt like it wasn't as fast as I normally speak when it comes to auditions but I was nervous at first when up infront of everyone and having to go after performances that blew me away. 

Wednesday 8th November

Today we had movement/dance auditions and then singing auditions for the 2nd part of the lesson. We started off with warm-ups stretching so that we could be ready to dance. We got told to get into groups of 3 and to be into character during the whole dancing. I got into a group with Noah and Keiran which was good for all 3 of us since it was 2 Peters and 1 Hook. So it meant we could play off each other when it came to parts where we got told to add extra bits in.  At first I really struggled trying to get a hang of it but when we had 10 minutes to run though it in our 3 they taught me it quickly and I asked if Hook should be in the middle cause then I can react to what you guys do towards me. We ended up switching to Hook in the middle so that when it got to the lines like "fall in love" or "find a wife" each Peter would do that to me and I would react to how Hook would be towards them. Afterwards we had a mini little fight scene where they just run after they have punched me together when they high five and I swing my hook at them. Afterwards, we got put into groups of 3 in our trios and we would perform the dance in our characters and our added movements infront of Kelly and Abigail. After our group had been up a couple of people had said to us that they loved it and we did it really well. We did the dance to the lost boy song "were going home." 

For the singing audition it was the song "Rich Damp Cake" it was only up to the end of the first chorus part of the song. We also were having a Smee in the audition aswell meaning we had someone to sing to and react to at all times and it meant they could jump in with the lines that Smee says during the song to keep it flowing. We did voice warm-ups first then had the Peters do their auditions first. As the Peter's were doing their singing I was going over Hook's song in the black box room. When it was the Hook's turn I had Aiden as my Smee, so I was quite happy as I have good chemistry with Aiden. I made sure when singing I used the space to my advantage while moving around Smee in character and just being big in general as Hook is a big character. I had the beginning on time to the song which is the hardest part in  my opinion its what I struggled with the most. But then I was too into the song and ended up singing the first long "rich damp cake" before "richy damp cake" before the backing track had reached the part, but I stayed in character and acted like it was an intentional mess up on Hook's behalf. After I had finished and left the room Aiden grabbed my arm and said I did really well before leaving. 

Thursday 9th November

Today we got split into 3 ensemble parts, pirates, lost boys and brave girls. This was decided on what you had chosen to be for ensemble. I had chosen to be a pirate and so the first part we did was improvise a decision Kelly had made where the pirates interact with the audience before they go sit down and watch the show. We would do a sea shanty and come on singing and dancing live savage pirates, I had chosen to be the drunk pirate in the back always looking at the bottle while singing and drinking it. We then would all look at the audience and scream charge with our swords or bottles pointed at them then we would run at them.
The next pirate scene we did was when the pirates die to the hands of Peter when they have lost boys captured. Me and Delroy decided we would fill in for 2 lost boys, who would be tied up having to react to the pirates savagery towards us. It would start with Hook singing and then getting cut off by me and Delroy singing "Rule Britannia" before Hook screams at us threatening to make us walk the plank. We would then interact to each of the pirates deaths with joy because we know its Peter who is killing them. But then we would get grabbed by the pirates and would have to try and fight them off of us as they throw us in the room Peter is in, so we pretended to be scared when the pirates grabbed us as we knew they were taking us to safety and that was the end of the scene.