Mastering the Shakespeare Audition

Donna Soto-Morettini has served as Director of Drama for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Head of Acting and Dance for Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and Head of Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She has worked extensively in television and is currently a casting director for ITV’s The Voice. Donna’s book Mastering the Audition: How to Perform Under Pressure is also published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

Acknowledgements
Preface

Introduction: Turning the whole process on its head
— A different way of working

PHASE ONE ACQUIRING THE TOOLS
— Adding vocal colour
— What’s the point of mastering meter?
— Finding the bare bones of a speech
— Imagining action

PHASE TWO CHOOSING AND PREPARING A MONOLOGUE
— Choosing the best monologue
— Read through the whole process first
— Get to know the context of the monologue
— Analyzing structure
— Analyzing rhythm
— Finding language patterns
— How to draw a monologue
— Create the imagined world of the speech

PHASE THREE REHEARSING AND PERFORMING THE MONOLOGUE
— Last work on the meter
— Last work on vocal colour
— Putting text and action together
— Refining the action
— Find the pleasure

PHASE FOUR I’M NOT IN A HURRY – DEEPENING YOUR PRACTICE
— Laban efforts for voice
— Unusual syntax
— Using verbs to analyze structure
— Some final questions

Appendix
Resources