The Great Acting Blog: “The Audition Lowdown”

The Great Acting Blog: “The Audition Lowdown”

Check out a clip from the film, above.

For those unfamiliar with the film, The Audition is about an actor, Tony Wallis, who is being seen for a part in a play. He breaks the ice with his interviewer then starts to speak the lines of the play, and it’s here that Tony’s problems start. Each time he speaks the first line, the director interjects to explain that Tony is not saying the line correctly, before repeating back to Tony how he wants it said. The trouble is, Tony can discern no difference between the way he is saying it and the director’s way, but instead of speaking up, he pretends that he can discern a difference, in order to please the director. I described the film (charmingly I thought) as a “tragedy of manners”, because it is essentially a tragedy in the sense that Tony brings about his own downfall through his own choices*, and of manners because on the surface the two characters, bound by the professional behaviour of their trade, appear to be trying to give eachother what they want (it is more normal for the objectives of the protagonists to butt against eachother). The script is very slight and gentle – had I sent it out into the commercial world, it would probably would have been fed into the sausage grinding machine – and therefore I knew the visual aesthetics needed to be pared down, minimal, in order for the tension of the scene to manifest itself. Co-incidentally (or perhaps not), this is just the kind of cinema I love, and so the film is made up of static, frontal shots, and I tried to find a simple formalism for each. Similarly, the script itself is formalized, with a great deal of repetition, but it’s also disciplined and precise, the dialogue appears to be naturalistic at first glance, but each line becomes almost like a mantra as the scene unfolds. I love this deliberateness in conjunction with the minimalism,  the film becomes simultaneously flat and theatrical as a result. And with the sound, I had wanted this hissing background noise which I think gives it that quality of someone-just-turned-on-the-camera-by-mistake.

And so to the acting. I have self-directed myself many times, and do so even when working with a director – I believe it’s crucial for all actors to develop this ability to look objectively at their work, in the same way a painter or a carpenter may look at theirs, and make adjustments accordingly.** The Audition is a fiddly, technical script for an actor, largely because the action alters almost line by line, and you have to be alive in the scene all the time, you have to listen and pay attention to your scene partner, you cannot just turn up with your mapped out characterization, kick back and knock the lines out. No sir. Well yes, you could do that but then you’d generalise the scene, and as I said above, there would consequently be nothing on the screen to look at, the nuances upon which the scene depend, will have been rubbed out – then you haven’t got a film. So, what you need to do is stick to very disciplined lines of actions, and focus completely on doing the action throughout the scene. Whilst doing that of course, you’re focussed on what your scene partner is doing, because what he is doing will determine what you will do next (note – this may not be in line with your careful planning – deal with it, that’s the whole point), everything you do is in response to what your scene partner is doing, and in service to your action. What your performance effectively becomes, is a moment-to-moment improvisation (within the strictures of the text – when there is one), continually working out the best way to accomplish your action within the reality of the scene (ie – as it actually unfolds in performance, not as you rehearsed it). You obviously need to be switched on in order to do this, it’s challenging and scary, but it means that your acting will be full, you’ll express yourself with all your body and personality, every gesture, every inflection, will be true, provocative and various.

I would like to explore further the notion of people within a professional context, I.e.- scenes like The Audition, where the character may be feeling all kinds of emotions under the surface, but is bound by  professionalism to maintain self-control, and continue to go through the motions of a business meeting, even when the character clearly isn’t getting what he wants. I think this situation creates a very interesting tension, an ambivalence is brought forth, and watching someone wrestle to keep his professional dignity in place is interesting, it also helps to create that “theatrical flatness” (or, “flat theatricality”) I was talking about. Similarly, in terms of the visual aesthetic, I would like to develop further the notion of deliberateness with simplicity, within a naturalistic setting. Next month, I hope to do another script of mine, Phone Box Gun, which is a short film noir, so perhaps I will be able to employ these ideas there.

* all the way through the film Tony thinks he is doing the right things in order to get what he wants, but he is finally frustrated from accomplishing his goal by these self same actions.

** On the subject of actor’s self-direction, it’s worth reminding ourselves that Sir John Gielgud directed a production of King Lear, with himself in the title role, when he was aged just 25.