Guildhall Final Recall Audition (May 20 & 21, 2014)

Thankfully, I had arrived in England a few days earlier, so I had (mostly) gotten over my jet lag by the time Tuesday rolled around, the first day of my final recall audition. I had scoped out the area the day before so getting there at 9:30 a.m. on the day was easy and not too stressful (although it did mean taking the tube during rush hour, which is always a bit of a nightmare).

The auditions were taking place in Guildhall's new building, which is GORGEOUS and huge, if a bit streamlined and clinical. Luckily, there were loads of current students around whose only job was to make sure you knew where you were going, so I was never worried for a moment that I was in the wrong place or that I was going to get lost. We got a little information packet when we checked in, including our schedule for the next two days. The whole process was very well organized and easy to navigate. I think I was in the group with the best schedule, as we started off the first day with the movement session and then the three monologue panels. The second day was only a half day, with a voice session and then a brief interview (which was purely for clerical reasons -- checking the information you'd filled out on your application and taking your picture). It's structured so that you get a lot of time to really show what you are capable of to many members of staff, which is really satisfying, but of course there is a LOT of down time. I read an entire book (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks -- check it out, it's just as amazing as everyone says it is).

The movement/improvisation session lasted two hours. This was the portion of which I was the most scared, mostly because the term "movement/improvisation" is very broad, and can cover all manner of embarrassing things. If you remember, that was the session at my ACT final callback that I felt the worst about, and that really put you on the spot. However, this was nothing like that. It was an incredibly relaxed, collaborative session. You were never singled out in a scary way, and you were never put on the spot. It was just two hours of lovely stretching and group movement, like "be a bubble!" For most of it, I even forgot that we were being watched and assessed. After, we went in one by one and did a monologue of our choice. I did mine twice, the second time getting some side coaching.

After lunch, we went into the monologue panels individually -- three total, each with two members of staff. I was feeling very warmed up after the movement session, which was lovely. My first panel was with Christian Burgess and an ex-Guildhall student, who is well known in the London theatre world. I have to say, I felt wonderful about how this panel went. I did two of my monologues and was given ample amount of time to work with them. For my contemporary piece, Christian Burgess directed me to do it in a completely opposite way as it is originally written -- lovingly and flirtatious rather than angry and sad. He even joined me in the scene and improvised some lines throughout. They really challenged me, in a good way, and also gave me lots of time and attention. There was a brief interview after, but it felt like a very natural conversation about me and my craft, rather than rigid question answer question answer. This is going to sound tremendously self-aggrandizing, but I left that panel thinking, "I got into Guildhall."

The next two panels didn't go as well, although they weren't bad either. I did my Shakespeare piece for Patsy Rodenburg (although not the piece I had been doing, as she seemed disinterested in seeing Imogen. So I pulled out my old faithful Lady Percy, which I've been doing for years and know frontwards and backwards). She gave me a redirection, and I did it again, after which she said, "That was better" and that was all. The final panel was with Wyn Jones and Martin Connor. They had me work on my third piece which I hadn't done yet today, and to be honest, I love this piece and I've put a lot of work into it, but it's a bit hit or miss -- sometimes I feel like I really nail it, and sometimes I feel like I'm overacting. They worked with me on it for a bit, and then that was that.

It's hard to say, really. I've been in plenty of audition rooms where I thought I probably got it, but then I realized that the auditioner was just especially effusive or complimentary, and just made everyone feel like they got it (something I hate). But I have to say, even though the second two panels were less amazing, I still left that first day feeling very confident and proud of myself.

The second day was actually pretty low key. The voice session was just a quick vocal warm up, followed by individually going in and doing some sight reading, singing your song and then talking with the voice teacher briefly about your history (any previous vocal or reading problems, etc.). It was a little strange, as they kept insisting that this session had no impact at all on whether you got into the school, but they did take notes the whole time. And also...why would you bother having the session if it didn't matter? Then, we just had the quick clerical interview (mine was literally ten minutes at most). I was all done by about 1:30 p.m., although unfortunately we couldn't leave until they had decided if they needed to see anyone again, so we all ended up hanging around until about 4 p.m. (once again, bring a book).

I returned to the school two days later for the final results. I did not relish the idea of having to wait around and find out if I did or didn't get into Guildhall surrounded by a bunch of nervous strangers, but otherwise I would have had to wait until Tuesday and called the school. We were instructed to come to the school at 7 p.m. to wait around while they deliberated. Most everyone got into little groups and chatted the whole time, but I opted to sit alone with my headphones on and read. We waited around until about 10 p.m. when someone came out with a handwritten list of names on a piece of paper. They were read out one by one, and those people left the gym. After all the names were read, we were told that the rest of us hadn't been accepted. And that was that.

My updated stats:

Bristol Old Vic: accepted!
RCS: accepted!
LAMDA: shortlisted, will hear final decision in June.
ACT: final callback weekend, chosen as an alternate.
Guildhall: final recall but ultimately rejected.
ACA: end of the day callback but ultimately rejected.
Juilliard: rejected.
Yale: rejected.
TISCH: rejected.
Old Globe: rejected.

Stats

On February 26th, I heard back from George Washington University via email in regards to my application for their classical acting program -- I didn't get in. I was a little bummed, mostly because I knew that I could have done better at my initial callback, but I also knew that I hadn't done well and therefore my hopes were not that high. But, a rejection is a rejection, and it always hurts a bit.

So, going into my callback weekend for ACT, these were my stats so far:

Guildhall: final recall audition, two days between May 18th - 23rd.
Bristol Old Vic: shortlisted, will hear final decision in early May.
RCS: accepted!
LAMDA: no response yet.
Juilliard: no end of the day callback, rejected.
Yale: no end of the day callback, rejected.
TISCH: no end of the day callback, rejected.
ACA: end of the day callback but ultimately rejected.
ACT: final callback weekend, March 1st - 3rd. 
Old Globe: no response yet.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama Audition (January 20, 2014)

Now that it has been just long enough for me to have utterly forgotten the details of my audition, and now that the results will absolutely skew my perception of how the audition went, I have decided to begin chronicling my audition experience. While this is partly for my own piece of mind, I am also writing this because I was and am so appreciative of people who write down even little snippets of their auditioning experience, so maybe this will provide some comfort to someone else.

My first audition was for Guildhall, on January 20th in New York City. Luckily, I had a friend who lived only ten minutes away from the audition, so I was able to stay with him and scope out the location ahead of time (something I very highly recommend if at all possible). The group warm-up began at 9:30 a.m., so I set my alarm for 7:00 a.m. (snoozed until 7:30, of course) before getting up, having a light breakfast and some tea, doing my sun salutations and reading through the scenes that my monologues were from as a refresher. I left at 8:45 a.m., so that I would get there by 9:00 a.m. (early, but not too early) and bopped along the NYC streets listening to Macklemore (which would become my go-to pump up audition music, partly because Macklemore is wonderful and partly because grad school auditioning has turned me into a superstitious freak).

There were about ten (?) of us in total, and after writing down a list of our three pieces and song, we were led into the main audition room by two former Guildhall students who were running the audition. We met Christian Burgess (the Director of Drama) and Martin Connor (the Head of Acting Studies). They were very friendly and warm, and reassured us as well as they could. We began the warm up portion, which was for our benefit not for theirs, which involved moving around the space, some hug tag and creating some shapes in groups. We mimed carrying, and spilling, a cup of tea and then ended the warm up by going up one at a time and completing the phrases, "My name is..." "I was born in..." "When I turned five years old I..." "I wish that..." "I want to go to Guildhall because..."

My name is Claire.
I was born in Marshalltown, Iowa.
When I turned five years old, I wanted to be four, so I celebrated my fourth birthday twice.
I wish that I wasn't so nervous and sweaty.
I want to go to Guildhall because for the past year, I feel like I've been narrowing and narrowing, and what I want to be doing is expanding.

It really did feel that the warm up was just to relax us, to get us comfortable in the space, to wake us up, to ignite our imagination. I thought it was extremely helpful. Nothing was rushed, either, which is a rare feeling to have when one is auditioning for grad schools. We returned the hallway and were called in one by one. I was third, which was perfect. One of the major differences in the Guildhall audition was that they really encourage you to connect with the panel, to give your speeches to them. One of their ex-students is in the room, and they also encourage you to use them. I did my Shakespeare, and then moved onto my contemporary piece. After, they had me work on the speech, to make it more grounded and more natural. They had the ex-student stand up and actually work with me, which was incredibly helpful. He was very giving as a scene partner. They asked me a few questions about the piece, about the scene and the motivation behind the character. Then, they asked for a third piece, which we then worked very similarly although for a shorter period of time (I don't think I ever got through the whole thing). Then, they asked me to sing (oh horror) and about fifteen seconds in he stopped me and said, "Don't act it, just do it as if you're talking to your friend at a cafe about this boy that you met." I sang through the song, and then I was interviewed (the basics -- why do you want to go to school, how are you going to afford this, and general chit chat).

I left the room feeling very positive. I thought they had really given me the time and attention to give my best work, and I absolutely love being directed and also having someone else to play off of. Although, of course, being third meant that there was a bit of a wait ahead of me, and during the wait I managed to completely deflate my sense of pride, going over and over everything I could have done better or differently. Around noon, everyone had been seen and we were all called back into the room for the results. I ended up being the only person recalled, which was lovely, if a bit awkward.

So, with just me, Christian Burgess, Martin Connor and two ex-Guildhall students in the room, I had the recall audition. Christian Burgess told me that he just wanted me to have a conversation as myself about what it was like when I was fifteen years old with one of the students (not the one I had worked with before, but the other one). The catch? I had to subtly insert bits of lines from my three monologues while talking. I didn't even have time to freak out, as we just jumped right in! It was slightly strange, I will admit, as I felt like I was being judged on my conversational abilities. And, while it was slightly awkward, I just forgot that people were watching and had a real conversation, trying to be as present as possible rather than outside my head self-judging. Our conversation ranged from the mundane -- what are your hobbies? -- to the intimate -- losing one's virginity, deep family secrets, etc. I only slipped in around three very small lines, so when they finally cut us off, I thought that I had probably failed completely. We discussed which lines we had slipped in, and laughed a bit about what had been discussed, and then Christian Burgess looked at me and said, "Well, we would like to invite you to come to London in May for the final recall audition." I managed to keep my cool, only somewhat maniacally repeating, "Thank you, thank you thanks thank you!" We chit chatted a bit, I thanked them and the students for being so incredibly helpful, and left the room.