AFTT Audition Guide

You will be required to prepare two (2) monologues for your audition.  You may select the monologues from the AFTT monologues or they may be of your own choosing. One (1) of your monologues needs to be Shakespearean; the other one may be from any published play or film.  

Our best advice is BE PREPARED: read and re-read the play to know your character, the context of the piece, what your character wants and who they are talking to; know your lines; know what you mean and what you say.

Keep in mind that we want to see you at your best, so make choices that appeal to you and ones that you feel a connection with.  Your pieces should be no longer than two (2) minutes long.  

An acting school audition is different from an audition out in the industry. We are not looking for a particular “type” or fitting an actor to a particular role. We celebrate the individual. This is YOUR audition – so it is about YOU.

Broadly we look for three main qualities in our applicants:

1. INSTINCT – This relates to your interpretation of your monologue and your choices in performance. We want to see an actor who has made bold choices, who has given thought to the given circumstances of the story and is working as organically as they can, moment to moment in the audition.

2. TRAINABILITY – We want to make sure you are the right fit for our course, that you are ready for the training and that your talents and skills will grow as you progress through the course.

3. READINESS – This relates to your personal readiness for the course. AFTT’s acting course is highly rewarding but also can be very challenging. We want to make sure that you are personally prepared and have appropriate resources and support networks to help you navigate the demands of the course.

Every applicant is different. It is our intention to see the best we possibly can from you, so we may ask you to perform your monologues one after the other – or we may give you direction on one or all of your monologues –  or we may work with you on an acting exercise – or we might do a combination of all these. 

Whatever happens in the audition room, just remember that we are doing to it help you be your best.  We know that you will be nervous and we will take this into account but please be aware that if you have learned the lines well, the nerves will become performance energy and not paralyse you. 

In summary, here are some general hints to keep in mind:

• Be well-prepared (we cannot iterate this enough!) and allow sufficient lead time to prepare.  Two (2) weeks per monologue is a good guide.  We do not expect highly polished work and it can in fact work  against you if you are locked into one way of performing a piece so also be prepared to take direction and perform your piece in a variety of ways if directed.
• Know what each scene and speech is about and read the entire play from which it comes so that you are aware of the context of the piece
• If you are performing a monologue from film – DON’T replicate what you see in the film. A film monologue needs to be authentically YOURS not a copy of somebody else’s.
• Think about doing your preparation with another person as your scene partner or your audience 
• Basic furniture only will be available, but do not plan to use hand props or costumes
• Don’t use an accent other than your own unless it is absolutely essential to the piece and you are 100% comfortable with the accent
• When preparing, ask some vital questions of the piece including;
  • WHO is the character and what is their relationship to the person they are talking to?
  • What are they DOING to achieve this want?
  • What does the character WANT in the piece?
  • WHERE is the character in the piece (time and place)?
  • WHY is the character doing and saying what they are doing and saying?
• Make bold choices in your interpretation and in your performance.  Be BRAVE – TRUST your instincts - Be FEARLESS!
• Have FUN – we are here to support you

Arrive a little before your scheduled time. Come to the front desk and introduce yourself.

Then the Course Director and Student Admissions staff will bring you to the audition room and then the process begins!

• MONOLOGUE #1. You will perform your first monologue. It’s up to you which one you would like to start with, but we usually suggest doing the one that you are most nervous about! It feels good to get it out of the way.
• MONOLOGUE #2. You will then move on to your second monologue
• RE-WORK ONE OF YOUR MONOLOGUES. We will then work with you on one of your monologues. We might ask you to change something in the monologue, sometimes we will bring an actor into the room for you to work with, and sometimes we might get you to do an acting exercise. 
• WRITTEN TASK. This is a short written task. Don’t worry we don’t want an essay!
• INTERVIEW. We then have the interview where we find out more about YOU. Why you want to do it – what you want to get out of it – why acting is important to you.
• FINISH!

There are three possible outcomes from your audition:

• ACCEPTED: In this case you have successfully met all of the entry requirements and the Board of Studies has agreed to offer you a place in the course. 
• CALL – BACK: In this case, you have done some great work in your audition and we really want to see more of you! Sometimes we might ask you to prepare something specific for your call back, but this all depends case by case. 
• UNSUCCESSFUL: In this case you have not met the entry requirements for the course at this stage. You are always welcome and encouraged to re-audition for our next intake.

You will be notified of the outcome of your audition within 3 – 5 working days. This time is required to assess your application fully and for the necessary academic and administrative processes to be completed.

Selection of Applicants

Selection is based entirely on the audition results and offers will be made based on the applicant’s suitability for the course and AFTT’s training methods. Applicants who receive an offer will be notified by telephone and email or mail and will be given seven (7) days to make a decision to accept and pay a deposit.