Finding the Fun!

As actors we get our get our highs and lows. Part of the job is the quiet periods in between the jobs. And when you are an actor auditioning is part of the job. And it does become work sometimes. Like when you receive a full page monologue at five in the afternoon for an audition at nine the next morning and you spend half the night pacing up and down your living room learning technical jargon. Finding the fun can be hard sometimes.

“You need to stop taking it so seriously.”

My mother’s advice while we were on holiday.

“When was the last time you enjoyed an audition?”

Admittedly it had been a while.

“Just have fun with it.”

When I saw Mauritz for lunch after an audition last week he asked me how it went:

“Uhm. I think I blew it, but I actually enjoyed auditioning this time. Which is good.”

During the audition the casting director had asked me if I’d ever seen a kid throw a tantrum in public sphere. The youngest kid in my family is currently in his second year at varsity and only one of my friends has a daughter. She has yet to reach the terrible twos. I froze a little:

“No.”

The guy auditioning with me had. I kicked myself a little for not just saying that I had. But despite this, I had fun. I had auditioned with someone comfortable and professional and we had made the casting director laugh.

A few days after the audition my agent called.

I was first option for the shoot. The audition I thought I had botched apparently hadn't gone as terribly as I thought it had. And the director saw something he wanted to work with in me.

This week I’m waiting for the phone to ring. And for the next audition I’ll focus on acting and finding the joy in what I do.