You've just arrived at your audition—and early, to boot! Now you have time to relax, go over your lines again, and freshen up. You look great, you feel great. Bring it on! The monitor calls your name, and you stroll confidently into the audition room. You exchange pleasantries and brief introductions. You notice there are two chairs facing the "casting table," and a reader is already seated. You are asked to begin your scene.
But as you progress into the scene, you realize—this reader is awful. You can barely hear them, you get no eye contact, and, worst of all, there is no emotional connection between the two of you. What do you do?
First, stay calm. You have worked on this scene, and you know where the emotional connections are. Below are three tips to handle a bad reader or scene partner—and nail your audition regardless.
1. Don't force a connection. Whatever you do, don’t lower yourself to the level of this bad reader. If you try too hard to connect to this reader, you risk being sucked into their low-energy, lack-of-connection vortex—which would be doing yourself a great disservice. The "casting people" will see your acting with those limitations, and they will assume that that is the best you can do.
2. Use your imagination. You must trudge on, imagining that you are getting everything you need from this reader. In fact, you can use their lack of engagement to increase your determination to convince and connect with them.
3. Lean into the real-life parallels. Remember, this kind of communication happens all the time in real life. You are upset about something your significant other did, and when you passionately try to explain it to them, they shut down. But you still go on, trying to make them understand! It's the same in an audition with a bad reader. You just have to go on and be passionately engaged in what you are doing—becoming even more determined to get them to hear you, react to you, while still being authentic and "in the moment."
You should prepare in advance for the possibility of an inadequate reader. Rehearse your material as if your partner is awful—or, if you are rehearsing with a partner, ask them to read a few times with little or no emotion so you can practice “adjusting” your performance accordingly. Use it as an opportunity to exercise your acting skills!
