The Stage

Be prepared

Published Tuesday 15 December 2009 at 10:40

Reading Sue Rider’s recent letter, Managing mailshots (page 8, December 3), got me nodding in agreement and thinking about how things have changed over my 20 years in casting. The most significant thing that comes to mind is that levels of professionalism have changed - in particular, the general lack of preparation and research by performers when submitting themselves for work and coming in for auditions and castings.

The lackadaisical attitude of an increasing number of performers (of all experience levels) is saddening, with excuses galore being given. In my day as an actor, we would prepare as best we could, no matter how short the time frame, and keep our knowledge honed by doing our homework and seeing as many plays and shows as possible to be prepared for recasts and future productions. This seems to occur less and less these days and, as someone who is employed to get the best people for a certain role in to impress the creatives concerned, this disturbs me - especially as the Industry has become tougher, with fewer projects in production and therefore less opportunities for auditions. Anyone would think they didn’t want the job.

To try to alleviate this situation, my book Auditions - A Practical Guide, which was recently described as “The Christmas gift that will last a career”, offers sound advice on this and many other subjects and is available from www.auditionsapracticalguide.com.

Richard Evans

Casting director

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