Mastering the Shakespeare Audition

Donna Soto-Morettini has served as Director of Drama for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Head of Acting and Dance for Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and Head of Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She has worked extensively in television and is currently a casting director for ITV’s The Voice. Donna’s book Mastering the Audition: How to Perform Under Pressure is also published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

• Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: Turning the whole process on its head — A different way of working PHASE ONE ACQUIRING THE TOOLS — Adding vocal colour — What’s the point of mastering meter? — Finding the bare bones of a speech — Imagining action PHASE TWO CHOOSING AND PREPARING A MONOLOGUE — Choosing the best monologue — Read through the whole process first — Get to know the context of the monologue — Analyzing structure — Analyzing rhythm — Finding language patterns — How to draw a monologue — Create the imagined world of the speech PHASE THREE REHEARSING AND PERFORMING THE MONOLOGUE — Last work on the meter — Last work on vocal colour — Putting text and action together — Refining the action — Find the pleasure PHASE FOUR I’M NOT IN A HURRY – DEEPENING YOUR PRACTICE — Laban efforts for voice — Unusual syntax — Using verbs to analyze structure — Some final questions Appendix Resources

As far as skill/how-to books are concerned, one would be hard pressed to find another on this subject that is as imaginatively specific or better presented than Mastering the Shakespeare Audition. Ms. Soto-Morettini’s analytical text breakdowns, her examples, her exercises and her suggestions to promote skill ability and imagination are all smart in choice, focus, clarity, and creativity. Her references, resource and book lists harken from the forefront of the industry … Beyond the audition, in many ways this book is so comprehensive and rich that its ideas and process could easily be directly transferred into a semester syllabus for an actor’s voice and speech class, an acting class or both; it is, therefore, applicable to educators and coaches alike … Mastering the Shakespeare Audition can become a treasure for those interested in the Shakespeare audition and performance. Its instruction is direct, honest, well-honed, experienced, imaginative, and inspired. I therefore advise readers to “buckle up” and truly surrender to the technical ride. There is much to be experienced, learned, enjoyed, and accomplished.