Auditions with Karen Leadbeater

About the play

Mike Bartlett’s Earthquakes in London play deliberately jumps between past, present and future. The title is based on the scientist’s (Robert Crannock) prediction of the earthquakes in London however, it’s not all about the earthquakes. The leads roles are the scientist’s daughters Sarah, Freya and Jasmine all living separate lives. In my opinion it could relate to the certain events in his daughter’s lives that go towards building up the event of the earthquake.

Sarah is the oldest out of the 3 sisters, she works on the political side being part of the labour party.  She chooses to have a halt on the airport expansion, this character thinks about the environment more than the economy.  Freya, the second oldest sister is expecting a baby and her depression is growing.  She’s unsure about the future and about her future child too. Whilst Jasmine aged 19, is a contrary teenager who studies at University and is the only one who’s embarrassed about Sarah’s high, official, political job.

In this play, it shows us the trials that each character goes through in their everyday lives and intentionally shocks the audience.  Reality will unravel and we will see the opposite of our views of this loving family.

Auditioning process

Karen auditioned us because we need to learn and experience an audition process that all actors will undertake because you can’t pick and choose.  When auditioning, it made me think of why she was doing this and showed what a director would be looking for or thinking about and what actor would be fit for each particular role.

I auditioned for Sarah but, at times I lacked understanding to maintain the character of a headstrong woman and showed her at times to be quite emotional.   It was difficult to keep with the same serious and cold manner she had.  My target for Sarah if I got the role is to be proud but, also cold and not show so much emotion as it would ruin the character.  I auditioned for Sarah quite a few times but, auditioned for smaller parts too because I felt I liked the idea to experiment with the different roles that I could do.

My audition for the character Liberty who works in the shop Liberty.  Is that ironic?  Well, I find out in the play that her originally her name is Nicola and she changed her name to get the employer’s attention, since she’s always wanted to work there – it was her dream job.  She went as far as changing her name, dressing to match the colours of the poster and signs outside but, also her make up is also the same colour as the walls.  That sounds like she is dedicated, crazy and I could develop this character to give a lot of expression not just from the way she looks but, the way she is.  My target for next time if I come to play Liberty is to develop a bubbly side to the character and express myself through enthusiasm.

The character that I found difficult to try and audition for was the Old Woman.  Karen felt like she wanted me to try this role but, it was different to the younger characters I have played.  The way I firstly portrayed this role was to put on an old woman’s voice, not only did it feel strange but it destroyed the character.  I discussed with Becky who was auditioning with me but, for the role of Freya, we spoke about how I needed to portray her through voice.  I performed her and aimed to speak softly with a caring voice as that is the way older woman typically speak.  My target for next time is that I should imagine the character as an animal so, it will help me portray the role physically. 

Casey was the other role I auditioned for and I was actually looking forward to trying this role.  I had mostly auditioned for the smaller roles but, I loved the scene because it was quite funny to read when I first read it.  Casey in the play has been redundant in this scene.  Sarah gives her a small cold-hearted goodbye speech and a present.  It ends up with a difference of opinion when Casey is surprised that Sarah knows nothing about her and the fact that she doesn't drink coffee.  This role wasn't so challenging because I was able to think about it quite easily and when I performed it, it made people laugh and sometimes I wasn't able to hold my giggles.  This lost the character and my target if I got this role, would be to focus on a method to contain my laughter because it crumbled in the way I portrayed Casey’s character.