Checked Out For Chekhov

To South London earlier today for an audition for a one-man show - Anton Chekhov's On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco. I'm surprised, because it is less likely that directors/producers will look for actors for such productions than actors will look for producers/directors to support them. I'm also surprised because I look nothing like a Chekhov protagonist. But this is part of a longer evening, combined with music and a one-woman play by Strindberg, put on by two director-producers who seem to want something more than or different from the usual one-person showpiece. In other words, I am definitely in the running for the part of this lecturer who has reached the end of his tether.

So, I sit with Carla and I'm-doubly-embarrassed-because-I-not-only-got-her-nationality-wrong-but-forgot-her-name and discuss my acting career, Chekhov and the production before getting up to read (thankfully they did not expect me to have learnt the lines by heart) the two sections they sent me. My first rendering of the opening is reasonable, but in a voice barely audible in the front row. I do it again, this time projecting; it may not be great acting, but it shows, I think, that I understand the play and the character. Then it's time to sit down again and discuss the character of the narrator and the lines and what appears to be a conflicting message early in the piece.

It feels good to be relaxed and opening up the play in this way. I like both interlocutors and as I walk away I have the impression they both liked me. But I was only the first actor they have seen and I would be surprised if they chose me. Still, every audition is a good experience and it's always a pleasant feeling when someone asks to see you. (In contrast with last night when the agent who had promised to turn up to see me in The Duchess failed to appear....)