The Pursuit of Simple Joys

Here we are, in our final semester of our final year. I never knew how fast time passed us by until I was celebrating Christmas with my aunt and uncle in Germany, and all of a sudden, I’m sitting in my dorm on New Year’s Day preparing for my audition for Pippin and finishing my final presentation for my academic module.

It may only be the end January but much has already happened even before the semester began properly this week. As always, we start every blog of the semester with a little update and a breakdown of what to expect in the coming months! And I cannot believe that this will be my final first blog of the semester. There have already been so many lasts since we came back for the final semester, and this is just one of many.

Following this blog, I’ll take you on the final stretch of the journey of a third year student in Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester. If you have been on this journey with me from the beginning, then you will know how different it is now. No more academics, working towards our final showcase, and filming showreels to take with us as we set off.

What has happened so far at the start (and even before it officially began!!) of this semester is plentiful. Very strong start! Two weeks before we returned for classes, we had our Pippin auditions which I must tell you about in this introductory blog, to show you just how intense things have kicked off! And it’s only the start of the chaos.

It came and went so quickly; it feels like we were still waiting for the audition sheet to be released. That itself was such a stressful day as we were battling to get our desired timeslot. The site was crashing with so much user activity, and slots were gone quick! I managed to get the slot I want, and some friends were cheeky, they got me to help them out, which I encourage everyone to do in the case of user traffic. It took a while for the website to load back up after it crashed so to be more efficient, get a friend to do it for you, just in case.

When the day arrived, I set off about two hours before my timeslot to warm myself up in the practice room where I had a proper space to work on my material. We were asked to bring in a cut of a song within 2 to 3 minutes, and to come in prepared to read for the character we were auditioning for with the selected excerpts. I was going to audition for Leading Player with a cut of Cabaret (from Cabaret), and the scenes I had to prepare were a dialogue between her and Pippin, and a short monologue. I’d been well prepared since before the New Year but it felt like a comfort running through the material to pass the time productivity to get me into the drive. I was incredibly excited for something that would’ve made me anxious about 2 whole years ago, which is astounding to me. Bracing the audition nerves may be one of the biggest milestones I’ve ever achieved, but I’m still working on my anxiety which is a topic for another blog!

With 20 minutes until my slot, I made my way to the studio, all warmed and ready to face my lecturers. Audition day was the first time everyone saw one another since the Christmas break. I didn’t realize we had a designated waiting room (or at least I believe the earlier slots had been the ones to claim the room for shelter as they wait) and it was wonderful seeing most of my friends again. There were no nerves at all as we laughed and shared our audition songs with one another while discussing the prospects of our two casts. Too many possibilities! It did wonders to ease the nerves and to hear about everyone’s audition was a joy as no one’s was ever quite the same.

I thought I still had plenty of time as we were slightly behind on schedule but before I knew it, I was in that room. My lecturers, who were also the Music Director (MD) and director, were having a swell of a time. It was lovely seeing them again, and I immediately felt so comfortable in my own skin in the room. We spoke briefly to ease any lingering tension then it was time to work. The audition process was simple. I would sing my song first. Hand over my taped sheet music, run the details and describe the cut to the music director (MD), and action. Some of my course mates were asked to sing their song again, but only a small part of what the MD and director wanted to hear, but I didn’t have to do any repeats. We moved right onto the scenes. Duologue, then monologue. I was informed that I might be asked to read for other characters which was the case. The MD was interested in a specific scene and asked the director to have me read a scene with Pippin, the titular character, and Bertha, his grandmother. I was to read as both. First as Pippin then Bertha, and the director would read in for the other. Bertha had been expected but not Pippin, so it came as quite a surprise. And just like that, it was over. I was thanked for my time (and my MD thanked me for humoring him) and I was out of that room. According to my friends, I’d taken forever but to me, it barely felt like the supposed 10 minutes.

We thought we would have callbacks on the same day but they were postponed to a later date so, a few friends and I went to get lunch immediately to celebrate being back on campus and for finishing our audition. Who knew the preparation for one of the most important processes in our course would go by so quickly? With barely much time to process, we were done and it’s the excruciating part of waiting. As it always is.

More information about our show!

Our theme for our production of Pippin is not a circus. Instead, it is going to be an exclusive masquerade in a secret warehouse! Everyone is going to be so glammed up and gorgeous; the complete image of our show just made us even more impatient for our cast list! The long, dreaded wait accompanies our stress as we power through our showreel preparations, but it doesn’t help that we’re so focused on Pippin. Hopefully, the day is closer than we think. We were warned that it might just drop out of nowhere during our midterm, and it has stirred our restlessness very much. All these hints, and yet nothing at all.

Hopefully by the next one or two blog, I’ll have the big reveal, otherwise, I’ll be telling you about our journey through our showreels.

If you’re new here, in 3rd year, we film showreels to take with us after university in the case we want to submit them to agents or drama schools when we further our studies. We are required to do a duologue, 2 songs that are cut, an ensemble piece and a few voiceover reels! This module is the one that’ll occupy our time most before Pippin, so there’ll be much to share!