Guildhall Audition Update.

Firstly, I did not get through to the recall stage. Am I upset by this?. No. I will explain later.
Now, if anyone has not auditioned for the Guildhall before, i am going to tell you how it works.
Ok, so you make your way to sundial court, which i could not find at all so I asked a worker on the street if he knew where it was and gladly he did. It's all underground and the space is the guildhalls student union. Basically you wait for a few minutes before you go into this other room and then you are given a number, which is the number you are in when you go into the panel. Everyone gets to know each other very quick and everyone and has the usual drama school audition banter. Now, there are three graduates that are there, one was actually in Eastenders and they are there for you to ask any questions and just general chat. They also come in with you when you see the panel. Now, before anyone see's your speechs you all gather into the audition room and do some fun exercises. Seriously, I had no breath at the end of it! Like make the number 33, or 35! You work with the panel doing this. The guy on the panel, seemed very nice and engaging, but the girl was just watching, looking quite fed up and bored by it all. Now at the end of that, they gathered all of us up, to say that they don't want to see you acting a character they just want see you. Now, this actually quite shocked me, as I thought acting was about inhabiting a different person from yourself. I could see why they would want you to just be yourself but this made me panic a little. Ok, now everyone is back in the original room and I was called second. I did everything as I rehearsed at home and felt like i did a really good job, considering how nerve racking the experience was. But I could tell, that I wasn't being me and that I was inhabiting a character?? You can also use the graduates as a kind of audience, or someone to interact with during the speech. The panel actually encourages you to look at them. They also ask you some questions, generally what you are doing, where else are you applying. So off i went back into the waiting room and had a lovely chat with two girl friends that I made a connection with and one which actually got through. I was really happy for her,as it was her first drama experience EVER! The guy who got through also is new to the whole drama school experience. I am not upset by the not getting through, as I had a great time meeting new people, but i felt the guildhall didn't suit me as an actor. I felt even in the audition, that they were trying to strip everything away from you, i know this is good, but it is not what I want.

If you really want to get into the guildhall by advice is to you:

throw away everything you practised at home
be prepared to just be yourself and not inhabit a character.

Well anyway, i don't think I will be applying to the guildhall next year. But I still had a very good time!