ABSTRACT
An actor with whom I talked recently was perplexed. He had just been for his fourth audition for a long-running West End musical and had not been recalled. His disappointment was compounded by the fact that the first and third time he had been in, he was recalled several times and got down to the final two on both occasions, yet the second time he was also not even recalled once. ‘I just don’t understand it,’ he moaned, ‘I did nothing radically different on each of the four occasions.’ I sympathised with his frustration and explained it could be one of two things. The first was the fact that it was a recast and a suitable part may not have been available this time around (as discussed more fully in Chapter 32). The second, and perhaps less obvious reason, is that the outcome can depend on the mood of the director or panel on the day you audition.
