Should I Use a Chair in my Audition Monologue?

Okay, since High School I’ve heard people bitching and moaning about whether or not they should/could/would/can/can’t use a chair in an audition monologue.

My first advice to you is to use your common sense. But I’ll spend the rest of this blog advising those of you that are still concerned about the chair and the audition.

First off, chairs are not good, they make you immobile, they sap energy from you and fix you in a spot.

The reason that many actors uses chairs is that it allows them to feel comfortable in an uncomfortable position (being on display for others). But it’s vital in an audition that you show the panel of auditors that you can actually move, just a little is better than nothing (and too much is just awful).

If there is a requirement to do the audition piece from a chair, then okay, do it in the chair. But you should probably practice the piece standing up, so that it maintains its energy first, and then work to restage the piece from the chair. This will help you to keep the piece as energetic as possible when it comes to performing from the seated position. If you have staged it standing and seated, you will be prepared to do it either way and your auditors will be impressed at how well you dealt with the request to ‘do it standing up instead please?’ Because if you don’t, you’ll stand there like a block of wood, cursing the panel for such an… unreasonable request.

So when should you do it from a chair?

1) When the piece CLEARLY (not tangentially) requires it.

2) When it is a requirement of the audtion

3) When the audition is on camera and requires a seat scene.

4) If the audition space is minimal and movement wouldn’t suit the space.

All other reasons should be discarded, you are probably trying to comfort yourself, but it will not help your chances of getting the part, so stand, STAND UP AND ACT!