Should I use an accent at my audition?

Question

I am auditioning for a University Media and Performance course on Monday and I have picked a monologue called Dance:10, Looks: 3 from A Chorus Line.

1. Do you think it's the right choice of monologue? They haven't given me much time and at the moment it's the only one taking my fancy.

2. Should I use an American accent? I feel it would distract me, but I don't know what kind of standard they will be expecting. Do you think it would be acceptable to do it in my regular British accent? :) Cheers to anyone who answers.

Answer 1

It depends.  IF it is crying out for an accent then yes and if you are good at them and I mean real good.  Otherwise I do not think it should matter if you don't bother.  For uni I did an American peice with no accent as I am rubbish at it and I still got in.  I think it can detract from everything else you are doing and you can worry so much about it you miss doing other things

Answer 2

Dialects are tricky especially if they will trip you up in any way.  Of course, the easiest way out of this is to ask but then you've got to be rpepared to deliver the goods either way.

Here is my take on it:

If Brits do a production of Oklahoma, they'll need to approximate an American accent or it would sound really dumb.  Lines like "Hey, Aunt Eller, what'll you bid for that next picnic basket?" will sound ridiculous in a British accent; it was written to be done in a Southern drawl

Likewise, I think that Americans who attempt Shakespeare, Coward, Wilde, etc. should also attempt a British dialect.  "To love one's self is the beginning of a life-long relationship" (Oscar Wilde) will sound ridiculous in a Brooklyn slur or Midwestern patois.

BUT A CHorus Line is about a kind of universal condition -- people at a musical audition.  And they have those in England and the US, so your native dialect can be used unless you know that the director is going to set the production in NYC

Answer 3

The musical is American,so it would be authentic to use an American accent.