Acting Tips. Cold Reading

Cold reading, it's enough to make you scream.

You walk into an audition and get handed a few pages and 10 minutes to read them.

Calm down. Read it through. Think about it. What's this scene about ? Who are the characters ? What kind of character are you ? Try and get a bit of a feel who you are. Don't, for heavens sake, try and learn the lines - if you feel compelled to do this, only commit your opening and closing lines to memory

Don't wave your script around like a prop, the less attention drawn to it, the better. Hold your script about chest level. If it's too low you have to keep lifting it up to read it, and if it's too high no one can see your face. Perish the thought !

Don't sneak a look at your next line while the other character is speaking. Listen. This is just as important as speaking your own lines. When it's your turn to respond look at your script and memorise the first sentence, If you have more lines than you can manage in one glance, go ahead and repeat the process. Don't stick your face in the script!

Keep in mind that you're playing a scene normally and merely taking short pauses to read your lines. This way you stay in character even while you're reading.

Practice cold reading at home, it's easy. Got a newspaper handy ? Pick it up and read the headlines. Now memorise them. Look up and speak them. Look down at the first paragraph, memorise the first two sentences. Look up and speak them.

You just completed a cold reading!