Izzy: Hi Jo! Can you tell me what being a Children's Casting Director and Administrator of Top West End shows involves?
Jo: The Producer will come to me and give me the information about the production- venue, dates, criteria for the children etc etc. Then I send out a breakdown to agents, gather the children and organise and staff the auditions. Then we run the auditions, cast the production and I licence and organise the chaperones, and the schedule. I recast the children if it is a long run.
I: What is your favourite thing about your job?
J: All of it - I am so lucky!! In particular I have been fortunate enough to cast children who might have special issues at home -divorce, bereavement or whatever - I cannot go into details. To see them flourish is the most wonderful thing.
I: What do you find most difficult about your job?
J: Having to release a boy because his voice has broken. This has happened a number of times. Also having to deal with bullying amongst the teams [of children] which does happen and I hate it!
I: How did you become a casting director – could you tell me a bit about your journey?
J: When I was 15 I was dressing at The Theatre Royal Windsor.
At 18 I was at LAMDA on the SM [stage management] course, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
At 19 I was back at Windsor as an ASM [Assistant Stage Manager]
When I was 21 I was in the West End on Annie as an ASM.
I did four major musicals then I retired from stage management because I was married and pregnant.
After that I worked for Lee Menzies Limited for 7 years and then temped around the West End until 1995 when I started casting - which was a bit of an accident to be honest! Cameron Mackintosh [a producer] was looking for a children’s casting director / administrator for Oliver! at the Palladium and I was phoned by a friend who said she thought I should apply. So, I did as did a friend of mine. She was offered the job but turned it down. After that they came back to me and the rest is history!! I wouldn’t change a thing!
I: Many children audition for these west end shows but very few people actually manage to get roles, or even get through the first round of auditions. What main things do you look for as a casting director to make sure you have the best young actors and actresses, given as you only have a short amount of time to assess them in?
J: They must fit the basic criteria which is different for every show (height /look /ability to sing / dance / act) but we look for confidence and potential to play the part well. Casting is a package and we look for all sorts of things, it would be impossible to say we looked for just one.
I: What is your top tip for children going to auditions?
J: Be prepared, be on time, be confident, concentrate, no costumes and no makeup! Parents should support and not push!
I: What advice would you give to all the budding young actors and actresses out there who are unsuccessful at auditions?
J: What is wrong for this [production] is right for something else - do not dwell on any single audition but try to learn from it. Keep training. I never give feedback incidentally – personally I find it too destructive.
I: What was the best piece of advice you were given?
J: To work hard at my first choice of career - Eric Porter in the late 70’s.
I: Could you sum up the acting world and industry in just a few sentences?
Everybody that I work with who loves this industry and who are successful do it because they couldn’t imagine doing anything else. We all have a theatre bug and once you have it there is pretty much no way to kill it off. I did try in the early 1990 ’s, I couldn’t do it! I had had baby number 2 and was offered a job managing a day nursery. So I did the training and then went to see Joseph at the Palladium. Having cried all the way through it I told my husband that if I wasn’t involved I couldn’t bear to go to the theatre. So that was it - I accepted that the bug was too strong and I declined the other job!
This business is unlike any other - it is extraordinary, exhilarating, brutal, bitchy, inspiring, frustrating and we adore it! We feel privileged to be part of it.
Jo: The Producer will come to me and give me the information about the production- venue, dates, criteria for the children etc etc. Then I send out a breakdown to agents, gather the children and organise and staff the auditions. Then we run the auditions, cast the production and I licence and organise the chaperones, and the schedule. I recast the children if it is a long run.
I: What is your favourite thing about your job?
J: All of it - I am so lucky!! In particular I have been fortunate enough to cast children who might have special issues at home -divorce, bereavement or whatever - I cannot go into details. To see them flourish is the most wonderful thing.
I: What do you find most difficult about your job?
J: Having to release a boy because his voice has broken. This has happened a number of times. Also having to deal with bullying amongst the teams [of children] which does happen and I hate it!
I: How did you become a casting director – could you tell me a bit about your journey?
J: When I was 15 I was dressing at The Theatre Royal Windsor.
At 18 I was at LAMDA on the SM [stage management] course, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
At 19 I was back at Windsor as an ASM [Assistant Stage Manager]
When I was 21 I was in the West End on Annie as an ASM.
I did four major musicals then I retired from stage management because I was married and pregnant.
After that I worked for Lee Menzies Limited for 7 years and then temped around the West End until 1995 when I started casting - which was a bit of an accident to be honest! Cameron Mackintosh [a producer] was looking for a children’s casting director / administrator for Oliver! at the Palladium and I was phoned by a friend who said she thought I should apply. So, I did as did a friend of mine. She was offered the job but turned it down. After that they came back to me and the rest is history!! I wouldn’t change a thing!
I: Many children audition for these west end shows but very few people actually manage to get roles, or even get through the first round of auditions. What main things do you look for as a casting director to make sure you have the best young actors and actresses, given as you only have a short amount of time to assess them in?
J: They must fit the basic criteria which is different for every show (height /look /ability to sing / dance / act) but we look for confidence and potential to play the part well. Casting is a package and we look for all sorts of things, it would be impossible to say we looked for just one.
I: What is your top tip for children going to auditions?
J: Be prepared, be on time, be confident, concentrate, no costumes and no makeup! Parents should support and not push!
I: What advice would you give to all the budding young actors and actresses out there who are unsuccessful at auditions?
J: What is wrong for this [production] is right for something else - do not dwell on any single audition but try to learn from it. Keep training. I never give feedback incidentally – personally I find it too destructive.
I: What was the best piece of advice you were given?
J: To work hard at my first choice of career - Eric Porter in the late 70’s.
I: Could you sum up the acting world and industry in just a few sentences?
Everybody that I work with who loves this industry and who are successful do it because they couldn’t imagine doing anything else. We all have a theatre bug and once you have it there is pretty much no way to kill it off. I did try in the early 1990 ’s, I couldn’t do it! I had had baby number 2 and was offered a job managing a day nursery. So I did the training and then went to see Joseph at the Palladium. Having cried all the way through it I told my husband that if I wasn’t involved I couldn’t bear to go to the theatre. So that was it - I accepted that the bug was too strong and I declined the other job!
This business is unlike any other - it is extraordinary, exhilarating, brutal, bitchy, inspiring, frustrating and we adore it! We feel privileged to be part of it.
Joe has written a book about children in the theatre and also has a webpage where she shows some auditions to west end productions. Jo also puts on audition technique courses which you can find out more about on her website. Thank you Jo for sharing your expertise!