Meet the 2016 Auditions Team - Pete Gallagher | British Youth Music Theatre

Meet the 2016 Auditions Team - Pete Gallagher

Actor, Director & Writer PETE GALLAGHER gives his thoughts on BYMT's 2016 Auditions

Training: I trained at the Corona Academy of Theatre Arts in London (at the same time as Nicholas Lyndhurst while he was doing Butterflies and just before Only Fools and Horses...), which has sadly closed down now. I work mainly in the West End although I also tour and do TV & film when I can. Most of the time though, theatre commitments mean you can't do film & TV as they always overrun on a film set!

What are you looking for from auditionees?

In a word, BRAVERY. An audition is not the time to 'play safe' so listen, do what you have been asked to do, but be brave and bring your own personality to it. We are looking for people with potential, which means putting your stamp on it, not people who do the minimum required to get through it and hope that's enough!

Tips for auditionees:

Let us see YOU. If you're trained to any extent, obviously bring that technique but remember to add bags of personality. If you're completely untrained, be fearless - you are in a room with some who have trained in certain areas, so make sure you show what you can bring, however rough around the edges you might think that is - it may be exactly what we are looking for! If you have absolutely no experience of performing at all but just fancy giving it a go, give us a really good and positive reason to remember you...and it could well happen!

Why should people get involved with BYMT?

Professionals! This is not an amateur theatre company run by people as a hobby - it is a theatre company run by very experienced performing professionals who just happen to want to focus their energies on finding young fresh talent...like Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith etc...all of whom took the gamble and joined us...and maybe like YOU! It is also the biggest and most successful theatre company of its kind in the UK so you know you are in safe hands.

 

Favourite Shows?

Play - Hamlet. The greatest example of ink ever placed on paper

Musical - Guy & Dolls. Perfect entertainment and example of how Musical Theatre uses the richness of colour and texture to enhance a plot.

Experience - Slava's Snow Show or Cirque du Soleil

BYMT Show I have directed - Missing Mel. Relevant, fun and unbelievable energy. Transferred from Edinburgh Fringe to London!

 

What/who should young people research in the arts?

Southwark Playhouse - still affordable and sensational choice of productions.

Les Misérables - superb musical adaptation of an epic novel that they said would be impossible.

Alexandre Dumas, French dramatists and novelist - The Counte of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask etc. - pure adventure.

The Woman in Black - best adaptation of a book I have ever seen and brilliantly terrifying

Leonardo DiCaprio - a superbly talented film actor who is often underestimated because he happens to be a good looking man... I wish I had that problem! See: Romeo & Juliet, The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street, Catch Me If You Can, What's Eating Gilbert Grape...

 

Favourite Food:

Haloumi cheese or Vegetarian Thai. I'm dribbling now...

Ideal Holiday:

I'm not a 'beach bum' so anything that involves cities, culture, having my mind blown. Fave city so far - Barcelona with the Sagrada Familia. Wish List: India and the Taj Mahal.

THE most important question: Scone (as in stone) or Scone (as in gone)?

Scone... HAHA! (as in 'gone', obviously)

You can book your BYMT Audition here. Don't miss out - places are filling fast.

Pete Gallagher - BYMT's National Auditions 2016 - British Youth Music Theatre