No matter how hard you prepare for an audition, there’s always something that can go wrong. Whether it’s that you’re self-taping or having a callback from your home and there is unexpected construction going on outside, to some kind of technical malfunction onsite, or you just forget the lines. All the things that can go wrong have the potential of putting you ‘off your game’. But, hopefully, you’ve done your preparation…you know what you want in the scene, who you’re talking to, what the stakes are. So,…let’s just imagine that something goes wrong during your audition –you mess up a line, say the wrong word, unforeseen sounds, etc. The actor’s instinct is to immediately stop, break character, and apologize. Or, if you have some willpower, you might stop, not say anything at all, but you’ll have this pained look on your face. Or, worse, you’ll groan, or even kick yourself. This is what can be called ‘commenting’. You’re visibly and/or audibly making a ‘comment’ on your performance. This is extremely distracting for the auditor (the person watching your audition). It’s also jarring for the actor. What I propose to you is a revolutionary approach to dealing with this particular problem. How about allowing yourself to stay in character after you mess up? Allow your character to be the one that made the mistake – and who then needs to correct it. That way, you do not break the environment of the scene, apologize, and then desperately try to get back to where you were – which practically never works. You can just be ‘human’ within the scene. This is liberating. It means that your ‘character’ is human, too. And it draws us in even more to the reality you are creating for us. Try it. Give yourself the permission to make a mistake in character.