Of course my whole purpose is simply to irritate and annoy actors and get the worse out of them. I will of course see prepared pieces as well and I also ensure that the actor has some time to read and prepare before auditions. I do not however want a completely rehearsed interpretation of a piece from the play that may be totally different than mine. I like to see initial reactions. OK so I'm a fuckhead. Good luck old son.

Personally, I am with Rae, both from the point of view of the Actor and Director. Cold readings give the actor the oppertunity to demonstrate how they 'think on their feet' so to speak and are able to develop an understanding of the script/character within a short space of time, or to improvise.

Being able to learn a script and develop a repeatable performance is only one aspect of acting. Being able to handle dropped lines, incorrect cues, etc is also a vital skill for any professional or passionate performer

Besides this, a cold reading can also show the actors dedication. Have they done their research, did they take the effort to find a copy of the script which can usually be found at a central library, or through on-line services, etc etc etc.

Cold readings are also used to try out group dymnamics. Pick a few characters and see how they work together. Quite useful for an ensemble type production.

I can't help but think that the only reason you don't like cold readings is that you have been caught off guard by them, or cannot improvise. Take on the challenge instead. Don't let if put you off. Cold readings for productions are actually more common than you may realise.

Dixi

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
Fight/Sword Choreographer

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

Ideally I'd expect the audition process would be designed to turn up the best available person for whatever role/s are on offer.

To that end, anything artificially introduced into the audition process - i.e. something that will have no bearing on the rehearsal process or performance, like a cold read - is likely to just cloud the audition process with extraneous and superfluous noise.

Some actors do a terrible job of a cold read and it would be silly to put them off-side, get a substandard audition out of them and not cast the actor if you weren't expecting them to read texts cold in the performance.

I remember attending an audition (I wasn't directing!) where a senior actor was asked to improvise a scene. The actor politely declined explaining that they weren't comfortable with this type of process and that if this was the way in which rehearsals were going to be conducted, then they probably weren't the right person for the role.

I honestly can't recollect whether the actor ended up being cast or not, but it certainly focused attention on what the audition process was about. By the same token, I had the joy of directing a septuagenarian in a very visceral piece, a la theatre of cruelty, who revelled in the physically challenging audition process.

I'm inclined to believe that there is a place for both prepared material and something... appropriately less prepared in the audition process. Precisely so that the you can discover the sorts of issues described above.

Just as an adjunct to this discussion, the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA) http://www.aeia.org.au/ has a useful audition code of practice for its members available online:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:www.aeia.org.au/AuditionsCode.doc

and also as a M$Word document:

http://www.aeia.org.au/AuditionsCode.doc

Cheers
Grant