Being the Butlin’s Redcoat is among the most prestigious jobs one is able to have in the world of entertainment.
They speak to guests, perform shows and are there to make the stay of guests as enjoyable as they can. They’re the face of Butlin’s.
So when auditions for open auditions were announced as taking place in Skegness I decided that I’d check out what the whole process was about.
What I needed to plan was a 60 second performance. I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t perform. So when my editor of content suggested that I try stand-up comedy, i was skeptical to at best However, I came up with a plan and went on the adventure.
My nerves were a little more shaken as one of my team’s leaders from Butlin’s said that it was among the toughest things to accomplish that I was aware of however my options were not as wide.
Whatever the case, I’d need to do some task, but I had other tasks to be completed prior to that.
There were 20 or so people in the room when I first arrived. There were some who had been cut out during the interview process, and they had a’speed dating for the judges to learn more about their personalities.
To ease the nervousness of those who were vying to become a Redcoat The game played. Players sat in a circle, where they were required to point fingers in the shape of guns and then say zip or zap, depending on the direction they faced. You could also use the word ‘boing when they wanted to divert the zip. It definitely eased some tension.
It was the right time to get involved. Being nervous is an understatement. I’m not a natural performer, and I could tell that it was not a problem for the other people here.
I was placed in a class with three other students and presented with a pink sparkly shoe as well as an orange plastic ball roughly the size of an orange grapefruit.
We were asked to put together up a show and one of my classmates took the direction and started to riff on the idea of the possibility of a teleshopping show we could put on.
The ball evolved into the “ball of imagination” and when it was shown to us, would transport us away from the responsibilities of daily life to a space much more attractive.
My character was stressed out worker. My dialogue was “I just feel so stressed from my boring nine-to-five job.” When I received the ball of imagination I was transported to a place of calm.
The other characters I played with my colleagues included someone who was having a difficult time with her relationship well, and a woman who couldn’t afford to purchase shoes for her children (this is how the sparkly pink shoe was born).
We watched other teams demonstrate their creativeness using other props, while they were questioned about their performance by the judge panel.
A few more were then taken from the day.
Following lunch it was on to the dance exercise. It was a short warm-up, and then straight into dancing. Since I was wearing an outfit of trousers, a shirt and smart shoes , I didn’t feel like I was dressed to dance, so I took my seat in the back.
One of the Redcoats in the present instructed those who were auditioning for a few moves the song Sweet but Psycho by Ava Max. I was amazed at how quickly they were able to master the art of it. I could tell they were professional dancers, and it showed how high the standards were in this area.
