Carry on, actor

It is with a sigh that I update my dusty, forlorn little blog at the end of such a hectic and busy year. I reread my last blog post and smiled at the attitude of my hopeful self from eleven months ago. At that point I had ambitiously applied to three drama schools, whilst in my first year of training at an Arts University. I certainly was a little naive in thinking I could juggle them both.. I couldn’t. I auditioned for 2010 entry at RADA, Drama Centre and Bristol Old and the response I recieved was generally one that questioned why, when I was already training, did I want to move? I was literally asked ‘Why are you here?’ by a member of the RADA panel at my recall audition. She had recognised me from the workshop I did with her a year earlier.

It wasn’t until I was contacted by another hopeful drama student that I realised some people still occasionally stumble across this blog, and want to know what the course I am on is like. I happily sat down to tell her about it, and promptly realised what a fool I was to think I could have dedicated my time to my course and auditioning rounds at the same time! My Acting course is hard, but getting onto an NCDT accredited course is even harder.

And I will tell you what I told her; In all, I am really enjoying my course, that much is certain, but I feel like I have to defend it constantly. Not being on an NCDT accredited course is a hindrance. And if I had all the time and money in the world I would certainly still be applying for Drama Schools, because even though The Arts University College Bournemouth is trying desperately to reach high standards the fact that it’s yet to establish it’s reputation is disheartening.

If you are doing the auditioning circuit this year, I suggest you go visit Tom’s Blog. He has recorded his successful drama school experience perfectly, and his attitude is one that I would like to see more of. Reading other people’s experiences bring my audition memories flooding back and I had my heart in my mouth reading all of them from the very beginning! I also found his feedback from one school paticularily enlightening, freely admiting that they were looking for a combination of maturity and vulnerability together.

Another helpful blog of the auditioning circuit is Erin’s, who contacted me a short while ago about my course. The first thing I thought was ‘I know what you’re going through!’ and proceeded to try and help her in what was probably a very insignificant way, but nevertheless, her enthusiasm and account of her auditioning rounds are helpful and I wish her the very best of luck.. especially when she is at Bournemouth in the new year!

And for me? I intend to be auditioning again. I always will be a Drama School auditionee! I have kept my tickets and name stickers and acceptance letters and rejection letters and good luck notes since the very beginning, all the way from 2007. I have much farther to go, but I still like to remind myself of how far I have come. So to all those waiting for letters and practising monologues and brushing up their application forms.. I salute you!

It ain’t over ’til it’s over

So a whole new decade is here, and with it comes the question of what I’ll be doing and where I will be in september.

For the past three months, I’ve moved away from home and lived what can only be described as the ‘proper’ student life. Just open my bedroom closet to witness the creeping wall of slime slowly trying to invade, like ‘The Blob’, only meaner and greener and cleverly disguised as mould. My diet consists of tinned vegetables and pizza, and sometimes it is so cold in my box bedroom that I can see my breath. But these things only make the whole experience. It’s certainly  a true package deal of the student way of life.

I am being working hard, physically and mentally in my classes here at good ol’ Bournemouth. I can already see differences in myself, with particular emphasis on my vocal training. My tutors, working actors and directors themselves, are passionate in their teaching and well trained. However the Acting course is bemusing, and one that is trying desperately hard to be of Drama School status.

The ‘bemusing’ part of the whole thing could probably have an entire blog devoted to it. Whilst the university has it’s heart in the right place, there isn’t the same ‘get up and go’ attitude that I was expecting to find. Perhaps because the sleepy town of Bournemouth doesn’t match up to the culture fest you would find in London. I have also geniunely been shocked by what I see of some students, not necessarily in my classes, but mostly the year just about to graduate and enter the real word as industry professionals. The third years have pulled two productions out of the bag so far, one being ‘Gut Girls’ by Sarah Daniels and the Restoration Comedy ‘The Way of the World’, but ho ho! cunningly set in the 70s. What creativity! What flair!

The male members of these productions were dissapointingly lacklustre. Some members of the cast had poor diction and did not have the ‘oomph’ factor – my eloquent description for actors I cannot stop watching- that I so longed to see. There were skillful actors who did captivate me, but I have a funny feeling that they arrived with this particular talent. But hey, more productions will happen until the end of term and I look forward to seeing more.

It was with a little chuckle that I sent off my Drama School applications this year. I am yet to finish applying, it seems that I enjoy the old fashioned way of simply filling out forms with pen and ink. RADA were kind enough to enter my application at the recall stage, which is jolly nice of them. Bristol Old Vic have ignored me thus far. The bastards.

This year, this decade even, I’m going in with a fresh approach, new speeches and a new outlook, without the pressure I put upon myself last year. Plough on, I say. Onwards and upwards chaps!

The third time’s lucky

The last couple of months of summer (or what us brits laughingly refer to as summer. hah)  has me getting ready to start a new acting course, leave my home town and preparing for yet another round of drama school auditions.

The realisation that I’ll actually be a) auditioning again and b) possibly thrown in the deep end on the start of a new course was followed by a crazy purchasing of all sorts of theatric literature and plays. I went to the National Theatre Book shop and went round the shelves scribbling down the titles and authors. Yeah, I’m one of those people. I mean, have you seen the prices of some of those books? Fat chance I’m forking out £10.99 for Outstanding Women’s Monologues 2001-2002. I managed to get it on Amazon for a fiver. Lucky I did, ’cause I’d be gutted to have paid 11 quid for what Craig Pospisil labels ‘outstanding’. No, I jest. I’m just annoyed that the best monologues go to the 60 year old black woman.

Anyway, as I work my way through Improv for actors written by Dan Diggles, a man with possibly the most magical name ever, I continue to work hard to bring in some much needed cash. It’s positively nerve wracking, the idea of having to pay rent and actually, you know, buy food. And what’s scary is the banks who give you student accounts are practically screaming, “Here, take our money! Max out your interest free overdraft! It’s basically free!” Hah. yeah right. I was even offered a student credit card. Honestly, why tempt me like that? Even I know it’s certain financial death.

Even though I’m looking forward to my new course, I’m quite excited to start auditioning at Drama Schools for, gasp, the third time. It may sound crazy, but when you get into it, it’s actually kind of… fun. Scary, expensive  and occasionally heart-wrenching, but fun. It’ll be interesting to see how much I’ve changed, and if working on my course in Bournemouth will actually have improved me for the better. I guess only time will tell..!

How to make £40,000 or Drama School Fees

Okay, so I’ve got a question for ya. Here we go:

True or False?

It costs a lot of money to go to Drama school.

For some reason, I’ve had it in my head that the above statement is false. Seriously.  I guess I truly believed that in this day and age, money isn’t everything. As a student you can always get financial help, loans and bursaries. But I forgot that each Drama School is different – the cost of training varies at different establishments. Ahem:

Most Drama Schools work in the same way that a standard three year degree does. For example, Central School of Speech and Drama is affiliated with it’s parent University, so your qualification will be awarded by the University of London. This means that your annual tution fee will be the regular cost as other undergraduate courses offered by universities – right now this is £3225. Like any other undergraduate student, its easy to get a student loan.

Unfortunately, the one Drama School that I do get into is a Full Cost course. Independent Drama Schools do not attract any government funding, which is a bummer considering the annual £10,000 price tag. And that’s not including living costs.

Hell no.

Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts do, however, offer a funding programme. The Dance and Drama Award is a scholarship that goes to 40% of students, awarded purely on talent shown at the audition process and not financial need. A couple of days after I found out the result of my third Rada audition- thanks, but no thanks- I recieved a letter from Mountview telling me that my scores were not high enough to recieve a scholarship but would I like to defer my entry and audition for the award again next year?

This was unbelievably painful, more so than any type of rejection I could face and probably will in the future. I GOT a place at well established school. I am READY to start my training. But I can’t pull that kind of money out of thin air.

I’ve looked at charities, researched all types of fundraising and sponsorship ideas, as well as Career development loans. The NCDT website has great ideas about fundraising, with a fantastic booklet written by one drama student who actually managed to raise all his tution fees and living costs himself. So, naturally, I have created a Plan:

I am itching to start studying again, to work with people with the same goals as me and to actually get the hell away from my home town! So I have accepted a place to study BA Acting at an Arts University in Bournemouth. Yup. Funny, isn’t it, the one Institute that I make fun of is the one I am attending in the end. Asked for that one I guess.

I have found a kind family friend to act as a patron and fund the application costs of applying to Drama School for the 2010 intake. If I do get accepted then I will study in London, and if not, simply continue at my course in Bournemouth. If I can’t get the funding then I will make it – fundraising canpaigns galore.I will get down on my knees and BEG people for money if I have to. Can’t wait.

Why Study Acting?

On Monday I had a private acting session with a coach called Jeremy Stockwell. Although we met at the Actor’s Centre in London, he had arranged to take our class to a churchyard nearby. It was full of people enjoying the sunshine but we worked in the space regardless. It might seem like an odd place to work on Juliet’s monologue but it was actually quite fitting, considering the nature of Romeo and Juliet!

It was electric. In the hour we had he emphasised the importance of using all your senses in performance, awareness of space and environment around you, breaking away from habit and the idea of being a ‘magnet’ in performance – ‘recieving’ the audience rather than ‘pushing’ your performance onto them.

It was a unique session, and I left feeling exhilarated and full of  refreshing ideas.

It’s classes like this that make me realise how essential it is to actually study acting. Everyone can act. We all act during our lives – sussing out our audience and swapping roles according to what we want from them. But mostly people who are starting to consider acting as a profession only have a shaky idea of what acting is; excessive expressions, earnest intonations.. acting with a capital A. Studying acting isn’t just sitting in a classroom, being lectured. It’s scraping away these ideas that acting is a deceptive art. It’s about honesty. It’s about real emotions fueling your work, and conveying something truthful.

The reason I want to go to Drama School is to train to be an actor. The training is intense, vigorous and will challenge me every step of the way. But it will prepare me for an industry which is exactly that. I’ve spoken to some actors who say that the best training they had was to go out and experience it themselves, and if that works out for them and advances their career, then that’s great. But considering the overwhelming amount of actors in the profession, I would like to be one of the few who’s had proper training and a degree. After all, a director would most likely cast an Ophelia who’s actually studied elizabethan theatre than an actress who hasn’t.

I’ll leave you with this cool video I found from the Stella Adler acting school in Los Angeles.

As well as having a sunny acting class, Monday happened to be my birthday too! I wonder what my last year as a teenager will bring?!

University Challenge

I recently auditioned for an Acting course that wasn’t NCDT accredited, at a college that wasn’t a member of the Conference of Drama Schools. It was for the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (soon to be called the Arts University College). The course itself isn’t half bad – they assured us that it is a vocational course, like at Drama School, and it covers pretty much the same material that a NCDT course would do, whilst  the practical/theory ratio is roughly 70:30.

But I have to say, I definitely noticed a stark contrast in applicants.

I auditioned on the very last day of auditions, with nine other people. Chatting to them all, it dawned on me that they were all a bunch of oddballs. Well, Actors are all misfits, aren’t they really – but these were the wacky, arty kids who just screamed ‘look at me, I’m spontaneous!’ and considered the idea of acting an easy ride or a ‘dream’.

We were all given a long talk by the head of the department who announced profoundly that they have “30 places to offer.”He then left a long pause. “And this year we have had..” Another pause. “..500 applicants..” He left the longest pause yet and looked deeply into everyone’s eyes in order to let this ‘damning’ statement settle. My fellow auditionees exchanged glances with horror, and in the waiting room quoted this statistic on the verge of tears.

Are you kidding me? Nearly every auditioning day I’ve had Drama Schools inform me that I am competing against literally thousands of applicants for 30 places. The naivety of the other applicants and their general attitude to the whole profession irritated me.

I know so many wannabe actors who consider this profession their ‘dream’ and don’t seem to realise how tough it all is. As Mark Westbrook says:

It’s not a DREAM- It’s not a dream you have to become an actor, you’re beyond dreams now. Dreams are intangible and cannot be touched, therefore they cannot be achieved.  So, stop thinking of it as a dream, and see it as your target, your goal in the near future.  Then work out the steps to get there and start taking them.  Many small baby steps make one big giant step. Read All

Plus, he has an article I think all actors should read called Everything is Easier than Being an Actor.

I was offered a place a couple days after my audition. Don’t get me wrong, I would be very happy to study there if I Drama School doesn’t work out – I just hope the people on my course aren’t the ones I met that day.

Alice Vs. RADA (Round II)

RADA is the drama school, I think. It’s prestigious name scares some away (other auditionees I’ve spoken to speak bitterly about it, or call it ‘snooty’), but usually attracts three to four thousand applicants a year. I’ve always dreamed of going there – all my favourite actors attended RADA – but the whole audition process scares me a little. There are four audition stages, which is explained to you in detail when you apply, and the latter ones usually require you to learn a whole new monologue.

I had my first audition for RADA on 14th February 2009. It only lasted about ten minutes – two contrasting shakespeare and modern monologues and a little bit of an interview. I had my recall over a month later.

Anyone who’s read my account of last years audition will know how it went (I still cringe when I think about it), so this year I made sure I went in with the right frame of mind – be interesting.

The panel consisted of about five people whos names, alas, escape me. An older man recognised me from last year – I hope that’s a good thing – but I wasn’t in front of the Artistic Director, instead, the ‘Deputy Chair of the Audition Panel’ who was actually very lovely.

After performing, the first question I was asked was whether I was still at school. Considering this was a previous downfall, I hastily proceded to correct them and tell them about my gap year and various travels. I mentioned my learning to ski, and work experience with an English touring theatre company in Hong Kong. I talked about a play I’d seen the night before (Duet for One with Juliet Stevenson) and why I loved the challenge of playing an iconic character like Cleopatra.  It comparison to last year.. I was pretty darn prepared.

For the grand finale I was asked to sing my song – Spark of Creation from Stephen Shwartz musical Children of Eden. It was.. oh, god.. I can’t really go into detail. All I can say is.. well. It was murder. I murdered that song. I think I even apologised for that final, godawful note.

A little under a month later I got the result. It was very stressful opening that thin, little letter.

But, thank god, the word ‘delighted’ replaced ‘regret’. I can assure you that shrieks and various dancing ensued. Got to stage three! Oh yeah!

I have been asked to participate in a short workshop in mid-may, where I will ‘work on scenes from various plays and monologues’. I’ve also been asked to prepare a brand spanking new monologue, either classical or contemporary. I tend to lean towards classical pieces, but I’m not sure what I should go for – I’m really looking for the perfect monologue for this one. I guess I have three weeks to work out whether that’s a Rosalind or a Liz Morden..