The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Arguably the most famous, well known, most talked about drama school in this century. It is probably the one school that receives more applications, has more audition stages, a tougher criteria and at a whopping £55.00 it is one of the most expensive schools to audition at also with over 100 years of history, Lord Richard Attenborough as the president (yes it has a president) and Alan Rickman as chairman it is often thought of as being quite intimidating.
9:50am.
I stood outside the entrance and looked up. Above the doors leading into the main reception is a stone slab with the faded letters of the schools name carved into it. It seems as though, perhaps, this was placed all those years ago at the opening of the school and has never been replaced representing the vast history and prestige of the school, never to be changed. I took a deep breath and walked through the doors into the main reception. I was greeted with a central stair case that splits into 2 different stair cases heading left and right after just 6 or 7 steps, then after levelling out the stair case turns on it self and splits again, left and right, heading up once more, then levelling out and the splitting again and again.
I registered my name and was given a white sticker which I was asked to stick to my clothing somewhere in view. For the next couple of hours I would be know to the world as 'RADA - Auditionee'
Soon a lady came and collected me and took my up the stairs opting to take the left hand stairs rather than the right leading me past a grand oil painting of Lord Attenborough. This may have been a conscious choice by the woman, briefed to lead all auditionees past this painting, but nevertheless there was the man who I have admired and watched in some of the greatest films I have ever seen. I quietly looked him in the eye and thought "wish me luck". I was lead into a room with a long table, like a conference room, chairs lay all around the table with one chair at the head. Pictures of previous RADA students lay on the walls all around the room looking at us, staring at us as if to say "who of all of you will be the ones to join us" These weren't current students or newly graduated students either. Dame Helen Mirren lay opposite me, glaring in the seductive totally in control way all headshots are taken, Attenborough, Rickman and many other actors lay on this wall all with serious pride in their eyes.
The room was quiet, totally silent. Sat in the chairs around the table were 30 or so auditionees, all with the usual nervous faces, all waiting expectantly considering what was about to happen. Fortunately at every audition i've been to there is alway one person who is willing to break the silence and engage everyone else in conversation. I've never been that person but i'm glad there are people out there who are willing to do that, purely because talking about something, even listening to anything, really helps to relax the situation, however there was so much tension and nervous energy in the room all it would take is a soft "boo!" and thirty 18 to 26 year olds would all keel over with mild heart attacks!
"Good morning" in walked a small elegant woman holding a pile of application forms and several pencils. Before saying another word the woman handed out our application forms and asked us to write down our two speeches, our alternative and if we were accepted to go through the next round the song we would sing, but this was necessary if we didn't know it yet. After filling out the forms and handing them back the small elegant woman went on to explain about the process, what would be happening today, what would happen if we got through and what the course entails.
Then she went on to say something like this...
"Acting is one of the most demanding, reworking, re-examining, challenging, unpredictable professions in the world. 95% of actors are out of work at any one time and most will work once and have to sustain their lives through other means, you will have to make sacrifices and quite often work for free. It is not for everyone, it really isn't and you have to think seriously if you want this. You also have to be an optimist, you have to have the ability to keep going and treat rejection as if it is part of your daily routine. If any of you here have any other inkling or ambition to do something else then acting is not the profession for you, you have got to want it with your soul, you have to live it and breath it every single day, it is not for everyone."
Silence.
A collective Gulp was felt through the minds of everyone sat at the table and suddenly I could feel every single person ask them self in sheer panic "Is there anything else I want to do?! is there anything else?!!"
The woman left and 4 current students entered the room as if on cue and separated us into four groups by reading out our names in perfectly worked on and projected voices. My group were lead out of the building and across the road to another building, where all the rehearsal rooms and common rooms seemed to live. We were asked to wait outside of one rooms until the panel called us in.
So this was it, I sat outside with the others, just as quiet as the others waiting to go in and perform my 2 speeches when my name was called. I was led into the room by a woman and upon entering I saw a man sat behind a table in the corner. The woman joined him and introduced themselves and we just had a chat. There weren't any questions really it literally was just a chat and it was really nice, they were both lovely and relaxed and asked me to start when I wanted poring me water and making me feel at ease.
The first round came and went quicker than anything and despite all the staring pictures, the oil painting of Lord Attenborough, the faded entrance, the reputation and the scariest speech in the world I found RADA to be one of the most pleasant and welcoming drama schools out of the whole bunch. When you look back at all the encounters I had with the different objects and people I don't believe they're actually there to intimidate at all, in fact all I saw was a sense of pride, an institution or school that was extraordinarily proud of what it had achieved, proud of the great actors and actresses that had come through it's doors and pride in just how many applicants apply wanting to be trained within it's walls and pride in being able to actually show off its most proudest assets. The scary talk the elegant woman gave us was quite simply the truth, seen through the eyes of experience and perhaps it was something we needed to hear now, sooner rather than later, it wasn't there to scare us or put us off but to wake us up to just what it was we were attempting to undertake.
So my advice would be not to be intimidated by RADA but to treat it as another audition and to once again take on board that speech the woman gave, soak everything up and take it all in.
A letter arrived, a recall
My jaw dropped
Sunday 5 June 2011
Monday 7 March 2011
GSA - Guildford School of Acting
The last time I auditioned for GSA was in 2009 and I was offered a place on the reserve list, the list of applicants that have potential for training but are reserved incase anyone who has actually been offered a place decides to drop out.
Not surprisingly, no-one did.
2 years on and GSA have change their location, they are now part of the University of Surrey and have their very own shiny new building with rehearsal studios and dance spaces, rooms with pianos and a small theatre for showcasing. I arrived early and went to the reception desk. Like many drama schools everything is organised and coordinated by current students and thats exactly who were there to greet me upon my arrival. You'd instantly recognise a student by what they're wearing, from my experience at GSA 2 years ago everyone wore black. It's an acting standard. It's a neutral colour meaning that when you perform the audience are able to use their imagination to dress you as they like and there is nothing suggestive to distract them from the text. Either that or GSA uniform is just black, or maybe all the students are secretly in love with the colour? anyway I won't dwell on it,
"Alex Bennett? right, if you just want to take a seat over there I'll come and get you in about 10 minutes"
I took my seat over there opposite, believe it or not, a Starbucks. Yep even one of the most respectable drama schools in the country couldn't escape the clutches of the world famous coffee house. GSA was my number one choice back in 2009 and I wasn't treating it any less now. It's a fantastic place and one of the rare times where I have felt almost at home, the students and staff are warm, friendly and really approachable who all genuinely want to get the best out of you whilst conducting things in a professional manner. I never felt intimidated or out of place and felt at ease with the surroundings. Everything that happens in the day is explained in the letter they send out after you have applied meaning there are no surprises you have to worry yourself with it's all incredibly enjoyable.
"If all of the BA Acting applicant would like to follow me please, we'll all go for a short warm up" exclaimed one of the students
We were led up two flights of stairs just past the main reception and shepherded into a room, there was a piano tucked in the corner and a seating area a long the side. We all put our stuff down and were asked to stand in a circle.
"Right, so, how's everyone feeling?" came the cheery student
Silence
"Not so good I take it, well please don't worry, whilst we're here I'm just going to explain what's going to happen. This is one of our rehearsal spaces at GSA and right now we're all going to take part in a quick warm up to get you all loose and ready for the panel. This part has nothing to do with your actual audition and i'm nothing to do with the assessment, so please don't be scared of me, I have no idea how to assess you i'm just here to warm you up, as wrong as that may sound. This bit is purely for you. Now before we begin lets go round the circle one at a time and I want you all to say your name and an interesting fact or embarrassing story that as happened to you"
Ah crap i forgot all about this!
I was three people in from the start of the circle and the challenge was coming at me, fast.
"Hi i'm Chris, I'm 18 and my interesting fact is I train guide dogs"
A collective awwwww rang out around the circle and everyone in the room automatically adored Chris. A confident smile drew across his face,
"Chris that's brilliant! what a fantastic job! how long have you been training them for?" asked the bubbly student
A conversation sprung up between the two of them until eventually the student had to move things a long
"Hi i'm Lisa, i'm 19 and my interesting fact is I was born on a high speed train"
A collective Woooooooah! rang out around the circle and everyone in the room automatically thought Lisa was cool
"Wow! that's amazing, was it in motion at the time?"
A conversation sprung up between the two of them for a while giving me time to think
Crap! how can i possibly follow this?! guide dog trainers and train births! not even normal train births but high speed train births! quick think of something!
"Hi i'm Alex, i'm 22 and my interesting fact is I have a pet tortoise"
...
Silence
Complete silence
A collective nothing rang out around the circle and no-one automatically adored or thought I was cool, in fact everyone was just staring right at me, all heads in the circle had turned and a small sad breeze whistled past my ears,
"Next" commanded the student
After we had been round the circle we went straight into a warm up led by the current students of GSA. It consisted of throat and voice exercises, shaking out all the limbs and then reaching down touching your toes before very slowly pulling yourself back up one limb at a time until eventually the last thing to come up was your head. The exercises really worked and helped extract all the nerves I was feeling. We even played a game called 'Ride to Market' a GSA standard at all auditions and its brilliant. I can't explain it, you just have to take part but it's nothing scary it gets you working as a group and is always really fun.
"Ok, now I'm going to lead you all back downstairs to the waiting area and then you will be called into the audition room one after the other. There are 2 panels working today so you shouldn't be kept too long, are there any questions?"
There weren't. We were lead back downstairs and sure enough about 15 - 20 minutes later someone in black came to collect me. I was lead back up the two flights of stairs and asked to sit on one of two chairs outside the audition room. The student that lead me up never left me a lone or anything and kept talking to me offering me advice and letting me know what happens and was generally very supportive.
"the panel will see you now"
I walked into the space and two ladies sat behind a desk somewhere towards the end of the room, the wall to the left was just glass with a long curtain drawn half way across it and there was a desk and a pile of chairs at the back. One seat sat vacant at the opposite end of the table, this seat was clearly for me.
"Hello Alex, very pleased to meet you my name is...and this is..." Sorry again, please feel free to fill in the blanks with names of your own my adrenalin was pumping through me so hard that names were pushed straight out of my brain
One of the first things they both did was comment on my handshake, stating that it was firm and confident. This had never happened before, at any interview let alone audition. I was always taught to give a firm handshake when greeting anyone as it installs confidence and self belief and honestly it hasn't done me any harm at all, so a quick tip, always have a firm handshake, well it worked in this instance.
One of GSA's instructions on their applicant letter is that you must have four pieces prepared, 2 classic and 2 modern and the panel will choose which ones they would like to see on the day. I had 6 ready for use but chose the two that I thought showed me off in the best light, sure enough, about 3 minutes in, I was asked for my four pieces and they selected which ones they would like to see
"If you could stand further back in the space and please feel free to use a chair if you need one, take your time and only begin when your ready"
I took a deep breath, said the first line silently in my head and begun
"Alex, what I saw there was an actor with good instincts, good aspirations and you understand everything that's going on. My problem was that they took too long, there was one point in there where I almost stopped you so that we could talk more and we could get to know you a little but I fear we now have to rush that bit"
I groaned, I actually enjoyed the audition and thought the pieces went well, I am my toughest critic and there has never been an instance where i've thought that my performance has been flawless because it hasn't I could always improve and this time I decided I would take on the advice that was given and would cut the pieces down a bit. Unlike in my other auditions the formal interview took place right there and I was asked about three or so questions that were as follows;
"What other drama schools have you applied to?"
"Why do you want to train at GSA?"
"What role do you think you would be cast as in a modern context?"
The last question I had never been asked before and had to make something up on the spot, I had a think and answered as confidently and truthfully as I could
"Thank you Alex, it was lovely to meet you, what happens now is that we will confirm in writing within seven days wether or not we would like to see you again and wish you all the best"
And that was that, I thanked them and walked out of the audition not knowing what the outcome would be, I thanked and said goodbye to the student in black who showed me into the audition room, gathered my things and made my way out. Obviously I was dwelling on what she had said, there was what seemed like a ghostly voice hovering around me, whispering in my ear "It was too looooong" said the voice
7 days later
"We would like to take his time to thank you for auditioning with us. Unfortunately we are unable to offer you a place on our BA Acting course this year and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours"
3 down, 5 to go...
Come on Alex, lets grab something to eat
I sat down and reflected upon what had come to pass at my audition and one thing stood out, clearer than anything else, it was staring at me right in the face almost poking at me, one thing was absolutely certain.
Having a pet tortoise isn't an interesting fact, not really
Sigh
Not surprisingly, no-one did.
2 years on and GSA have change their location, they are now part of the University of Surrey and have their very own shiny new building with rehearsal studios and dance spaces, rooms with pianos and a small theatre for showcasing. I arrived early and went to the reception desk. Like many drama schools everything is organised and coordinated by current students and thats exactly who were there to greet me upon my arrival. You'd instantly recognise a student by what they're wearing, from my experience at GSA 2 years ago everyone wore black. It's an acting standard. It's a neutral colour meaning that when you perform the audience are able to use their imagination to dress you as they like and there is nothing suggestive to distract them from the text. Either that or GSA uniform is just black, or maybe all the students are secretly in love with the colour? anyway I won't dwell on it,
"Alex Bennett? right, if you just want to take a seat over there I'll come and get you in about 10 minutes"
I took my seat over there opposite, believe it or not, a Starbucks. Yep even one of the most respectable drama schools in the country couldn't escape the clutches of the world famous coffee house. GSA was my number one choice back in 2009 and I wasn't treating it any less now. It's a fantastic place and one of the rare times where I have felt almost at home, the students and staff are warm, friendly and really approachable who all genuinely want to get the best out of you whilst conducting things in a professional manner. I never felt intimidated or out of place and felt at ease with the surroundings. Everything that happens in the day is explained in the letter they send out after you have applied meaning there are no surprises you have to worry yourself with it's all incredibly enjoyable.
"If all of the BA Acting applicant would like to follow me please, we'll all go for a short warm up" exclaimed one of the students
We were led up two flights of stairs just past the main reception and shepherded into a room, there was a piano tucked in the corner and a seating area a long the side. We all put our stuff down and were asked to stand in a circle.
"Right, so, how's everyone feeling?" came the cheery student
Silence
"Not so good I take it, well please don't worry, whilst we're here I'm just going to explain what's going to happen. This is one of our rehearsal spaces at GSA and right now we're all going to take part in a quick warm up to get you all loose and ready for the panel. This part has nothing to do with your actual audition and i'm nothing to do with the assessment, so please don't be scared of me, I have no idea how to assess you i'm just here to warm you up, as wrong as that may sound. This bit is purely for you. Now before we begin lets go round the circle one at a time and I want you all to say your name and an interesting fact or embarrassing story that as happened to you"
Ah crap i forgot all about this!
I was three people in from the start of the circle and the challenge was coming at me, fast.
"Hi i'm Chris, I'm 18 and my interesting fact is I train guide dogs"
A collective awwwww rang out around the circle and everyone in the room automatically adored Chris. A confident smile drew across his face,
"Chris that's brilliant! what a fantastic job! how long have you been training them for?" asked the bubbly student
A conversation sprung up between the two of them until eventually the student had to move things a long
"Hi i'm Lisa, i'm 19 and my interesting fact is I was born on a high speed train"
A collective Woooooooah! rang out around the circle and everyone in the room automatically thought Lisa was cool
"Wow! that's amazing, was it in motion at the time?"
A conversation sprung up between the two of them for a while giving me time to think
Crap! how can i possibly follow this?! guide dog trainers and train births! not even normal train births but high speed train births! quick think of something!
"Hi i'm Alex, i'm 22 and my interesting fact is I have a pet tortoise"
...
Silence
Complete silence
A collective nothing rang out around the circle and no-one automatically adored or thought I was cool, in fact everyone was just staring right at me, all heads in the circle had turned and a small sad breeze whistled past my ears,
"Next" commanded the student
After we had been round the circle we went straight into a warm up led by the current students of GSA. It consisted of throat and voice exercises, shaking out all the limbs and then reaching down touching your toes before very slowly pulling yourself back up one limb at a time until eventually the last thing to come up was your head. The exercises really worked and helped extract all the nerves I was feeling. We even played a game called 'Ride to Market' a GSA standard at all auditions and its brilliant. I can't explain it, you just have to take part but it's nothing scary it gets you working as a group and is always really fun.
"Ok, now I'm going to lead you all back downstairs to the waiting area and then you will be called into the audition room one after the other. There are 2 panels working today so you shouldn't be kept too long, are there any questions?"
There weren't. We were lead back downstairs and sure enough about 15 - 20 minutes later someone in black came to collect me. I was lead back up the two flights of stairs and asked to sit on one of two chairs outside the audition room. The student that lead me up never left me a lone or anything and kept talking to me offering me advice and letting me know what happens and was generally very supportive.
"the panel will see you now"
I walked into the space and two ladies sat behind a desk somewhere towards the end of the room, the wall to the left was just glass with a long curtain drawn half way across it and there was a desk and a pile of chairs at the back. One seat sat vacant at the opposite end of the table, this seat was clearly for me.
"Hello Alex, very pleased to meet you my name is...and this is..." Sorry again, please feel free to fill in the blanks with names of your own my adrenalin was pumping through me so hard that names were pushed straight out of my brain
One of the first things they both did was comment on my handshake, stating that it was firm and confident. This had never happened before, at any interview let alone audition. I was always taught to give a firm handshake when greeting anyone as it installs confidence and self belief and honestly it hasn't done me any harm at all, so a quick tip, always have a firm handshake, well it worked in this instance.
One of GSA's instructions on their applicant letter is that you must have four pieces prepared, 2 classic and 2 modern and the panel will choose which ones they would like to see on the day. I had 6 ready for use but chose the two that I thought showed me off in the best light, sure enough, about 3 minutes in, I was asked for my four pieces and they selected which ones they would like to see
"If you could stand further back in the space and please feel free to use a chair if you need one, take your time and only begin when your ready"
I took a deep breath, said the first line silently in my head and begun
"Alex, what I saw there was an actor with good instincts, good aspirations and you understand everything that's going on. My problem was that they took too long, there was one point in there where I almost stopped you so that we could talk more and we could get to know you a little but I fear we now have to rush that bit"
I groaned, I actually enjoyed the audition and thought the pieces went well, I am my toughest critic and there has never been an instance where i've thought that my performance has been flawless because it hasn't I could always improve and this time I decided I would take on the advice that was given and would cut the pieces down a bit. Unlike in my other auditions the formal interview took place right there and I was asked about three or so questions that were as follows;
"What other drama schools have you applied to?"
"Why do you want to train at GSA?"
"What role do you think you would be cast as in a modern context?"
The last question I had never been asked before and had to make something up on the spot, I had a think and answered as confidently and truthfully as I could
"Thank you Alex, it was lovely to meet you, what happens now is that we will confirm in writing within seven days wether or not we would like to see you again and wish you all the best"
And that was that, I thanked them and walked out of the audition not knowing what the outcome would be, I thanked and said goodbye to the student in black who showed me into the audition room, gathered my things and made my way out. Obviously I was dwelling on what she had said, there was what seemed like a ghostly voice hovering around me, whispering in my ear "It was too looooong" said the voice
7 days later
"We would like to take his time to thank you for auditioning with us. Unfortunately we are unable to offer you a place on our BA Acting course this year and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours"
3 down, 5 to go...
Come on Alex, lets grab something to eat
I sat down and reflected upon what had come to pass at my audition and one thing stood out, clearer than anything else, it was staring at me right in the face almost poking at me, one thing was absolutely certain.
Having a pet tortoise isn't an interesting fact, not really
Sigh
Tuesday 1 March 2011
LAMDA 2011
Barons Court.
I went into answering them both with confidence and just told the truth, it was a fairly informal interview but if you want to now the rest of the questions I was asked please find them below so that you can prepare;
"What have you been up to recently?"
"Why have you chosen those pieces?"
"Are their any questions you want to ask us?"
And that was that, I was wished good luck by almost everyone I came across and I walked out not having any idea of how it went.
3 weeks later sure enough there came the letter informing me that regretfully they were not able to offer me a place this year on their 3 year acting course but if I wanted to I could join their drama school audition preparation course which they were offering only to a 'select few' applicants for a fee of £666 for 2 weeks'
I almost choked! it wasn't being turned down, I was fine with that but £666!! do they really need that amount of money for a 2 week course?! I suppose yes you would have the best training for it and be given the best amount of attention but my thoughts turned to students or applicants who would strive to get that kind of money together feeling that it would be best for them. But, actually, you can get a lot more out of courses that run for 6 weeks for less money! seriously, just google it. Anyway part of LAMDA's 'criteria' for selection is 'to assess the ability of an applicant to perform an 'unrehearsed audition piece', surely then this is a bit of a contradiction? and for that much money?! Averagely there are around 3000+ applicants, all of whom have paid around £45 for the chance to audition but then to ask for £666 for a short course to help aspiring actors audition technique. Yes it's fantastic drama schools offer such 'great' opportunities for actors but for that much money do they really?
I felt sad and all of a sudden I found myself loosing a lot of respect for such a great school.
I rounded the corner from the tube station and just on the left, after the Hammersmith flyover, lies the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, boasting it's 150th year. I walked straight past it and up to the petrol station where I bought some water to try and steady my nerves. Back in 2009 I was recalled twice to LAMDA getting down to the last 50 applicants, or so we were told.
I was nervous because last year I had never made it beyond the preliminary audition and of course I was worried that the same thing might happen this time.
I plugged in my headphones and stood a few yards down the road from the entrance, with the big brown double doors in sight, and blasted out the Pirates of the Caribbean theme into my ears giving me the confidence to walk through those doors and once again begin the process.
"Hello, are you hear to audition?" asked the student currently in year one of training, lucky....
"Yes, it's for 10:30am"
"ah right, and your name please?"
I gave her my name and was directed down the familiar corridor, past the wall of black and white headshots from just graduated and past students, all with smug looks on their face staring at me mockingly, through past 2 rehearsal rooms and finally into the LAMDA common room where around 30 applicants awaited.
Silence.
This isn't terribly uncommon in audition waiting rooms, everyone is so nervous and trying to focus that there isn't a noise, not a single peep from anyone, everyone just as scared as the other waiting for their name to be called. Eventually my name and 3 others were called out and we were collectively taken down a corridor and asked to sit outside of the room we would be auditioning in.
All the time at LAMDA you are taken care of by current students and they're always around and more than happy to answer any questions you have about anything to do with the school or the training or about how they have found there time so far at the school. The only time you see any 'officials' from LAMDA is on the audition panel, it's usually 2 people sitting behind a desk but on one occasion there were three, all of whom either teach or have something to do with the selection process.
"Ok Alex if you follow me into the room they will see you now"
I followed the student into the room
"This is Alex Bennett" he announced out loud in a perfectly projected voice into the space
"Hello Alex, if you would like to walk into the space and stand behind the black piece of tape marked out on the floor, if you could resist the urge to come any further forward than that line then that would be great, when your ready if you could give us the name of your speeches and then begin"
One of the only things I hate about LAMDA auditions is that little piece of black tape. It's marked out out on the floor, just as they said, but a lot further back in the space, in fact it barely gives you any room to move around at all, which I suppose is their point,but unfortunately for me I'm a mover. So I gave them the names of my pieces and did as best I could to adapt to the instruction they gave me.
I began.
"Thank you Alex, what will happen now is that you will be taken into an interview with some of our administrative staff and then after that you will be free to go and we will let you know of the outcome within 2 - 3 weeks , it was lovely to meet you"
I walked out to find more applicants sitting outside where I was sat 5 minutes before just enforcing again exactly how hard this process is. I was led back down the corridors I came from and was asked to wait outside another room where 2 members of the administrative staff would interview me.
I was led in
"Hi Alex I'm Natalie and this is.." my apologies to you all but I can't remember the name of the man who interviewed me, lets call him Paul
"Hi Alex I'm Natalie and this is Paul"
Natalie and Paul asked me to sit down at the other end of a table in a room with a few hundred book stacked up behind them, almost library style but with only one set of shelves. Once again i'd like to stress how useless I am at drama school interviews but I gave myself time to prepare for this one.
"So Alex, how was that?"
I went into answering them both with confidence and just told the truth, it was a fairly informal interview but if you want to now the rest of the questions I was asked please find them below so that you can prepare;
"What have you been up to recently?"
"Why have you chosen those pieces?"
"Are their any questions you want to ask us?"
And that was that, I was wished good luck by almost everyone I came across and I walked out not having any idea of how it went.
3 weeks later sure enough there came the letter informing me that regretfully they were not able to offer me a place this year on their 3 year acting course but if I wanted to I could join their drama school audition preparation course which they were offering only to a 'select few' applicants for a fee of £666 for 2 weeks'
I almost choked! it wasn't being turned down, I was fine with that but £666!! do they really need that amount of money for a 2 week course?! I suppose yes you would have the best training for it and be given the best amount of attention but my thoughts turned to students or applicants who would strive to get that kind of money together feeling that it would be best for them. But, actually, you can get a lot more out of courses that run for 6 weeks for less money! seriously, just google it. Anyway part of LAMDA's 'criteria' for selection is 'to assess the ability of an applicant to perform an 'unrehearsed audition piece', surely then this is a bit of a contradiction? and for that much money?! Averagely there are around 3000+ applicants, all of whom have paid around £45 for the chance to audition but then to ask for £666 for a short course to help aspiring actors audition technique. Yes it's fantastic drama schools offer such 'great' opportunities for actors but for that much money do they really?
I felt sad and all of a sudden I found myself loosing a lot of respect for such a great school.
Friday 25 February 2011
Bristol Old Vic 20/01/11
07:02am
07:02am...
07:02am?!
What?!! No, it can't be!
I glanced across the table at my phone confirming the digitised number on my alarm clock
No!! not today!
I was in a panic, a real panic, I flung myself out of bed and immediately tripped over the slippers I had laid out in front of my bed the night before, Whack! I hit the floor, hard
Because of the sheer amount of adrenalin rushing through me I barely had time to feel the pain in my knee, I picked myself up and rushed into the bathroom taking a towel with me. I ran the water whilst using the loo and washed my face at the same time as brushing my teeth, I've never been able to do two things a once so each time I brushed my teeth I had to stop and scrub my face
This is taking too long!
I abandoned the bathroom and raced to my wardrobe and pulled out the first pair of jeans and t-shirt i could find, I then grabbed my jacket and shoes after pulling on my socks and bolted out the door, I was still half way down the street when I managed to get my left shoe on, I ran round the corner onto he man road and hailed a taxi
07:13am
"Paddington train station as quick as possible please"
"No problem guv'nor" came the reply
We speeded round corners and down roads until eventually Paddington came into sight
"at'll be £8.50 please mate"
I paid the driver and steamed out of the taxi, i was running so fast it hurt, each breath causing more and more pain, my lungs not able to keep up
07:25am
I was at the self service ticket machine where the e-mail had told me to pick up my pre-paid tickets from patiently pressing the touch screen button and entering the required information
Come on Come on!!
Finally two tickets successfully appeared and after grabbing them and I sprinted over to the barriers and almost threw them at the machine, a small smile came over my face just as I walked forward but something wasn't right, the barrier wouldn't open,
I tried again,
nothing,
come on what's wrong?!
I could see the train in front of me the steam taunting me as if it was about to leave
I glanced down at the tickets and immediately saw my problem. I had picked up two receipts printed on the same type of card as a ticket! my tickets were still in the machine!
07:27am
without think I bolted towards the ticket vendor and saw that my two tickets were still waiting for me, I lunged at them and sprinted back, I put them in the machine, the barriers swung open and I leaped into the doors
07:29am
one minute later the automated train doors closed and ever so slowly the train started upon it's journey to Bristol.
I slumped down into my chair and reflected on what had just come to pass, I came to the conclusion that at some point during the course of the evening I had very casually turned over in my sleep and switched my alarm off, I have been known to do it, especially on an early morning, mainly because I detest mornings but I couldn't think about that now, I couldn't really think of much as my body was still half asleep, I had an hour and a half to wake up.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has such a fantastic reputation and I had never auditioned there before. After researching the course and looking at what the school had to offer I thought I'd give it a bloody good go which is what I was doing sitting on that train.
The school itself is situated just outside of Temple Meads train station, about 10 minutes in a taxi costing around £10.00 or I would imagine 30 - 40 minutes on a bus, which I do not recommend unless you know the area. You want as little stress as possible on an audition day, your going to be nervous enough as it is without having to find bus routes etc.
I arrived at the campus feeling fairly nervous and was surprised as how much it looks just like an ordinary house from the outside. I was early so I decided to have a look around, it's in a really nice place, not city like and more residential than anything, I rounded the corner and found a group of students doing, what appeared to be, a warm up. They were in a glass shaped square attached to the back of the school raised above the ground. It looked really nice, especially as the sun was out.
Right, no more putting things off, the time had come. It's not particularly well marked where to go as there are two buildings so I just picked one and walked up to the door, before I had a chance to knock a lady answered the door
"you must be Alex"
"oh...erm....yes I am" wow how did she know that?
"your the 10:00am slot is that correct?"
Ah, thats how
"Yes thats correct"
"Right well, this is the waiting area, you'll be called up shortly, would you like anything to drink at all?"
"oh...er..."
"no? ok not to worry, the bathrooms are just threw there and I am going to give you this piece of text which the panel will ask you to sight read, have you ever sight read before?"
Wait, what? there was no mention of sight reading in the requirements letter
"oh...ok...well yes i've sight read before" I said gingerly
"great, please do not worry about it too much, it will not have any effect in the decision the panel make about you, it's just for them to see how you do"
Well thats bullshit
"right...ok, thank you"
"good luck"
"thank...." but she had already left
I sat down and glanced at the piece of text in my hand, I could immediately tell it was an extract from the classic Charles Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol' but it was more than a paragraph and a little less than a page. I immediately started to read through it to get familiar with the wording so I could read from if needed.
"Alex?" came a mans voice
"Yes"
"Hi, would you like to come up?"
Here goes, good luck buddy
I travelled up 2 flights of wooden stairs and entered a room not bigger than conference room. A woman was already sitting behind a table with a vacant chair next to her presumably for the man who had just called me up. They introduced themselves ad gestured me to sit down in the empty chair across from them
"So Alex, why do you want to come to Bristol?"
I am really bad at interviews, mainly because I get so caught up in what i think they WANT to hear and not infact the truth of why I actually do want to study at drama schools, this, unfortunately, was one of those instances.
After answering three questions, they directed me to the space behind me and asked me to not stand 'too far forward' and to use the space as much as possible. So I took a deep breath and went into my Shakespeare, Modern, song and sight reading.
It was pretty gruelling, as I expected it would be and my dreadful start to the day didn't help, in fact the second I finished singing, even before the sight reading I knew I hadn't got in, the energy was sucked from the room and I didn't enjoy any moment of it myself. I can safely say this was the worst audition ever taken part in.
"Alex, can I give you a bit of advice?"
"by all means"
"Your monologues do not contrast, there's just no humour or enjoyment in them. You are good, I can see you know everything that's happening in the scene but you didn't smile once, I'm sure you have a lovely smile but I just feel really disengaged because of the lack of energy in the room so you need to focus more on enjoying a piece, after all, you have paid to do this, please keep that in mind for your other auditions"
I would, it was such a great bit of advice and although I walked out of that room knowing that it was a solid 'no' I took everything she said in and actually completely agreed with what she had told me, I honestly didn't enjoy any bit of it
and I didn't smile,
I felt like an idiot, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life and I didn't even enjoy a moment of it, I was tired but thats no excuse, I would take what she had to say and apply it to every forthcoming audition, coming up and in the future.
Sure enough 3 days later I got the infamous e-mail 'we have enjoyed meeting you and thank you for attending the audition but regretfully we are unable to offer you a place at Bristol this year, we wish you luck and every success in the future'
Yes I was disappointed but I shook it off, picked myself up and looked forward to the next one.
I glanced across the table at my phone confirming the digitised number on my alarm clock
No!! not today!
I was in a panic, a real panic, I flung myself out of bed and immediately tripped over the slippers I had laid out in front of my bed the night before, Whack! I hit the floor, hard
Because of the sheer amount of adrenalin rushing through me I barely had time to feel the pain in my knee, I picked myself up and rushed into the bathroom taking a towel with me. I ran the water whilst using the loo and washed my face at the same time as brushing my teeth, I've never been able to do two things a once so each time I brushed my teeth I had to stop and scrub my face
This is taking too long!
I abandoned the bathroom and raced to my wardrobe and pulled out the first pair of jeans and t-shirt i could find, I then grabbed my jacket and shoes after pulling on my socks and bolted out the door, I was still half way down the street when I managed to get my left shoe on, I ran round the corner onto he man road and hailed a taxi
07:13am
"Paddington train station as quick as possible please"
"No problem guv'nor" came the reply
We speeded round corners and down roads until eventually Paddington came into sight
"at'll be £8.50 please mate"
I paid the driver and steamed out of the taxi, i was running so fast it hurt, each breath causing more and more pain, my lungs not able to keep up
07:25am
I was at the self service ticket machine where the e-mail had told me to pick up my pre-paid tickets from patiently pressing the touch screen button and entering the required information
Come on Come on!!
Finally two tickets successfully appeared and after grabbing them and I sprinted over to the barriers and almost threw them at the machine, a small smile came over my face just as I walked forward but something wasn't right, the barrier wouldn't open,
I tried again,
nothing,
come on what's wrong?!
I could see the train in front of me the steam taunting me as if it was about to leave
I glanced down at the tickets and immediately saw my problem. I had picked up two receipts printed on the same type of card as a ticket! my tickets were still in the machine!
07:27am
without think I bolted towards the ticket vendor and saw that my two tickets were still waiting for me, I lunged at them and sprinted back, I put them in the machine, the barriers swung open and I leaped into the doors
07:29am
one minute later the automated train doors closed and ever so slowly the train started upon it's journey to Bristol.
I slumped down into my chair and reflected on what had just come to pass, I came to the conclusion that at some point during the course of the evening I had very casually turned over in my sleep and switched my alarm off, I have been known to do it, especially on an early morning, mainly because I detest mornings but I couldn't think about that now, I couldn't really think of much as my body was still half asleep, I had an hour and a half to wake up.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has such a fantastic reputation and I had never auditioned there before. After researching the course and looking at what the school had to offer I thought I'd give it a bloody good go which is what I was doing sitting on that train.
The school itself is situated just outside of Temple Meads train station, about 10 minutes in a taxi costing around £10.00 or I would imagine 30 - 40 minutes on a bus, which I do not recommend unless you know the area. You want as little stress as possible on an audition day, your going to be nervous enough as it is without having to find bus routes etc.
I arrived at the campus feeling fairly nervous and was surprised as how much it looks just like an ordinary house from the outside. I was early so I decided to have a look around, it's in a really nice place, not city like and more residential than anything, I rounded the corner and found a group of students doing, what appeared to be, a warm up. They were in a glass shaped square attached to the back of the school raised above the ground. It looked really nice, especially as the sun was out.
Right, no more putting things off, the time had come. It's not particularly well marked where to go as there are two buildings so I just picked one and walked up to the door, before I had a chance to knock a lady answered the door
"you must be Alex"
"oh...erm....yes I am" wow how did she know that?
"your the 10:00am slot is that correct?"
Ah, thats how
"Yes thats correct"
"Right well, this is the waiting area, you'll be called up shortly, would you like anything to drink at all?"
"oh...er..."
"no? ok not to worry, the bathrooms are just threw there and I am going to give you this piece of text which the panel will ask you to sight read, have you ever sight read before?"
Wait, what? there was no mention of sight reading in the requirements letter
"oh...ok...well yes i've sight read before" I said gingerly
"great, please do not worry about it too much, it will not have any effect in the decision the panel make about you, it's just for them to see how you do"
Well thats bullshit
"right...ok, thank you"
"good luck"
"thank...." but she had already left
I sat down and glanced at the piece of text in my hand, I could immediately tell it was an extract from the classic Charles Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol' but it was more than a paragraph and a little less than a page. I immediately started to read through it to get familiar with the wording so I could read from if needed.
"Alex?" came a mans voice
"Yes"
"Hi, would you like to come up?"
Here goes, good luck buddy
I travelled up 2 flights of wooden stairs and entered a room not bigger than conference room. A woman was already sitting behind a table with a vacant chair next to her presumably for the man who had just called me up. They introduced themselves ad gestured me to sit down in the empty chair across from them
"So Alex, why do you want to come to Bristol?"
I am really bad at interviews, mainly because I get so caught up in what i think they WANT to hear and not infact the truth of why I actually do want to study at drama schools, this, unfortunately, was one of those instances.
After answering three questions, they directed me to the space behind me and asked me to not stand 'too far forward' and to use the space as much as possible. So I took a deep breath and went into my Shakespeare, Modern, song and sight reading.
It was pretty gruelling, as I expected it would be and my dreadful start to the day didn't help, in fact the second I finished singing, even before the sight reading I knew I hadn't got in, the energy was sucked from the room and I didn't enjoy any moment of it myself. I can safely say this was the worst audition ever taken part in.
"Alex, can I give you a bit of advice?"
"by all means"
"Your monologues do not contrast, there's just no humour or enjoyment in them. You are good, I can see you know everything that's happening in the scene but you didn't smile once, I'm sure you have a lovely smile but I just feel really disengaged because of the lack of energy in the room so you need to focus more on enjoying a piece, after all, you have paid to do this, please keep that in mind for your other auditions"
I would, it was such a great bit of advice and although I walked out of that room knowing that it was a solid 'no' I took everything she said in and actually completely agreed with what she had told me, I honestly didn't enjoy any bit of it
and I didn't smile,
I felt like an idiot, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life and I didn't even enjoy a moment of it, I was tired but thats no excuse, I would take what she had to say and apply it to every forthcoming audition, coming up and in the future.
Sure enough 3 days later I got the infamous e-mail 'we have enjoyed meeting you and thank you for attending the audition but regretfully we are unable to offer you a place at Bristol this year, we wish you luck and every success in the future'
Yes I was disappointed but I shook it off, picked myself up and looked forward to the next one.
Thursday 24 February 2011
"so, what's it all about?'
Hello!
If your reading this then I suppose, like me, you are an actor and want to go to a wondrous place called Drama school. You may have heard about them...
I started auditioning 4 years ago and although in some cases I have made it all the way to 'reserve list' status I have thus far been unsuccessful in gaining a place at any schools I have auditioned for. I am 22 years old and started auditioning when I was 18.
I would like to say that I am here as a guide, to give advice and prepare you for what actually happens at drama school auditions as I too have gone wondering about the fantastical world of the internet in search of any piece of advice of what to expect and to my frustration couldn't find anything even remotely useful.
So I have started this blog to help you and hopefully allow you to prepare for what is in store. This year I am auditioning for 10 of the 'top' drama schools spanning from London to Manchester, Wales and Bristol and will be writing a blog after each one about what happened. Some schools I have auditioned at before and others it is my first time, so I know what to expect for some but not for others and will be sharing each experience with you as I go.
Firstly, if you have never auditioned at any schools before, they are VERY expensive, with each audition costing £35, £45 or even £55 (that was the minimum and maximum I have paid) so when you think about it 10 auditions at around £45 is - I'll let you do the math, i'm too scared to. So if you are not working then it may be a little tricky getting the money together. Secondly it is worth checking out each school and what they offer, all have differently structured courses covering most of the same 'disciplines' (strange actor talk for subjects) but some are a lot more intense than others, you've got to really want to do this as it will be like working a full time job only not getting paid for the next 3 years of your life! Also this is your money, you've got to research where you want to spend £45 for approximately 15 minutes of your time and you want to have gone to a 'good' school to actually get anywhere after 3 years of training, so please don't waste your money on something that isn't going to offer you the best for yourself and what you want. This is why I recommend this website (click on the link below) as it will give you a list of 'accredited' drama schools. Accredited drama schools are the ones that are industry recognised and will attract the best agents and casting directors to come and see you perform at the end of your third year so it's definitely worth checking out, but please check the courses! remember I know it sounds selfish and horrible but this is about you you you. http://www.ncdt.co.uk/.
So follow me on my journey through 10 preliminary auditions and if I get through to any recalls, fingers, toes, eyes, knees, elbows firmly crossed whilst touching as much wood as I can. I'll also write about those but one other piece of advice I will give you is to enjoy every single moment of it, and don't be afraid to take any risks or respond to anything, just take a deep breath and through yourself in,
you'll love it.
If your reading this then I suppose, like me, you are an actor and want to go to a wondrous place called Drama school. You may have heard about them...
I started auditioning 4 years ago and although in some cases I have made it all the way to 'reserve list' status I have thus far been unsuccessful in gaining a place at any schools I have auditioned for. I am 22 years old and started auditioning when I was 18.
I would like to say that I am here as a guide, to give advice and prepare you for what actually happens at drama school auditions as I too have gone wondering about the fantastical world of the internet in search of any piece of advice of what to expect and to my frustration couldn't find anything even remotely useful.
So I have started this blog to help you and hopefully allow you to prepare for what is in store. This year I am auditioning for 10 of the 'top' drama schools spanning from London to Manchester, Wales and Bristol and will be writing a blog after each one about what happened. Some schools I have auditioned at before and others it is my first time, so I know what to expect for some but not for others and will be sharing each experience with you as I go.
Firstly, if you have never auditioned at any schools before, they are VERY expensive, with each audition costing £35, £45 or even £55 (that was the minimum and maximum I have paid) so when you think about it 10 auditions at around £45 is - I'll let you do the math, i'm too scared to. So if you are not working then it may be a little tricky getting the money together. Secondly it is worth checking out each school and what they offer, all have differently structured courses covering most of the same 'disciplines' (strange actor talk for subjects) but some are a lot more intense than others, you've got to really want to do this as it will be like working a full time job only not getting paid for the next 3 years of your life! Also this is your money, you've got to research where you want to spend £45 for approximately 15 minutes of your time and you want to have gone to a 'good' school to actually get anywhere after 3 years of training, so please don't waste your money on something that isn't going to offer you the best for yourself and what you want. This is why I recommend this website (click on the link below) as it will give you a list of 'accredited' drama schools. Accredited drama schools are the ones that are industry recognised and will attract the best agents and casting directors to come and see you perform at the end of your third year so it's definitely worth checking out, but please check the courses! remember I know it sounds selfish and horrible but this is about you you you. http://www.ncdt.co.uk/.
So follow me on my journey through 10 preliminary auditions and if I get through to any recalls, fingers, toes, eyes, knees, elbows firmly crossed whilst touching as much wood as I can. I'll also write about those but one other piece of advice I will give you is to enjoy every single moment of it, and don't be afraid to take any risks or respond to anything, just take a deep breath and through yourself in,
you'll love it.
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