What is drama school like?

 Apologies that this blog has been very quiet in the last few months.

As a quick update, I am now a proud student at GSA (Guildford School of Acting) going into week seven of my first year as a BA Actor. It's a proud thing to write, considering that the entire content of this blog up until now has been dedicated to getting in to drama school and questioning the rights and wrongs etc. Now as I am beginning to settle in to the way of life at GSA, I am looking forward to continuing the next chapter of this blog, and my life, and all posts on this can be found under the tab 'Life at Drama School'.

So to begin this new section I thought it would be a good idea to do a post describing a little about what it's actually LIKE once you are here. We spend years of our life dreaming about it, but very few people actually know what it's like once you are here: course structure, lessons etc. and although most places will give you an outline, it's very helpful to hear first hand the true experience of it all. Just to clarify, this is still all very new to me, and this post is definitely not the B all and end all of what all drama schools are like. This is simply a depiction of my lessons and my experiences from just a few weeks at ONE particular drama school, and for many people it could be very different.

At GSA you have classes in VOICE, ACTING and MOVEMENT, something that every drama school does. However, what I did not know what that these are just broad terms for the sort of lessons you do throughout the week. So for example rather than just one general voice class, you have five. The voice classes at GSA are: ensemble singing, acting through song/anatomical voice, practical voice, voice and text, and accent and dialect. Similarly with movement, there is not only one movement class but: actor movement, laban, ballet, historical dance, and physical acting (languages of mime). Finally, there are three types of acting classes: two types of general acting one of which is based more on text, the other more on the actor in a raw sense, and storytelling. Therefore in total there are 13 classes all spread across the week, all of which are taught by different teachers.

This brings me on to what I feel I have learned about what drama school training can offer and why (i feel) it's so sought after. For me at GSA, I absolutely feel like every single part of me as an actor is being worked on so intricately, and by people who know what the fuck they're on about. There is not a single teacher that I have at GSA that does not amaze me with their knowledge. Voice teachers don't just teach you how to sing, they will tell you biologically each and every muscle involved in the singing process, and what ones are used for different types of singing qualities, and how to exercise them. Larynx placement, different ways to breath (as if anyone ever knew there were other ways) the actual scientific process of how a sound is made, and that's all in one lesson. Think of that thirteen times over in a week in all different fields. It is truly an honour to be surrounded by teachers who are not only industry professionals, but experts in their teaching field.

The timetable is undoubtedly full on, but the sheer variety of lessons throughout the day means that you don't notice it a huge amount. Everyday begins with a half an hour 8.30am warm up of intense cardio and stretching and directly after you begin your first lesson. Most lessons are an hour and a half and usually you will have four a day. Some acting lessons are three hours however, so on some days you may only have three lessons, or you finish later. My time table is 8:30am until 4.30pm every weekday with one 6pm exception. This means that my contact hours are around 42 hours a week.

Finally, GSA offer a huge amount of extra bits and pieces to get involved with. The fact that the school shares a campus with the university of Surrey means that you immediately have all of those resources at your fingertips like a library with pretty much every play you could ever need, societies and sales and SU events etc, not to mention student accommodation. But that is truly the tip of the iceberg. GSA organise extra dance classes in everything from ballet and tap to contemporary and extra stage combat classes. There are also so many student led projects like 'GSA lab' where people bring along their own writing to work on with other students, film projects etc. There is also a theatre opposite GSA where all of the third year shows take place, which all students can go and watch for just £2 at an inevitably professional standard. Last but not least GSA itself have their own SU that created their own freshers week full of genuinely hilarious and fun events like scavenger hunts, an icebreaker night of games and challenges, frat parties etc. you name it. The thing that anyone will tell you about GSA is that there is a community atmosphere like no other with everyone is so open to meeting everyone on every course. I never imagined third years would ever even want to talk to me, let alone invite all the freshers to their houses to meet them all. There is a GSA facebook page where people regularly post praise about work that they've seen each other do, lost items, pictures of #thirdyearnaps and #firstyearmassages and so much love its unreal. All of this combines to make an experience like no other, that no prospectus or course outline could give give justice.

Like I say this is just the first few weeks, and already I have covered so much but in such brief detail. There really are so many posts I could do on the subject of structure and experience alone, so don't think that this is it. I hope to write posts as regularly as my timetable will allow about how the process is developing, my feelings about it, and whether my opinions change etc. Any requests would also be happily accepted. I know for sure that when I was going through the application process, I had SO many questions about every tiny detail.

Alan Rickman's advice for young actors (Feb. 28, 2012) | Charlie Rose

Something that I've been meaning to share for so long is Alan Rickman's outlook on the way an actor can improve. This is amazing inspiration for anyone who is trying to get into drama school, taking gap years, or just someone in the industry seeking motivation.

GETTING IN TO DRAMA SCHOOL

This is by no means a bragging post, but just a quick and very exciting one to say that I got into drama school this year! I am very excited to have received a place at GSA on their BA acting course ready to start this September. 

This has been a very interesting year for me, as it was a big step to admit that university was not the right path, and pluck up the courage to take another year to do what was in my heart. We are raised in this culture where university seems to be the norm, and anyone who tries to stray from that is almost alienated. Having an already confirmed place at university last year, it was a huge thing to decline, and enter a world outside of education, very last minute, with no money, and have another crack. 

Living a year at home has been quite challenging, especially living so far from London, where a lot of auditions take place. Not only that, but I live in a very small town where there isn't a huge amount of theatre culture, and it's very easy to feel quite isolated from what you are trying to achieve. I urge anyone who takes a gap year and lives in a similar place to me, to surround yourself with culture: watch videos, live streamings, read books and plays, and keep your mind active and remembering what you are trying to achieve. Through doing this, I have learned so much and become a much better informed person. I have also had to push myself to get involved in local groups and theatres which has lead to me landing the main role with my local theatre royal group, and becoming a director at my local theatre group. All of this has meant that I have become more confident in myself as an actor, and I was able to go into my auditions this year with the mentality that I deserve a place. There is definitely something about being out of education and having time to fill yourself, that gives you a certain confidence, as you are forcing yourself to get involved in new things, otherwise you would just be bored. I urge anyone who has failed to get into drama school to take some time to relax, and reflect, and find new ways to inform yourself and nurture your talents. Trust me, it will go SO FAST that you almost want to take more years to find newer and bigger things to get involved in. I can finally understand those people who take years and years to get into drama school and never lose their passion. If you want it enough, you will always get there. 

I cant wait to begin training, and continue my blog throughout (I hope) to keep a track of all the wonderful things i'm learning, and hopefully help other people interested in training. 

Art Scene festival - Ghent

Last month I was very lucky to go to a theatre festival in beautiful Ghent, Belgium, to showcase a play that I directed. A few months ago, I wrote a post about the fact that I had the opportunity to be the assistant director of a show for the national theatre connections competition, talking about how much of an exciting opportunity it was, and how you should push yourself to do things no matter how little they are. 6 months down the line, and this role has given me more than I could have hoped for, being performed at many different venues all leading us to this wonderful youth theatre festival in Belgium.
The Art scene festival was four days long, and was comprised of youth theatre groups from all over the world coming to perform a short 40 minute show, performances of which were spread across the few days.
There were workshops run by professionals every morning for the kids to take part in, and after lunch, we would all watch about three/four shows. The amazing thing was that the festival is held in a beautiful theatre in Ghent called the Tinnenpot which has multiple theatres within the building, for example a standard tiered seated auditorium, a circus space with seating in the round, black box spaces, balcony theatres, and most interestingly, an all while theatre space. This meant that we could see the shows in all different spaces, and experience so much in a day without even leaving the building. At the end of the day there was then a huge forum where everyone sat and asked the cast and directors of each show all about the rehearsal period the general creative process. It was such a wonderful thing to see so many people from all different countries coming together through theatre.

It's not just the wonderful experience of the festival that made me want to write this post, but actually the fact that I was given this experience because I pushed myself. This all began with me trying something a little different by becoming an assistant director at my local theatre group, which wasn't massive. But slowly, I began to take on a bit more responsibility within the group, teaching them ensemble exercises and establishing ensemble workshop rehearsals. The main director and I became very collaborative in the process, until I was running rehearsals on my own . Sixth months from when we started the project, we have performed in many different venues, finishing our run at this festival in Ghent. Whilst being there I met with a lot of the other directors and organisers of the festival too who found what I do with the group very interesting, and now I have even been asked to come and work on the English equivalent of the festival to be a workshop leader. When I first started directing, I wasn't sure I had enough experience to be of use, yet once I started to set my mind to keeping track of all of the ensemble exercises I was taught at the National Youth theatre, or at drama school auditions, I realised I could construct useful workshops of my own, taking exercises from different places, or adapting them in some way. As long as you deliver everything with absolute confidence, and a strong idea of what you are trying to achieve, you are set. I think this festival was the pinnacle in me realising this, and the capabilities I had when speaking with different directors. I also found myself teaching a lot of the kids attending the festival lots of concentration games, and after two days, I has all of them playing them in the breaks of their own accord, and really enjoying them, all because I was confident enough to believe they could be of benefit. 

I thank festivals like this, that can enrich young people by allowing them to travel to different countries and showcase their work, and help us to realise that theatre has no language. It was so much fun to see the kids in my group experiencing different cultures for the first time, and mixing with young actors of all nationalities, who were all united through their work. 

GSA Final recall

I finished this year's auditions where I started, at GSA, the final recall audition. I think I waffled on a shit load about the vibes at GSA and how I really liked it first time, so I wont go on too much, but just as a quick note, I loved GSA just as much second time round. There seems to be a really nice community atmosphere there which you don't get very much at drama school.

The structure of the final recall day is pretty simple. You go in at the allotted time you are given, so get there a little before hand. In the group there are about 12-15ish people, and the first section of the day, is a simple warm up. Before I get into the ins and outs of the day, its is mega important to say, never fear going to GSA (bars). Before we started the warm up, we were waiting for a load of people to go to the toilet and stuff, and we had a five minute gap of the head of acting say how awkward the silence was, and consequently try and make a load of shit jokes which he then laughed at how bad they were. It is honestly the most friendly laid back school I've been to. Anyway, the warm up mainly consisted of walking around the space and getting to grips with your body and concentration, and doing a lot of vocal exercises to warm up our voices. There was a quick bit of engaging with your character and getting into the mindset, and then after about 15/20 minutes, we stopped, and everyone was asked to sit in two rows on the floor facing each-other, and this marked the beginning of hearing our classical speeches. GSA only ask you to prepare two monologues (one contemporary, one classical) just the same as their first round. The audition worked exactly as it did in the first round too, as we were asked to one by one get up and do our classical speech without announcing it or establishing any sort of order and keep going until everyone was finished. For more details on that you can take a look at my first round GSA post. Once this section was finished, everyone was given a half an hour break before the next bit.

The next section of the day was where we did a bit of physical workshopping. Nothing too strenuous, just a bit of walk around the space stuff and some concentration games. The main one was the pretty standard game of 'stop, go' where you're told to stop and go and hop and clap (or something similar) except the words mean the opposite action. I was surprised to find that after forcing this game upon the kids at the drama group I direct hundreds of times and consequently laughing at how shit they are at it, I was absolute pants at this game. After this we got into the zone of our second character, however instead of actually performing our contemporary in the usual way, we played an improvisation game. This was probably the most challenging bit of the day, because this was our only chance to showcase our second piece and to show a contrast to our classical, yet it required a bit of imagination. Basically, everyone stood in a circle, and two people were in the centre at all times, whom of which had to have a conversation as their contemporary character, yet they could ONLY use the text from their contemporary speech. When you thought it was the right time to jump in you could. Sometimes the tone of the other person's speech could completely change the tone of your own and you would have to adapt to that, and generally it was a way to see if you could think on your feet and break your monologue out of it's original patterns. Again after this section, everyone was given a little break.

The final section was for selective interviews, where the panel asked a few people to stay behind for a little while to possibly see some more monologue work, or maybe just for a chat. This was not a final elimination thing at all, just if the panel wasn't necessarily sure about someone. The student looking after our group assured us this, as he said that in his final recall, no one was asked to stay for an interview, and a lot of them got in. I was asked to stay, and basically they gave an order of who they wanted to see, and we all waited outside the audition room until our turn.

I can honestly say I have never made more of a twat of myself in an interview than I did at GSA. The panel, just wanted to see me for a chat, and ALL they had to ask me was 'why do you want to come to GSA' and I was off. I quite literally waffled for about ten minutes about how I loved the vibes at the school, that I liked the practitioners that they study, and what a contrast they are, how I love ensemble which is one of their key focuses and how I run a lot of ensemble workshops myself... ramble  ramble ramble....and I quite literally stopped breathing. I stopped talking and went 'sorry I think I have stopped breathing, I have just rambled for ten minutes straight without taking a breath' and they all just burst out laughing. As if that wasn't enough I then went on to tell them that I thought I was a bit delirious, because I got up at quarter to four' and they basically looked at each-other, smiled and said 'I think we've heard enough from you eve'. So in my mind I was like fuck, that's that eve, great one. So I got up probably quicker than they were expecting and started to leave, and one of the ladies on the panel started laughing again and said 'oooh she's off again'.............. I  could think of nothing better to do than to CURTSY and said 'thank you for having me' which made them laugh even more, and then I left.

I'm fucking ecstatic to say that clearly GSA love insane people, because I have received a place on their BA Acting course for this year, thus concluding every drama school audition I will ever have to do, not to mention these long ass posts explaining them that not a huge amount of people read.

Central final recall

I had my very first final recall a few weeks ago, at the central school of speech and drama, something which I thoroughly enjoyed, and which completely changed the opinion I had of the school.When you visit a school for a preliminary audition, it's quite hard to gauge a proper opinion, as you are more often than not, there for a morning, a few hours and sometimes only a few minutes. My opinion of central has always been a little torn, as they provide very little information about their course online, and although the musical theatre and CDT courses seem to be a little more obvious in what the course holds, their BA acting course is a bit less well explained. Because of this, I had trouble in establishing how contemporary the school was, and whether it was the right training for me. I also used to be a bit skeptical of their system in entering every applicant for all of the acting courses even if you don't want to be considered. Now after going through the whole of the central process, it has turned out to be one of my favourite school (maybe because they're one of the only ones that gave me a final recall, but ahhhhh well).
As I have found with the couple of final recalls I have done, the day was a lot less high pressure than I was expecting. There is no doubt that central has a generally friendly atmosphere at all times, but at the finals there seemed to be a little more mutual respect between the panel and auditionees, and I felt pretty comfortable throughout the session. The structure of the final recall day is as follows, there is an opening warm up lead by one of the first year movement coaches, and first year vocal coach. This is  not assessed, and is a really good way of getting in the zone. After the initial warm up, their is an improvisation exercise, and from what I gather, this exercise has been the same for a few years. All of the girls sit in a line facing the boys (there are about 15-20 in a recall session) and everyone is given a bit of paper with a situation on it, which is the basis for a scene. All of the girls have the same thing written, and all of the boys have the same thing written. In our situation, all of the girls were called Amy, and she was late meeting her boyfriend outside the cinema. There were a few basic facts about their relationship, but ultimately it was Amy's intention to try and break up with Steve when she got to meet him. Steve on the other hand has the intention to propose to Amy on the same night. The exercise worked so that two people started in the middle and the scene played out, and when you wanted to take the place of your character, you just said stop. The idea of the exercise wasn't to go in with an idea of what you were going to say, but to feed off of the other person and react to them with your intentions in mind.

After this, the group was split in two. One half had to stay and work on monologues, and the rest left for a break. This lasted for about an hour and forty five minutes, and then the groups swapped. In your workshop, the hardest thing is actually keeping yourself totally focused. Each person is worked on individually and you are asked which classical speeches off of the setlist you have prepared. The panel decide which of the two monologues they would like to hear, and most of the time, you will do it once through to begin with. Then the panel work on developing your speech to bring out a little more of what they didn't think came out, and a bit more subtext. Quite a few people were also asked a lot to do with the play, when in the play the speech takes place, and what characters you are speaking to etc. Even though Central have a setlist, they very much expect you to have read the plays. The exercises developed sometimes involved other people, for example everyone walking around the space to make the character nervous. Others were things to bring out  little more truth in the characters emotional state. One guy who did the King Lear speech 'I heard myself proclaimed' was asked to be chased by all of us up sever flights of stairs in order to find the panic in the opening of the speech. Interestingly there were also a couple of people in my group who spoke fluent French, and in order for them to find the true feelings of the speech, they were asked to so their speeches in French. This meant that in order for an audience who were not fluent to understand, a definitive feeling had to be set through the intonation and tone of voice. Each person was worked on for about 10-15 minutes.

Once each group had finished their monologues, a final few people were taken through to the last round, which is an interview. People not asked to stay for an interview are no longer being considered for a place. Out of my final recall group of about 18, only 6 of us were taken through to the interview. This only lasts for about five minutes and is just a casual chat with one of the tutors to find out a bit about you. I was surprised to find that rather than asking me about theatre and my hobbies etc, the guy was more interested in my home life and personal issues. This seemed to be like a bit of a test on whether or not I could be open about some of the more personal things that have happened to me. I was completely open and talked to the guy about everything he asked and he seemed pretty pleased. He also seemed to analyse my behavior alot, saying how I hold my emotions very much on the surface, or that I had 'reactive skin'. I have no idea whether those were good things or not, but I tried to just be myself. The day lasted about 5 and a half hours, but If you are picked to be in the first monologue set then you will be done significantly earlier.

Overall I was pretty chuffed with the way my first final recall went, and I was filled with a lot of confidence going into my other finals. I am very happy to say that I am holding a place on central's reserve list for their BA acting course, and although I don't have a definitive place there, it is certainly reassuring to know I am good enough to be on the course.

Guildhall audition - 2016

Second year auditioning at Guildhall, pretty much the same shit.
Guildhall hold their auditions in their student union bar, and although the actual school just down the road is absolutely gorgeous, there are weird vibes at the audition which I have felt two years in a row. The room you are asked to wait in is a pretty dark and dingy underground space with no windows, a bar, pool tables, and big leather sofas. It has literally no reflection on the school, but i can't help but feel like the whole place is a little scary mary. None the less, the audition at Guildhall is pretty standard, and pretty good for your money.

Once everyone has arrived, you are hoarded into a little side room with a big table and chairs. There are usually about 12-20 people auditioning on any one day, and the beginning is just a chat to reassure everyone, to fill in speeches forms, and also to be given a number label. After about 15 minutes, you are taken into another room just off from the bar where a beginning physical workshop takes place. Guildhall assure you this isn't assessed, but judging from the type of exercises you are asked to do, I find it hard to believe their isn't a tiny bit of perusing going on. Rather than just warming up, there are actual games, like two people have to run around, and without any signal, they have to stop at the same time and deliver the first line of their speech to each other. Or walking around the space and everyone stopping at once, various team games etc. I think they must at least like to see how confident you are in your body and how you can work within a group. I dunno if its true or what, but I find it weird that they call it a workshop, rather than a warm up, if its not assessed. Also, I did a similar workshop last year, and i'm almost sure they didn't say it wasn't assessed then, but I cant be positive. Either way, as always with an audition, I just tried to throw myself into everything as you only can do. A lot of the exercise seemed to be about truthfulness, and finding a way to arrive at your line, rather than knowing where you're going with it. This is a big philosophy at Guildhall, as is ensemble work, and the workshop seemed to echo that perfectly. Trying to adhere to both of these things in the morning workshop is the best way to tackle it. It's also important to say that this workshop was lead by two reaaally nice guys, both of which were older graduates of Guildhall.

The workshop lasted about half an hour, and then we were taken back into the room to be told a running order for the afternoon. The person who is first goes in about five minutes after the workshop has ended, but if you are nearing the end of the list, you have a couple of hours to wait in which you are free to go out for a bit. Each person has an individual audition for about ten minutes. For this you are asked to prepare three speeches: a classical, modern, and other of your choice, and a short unaccompanied song.
When I entered the room ready for my audition, I was asked which speech  wanted to do first, this is a given at Guildhall, so make sure you do the one you really want them to see. I got through my whole speech (Paulina 'The Winters tale') without being interrupted. Also, they are pretty big on eye contact, and if you have a speech directed at a person, they will ask you to use a student, who will give you expressions to play off. I remember being totally thrown off by this last year as I had my speech set a certain way, so when the student reacted in a way that I hadn't envisaged my character would, I had to break the tone of the piece which didn't really flow. This year however, I was totally prepared, and its a good thing to go in with a piece which isn't worked into the ground, so that you are free to do it in different ways. Then I was told which speech they wanted me to do next, and luckily they chose my favourite contemporary. This time I was stopped a little more. Once again I was asked to use eye contact, and seeing as this piece is directed at the audience i used the panel to look at too. The piece I was doing (Jess from 'Love and Money'), is quite a conflicted speech about life, and whether or not there is a higher power. It has very natural speech patterns, and quite often she cuts herself off or tries to find the right word for what she means. Because of this I was doing a lot of acting in between the lines and the panel asked me to tone that right down and just let the words come to me without 'trying too hard'. They asked me to just direct it at the student again and to just say it to him and let him affect me. I was stopped a couple of times, but I did what I thought they were asking of me and then they said it was enough. I wasn't asked for my song, or any more speeches, and to finish there was a five minute interview about me and what I was up to, blah blah, and that was it.

Once everyone has been auditioned, you all gather back in the room with the table and the panel come out to say who has been successful and they would like to see for a recall. This takes place something like the following week, and in my experience, only about 1-5 people out of each group ever get recalled, and sometimes none. Both years at Guildhall I have been rejected straight up. THEIR LOSS I GUESS.