A couple of weeks ago, I proudly navigated my way to Sidcup in Kent, to audition for Rose Bruford college, one of the six drama schools I have applied for this year. I had never been to Rose Bruford before, and was unsure of what to expect. I definitely didn't envisage a rather large campus (for a drama school), picturesque grounds with lakes and trees, or even the gorgeous and modern facilities and theatre spaces. I think the rather sunny day did it a lot of justice, however I felt mega good vibes getting to Rose Bruford and spending a few hours there.
Upon arrival, you are taken to one of the cafes on campus to wait and prepare. It was about ten minutes after the time that I was told to arrive by, that two students came to collect all of the people auditioning on my morning (about 30), and we were taken on a tour of the campus. As I said, Rose Bruford is quite big in the drama school sense, and we were taken around the two main buildings which consisted of a large theatre, library, many rehearsal spaces and studios and a couple of nice student cafe areas. The school has a really nice modern feel to it, and all of the spaces are embellished with posters and finishing touches which gives the place a very artistic touch. The drama school also has brand new student accommodation which is about a ten minute walk from the main site, which I feel adds quite a big sense of university/student lifestyle. During our tour, the two students showing us around talked in a lot of depth about the sort of study Rose Bruford has to offer, and what the course consists of. I found that the acting course has a really nice structure in the sense that you focus on naturalistic and classical work in the first year to sort of consolidate core acting, and in your second year you move on to a lot more 'outside the box' theatre. I like how there is a section on Le Coq, which allows you to explore clowning and a section on acting for young audiences too. While talking to the students, I really got the feel that Rose Bruford is the sort of school which embraces the individual, and if you are interested in making your own work or don't necessarily have the desire to be a professional actor only, and are also interested in directing or writing, that is totally welcomed. We also sat in on ten minutes of a first year Checkov class, which was interresting to see how they worked.
After your tour, you are taken to another cafe where you wait to do your individual audition, and you are taken off in groups of three. This section is very fast, so make sure you haven't left anything too much to the last minute, as there is not extensive amounts of time to prepare before your individual slot. I was in the third lot of people to be taken, and this was only about 15-20 minutes after being told to wait. Each audition is only about 5 minutes.
When taken to the audition room you have a few minutes wait before you go in. When I entered the room, the lady auditioning me shook my hand and just asked me my age and where I had applied. There was very little talking after that, and no interview, and I was simply asked to do my first monologue, whichever I chose. At most first round Rose Bruford auditions, you only ever do one full monologue and only about a third of your second, so choose wisely which one you do first. I think this method is just to make sure you can act a contrast, which I believed my speeches to be, and once they have established that you can, you are pretty much free to go. She did go back to my first monologue very briefly and redirected it slightly and asked me to take all the anger away (Paulina, The Winter's Tale) and just say the words without feeling. After a few lines of this she told me I was all done, and I was in and out of the room in just over five minutes, and free to go after this. My whole morning started at ten and was done in an hour and a half.
I had felt like the day had gone pretty well, and over all I really enjoyed the morning at Rose Bruford. It's a very relaxed place with really lovely facilities. A lot of people criticise the school for doing such a fast first round audition in which you spend very little time for a lot of money, but I suppose it's all they need to make a judgement. For me it was a no, but I believe there are two more rounds should you be successful after your first audition.
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