Jonny is the first offer to an insight into life studying drama in higher education...
Alright, life as a drama student and potential outcomes as a result.
First thing to mention is the journey of applying and getting in. It’s relentless and cruel. It takes a lot of self belief and determination, it cost a lot of money and it requires a lot of train tickets and in my case a few years of my life. However, it makes to feeling of being accepted so much more poignant.
Once you’re in, you spend a lot of your first year examining yourself, looking at what components make you, what things have shaped you, stuff like this. After plenty of crying and laughing together as a group, you move on to plays. The approach to plays is much more mathematic then I ever imagined. Before you even stand up you spend the first week of two reading, understanding, uniting, cutting, dividing and actioning. You start to learn the theory behind thought; ‘what the character wants’ and ‘how does he/she get it’. This is something that we have always done regardless and I’m still undecided to whether being aware of it is productive or detrimental to the final outcome because it can just over complicate the whole scenario, although different horses for different courses innit.
Second year is all about trenching through different styles of plays and different styles of theatre. Second year is very much the learning year. It completely widens your knowledge of theatre and it gives you a taste of what it is like to be a part of different things. Second year has a lot more of a professional feel as, in contrast to first year, where you very much feel like a student, you get treat as professionals and the process reflects a much more accurate portrayal of the ‘real world’. The motto for this year is ‘fail, fail again, fail better’, which actually is a pretty accurate description of what to expect from second year. We learn from our mistakes. It’s so so difficult, the work load is heavy and the turn over a plays is so quick and the tutors do not hold back when it comes to their opinion, which, again is helpful yet hurtful, which again, requires a lot of determination and focus.
Third year is predominantly about preparing for getting cast into the industry. Learning audition technique, networking, sorting out your actors CV, headshots, showreels, contacting agents, writing loads and loads of letters to loads and loads of potential employers and most importantly, preparing for showcase. The showcase is an evening put on in a theatre in London, where you invite agents to come and watch you. Hopefully, from this, the agents will like your look and your style and offer you representation and a place on their books. They then will put you up for auditions and find work for you – however, it is important to know this is not the only way to reach a successful career in acting - it is also possible to find your own work, or even create your own work.
Getting a degree in acting is a lot different to getting a degree in something more academic. It really doesn’t matter about the point system of the degree and it really doesn’t matter about whether you get a 2:1 or a 2:2 or whatever. It is a lot more about the learning process and how you have developed as an actors; what skills you have learnt to put on the CV and what you can offer to a production. The main thing is to leave with the stamp of a drama school’s name on your CV – obviously if you’re knocking about London with RADA or LAMDA inked on your CV, people are going to take you seriously and you will have more opportunities. However, if you get a degree in any of the top drama schools you give yourself a good foundation and it definitely gives you a good shot at a successful career.
Drama schools offer so much in a way of outcomes – nowadays they have courses in pretty much everything: Acting, Contemporary Theatre (which is very good for getting your own writing noticed), stage combat, physical theatre, community theatre (which is very much all Yew Tree-y stuff, school, youth theatres… etc), musical theatre, world performance. So it offers a wide range of skills which can benefit you and lead you into a wide variety of different jobs when you leave. Also, you might find after leaving with the degree that you don’t want to go into acting at all and you may chose a different direction – however, the skills you have learnt over the three years are relevant in most walks of life and… after all, as actors we study human behaviour, history and life…. What is not relevant about that! Ha!
(warning: drama school can turn you into a pretentious preacher like me…jokes!!)
It’s one of them things where, if you want it hard enough, you will endure the put downs and work load and competitive nature (and noobs), embrace the buzz of doing plays, meeting amazing friends and people in the industry, watching amazing theatre and, by the end of the 3 years you will have learnt so much through education and that whole ‘that that don’t kill you’ thing and the training will support you as you venture out into the real world… which is a whole other blog (about the risk of having no work, lack of money and a lot a bar/waiting experience)
Lots and lots of love yew tree.
x
Alright, life as a drama student and potential outcomes as a result.
First thing to mention is the journey of applying and getting in. It’s relentless and cruel. It takes a lot of self belief and determination, it cost a lot of money and it requires a lot of train tickets and in my case a few years of my life. However, it makes to feeling of being accepted so much more poignant.
Once you’re in, you spend a lot of your first year examining yourself, looking at what components make you, what things have shaped you, stuff like this. After plenty of crying and laughing together as a group, you move on to plays. The approach to plays is much more mathematic then I ever imagined. Before you even stand up you spend the first week of two reading, understanding, uniting, cutting, dividing and actioning. You start to learn the theory behind thought; ‘what the character wants’ and ‘how does he/she get it’. This is something that we have always done regardless and I’m still undecided to whether being aware of it is productive or detrimental to the final outcome because it can just over complicate the whole scenario, although different horses for different courses innit.
Second year is all about trenching through different styles of plays and different styles of theatre. Second year is very much the learning year. It completely widens your knowledge of theatre and it gives you a taste of what it is like to be a part of different things. Second year has a lot more of a professional feel as, in contrast to first year, where you very much feel like a student, you get treat as professionals and the process reflects a much more accurate portrayal of the ‘real world’. The motto for this year is ‘fail, fail again, fail better’, which actually is a pretty accurate description of what to expect from second year. We learn from our mistakes. It’s so so difficult, the work load is heavy and the turn over a plays is so quick and the tutors do not hold back when it comes to their opinion, which, again is helpful yet hurtful, which again, requires a lot of determination and focus.
Third year is predominantly about preparing for getting cast into the industry. Learning audition technique, networking, sorting out your actors CV, headshots, showreels, contacting agents, writing loads and loads of letters to loads and loads of potential employers and most importantly, preparing for showcase. The showcase is an evening put on in a theatre in London, where you invite agents to come and watch you. Hopefully, from this, the agents will like your look and your style and offer you representation and a place on their books. They then will put you up for auditions and find work for you – however, it is important to know this is not the only way to reach a successful career in acting - it is also possible to find your own work, or even create your own work.
Getting a degree in acting is a lot different to getting a degree in something more academic. It really doesn’t matter about the point system of the degree and it really doesn’t matter about whether you get a 2:1 or a 2:2 or whatever. It is a lot more about the learning process and how you have developed as an actors; what skills you have learnt to put on the CV and what you can offer to a production. The main thing is to leave with the stamp of a drama school’s name on your CV – obviously if you’re knocking about London with RADA or LAMDA inked on your CV, people are going to take you seriously and you will have more opportunities. However, if you get a degree in any of the top drama schools you give yourself a good foundation and it definitely gives you a good shot at a successful career.
Drama schools offer so much in a way of outcomes – nowadays they have courses in pretty much everything: Acting, Contemporary Theatre (which is very good for getting your own writing noticed), stage combat, physical theatre, community theatre (which is very much all Yew Tree-y stuff, school, youth theatres… etc), musical theatre, world performance. So it offers a wide range of skills which can benefit you and lead you into a wide variety of different jobs when you leave. Also, you might find after leaving with the degree that you don’t want to go into acting at all and you may chose a different direction – however, the skills you have learnt over the three years are relevant in most walks of life and… after all, as actors we study human behaviour, history and life…. What is not relevant about that! Ha!
(warning: drama school can turn you into a pretentious preacher like me…jokes!!)
It’s one of them things where, if you want it hard enough, you will endure the put downs and work load and competitive nature (and noobs), embrace the buzz of doing plays, meeting amazing friends and people in the industry, watching amazing theatre and, by the end of the 3 years you will have learnt so much through education and that whole ‘that that don’t kill you’ thing and the training will support you as you venture out into the real world… which is a whole other blog (about the risk of having no work, lack of money and a lot a bar/waiting experience)
Lots and lots of love yew tree.
x
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