Somebody had asked for a bit of background info on me! I
hadn’t thought of doing so, but then again, hearing this might break anyone’s
belief that you have to look a certain way and have a certain amount of
experience to get into drama school.
First off, while I’ve only done the first round of Central
and haven’t even auditioned for LAMDA yet - I’ve also been rejected from
Guildhall, Rose Bruford, GSA and Mountview. Does that make me a bad actor – or
does getting to the third round of RADA make me good? The answer is no. No
amount of success or rejections will ever define you as an actor. Please keep
this in mind when auditioning. You need drive to come back year after year to
audition.
As the subtitle of this blog may have clued you in, I’m
seventeen years old and living in Essex. I must admit that my voice is hardly
an Essex accent – it does come out at times, but mostly I tend to speak
slightly more RP. I have a petite build at 5ft 4in but always in auditions
try to make my body look as neutral as possible. Having gone to an all-girl
secondary school and sixth form, we were taught to be ready to play both male
and female parts. I find that it’s always a good thing to stand, feet shoulder
length apart, and strongly – it makes you look more focused and ready. None of this shifting weight on to your hip lark.
I’m currently preparing to
sit my A2 exams – Media Studies, Theatre Studies and English Language. After
gaining 13 GCSEs I found that the theatre studies course was better suited to
me academically than the Btec or vocational course. This, naturally, I’m
beginning to regret as my three hour exam is fast approaching and this year was
only 20% practical work.As for experience, professionally I have none. I’m a member of the youth theatre group at The Queens Theatre in Hornchurch, in which we perform our own productions on the main-house stage in an auditorium of 500 people. As well as that, I took part in their community play during last summer. If like me, you have no experience whatsoever, then look back to what you did at school. Especially on paper applications, I encourage you to write down all the plays that you’ve studied or performed. RADA were more interested in the Shakespeare that I studied in secondary school than my experience at the theatre. So sorry to disappoint, but I’m very inexperienced professionally!
Any more questions, feel free
to ask and I’ll just update this entry!
Woah, so reliefing to hear you have no professional background. Congraz making it to the third round!
ReplyDeletehey Heather, decided to post this anonymously dunno why really because you do know me we go to the same skl.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog and have been very inspired by it that even through all your rejections you have pushed through and are still going. I have tried to dab my feet into acting and did a adult classes at the sylvia young skl and found i had a passion for it. However i do feel that i have left it too late to go any furthr or try to start something new without it comprimising exams and Uni. Any advice you can give me?