I don't know how many drama school auditionees and their audition speeches I've seen, but certainly many thousands. (I also reckon to have seen over ten thousand professional actors' auditions over my 30-odd years as a director in theatre.) I've watched a few people succeed and many, many more fail and have long felt that a significant proportion of those who "failed" did so because of factors other than lack of talent. I didn't fully appreciate what those "factors" are until I was researching my book AN ACTOR'S GUIDE TO GETTING WORK and began to analyse why those who succeeded, did so; and why the others, didn't. I came to the conclusion that too many people fail not because they don't have talent but because they are not properly prepared.
The competition is well known to be very tough. Here are the facts on how tough it actually is: the drama schools with 'accredited' courses annually each get between 1,000 and 3,000 applicants for intakes that range between about 25 and 150 students across all their acting courses. The most famous schools will probably accept 1 applicant in 100; this proportion rises to between 3 and 5 per hundred at the less famous (but not necessarily less good) ones. What follows are some basic preparations you can make to enhance your chances by making sure that your talent is shown off at its best:
(1) FIND OUT ABOUT AS MANY OF THE DRAMA SCHOOLS AS YOU CAN: Most of them advertise in The Stage <www.thestage.co.uk> and most of them have web sites. The Conference of Drama Schools <www.drama.ac.uk> publishes a very useful booklet entitled, The Official UK Guide to Drama Training which lists the courses of all their member schools. You can find a list of those courses that are "accredited" at the site of The National Council for Drama Training <www.ncdt.co.uk>. [You can also find a very useful gide to auditioning on this site.] Then ask for prospectuses and application forms for those you like the look of. When you apply you will be sent details of what you will be required to do when you go for your audition - some schools now have these details on their websites.
(2) READ THOSE AUDITION REQUIREMENTS CAREFULLY: Read very carefully what each drama school requires you to do. For instance, a few ask you to prepare three audition speeches - and could well ask you to do all three. I've seen a number of people come with only two prepared because most other schools only require two. (In fact I believe that it's better to prepare many more - say ten - to open up your options for each circumstance.)
Be sure that you've got the right kinds of speeches. Many schools define "classical" as "Shakespeare or contemporary" or "Elizabethan or Jacobean" (which mean roughly the same period), but some specify verse"; others don't. Others are less restrictive in what the mean by "classical".... Be sure what each means by "modern"; to some that can mean over the last hundred years, to others just the last ten. The best tactic is to put together a portfolio of at least six speeches (and preferably more) so that you can choose to suit the varying circumstances.
Some schools will ask you to prepare a song (even if you're not applying for a Musical Theatre Course) - you should prepare this with as much care as your audition speeches. Remember, that a song well acted can tip the balance if your auditioners are at all equivocal about your speeches. Think of the tune as an 'underscore' to the words - and, as with a speech, it should appear as though you're inventing the words on the spot and are saying (singing) them for the first time. NB Some schools ask you to sing unaccompanied; others with accompaniment. If the latter, make sure you've got easily readable sheet music.
It is essential to plan ahead. Check out deadlines for applications - they vary considerably! Bear in mind that once you've sent of your application you can be called to audition at any time - occasionally within in a few days. And some drama schools are resistant to changing audition dates. I suggest that it is best to start sending for prospectuses a year in advance of your hoped for entry.
(3) DON'T JUST APPLY TO ONE SCHOOL!: Apply to as many of the 'good' schools as you can afford. How do you know which are 'good'? First, read the contents of their prospectuses. Don't be fooled by smart graphics - what do the words say and would their kind of training suit you? (Be very circumspect about a loose use of the word "method" and the name "Stanislavski" - what do they actually mean?) Second, try to find people who know something about the recent work of each particular school. A drama school is only as good as its current teachers. A list of famous graduates or a glossy prospectus doesn't tell you what it's really like now. It is essential to ask around and get several opinions - which may well be contradictory.
Especially if you are just starting out it is important to get to get used (a) to the actual act of auditioning, which is always different from what you might have anticipated and (b) to learn how the varying audition systems work. At a guess perhaps 50% of ultimately successful applicants don't get a place first time round (for all kinds of reasons) so think of your early assays into the field as exploratory exercises to learn from rather than the 'be all and end all'. You'll also make a lot of friends as you go round the drama school circuit. [I know one young actor who got her place at RADA within three weeks of her first audition (including two recalls) and another who took five years on the audition round before she got a place.]
(4) YOUR SPEECHES: As is well known the audition speech is the traditional form of assessing an actor's potential (or otherwise). Unfortunately it means that you've got to be at your best for the 2 or 3 minutes that it takes. At least you've got 2 or 3 hours for a conventional exam. You could argue that at least the agony is over quickly but too many people fail because they seem to give a similarly brief amount of time to (a) the content and (b) how they do it. Your problem is that the competition is so fierce that there is a sense that your auditioners are looking for ways of eliminating people for whatever reasonable reason. Also (and crucially) their time to watch you is so brief (they will get some ideas from interview/singing/movement sessions etc., but the speech is almost invariably the most important) that you have to find ways of really impressing them in just that 120-180 seconds. "Not fair!", you cry; it isn't, but it's just like the profession so start getting used to it. Your only advantage is that you are being watched by people very experienced in assessing potential as opposed to the "complete actor"; but even so that "potential" is too often masked by silly mistakes (choosing a character who is totally unsuitable for you, for instance) and no drama school wants a "silly" student. You have to be together and organised to do both the training and the job.
Choosing Your Speeches: At least one school issues a blacklist of speeches not to be used and every auditioner has a mental list of those he/she is fed up with sitting through AGAIN. The fact is that you've got to do one of these popular speeches extra well to stand a chance. How can you know if a particular speech is "popular" or not? This is difficult, but you can help yourself if you avoid anything from those books of audition speeches because a lot of other people are selecting material from them. It can be a good idea to do a speech from a play you've done or from one that you otherwise know well. It may well be that there were no speeches long enough contained in anything you know, but there will be scenes in which one character is 'running things' and it is reasonably easy to cut out other people's lines and perhaps with a little bit of rewriting make a complete speech that nobody else will be doing. AND, it is a fact that the "original" speech (provided that it's well-written) will put you at a distinct advantage. The other advantage of taking a speech from a play you've done, or know well, is that you will have a very good idea of what the whole play is about from the inside - essential to a good performance of that speech.
A few schools provide a list of speeches from which you have to choose. How can you be different from everyone else in this circumstance? Go for the more obscure! It'll mean that (a) you'll have to ask advice about what's obscure and what isn't and (b) they often require more preparation, but choosing one of these can be well worth it.
Rehearsal of Your Speeches: Allow lots of time for this. It's not just about learning the lines but primarily about absorbing the character and the situation into your very soul. For most people this takes at least two months to accomplish fully. I'm not suggesting two months solid work - you'd go mad, but two or three sessions a week over that period should ensure enough time for your unconscious self to do the rest of the necessary work in between. If a school gives you an audition date which is too soon to allow you this amount of time then change it! AND remember that classical speeches are harder and therefore take longer because of the remoteness of language and situation.
Somebody to Help: Several schools counsel against this and I have seen numerous circumstances when the outside help is downright misleading. There seems to be a cottage industry out there of people happy to take your money for their guidance. How do you know if you're being helped properly? In general, it is best to find someone who has close contact with the profession and not someone whose experience is concentrated in speech and drama exams. These latter - although apparently in the process of reform - have very little to do with modern acting. If you can't find anybody whom you feel is suitable, then at least try you speeches out in front of somebody first. They may not be able to give you detailed constructive criticism but at least you'll get a gut reaction and doing a speech in front of only one person is very different from doing it by yourself.
Performance of Speeches: An audition speech is a terribly artificial thing: you've got no lights, scenery, costumes, furniture or props and above all nobody to act with - in fact none of the things that have helped your acting in other circumstances. You have to rely on the power of your imagination to supply all these things for you - and that's where a terrific number of people let themselves down. For instance, if you are doing a speech addressed to an imaginary character you must see that person clearly in your mind's eye; not only 'see' him/her but also 'see' their reactions to what you are saying. Putting a chair (or the hatstand as I once saw) to represent that person means that 95% of people talk to that chair (or hatstand) and not to the 'real' person, consequently a terrific amount of the essence of the speech goes out the window and your auditioners' perception of your potential with it. It is much better not to use anything to represent physically the person you are talking to. Simply have him/her/them firmly fixed in your imagination - even if he/she is sitting in a chair also put that chair into your imagination! In fact you should have the complete location in your imagination (many people fail to do this - especially in classical speeches). It's not just a physical image, but one where the neglected senses of touch, taste and smell play an important part.
The other major thing you should work on (and very few people do) is the beginning and the ending. The beginning should be clear and have impact (just like the house lights going down and those on stage going up signalling the start of a show). Similarly, at the end where you should just freeze for a moment (or walk off in character, if appropriate) and then relax back into your normal self, a bit like a curtain call - only don't bow, just walk back to where you have to wait or whatever else your auditioner tells you to do. [N.B. There will invariably be a pause after you've finished. Don't worry about it, just wait for your next instruction.] As much thought needs to go into the presentation of an audition speech as into that required for a full production. In fact an audition speech should be a 'mini-production' in its own right.
Nerves: It is not wrong to be nervous - a calm actor will often give a boring performance. However, when your nerves become disordered and chaotic your whole concentration goes and your body becomes numb. You have to find a way of focusing your nervous energy on your speech and not on the fact that the tension is growing. Tension, once you are aware of it can escalate out of control very quickly don't even begin to contemplate it - do something else! For instance, actors, whilst waiting in the wings on a first night, will often jump around and wave their arms about to get the blood circulating and counteract that terrible numbing effect that nervous tension can bring.
Other 'tricks' are to imagine that you are doing your speech at home in front of your friends or imagine that the whole audition panel is sitting there stark naked. You have to discover what suits you and your nervous system. Remember also that you know something that your auditioners do not in your individual interpretation of your speeches. Focus your nerves on that advantage and don't let your 'need' to become an actor turn into that numbing chaos of nervous desperation.
One of the main manifestations of 'nerves' is that people don't give themselves enough time to 'get into their characters' before starting their speeches. Too many people just charge into them, simply saying words on the signal to start without any sense of 'being' the person they are portraying. It is universally respected (within the profession) that any actor needs a moment to truly become someone other than him/herself; and you have paid for the privilege to audition and part of that privilege is your right to those valuable moments of concentration after you've announced the title of your speech and before you actually start presenting it. Even if you've been given very little time and are threatened with being stopped, it is much better to start well (and not be allowed to finish) than to complete the speech but find yourself 'skating' over the surface of the character's feelings.
Drying: It doesn't matter if you dry! DRAMA SCHOOL AUDITIONS ARE NOT MEMORY TESTS! If the words temporarily disappear from your mind, just stop and say something like, "I'll start again." and do just that after a suitable recovery period and proper re-immersion into your character. In fact, full immersion inside you character and his/her situation is far more important than remembering the lines properly. In fact, if you are properly inhabiting the part the lines should follow automatically.
Stern Faces: Don't be put off by stern faces; your auditioners are concentrating very hard and concentration makes almost everybody look angry or bored. In fact most will be inwardly willing you to succeed as you start out. They may well be writing notes and apparently not watching you whilst you're performing; ignore this and don't worry as an experienced 'ear' can tell a terrific amount by just listening.
Helpers: There may well be a secretary or current students helping with the organisation of the auditions. You must not think of them being your servants! Any 'untoward' behaviour will invariably passed on to those who are making the decisions.
Mass Auditions: A number of schools have auditionees in groups of anywhere between 6 and 20. And for the auditioners to identify everybody properly you will probably be given an ID number. And you may well be called by that number - all very dehumanising. Unfortunately for you, it is the simplest way to make sure that the correct notes go onto the correct piece of paper.
The Interview: What's an interview to do with your acting ability? It gives your auditioners a chance to assess your attitude. They have got to feel sure that you can make a positive contribution to the school. I've seen a significant minority of applicants fail because they are persistently negative in interview. However well your speeches go, extensive negativity will knock you out of the running, because nobody wants negative influences round a closely-knit community like a drama school.
There are certain standard questions which are worth thinking about beforehand. They are variations on: "Why do you want to be an actor", "Who's your favourite actor - and why?", "What productions have you seen recently?" and "What other drama schools are you applying to?" Don't prepare scripted answers, just mull on how you might respond to these kinds of questions.
N.B. Sometimes interviews don't take place until a recall stage, sometimes it'll be someone other than your auditioner(s) who'll interview you and sometimes you'll be interviewed more than once.
Recalls: Most schools operate recall systems, i.e. at least one extra session in which you will have to display your speech(es) once again - and possibly a variety of other aspects of your talents. Different schools have different methodologies, but the one thing they have in common is that you will be seen by many more people than in the first round. You should aim to communicate to them all in spite of the fact that some of them don't speak to you.
Also, just because everything went well in the first round, don't relax so much that your speeches lose a lot of their impact - a phenomenon I have observed all too often.
Structure of Auditions: Each school is different in how they approach auditions - and methodologies change can change with time. The only thing you can be sure of is... you can't be sure of anything.
Finally: You have to believe in yourself and your own unbounded talents!
"Any Place is better than no Place at all "OR "Spoilt for Choice":
Before accepting a place, find
out what you can about the school - ask around. Go and see productions,
try to get an idea of a typical working week, hover in the bar
to pick up vibes, try to talk to current students, bear in mind
how you felt treated at audition, even ask if you can watch classes.
Look again at what it says about its training methods: is their
entire focus on theatre, do they have sufficient radio and television
classes (and reasonably up-to-date facilities for these), and
so on? Think about the location: living costs (parts of London
are much more expensive than anywhere else), local amenities and
the ambience of a school's premises are all very important considerations
when you'll be working such long hours. You should also balance
up the relative prestige of a school: those higher up the scale
will attract more prestigious professionals to final productions
and showcases. If you find too much inauspicious information about
the school's current state, don't formally accept their offer
of a place and continue auditioning elsewhere.
If You Don't Get A Place:
Rejection is a fundamental part of an actor's life and the worst thing you can do is to feel that this is the end of any possibility of being an actor. If you are determined then you have to go on and find another way through and absorb into your soul how to deal with the first of the multitude of rejections and disappointments you will undoubtedly suffer. In many ways you have an advantage over those who sail through these early stages. They will face their first rejections that bit later when it is that much harder to cope with.
The other hard part about rejection is that you'll almost certainly never know why - with a few exceptions. Most schools cannot tell you because they'd have to do for everybody and that would take them far too much time.
THINGS TO DO:
1) Do a course! - I don't mean 'A' level, BTEC, etc., I mean a proper acting (as opposed to studying drama) course. A number of drama schools have these as an annexe to their full-time schools. They will cost you money, but can give you valuable insights into acting.
2) Many actors who do succeed - in terms of income and possibly fame - do something else first. This has two advantages:-
(i) You can gain some valuable 'life-experience' essential to the actor's craft which is to bring real life to the characters you have to portray. (I was not sympathetic to the third year drama student who explained his failure with a particular part with, "I've no real emotional experience to take from.")
& (ii) You could start to gain insights into the other job you are going to do to earn a living in those inevitable periods of being out of work. (That dreadful euphemism 'resting' is completely misplaced - I would personally like to strangle whoever invented it. Only the famous few can afford to 'rest' between jobs.)
(3) Try again next year and/or at other drama schools. Each drama school, like each professional employer, has different views on what they look for in a student. If one doesn't think you have potential another may disagree. Principally, try to learn from each experience without drowning yourself in a sea of regret of what you might or should have done. You may have thought that you did very well but still got rejected - that could be because there was someone very like you who by some quirk of fate they happened to choose and some drama schools try to avoid having two people they think are similar on the same course. Whatever, try to learn from your rejection(s) - discuss them with someone you trust - it is all useful for the next occasion.
DRAMA SCHOOL FUNDING
There seems to be some
confusion about this - this is my attempt to set the record straight
(as far as I am able) about the current systems.
1) Yes, drama school fees are higher than most other higher education
courses because the contact hours are necessarily much longer
and the teacher to student ratio much higher than most other courses.
[Training a vet is even more expensive.]
2) Also fees vary radically between schools because of differing
infrastructure costs and individual subsidies. However, if you
get a place on a "Maintained course" or are offered
a "Dance & Drama Award (DaDA)", you (or your parents)
will only have to pay up to a maximum of £1175 p.a. (in
2005-6) towards those fees - if your parents' "residual"
income is over about £20,000 per year. If it's less than
this, you won't have to pay anything toward your fees.
From Autumn 2006 the funding system is changing - you will pay
"top-up" fees instead of the fees cited above. Although
these will be higher (£3,000 p.a. at maximum), you won't
have to pay them back until after you've finished your course
- the repayments are subject to the same rules as those for "Maintenance
Loans" (see below). For more information see <www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport>.
3) If you go to the NCDT's website <www.ncdt.co.uk>,
you'll find a list of "accredited" courses. You'll see
that some have "DaDA" funding and others have "Maintained"
funding. If you get a place on a DaDA funded course, you'll have
above about a 50% chance of getting a DaDA; if you get a place
on a "Maintained" course, you are guaranteed funding
- both subject to (2) above.
4) Some DaDA funded courses have more DaDA places than others
- the numbers depend on government assessment of each course and
not upon 'accreditation'.
5) The way that schools choose who gets a DaDA, and who doesn't,
varies.
6) "Maintenance Loans" (to cover rent, food, books,
etc. and not to be confused with "Maintained courses")
are offered alongside both "Maintained" and "DaDA"
places - the amounts offered again depend upon your (or your parents
"residual" income. You can find the rules for repaying
the loans on the Student Loan Company website <www.slc.co.uk>.
7) Some schools have scholarships which usually won't provide
all the money necessary. Also, some schools are very skilful at
helping applicants in finding funding from all kinds of sources.
If you are offered a place but can't get part (or all) of the
necessary funding, then talk to the school at once and they may
be able to guide you. Don't, however, sit back and rely on the
school completely - you will have to do most of the P.R. work
yourself.
I hope this makes sense and I hope I've got it all right - I think that I have, but can't guarantee it. It is essential that you ask each school to which you are applying about their funding arrangements for that particular course.
N.B. The variations in the way students are funded isn't yet entirely fair and it would take for ever to explain how they have come about. However, the situation is a lot fairer than it was in the 'discretionary' grant days. It should improve further - in time.
A Note About Drama School Degree Courses: About threequarters of courses now have degree status, but this has very little clout within the profession, and some of the best schools have been quite vociferous about not wishing to become embroiled in the whole philosophy and bureaucracy that is fundamental to 'degree' education. The only advantage of degree status is that it would allow you to go on to do a further degree which should enhance your job prospects outside the profession - it's a sad fact that most actors are out of (acting) work most of the time, so you'll need additional ways of earning your living.
Finally: In auditioning - in fact throughout a career in acting - you have to be prepared for the unexpected. For example, the room you walk into may well be completely different from how you anticipated it, the chairs not those plastic functionaries as familiar as motorway bollards, the order that you are asked to do things in (speech, singing, interview, etc.), the auditioners different from those you'd been told about, etc. Always take a moment to assess and settle yourself - don't anticipate: wait for instruction and be prepared for anything.
These are just the most important aspects of auditioning, if you want to know more about auditioning for drama school, being at drama school, audition speeches, interviews.... in fact everything about how to progress in the acting profession, then read my book An Actor's Guide to Getting Work. ("If it is true that 'Luck gets you there: Talent keeps you there', then Mr. Dunmore goes a long way to explain the mystery of 'Luck'." - Dame Maggie Smith), published by A. & C. Black at £11.99. And if you need help with Shakespeare auditions, then look for my books, Alternative Shakespeare Auditions (for Women & for Men) & MORE Alternative Shakespeare Auditions (for Women & for Men) - all published by A. & C. Black and which contain lots of advice and 50 'alternative' speeches in each.
Simon Dunmore
4th January 2006
The NCDT publish a very helpful guide entitled, "An Applicant's Guide to Auditioning and Interviewing at Dance and Drama Schools". You can download it (for free) at <www.ncdt.co.uk/applicants.asp>.
For another perspective on this whole process go to <http://www.andrew-piper.com> where my friend Andrew has laid out his thoughts and advice based on his experience as an auditionee.