The Drama Student Magazine | Issue 4

issue 4 | autumn 2009

Chris New

Ears Pricked ready to go

Sheridan Smith

She’s going to be, like, totally awesome!

Casting Special

Edinburgh Review

Specialised Training

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contents

14

prologue I hope you’ve had an exciting summer holiday. The Drama Student team had a great one, particularly soaking up the unique atmosphere in Edinburgh (quite literally on our first day). As the sun came out in force for the weekend though, it was a pleasure to get on the Royal Mile and meet so many aspiring performers.

And so another academic year begins and thus another step further in your journey. You may well be gearing up for the drama school audition circuit in the months ahead, or perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones beginning a course right now. For many, the finishing line will be in your sights, as you prepare to showcase yourself to the industry in your final year. Whatever stage you’re at, it’s vital that you stay focused and continue to expand your knowledge of the world you’re entering.

My team and I have been working hard to assist you with just that. The autumn issue is filled with articles that will not just help you now, but will support you in the future . You never stop learning in this profession, every so often we need to jog our memories, and I’m certain you’ll refer back to this journal in the months and years to come.

In this edition we tackle one of the most important parts of a performer’s existence – the casting audition. It’s feared by most, but love it or not, it’s the way we get jobs and we’ve tracked down those in the know to help you on your way to success.

But we’re not all about advice, we’re also a publication that likes to entertain. And it doesn’t come much better than the adorable Sheridan Smith. She’s warmed the hearts of the nation with her unbeatable charm, and she’s here talking exclusively to Josh Boyd-Rochford.

He doesn’t just wait for the phone to ring, actor Chris New makes things happen.

He’s currently starring as Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears in the West End, but finds time to chat with Knight Hooson.

It’s a nifty issue people, I do hope you enjoy.

Phil Matthews Editor

10 Chris New

Knight Hooson gets to know the Entertaining Mr New, currently thrilling audiences as Joe Orton in the West End

Be The Best

Our north-west correspondent Francesca Waite talks to the troops of Slung Low, an innovative theatre company taking over Salford

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14 Sheridan Smith

Sheridan giggles exclusively to Josh BoydRochford, revealing her excitement at playing ‘The Pink Princess’. Oh my God, you guys!

NY Adventure

Benji Potter goes on a voyage across the pond on a creative journey and ends up taking a huge bite out of the Big Apple

4 News

Take Control - Casting 22

26 Uncle Dudley

Student Support 30

34 Training

Picture Board 42

46 Theatre & Culture

12

40

The First Word 6

20 Into the Profession

Photo: Dan Wooller

Photo: Dan Wooller

10

40 3

news CASTING SEMINAR “ENORMOUSLY INSPIRING”

STUDENT PLAY RECEIVES PROFESSIONAL RUN A radical re-telling of the classic Greek tragedy Orestes which originated at the Drama Department at Bath Spa University, played at the Southwark Playhouse during September.

The production was devised and directed by Emma Gersch with students in the winter of 2008-9. True to the founding spirit of the university’s Full Tilt Theatre Company, Orestes Re-examined was developed and produced as an ensemble piece and enhanced through the use of original choreography and music.

“The process of reinvention is always a profound experience, which enables the ensemble to really explore and grow” says Gersch. “Given the strong themes of justice, revenge and forgiveness we decided to tour the show to prisons in the South West. The expected heckling and laughing from prisoners was quickly replaced by alert engagement and an honest and touching debate about justice ensued.”

Actor and Editor of The Drama Student Magazine, Phil Matthews, joined Emmy nominated American Casting Director Nancy Bishop and director Michael Bassett in a special seminar at The Actor’s Centre on Monday 7th September. The two hour session, moderated by Matthews, focused on how directors and casting directors work together to cast a project.

“It was an invaluable discussion revealing a vast amount about the process of getting actors from the audition room and onto the big screen,” says Matthews. “There were actors there who were just starting out and even seasoned professionals, and it was wonderful for everyone involved to expand on their knowledge of the process, no matter what stage of their journey. How often do you get the chance to ask questions to two leading industry professionals without judgement? It was enormously inspiring.”

Michael Bassett has just wrapped on the film Solomon Kane, a fantasy action adventure, which will open in the UK in the New Year. He gave an insight into how he selects actors for roles and admitted that it can be a long and drawn out process.

Nancy Bishop also gave valuable casting advice in the Q&A, backed up by a book signing afterwards. She has recently published Secrets From The Casting Couch, available from Methuen Drama.

SPACEY BACKS BRIGHT YOUNG WINNERS Kevin Spacey was a key host at the launch of the first IdeasTap Ideas Fund at the Old Vic on Wednesday 23rd September. Young people aged between 16-25 with top creative ideas were rewarded with funding, mentoring, marketing for their project and production support to make their innovative ideas a reality.

From left to right Sally Hogarth (Ideas Fund winner), Jack Meredith (Ideas Fund winner), Alan Ramsay (Ideas Fund winner), Peter De Haan (Chairman, IdeasTap), Roger White (Ideas Fund winner), Kevin Spacey (Artistic Director, The Old Vic), Rob Brown (Ideas Fund winner), Paul Sternberg (Chief Executive IdeasTap) and Atiha Gupta (Ideas Fund winner).

Ideas ranged from working with young refugees in a deprived area of Newcastle allowing expression through animation; a community project providing young homeless people with the technical means to express themselves through photography and short film; a play about the process of politicisation and issues of identity of young Muslim women; and a venture combining the energy of clubland with magic of theatre.

The success of the two month pilot scheme has led to the launch of the new annual £150k fund. These awards are the first of their kind and are backed by a partnership network which includes The Old Vic, The National Youth Theatre, the BBC, Channel 4, Tate Modern and a wide-ranging network of voluntary, Higher Education and youth organisations.

Visit IdeasTap.com to see how you can get pitch your pioneering idea.

Are you a young performer interested in a career in theatre and the arts?

The Drama Student Magazine has teamed up with some of the industry’s leading companies to offer a number of fantastic prizes that are sure to help you in your journey as a performer. Email win@thedramastudent.co.uk and you are in. Deadline: Friday 16th October 2009

Calling all performers! Calling all performers! Calling all per

Photo: BBC

news

BBC IN SEARCH FOR JACKSON TALENT The death of Michael Jackson has prompted a surge in theatre and television shows to honour the King Of Pop. Now the BBC are currently casting for an exciting new primetime dance show and are urging those from all walks of life to get involved.

Fans who reckons they can embody the spirit of the international star are being invited to open auditions to show off their dance talents. The nationwide dance competition will begin this autumn and is open to everyone.

Producers are very eager to hear from solo, duo and groups acts who perform different styles of dance. From line dancers who can moonwalk, bhangra dancers who have mastered the MJ spin or salsa dancers who can also Beat It, anything that embraces his moves, his style, his magnetism on stage or his sheer power to entertain.

If Michael Jackson has inspired you and you’d like to get involved, call 020 7428 4632 or email dance@fevermedia.co.uk

NEW ACTING SCHOOL OPENS ITS DOORS A new acting school opens this autumn in Leeds geared towards school leavers and those looking for a mid or later life career change. With the closure of Bretton Hall nearby, Acting School North will be the only independent school in Yorkshire to offer full time professional acting training for adults. The Course Leader Rogelio Nevares (pictured) has envisioned a concept that has been adapted from the Stanislavski methodology he learned in Moscow at the world leading All Russian State University of Cinematography.

Unlike many drama schools, Acting School North will not charge for auditions, levelling the playing field for students from any background to take a first step towards a career in acting, and the team is keen to hear from students of any age or level of experience to arrange an audition.

To read an interview with Rogelio, visit The Drama Student Online. For information on Acting School North visit www. actingschoolnorth.co.uk

• 2 tickets to a West End show • 1 year subscription to The Actor’s Centre • Photo shoot with top headshot photographer Nick Gregan • 1 year subscription to CastWeb • 1 year upgraded subscription to Casting Call Pro • A copy of the new Contacts 2010 from Spotlight • 5 yearly subscriptions to The Drama Student Magazine

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5

the

EGO

has landed

the first word I left drama school feeling quite smug. My graduating year had been somewhat of a personal triumph. In fact, my ego was so inflated that my only concern was fitting my head through the door, writes Karla Crome.

June – some fantastic roles with great feedback, a first class Honours Degree (if you please) and a great agent (naturally). Somehow, I managed to wangle these details into every conversation. I’m sure even the milkman could give you an itemised account of my career to date.

However, as many graduates will tell you, leaving drama school quickly evokes some seriously quick withdrawal symptoms. Bye structure. Bye loan. Hello big bad world.

Penniless, my cock of the walk strut descended into a duckish waddle back to my old room in Hertfordshire. ‘Kicking it’ with my slightly less hip flat mates (mum, dad and an increasingly mentally challenged cat) was going to take some getting used to. Rent cropped up and I begrudgingly increased my hours at my part time job.

A few unfruitful auditions later I was beginning to feel a bit flat. Just a few weeks beforehand I had been speeding along at 90 mph and I had relished the thought of a lazy, chilled summer. What actually ensued was sitting on my bed for a good month twiddling my fingers and wondering why the RSC hadn’t called yet. Time for a pep call from the agent.

I had only been out four weeks and it was already getting to me – how could I keep this up for a lifetime?

‘You’re not working, you should be working twice as hard!’

Every minute of an empty day, he ‘reminded’ me, should be utilised for furthering my career. Writing to casting directors, reading and seeing plays, reading all relevant publications and keeping in vocal and physical shape.

The message was clear - someone will always be working harder then you, so do everything in your power to get in there first.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want you to run away with the idea that drama school gave me unrealistic expectations of the industry.

Actually, it’s the quiet confidence we have within ourselves that is tested in these first few shaky months.

Your tutors say those epic words so often they almost become devoid of meaning. ‘Only one person in this room will be working at a time, you might not work for years, a handful of you will be doing this in 10 years’ blah blah blah.

You cast your eyes around the room with a wee smirk knowing you are the exception. And why shouldn’t you? After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will?

However, the skill of remaining positive and motivated against an industry with such low employment and few opportunities is hard.

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Fear not, as there are things you can prepare for before graduating, which will make the transition from mad to mundane slightly more bearable.

Many drama schools and universities advise against paid work until after graduation. If you choose not to work whilst studying, use your spare time to look into resting jobs you can do which will inspire and motivate you. While you’re waiting for your first performing job, would you rather be getting paid to work in a theatre or behind a checkout?

Given time to research, you’d be surprised how many potential opportunities you will come across that can be flexible and utilise your skills. The period after training will be difficult, so make it easy on yourself by earning money doing something you like. Or at least something you don’t hate.

With so many training institutions across the UK, many graduates choose to relocate. Whether you are moving to London, back home or just somewhere a little cheaper, get down to the local theatre and see what they can offer you. Many regional and community theatres offer workshops and classes in audition technique, singing, dance and even voice to keep up your skills. They are quite reasonably priced too. I was pleasantly surprised to find my local theatre now offers physical theatre workshops (especially seeing as the last time I went there I was four and enjoyed an excellent production of Yogi Bear Live).

You will also meet people local to you, both professional and amateur, who share interests in theatre. At quiet times it’s always good to be meeting neighbourhood contacts and making new friends.

In retrospect, if I’d taken time to think realistically about my future whilst training, it would have saved me a lot of frustration and upset.

It helps to know that doing something for my career everyday (whether it be writing that letter, watching a play or braving the 9am spin class) will, if anything, keep me positive and proactive.

Or if that fails, maybe Nicholas Hytner will spot my inflated ego when I’m having a particularly good day. It’s tough to miss it.●

Listen to an interview with Karla in our latest online podcast, where she talks about her training on the Acting Course at Italia Conti www.thedramastudent.co.uk

FestivalFever

The Drama Student team were out in force at this year’s Edinburgh Festival soaking up the unique atmosphere and meeting a passionate community of young performers at venues across the city, writes Phil Matthews.

I have a special affinity with Edinburgh. In 2003, fresh out of The Central School of Speech and Drama, I spent an extraordinary month there performing in a play on the Fringe. Although I already had professional credits to my name before I trained, that hot summer really felt like my journey was truly beginning. The play Hardcore, written by the brilliant Jonathan Hall, was about four young guys who had aspirations to become porn stars. A controversial topic possibly, but a theme that received a lot of attention from the press and ‘punters’ alike, and resulted in a sell-out production for much of the Festival with welcome rave reviews.

It was a fun time. Looking back I really felt part of this unique cultural event, probably a combination of it being my first experience and the success of the show. My fellow performers from the play, all recent graduates themselves, had a shared sense of optimism. We would walk around the city being approached by fans of the play and although on a very small scale, the positive response made the experience all the more fun.

Having fun is one important factor to any project, yet making it work to your advantage is another vital aspect and that particular experience

8

was a key example of how the Edinburgh Fringe can move your journey in the right direction. Graham McLaren, the founder of award-winning Scottish company Theatre Babel, was scouting for young actors for a production he was directing at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre. He was looking for English actors to play Percy Shelley and Lord Byron in a revival of Liz Lochead’s Blood and Ice. He had heard of our play through contacts in the industry and came along to see what all the fuss was about. The four of us were asked to audition the following day and after a series of meetings, Alex Hassell and myself, were cast.

It meant returning to Edinburgh for three months that autumn and performing at one of Scotland’s most exciting theatres, working with some of the country’s most innovative writers and directors. It was remarkable. The following year, Hardcore transferred to London for a two month run, something that would not have happened without the success of the Edinburgh production. It all seemed to tie up well for everyone.

So it was a thrill to return to the Fringe this year, albeit in a different capacity. Since we launched The Drama Student Magazine in January, I

edinburghreview receive weekly emails from our readers who tell me how much they love the publication and how much it has helped them in their own journey.

Not just prospective and current drama students, but performers of all ages are getting hold of the journal and it’s a pleasure to hear their comments.

Many of those emailing me are involved in this year’s Edinburgh Festival, taking their career in their own hands and often producing their own work. The Royal Mile, very much the core of the Fringe, was buzzing with performers eager to promote their work and ultimately get bums on seats. Confidence was in abundance and it’s difficult not to admire the enthusiasm that spills out into the city’s streets. Although the first day was a complete washout with non-stop rain, the sun managed to make an appearance at the weekend and it was a pleasure to get out and soak up the atmosphere.

I managed to see two electrifying productions at one of my favourite Edinburgh venues – The Traverse. Orphans, a new play by Dennis Kelly, begins with a startling scene. Helen and Danny are sharing a candlelit supper in their modest new-build, when in walks her brother Liam – soaked in another man’s blood. There’s an instantaneous pause while the couple, and most of the audience, hold their breath in suspense.

From the outset, you know this is going to be intense and the play manages to grip you throughout. We’re taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions of mistrust and the rights and wrongs of family loyalty. The style of writing, it’s staccato speech patterns and miscommunication, strengthen the drama with moments of genuine humour and is a testament to Dennis’ skill as a writer. What’s more, you couldn’t extract any better performances than those of Joe Armstrong (Liam), ClaireLouise Cordwell (Helen) and Jonathan McGuinness (Danny) who we superb.

The Traverse have an eye for top productions during the Festival.

Che Walker’s sassy musical Been So Long transports us to a South London bar, once a trendy hangout but on the brink of closure, beaten by the success of its new rival across the street. Single mum Simone falls for the infamous cocksure stud that is Raymond, against her better judgement. With her feisty friend Yvonne on a mission to bag a man, Been So Long is a musical comedy about love and romance, with sexual desire spilling from the seams.

Over to the George Square Theatre for the premiere of Wolfboy, a psycho-sexual thriller about two boys who find themselves in a psychiatric hospital. David (played by the alluring Paul Holowaty) is convinced he’s a wolf. He strikes up an unusual friendship with Bernie (the talented Gregg Lowe), and the pair make plans to abscond. Will escaping to a new life away from the clinical institution release them from their tormented past? Wolfboy is a dark and often disturbing drama with chilling music and lyrics by Leon Parris, and a sublimely executed direction from Russell Labey. The result – a gripping evening that leaves you feeling shell shocked and somewhat haunted. Deserves an immediate transfer.

To sum up, there is nothing quite like the Edinburgh Festival.

Companies come from afar to showcase their talents and judging from what we experienced during our visit, even those small productions with limited resources, are producing quality work. I can see that they are having fun and I am sure their commitment and hard work will see the Fringe working to their advantage, hopefully moving their journey in the right direction. ●

Main Image: Been So Long and Orphans (bottom left); Wolf Boy (centre) and Editor Phil Matthews and Art Director Fabio Marcolini on the Royal Mile.

9

Taking each Opportunity Chris New is currently starring as Joe Orton in the play Prick Up Your Ears in London. Knight Hooson discovers a modest young actor enjoying an inspired career.

Is Chris New the luckiest actor around? Just three years out of RADA, he has already appeared in the West End opposite Alan Cumming, acted with both the National Theatre and the RSC, made several appearances on the BBC, and a turn each at the Old Vic and the Royal Exchange Theatres. Now, he is about the appear again in the West End in Prick Up Your Ears opposite Matt Lucas. It’s almost enough to make you jealous.

Luckily, he is a nice guy, with a wicked sense of humour and enough humility to realise his good fortune. You can only admire the way he has seized the opportunities which have been presented to him and ran with them.

His current project, a new play by Simon Bent inspired by the John Lahr biography of Joe Orton, is a study of the relationship between the playwright Orton, on the cusp of success and fame, and his lover Kenneth Halliwell, about to be left in his shadow.

In 1987 Prick Up Your Ears was made into a film by Alan Bennett and John Lahr directed by Stephen Frears. It starred Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina with supporting roles played by Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Barber, Julie Walters and Wallace Shawn. But this is the first time the story has been told on stage.

Chris New’s flatmate had the idea that Chris should play Joe Orton

10

in a stage version opposite Matt Lucas as Kenneth Halliwell. The idea might have ended there if not for a chance meeting between Chris and Matt Lucas in a restaurant where he pitched the idea to him. To his surprise, Lucas was interested. “Matt and I had a meeting with the producer, Sonia Friedman, about the idea,” New says. “She just leapt on it. She absolutely loved it.” Friedman commissioned Simon Bent to write the script.

Bent has spent the last year combing through Orton’s diaries and family archives while interviewing family and friends of Orton and Halliwell. Chris has also got into the research. “We’ve all spent a lot of time talking to friends of his [Orton] and I’ve met Leonie, who is his sister, and who now runs the estate,” he says. “I’ve tried to get below the legend to try to see what he was really like. Also to see how he changed.

It’s very simple to think he was just one person. He has to have had a journey. Most people know who Joe Orton is, but very few people know what he was really like.”

Why was Chris attracted to Orton in the first place? “Weirdly, there are a lot of parallels between Joe and I. We both grew up in a very working class atmosphere. We’re both gay, we both went to RADA. I kind of look like him. I just felt a kind of kinship with him. Especially when

Chris co-stars with Matt Lucas in Prick Up Your Ears at the Comedy Theatre until 6th December. www.prickupyourearstheplay.com

Photos: Catherine Ashmore

I read his juvenile diaries of him in Leicester dreaming about getting out and going into the theatre. I found that very close to myself. “ Chris grew up in Swindon and was involved in amateur and school dramatics, so he felt quite ready to take up a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. However, it didn’t quite work out. “I completed the first term and ran,” he says. “I wasn’t ready to do drama training yet, so I found it very difficult. I just wasn’t prepared for the rigours of the training.”

He fled to New York. “I literally got on a plane and went. It was quite an experience, “ he recalls. “My time over there only lasted a year and then I decided I had to come back to England and get on with my life.”

“I decided that I would reapply for drama schools. At that point in the year the only drama school audition which was left open was RADA, and I had never auditioned for RADA before because I just presumed I wouldn’t get in, and so I thought ‘I’ll do this audition and that will warm me up for the year afterwards and I’ll do all of them properly.’ But luckily I got in on the first go so my problems were solved.”

His experience at RADA was completely different to the Bristol Old Vic. Was the school different or was he? “I think it was a mixture of both. I think that I was very lucky that I was ready for it then and it was presented in the right way. It just worked really.”

Did he feel drama school gave him the tools he needed for the profession? “Against what people think of RADA, it didn’t hand it to you on a plate,” he points out. “But I was in a much stronger position to focus on what I was doing. I had had that year in New York to focus on all the madness and having a nice time and all that, so I was prepared to knuckle down and not do any of those things and become a hermit and work and work and work. I needed three years to really just focus on me without the stress and worry of the outside world. I needed three years where I was protected.”

Joe Orton’s experiences at the Royal Academy were a bit less grand. Neither he nor Halliwell did especially well there and it seems that Orton didn’t exactly relish the experience. Each did a stint in Rep before giving up acting to focus on writing.

In comparison, Chris has had a much smoother ride. Before Chris had even graduated he was cast in a play at The White Bear fringe venue; however his big break was just around the corner.

Director Daniel Kramer had seen Chris in one of his shows at RADA and made note of him. When he was casting for his West End production of Bent he saw Chris for the small role of Rudy. “He brought me in for that part and I didn’t get the job. And then the actor who was playing Horst dropped out to do another part. So Horst suddenly became available.”

Was he aware at the time of what a lucky break this was? “I wasn’t aware quite of what the effects would be, but I knew it was a big deal.”

His debut was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards Outstanding Newcomer and the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award nomination for London Newcomer of the Year.

Did his career start to snowball after this? “No, not really. You do one job and then try to find another. I’ve never felt like I was in a position where I was guaranteed jobs.” However one week after finishing Bent he was at The National Theatre rehearsing The Reporter.

Is there a strategy to this? “None of it is planned. You just try to work out from what’s on the plate in front of you what you can get. It’s all just coincidence.”

He manages to stay quite cool about the profession. “I am much more realistic about what I can get seen for and I think if they aren’t going to see me for something then there is no point wasting my time worrying about it. I’d just rather deal with the reality of the situation rather than try to worry about something else.”

It hasn’t all been clear sailing. “At the end of last year, I was getting a bit tired and I wasn’t happy with what was going on, and then I made some quite big changes and I started to take control of what I wanted to do a lot more. “ He is currently developing some other projects for himself. “For the next two years I have a few projects, a bit like this one, projects that I’m pushing through. I couldn’t sit on my ass and wait for the telephone.

I’m doing what people do on the Fringe but on a different scale really.

That’s what I like about the Fringe – everybody is so proactive and puts so much energy into it and I think that should continue throughout your career really.” ●

Photos: Catherine Ashmore

pullingfocus

11

Innovative theatre company Slung Low are rounding up the troops and getting ready to land on Salford for their latest landmark production, writes Francesca Waite.

Slung Low are one of the most groundbreaking theatre companies in the UK, receiving critical acclaim recently for Last Seen, part of The Almeida Theatre’s Summer Festival. For their production, Helium, they were awarded The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award in 2008, founded to help the development of emerging practitioners in the field of experimental theatre. Their ethos is to allow the particular demands of each story to inform the choice of venue and performance style, meaning their next show is as likely to be caught on an iPod as it is in a city centre car-park.

Specialising in new work, they are led by seven artists from diverse creative backgrounds including prose, movement, video, sound and theatre. Their intention is to use all of the technology and resources available to an artist in the 21st Century to achieve the oldest of artistic aims – a good story, well told.

Their latest production, Beyond the Front Line, will receive its World Première as part of The Lowry’s ground-breaking No Boundaries season from Monday 5th October. Beyond the Front Line is a collaboration between the innovative Slung Low, The Lowry and The University of Salford and has been generously funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.

Alan Lane, Artistic Director of Slung Low said of the co-production: “This is a busy, artistically challenging and very exciting time for Slung Low. We are delighted to be working with The Lowry and Salford University on Beyond the Front Line.”

Robert Robson, The Lowry’s Artistic Director added, “Beyond the Front Line is one of three productions in our No Boundaries season, showcasing new, innovative and exhilarating theatre brought by some of the north’s leading talent. We are certain that these productions will be truly memorable, providing the audience with an experience they can’t stop talking about. In the run-up to The Lowry’s 10th birthday year, these unique projects illustrate our role in presenting imaginative theatre.”

Before becoming a theatre practitioner Alan graduated from an English Literature degree from Sheffield University. He regularly lectures on devised theatre for a number of UK universities and Slung Low are resident theatre company at the University of Huddersfield. Alan is also a selector for the National Student Drama Festival and producer of Development Lab, producing progressive new work in Bradford. As well as having directed all of Slung Low’s work his other direction credits include Bus for West Yorkshire Playhouse, where he was Resident Assistant Director from 2005 to 2006; Lostlings for Almeida Projects and Almeida Theatre and Sigernost for The National Theatre of Croatia.

Alan led classes and modules at Salford University about site-specific productions, giving the students food for thought for their own research and development projects. A vast number of first, second and third year

12

students will contribute to Beyond the Front Line, instrumental from the devising process until the performances. 220 students are involved in the production, appearing in the two week run of performances.

Salford is under attack from the enemy and the British Army have taken up positions to defend it. That’s where the audience take centre stage. With total access to the facility, they’ll hurtle from the VIP tent deep into the war zone for a total sensory experience.

“And officials from the Ministry of Defence have assured the public today that the recent troop surge will have no major impact on day to day life. Salford is open for business.”

At the beginning of the devising process the students were asked to think about their own personal relationship with the British Army.

The resulting pieces made throughout the term will influence Slung Low’s final production. The students will also be part of the mammoth installation playing soldiers and nurses and generally animating the space. The audience will feel like they are surrounded during the largescale, outdoor experience.

Slung Low are well known for their imaginative, immersive and interactive theatre installations. They use site-specific theatre, which has been described as ‘exploring the boundaries of theatrical experience’.

It can allow the relationship between the audience member, the environment and the story to be much more complex than a regular fourth wall technique.

Utterly compelling, combining movement and multimedia with explosive narrative, Beyond The Front Line is a promenade piece where the audience will not always be seated. Activity will take place at The Lowry, on the plaza immediately in front of the building and on the waterside adjacent to it. The soundtrack for the production will be relayed to specially designed headsets which members of the audience will be provided with and they too will be cast in roles within the War Zone.

Slung Low are going places. They have been described by The Guardian as “A company of idiosyncratic vision and promise,” and their production, Helium as “a rewarding, imaginative exploration of the value of letting go”, by Metro. Time Out say “(Slung Low) combine the art of film and the homespun, heartfelt craft of theatre with wistfulness and wit.” Keep your eyes peeled for their next production on your ipod, in a car park or wherever it might be.● Beyond the Front Line Mon 5 – Sat 17 October 2009 The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester Box Office: 0870 787 5793 www.thelowry.com/no_boundaries

That’s Our Boys Leaving the cosy bubble of drama school to enter the harsh realities of the industry can be lonely. Yet not for these GSA graduates, writes Phil Matthews.

What happens when you’re suddenly out there? Very few drama school graduates flourish instantly. Each year, of course there are stories of one or two being discovered as ‘the next big thing’, some even before they gain full Equity membership. A top agent, countless high profile meetings, lots of interest, film offers – career started.

Yet for the vast majority, even for those very talented actors with good agents and a solid training, the journey takes time to build up momentum. The first six months can be enormously tough, especially when the phone fails to ring off the hook with auditions.

So, as a newly qualified actor, what do you do? It’s easy to fall into the trap of self-pity, puzzled as to why you’re not sat on the This Morning sofa promoting your leading West End debut. Okay, slight exaggeration. Loose Women perhaps. Nevertheless, you’re essentially questioning your future and that continued outlook can be damaging to the career you’ve worked so hard for.

Take these four GSA graduates. A few months out of drama school and sure, they may not be rubbing shoulders with Philip Schofield just yet, but they are being proactive about their future.

Not content with waiting for that phone to ring, Philip Labey, Joseph Creeth, Christopher Kinneston and Christian Walker, are creating the work for themselves.

The group have recently set up their own theatre company, Young Mann Walker Productions, and are preparing to open with their first play in London. Our Boys tracks the recovery of six young soldiers in a Military hospital in 1984, veterans of the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Hyde Park bombings, with games and cynical humour as their only means of mental escape. In light of what is happening in Afghanistan, the perceived treatment of British soldiers back home and given that the run will be coinciding with Remembrance Day, the piece is fiercely current.

Christopher explains that the cast were instantly drawn to the play, having all “laughed so much” at the first read through. They realised they were on to a winner. “The situations that they’re in are so human,” he says. “And it switches between those moments when things are just hilarious, and then the truth of everything hits home.”

The play was first performed at the Cockpit Theatre in May 1993 to universal acclaim and later transferred to the Donmar where it was directed by the writer himself, Jonathan Lewis, who is aware of the company’s achievements and is giving his full support to the revival.

The company realised that choosing the right play and casting was paramount to doing their own production. “We wanted to get it right,” explains Christian. “We’d trained for three years to be considered professional and the casting was an important part of that. We’re lucky enough to have had a fantastic journey and things have just fallen into place.”

I’m not so sure luck has had much to do with it. This fresh and energetic company seem to know exactly what they want to achieve.

Not just with their new company, but equally with their own careers.

There’s not a sign of self-pity here.●

Our Boys will run at The Tabard Theatre in Turnham Green, from 2nd to 14th November. Box Office: 08448 472 264.

Listen to the full podcast interview with the Our Boys company at www.thedramastudent.co.uk

13

Giving it some

Elle

Sheridan Smith with Duncan James

14

close up

closeup Oh My God you guys! It’s going to be, like, totally, awesome! Come on everybody, snaps for Elle Woods! Or rather, snaps for Sheridan Smith, writes Josh Boyd-Rochford.

The mercurial young actress Sheridan Smith, star of Gavin & Stacey, The Royle Family, and Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps, is returning to the West End in 2010 to play the most sought after role in modern musical theatre – Elle Woods in the film-to-musical adaptation of Legally Blonde. If Elaine Paige is the current First Lady of British Musical Theatre, then, with roles in Into the Woods and an Olivier nominated turn as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors under her belt, the similarly diminutive Smith must surely be well on her way to becoming the First Princess.

Actually, most musical theatre performers would long for the kind of diverse and eclectic career that Smith has enjoyed. A seasoned old pro at the age of just 28, she has notched up credits in film, theatre, on TV, in Shakespeare, in drama, in comedy and in musical theatre. With her range and versatility she is, rightly, one of the UK’s best loved young actors.

But stuck-up she is not. Within a few minutes of chatting to her, Smith has me giggling along with her stories and feeling like I’m catching up with a dearly loved old friend. Perhaps the key to her success is that she is so eminently likeable, so down to earth, and so very, very humile. Those, surely, are qualities that she will bring to the role of Elle Woods, but following Reese Witherspoon on film and Laura Bell Bundy on Broadway, Smith has some big shoes to fill.

become the opening number, and of course, it wouldn’t be complete without Bruiser the dog.

“I am just beside myself with excitement that there’s a dog – no two dogs in the show!” exclaims Smith. With three dogs herself, Smith is a big dog lover. “I’m so chuffed to be working with a dog in the show!

I’m just nervous I’ll be playing with the dogs backstage and I’ll miss my cue!”

So far, Smith has only tried on the iconic pink suit for the official photoshoot “It made me feel like Elle Woods,” she giggles. “I kept running around screaming (adopts perfect American accent) ‘Oh My God you guys!’ – It was amazing. I mean, I am so not a pink girl. I’m a jeans and trainers girl, a bit of a tomboy, but to get dressed up and hold the Chihuahua, I just loved it.”

Elle Woods is a massive undertaking of a role. Getting into shape and building up her stamina for the show is vital for Smith in order to complete the gruelling eight shows a week as the all-singing, alldancing heroine. “I eat lots of crap food. I eat lots of chocolate to give me energy and drink red bull,” she admits, collapsing into giggles for about the tenth time. “No, I’ve got to be prepared for this job” she says, composing herself. “The cast are amazing, they’re all professional dancers and singers, and I don’t want to go in there and feel like I haven’t put in some work beforehand, like I haven’t done my homework.

I’m so chuffed to be working with a dog in the show! I’m just nervous I’ll be playing with the dogs backstage and I’ll miss my cue!

“Well, Reese was just brilliant wasn’t she?” exclaims Smith. “I mean she was just made for that part, she did it so cute and vulnerable but so ballsy, confident and intelligent as well. She just got the part nailed I think. Obviously the show’s different with the singing and the dancing, and Laura Bell Bundy was unbelievable on Broadway so yeah, I have got big shoes to fill, I’m pretty nervous, but I just can’t wait to get my teeth into it really and see what we come up with in rehearsals and in performance.”

From the moment Legally Blonde – The Musical opened on Broadway, every musical theatre actress in the UK was itching to get into the audition room and ‘give it some Elle’ for Casting Director Pippa Ailion. Not since Marilyn Monroe pouted her way through Gentlemen Prefer Blondes has it ever been so much fun to be blonde.

“I hoped I might get seen for it,” Smith explains excitedly. “I got the CD of the Broadway version and I kept listening to it and practising, and I put in loads of work and I was so nervous in my audition. Then I got a recall, and the second time there was loads of people on the panel, all the American producers and composers, and directors, and I was so nervous, and the director just kept going ‘take a deep breath’. And then I couldn’t believe it, they called me a couple of days later and said I’d got it. I was just screaming, I was so chuffed.”

And after she’d stopped screaming? “I went out with me mates and got drunk, on pink wine as Elle Woods would! I celebrated with some friends, they knew how much I wanted it and how much work I’d put in, and I felt so lucky, ‘cos so many girls wanted it and would have been brilliant in it, so I’m just thrilled I got the chance.”

Legally Blonde – The Musical is a fabulous pink confection of a show, with all the key moments from the film – the Bend & Snap is in there, Brooke’s workout video, Elle’s catchphrase ‘Oh My God’ has

I’ve been learning all the songs, I’ve been having some signing lessons and I’ve got a personal trainer. Thing is it’s singing and dancing at the same time, you’ve got to have some stamina to do that. I mean, the girl who plays Brooke, they skip and sing at the same time! Thankfully I’m not in that number! I’ve been trying to do a little bit of training, and my trainer is making me sing while I’m working out, so I can get used to it.

At the minute I don’t manage it very well, and I’ve got a stitch after the first five minutes! But I’m hoping if I keep it up between now and then, that I’ll hopefully be in better shape by the time we start.”

I imagine that Smith already has quite a lot of stamina. As one of the UK’s busiest actors, she is never out of work, always challenging herself and pushing herself harder. “I just love acting,” she confesses, “and I think all actors want to challenge themselves and see if they can have a go at this and have a go at that. I really am so thankful. I moved down here to do a show, got an agent, did Into the Woods at the Donmar, and I keep thinking ‘am I going to get found out soon?’ I’ve not been scared to take risks and have a go. I love all genres, musical theatre, a bit of drama, a good play – but comedy’s just great isn’t it? You can’t beat making people laugh. I think that’s my favourite.”

Smith’s prolific career began very young. “My Mum and Dad were a Country & Western singing duo, and I started singing with them and I went to dance school until I was 16. I auditioned for the National Youth & Music Theatre (NYMT) when I was in my teens and I got in. They put on shows in the school holidays with professional directors and things like that.”

Interestingly Smith has never formally trained at a drama school, but is a passionate believer in learning her craft. “I think drama schools are great, you learn all that stuff about singing and dancing and acting and Shakespeare and I do kind of feel that I missed out on that, but I

15

Photo: Alistair Muir

Photo: Alistair Muir

closeup was so lucky to get to work with such brilliant people, that I kind of learned on the job I suppose and, Sue Johnston and Caroline Ahern (on The Royle Family) would help me and teach me and I kind of just watched in awe really. I learned along the way. I think drama school is great because you do get all that training beforehand and I think it stands you in good stead then, as soon as you start jobbing, and that was a little daunting, going into it all without all that training. There’s still plenty more for me to learn.”

Smith is fundamentally down to earth about her work. “At the end of the day it’s a job, and we’re all grafting and we all want to earn a living doing what we love, but I think you’ve always got to remember that being with your family is more important than that really.”

Family, home, and the people she loves, are key to Smith, keeping her secure and grounded. “If I have a weekend off I go straight up North and see my family, recharge my batteries up there, ‘cos you can’t beat having Mums cooking and sleeping in your own bed. I really miss being up North.

I have to go home regularly to see the people that I love and just remember what it’s all about really. It’s a different world down here, for me, you know, coming from a little village up North, and it’s fantastic really, and exciting and I’ve met so many great people, but I think it’s important to go home and they’ll bring me straight back down to Earth. It’s a really scary world down here, it’s great and it’s exciting, but I think it’s probably quite easy for people to get carried away with themselves.”

It would certainly be easy to get carried away if you were leading Smith’s lifestyle. She is constantly working, has a very high profile, very little downtime, and luckily for Smith, unlike most actors, she’s never had any periods of ‘resting’. She seems almost embarrassed to admit it “I’ve had a couple of weeks here and there, but I’ve been pretty lucky, a lot of jobs have worked round each other. I’ve just done Benidorm and then Gavin & Stacey in Cardiff and then back to London, so I’ve managed to work it all round each other.

It does involve a lot of rushing here there and everywhere and remembering what accents for what job, and what character you’re doing on each job. The worst was last year when I did Little Shop of Horrors and I was filming Love Soup and a sitcom called Grown Ups. So on Grown Ups we’d do studio audiences all day on a Sunday, then I’d have eight shows a week on Little Shop, then in the mornings I’d be filming at six on Love Soup and I was getting taxi biked on the back of motorbikes across London to each job.”

At the memory of this, Smith breaks out once more into one of her characteristic giggles. “I have to admit, at a couple of points then I thought maybe I should not try and take on quite so much. But it was great, and it’s an honour to try and fit it all in, and it’s an honour to be wanted. I’m not silly, I know it might not always last, so I just try and take all the jobs ‘cos I don’t want to miss out on anything.”

And before she starts work on Legally Blonde? Any chance of a rest now? “Well, I’ve got a couple of weeks coming up before I come back and start on Jonathan Creek and then straight into Legally Blonde, so I’m going to go on holiday.” Oh well, that’ll be relaxing then? “No! I’ll still be doing a lot of singing, learning my songs while I’m out there. I don’t like to stop for too long – I’d drive myself mad! I have to keep busy.” And that kind of work ethic is probably what keeps Smith in constant demand, and makes her a role model for many young actors starting out.

“Just watch everyone and take everything in,” she says when pressed for advice. “Enjoy, just go in and enjoy, enjoy it and have fun and just watch and learn. That’s all I’ve done really, and all the people that will be reading this from drama schools, they’re going to be way better than me already ‘cos they’ve all got the training. They’ll be ready to go out into the big wide world now. The most important thing is to have fun; it’s what you love, it’s what you’re passionate about and it’s what you’ve worked hard for and so go out there and kick some ass.” Or, more appropriately, give it some Elle.

“Will you say to everyone, good luck?” Smith asks earnestly as we finish up. “I just think it’s brilliant, anyone who wants to get into the industry, and I know how tough it is and how daunting it is. I just think it’s great, I’d love to meet all those guys, I hope they come and watch the show and if they do, I hope they come and say hello backstage afterwards ‘cos I’d love to meet everyone. I’m in awe of you lot, ‘cos I’m the one who hasn’t had any bloody training!”

Watch out Rizzo, Frenchy and co. There’s a new Pink Lady in town.● Legally Blonde – The Musical previews from 5th December at The Savoy Theatre. www.legallyblondethemusical.co.uk

16

Sheridan in Little Shop of Horrors (top and bottom) and BBC’s Two Pints of Lager & a Packet of Crisps (centre)

g n i o G

c i l b u P

On the 10th November 2009 my second full-length play Public Property opens in the West End and I am as excited as the child that got the puppy for Christmas, writes Sam Peter Jackson.

Here I am - an ex-actor, who wrote his first play four years ago as a catharsis for an ended relationship and an overflow of amassed oneliners – sitting in a casting suite auditioning young actors with the director and the producer. Even though it’s been a while since my career change now, I never seize to be amazed that the people walking through the door have spent their weekend learning the lines I frivolously tapped into my Macbook over many a 3pm breakfast almost two years ago. In the meantime I have written another full-length and about 15 short plays, some of which have been produced. Commercial outings of new writing don’t happen overnight and I have lived, loved and breathed Public Property for so long that it almost feels like this production is a revival.

Today seems like someone has invited me on an elaborately geeky roleplay weekend to act out my X-Factor fantasy. “I’m Simon!” I claim within a heartbeat of sitting down and it takes the two women on my left less than a second to bag ‘Danni’ and ‘Cheryl’ for themselves.

Despite my flippant approach I feel great sympathy with each actor that we put through this awkwardly artificial process that I once detested so much. And even now my palms get sweaty as I share the pain of every silent minute of bag-packing and jacket-rustling that clumsily happens after each good bye.

The thing that always seems to fascinate people about writers is how we come up with the big idea. A concept that I have never fully believed in. For me it’s always been the small seemingly nonsensical niggling ideas that morph themselves into an oddball magic cluster over a period of time that lead to something interesting.

For example… Public Property is a play about a newsreader who gets caught up in a public sex scandal, which plays out a power struggle between the newsreader and his publicist in a house surrounded by the paparazzi.

There are several ideas here: 1) A director I worked with had once been a newsreader and I thought that this would be a funny profession for a character in a play. 2) I was keen to create a world that was away from my own life, but that I still felt I could talk about with a sense of knowledge and honesty – i.e. I had once temped in PR and several of my friends are publicists. 3) Initially I had written the first scene in the house as a short film. Then I thought - What if there was an opening scene in

18

which the newsreader fires his publicist a week earlier, so that he has to come groveling back when he needs his help as the scandal breaks?

That’s when the ideas-cluster took shape and I knew that the story could be a play with an engaging central power struggle. A collision of random thoughts over a period of months.

After that it was down to a happy accident. I had been working on a 15-minute scene to submit to the Hampstead Theatre Start Night and I just couldn’t get it right. A day before the deadline I gave up and thought “Damn it, I’ll just have to submit fifteen minutes of that newsreader thing instead.” The scene got selected, I called in a favour from a talented young director I knew and it was performed to an enthusiastic response.

Suddenly Old Vic New Voices wanted to read the play. There was only one problem – it didn’t exist.

All I had were fifteen coherent minutes and about thirty pages of raw material mess. I knuckled down and created a script I was happy with in three months. And before you could say “How long does it take to read 100 bloody pages?” several billion times on a loop (which is the normal waiting time in the world of the playwright), I was offered a workshop and a reading at the Old Vic, which was absolutely thrilling.

One of the producers in the audience of the reading that day is the producer sitting next to me in the audition room at this moment. Next to her is the young talented director that felt like doing me a favour (i.e.

‘Cheryl’ and ‘Danni’). Amazing how things come together.

As another actor leaves the room in awkward silence and we share a grin after an impressive audition, we know that we are one step closer to an exciting production. For me and my puppy, however, Christmas has already come early. ● Public Property runs at the Trafalgar Studios from 10th Nov to 5th Dec. Tickets: 0844 871 7632 or online ambassadortickets.com

intotheprofession

That’s all we need for

today...

…Thank you. “Is that good?” You ask yourself. Does that mean “I was perfect, the job is mine” or perhaps “You suck, get out of my audition room”? Post audition your brain goes into overdrive, writes Daniella Gibb.

But I tell you now that you’ll never know what they were thinking. You can never second guess the greatest enigma of the acting world. The Audition Panel!

Auditioning is an essential part of being an actor. But my God, they aren’t half terrifying! It’s all consuming, from the moment you get phoned until it is over. You eat, sleep and breathe “11.30 next Wednesday, take your tap shoes” and normal life goes out of the window. I yearn for the day that I get used to it.

But until that day comes (I predict it’ll be about the same time as hell freezes over,) I, and fellow actors, will continue to put ourselves through them in the hope of securing our next job. So we may as well get good at them.

Preliminary rounds for Musical Theatre begin with singing slots with your own material or a dance call en masse. If you’re successful, a “recall” follows. This includes more dance or script from the show and then numerous recalls ensue before a “final” audition or workshop.

Sometimes you’re seen nine times, sometimes only twice. And this process will differ as you have varied castings for television, plays or adverts.

It seems the key to a successful audition is a blend of preparation and mindset. Preparation is vital to give yourself the best chance. You want to show the panel your best and truest self; not some insecure gabbling twit whom you’ve never met before.

Audition Tip 1 – Don’t attempt to learn new material before an audition. When I began on the audition circuit I always tried to match the criteria perfectly. I had an audition for a 1920’s musical and they requested songs “in the style of the piece”. (Now there is a phrase you’ll come to know and loathe - specific yet vague!) I panicked thinking I didn’t have anything suitable and so by spending over thirty unemployed actress pounds on Cole Porter and Noel Coward Selection books, I chose a witty, wordy ditty. “Perfect,” I thought! I learnt it and was word perfect in the shower and on the tube. But in the audition room could I remember all those new lyrics? Could I heck! I restarted twice and eventually fudged my way to the end with lyrics and a decidedly dodgy last note! Apologising for my audacity to call myself a professional, I headed for the door.

Audition Tip 2 – Take note of the audition room entrances and exits because as we see my 22 year old self shrouded in shame saying a dejected goodbye, I walk into a cupboard! Yes, a cupboard!

Scouts Honour I’m that pitiable cliché of loser-dom. And in case you’re wondering, surprisingly, I didn’t get it.

Now I try to use pieces that are already in my repertoire and I can sing in my sleep. In the majority of first rounds the panel just want to hear your voice, check that you’re not tone deaf and perhaps have a suitable look. The specifics come later.

As well as preparing material it’s important to prepare yourself physically. I like to go to the gym or for a run to wake my muscles up and of course it’s crucial to warm up your voice. I prefer an afternoon audition, if only to avoid sounding like Deidre Barlow on 50 a day, but I often find myself stuck with the dreaded “10am slot!” As the panel mosey past with their morning muffin and latte you smile at them nonchalantly as if you haven’t been awake since 6am with cold tea bags on your eyes and doing scales with your head in the oven so not to wake your housemates!

In order to be in “best voice” some people avoid consuming dairy

20

products or alcohol prior to an audition. A friend of mine recounted a tale of her first audition for Les Miserables. Intimidated by the prospect of auditioning for a musical renowned for its singing prowess she cut out all wheat, dairy, anything that could potentially cause phlegm. A great theory until she passed out mid-song because she was so famished!

Audition Tip 3 – Eat breakfast, it’s not the milk that will prevent that Top C from coming out but your lack of fuel.

Sometimes the panel may have a blinkered view of what they’re looking for so it can be advisable to give them a visual helping hand.

Dressing in the style of the show or adapting your look slightly can help make you look more suitable. I admit to donning black eye-liner and biker boots for We Will Rock You and a cheeky neck-a-chief for Grease but I often find myself surrounded by girls in basques, back-combed hair or full on authentic 1950s outfits so I may as well have worn a tracksuit!

Audition Tip 4 – Dress appropriately but don’t hire a costume, you will look like a try-hard twit and it won’t improve your acting!

Dance auditions can be soul-destroying for an “actor/mover”. It’s tough not to feel intimidated by the other amazing dancers but I’ve discovered that fretting about how un-bendy, fat and rubbish I am in comparison to others is such a waste of energy. It is much more effective to direct your focus away from other people and onto yourself (although not so much that you lose all spatial awareness and bump into them!)

I tried this in my High School Musical Dance-Call where wearing no make-up still couldn’t make me look 16 when surrounded by real-life teenagers. However I focused on the job in hand ignored my clicking hips and managed to pick up the dance adequately. It was going swimmingly until we were asked to do our “best tricks” individually from the corner.

The flips, spins and jumps I witnessed were truly outstanding but no amount of positive mental attitude could disguise my free-styling looking like my Dad after too many beers at a wedding!

My approach to auditions has changed drastically. The nerves will never go; they fill you with adrenalin but you can’t let them take over. My nerves can make my body shake so much that I generate more vibrato in my voice than is natural but I take deep breaths, knowing that in 5 minutes I’ll be in Starbucks buying my “well done me for going” cookie!

I’m fortunate enough to be currently working with an experienced actor who told me this; “What people forget is that casting directors have a problem and we potentially could be their solution. An audition is not a test to be tripped up on; the panel are genuinely dying to hire you.

Creatives say that anyone could do a job, it is whether they want to work with that person or not, so it seems that how you conduct yourself is a critical part of auditioning. Interestingly that is something we can control so it’s a good place to direct energy and nerves.” He expanded this with a wonderful analogy. “When your boiler is broken you are comforted by a man from British Gas arriving with his tools, saying he’ll look at the problem and try to find a solution, he doesn’t ring the bell and shout Ta Da! I’m here to save the day! But instead gives you a warm smile and confidently takes the boiler apart.”

I’m constantly amending my approach with the hope of finding that Holy Grail of a perfect audition technique. Therefore I think my final piece of advice shouldn’t come from me but from my inspiring colleague whom I intend to telephone for a pep-talk before any future auditions!

Final Audition Tip – Don’t be intimidated by those voices in the darkness – remember you are that guy from British Gas coming to solve their problem! ●

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takecontrol

take control

The secrets from the Secrets from the Casting Couch came to life because I know so many actors who say, “I’m just bad at auditioning.” There are many excellent actors who perform poorly at castings. Why? I spend the entire book answering this question. In this article, I can offer three tips to start with.

The first reason that actors struggle is fairly simple. Many actors love performing, and it follows that they do it well; but they hate auditioning, and it follows that they do it poorly. The first step in improving audition technique lies in making friends with the casting process.

Attitude Adjustment

When I was casting Dune for the Science Fiction Channel, I met one talented actress, Anna Rust, for the role of Alia. We called her back to read with us a few times. In the end we decided that she was a little too young for the role (she was only four at the time). When I told her father that unfortunately we had not chosen Anna, he said, “It doesn’t matter.

She thinks she already did the film.”

In a sense Anna was right. She did have the role. For those few minutes when she came in for her initial meetings, she was playing Alia in front of camera, for an audience of three; myself, my assistant, and the camera operator. We then showed it to the producer and the director.

The casting was a film in itself. She played Alia in a mini-film.

Anna did eventually book roles in The Brothers Grimm, and Doctor Zhivago. Her story drives home the importance of attitude. There are plenty of things that an actor doesn’t have control over in the casting process. One thing that actors always have control of is attitude. Having a persistent, positive and professional approach is at least fifty percent of the game. Anna succeeded for two reasons, both having to do with attitude. First because she enjoyed the process, and second because she approached the casting as if she already had the role.

The old adage in theatre is that if the performer is enjoying himself, so will the audience. The same goes in a film casting. Enjoy it, and we will too. If casting is an excruciating experience for an actor, you can guarantee that it’s a painful experience for the casting director as well.

No one wants to work with someone who is miserable and down on themselves. Yet some actors approach casting as an execution. If you

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come to the audition, as if to your death, then we may put you out of your misery (“Thank you. Next!”). On the other hand, if you’re enjoying the process, then we may ask for more.

Casting is an intrinsic part of the actor’s life. There are a few super stars in the world that don’t have to test, but even top actors still have to read for roles. Johnny Depp had to prove to studio executives that he could sing before playing in Sweeney Todd. Daniel Craig had to read for Bond. Marlin Brando famously had to screen test for The Godfather.

If you dislike casting, then you’re going to dislike being an actor. Find a way to make friends with this process. Talented actors get turned down at castings all the time. Why? Because there’s only one role and many actors. But each time an actor reads, they are building a relationship with directors that can eventually lead to a role. Here’s a lesson from Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, one of the most successful men in the world: “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” To succeed, you have to fail even more. Jack Nicholson had to audition five times to get into Lee Strasberg’s acting studio in New York, and Harvey Keitel a whopping eleven times.

Certainly it’s not easy putting yourself on the line again and again.

An actor going to castings day after day without any success can easily begin to doubt their skills. Thoughts like this begin to take over: “I never get roles. This director doesn’t like me. I messed up my last audition.

I’ve already been to six castings this week and no one wants me.” These attitudes are killers that infect performance, and poison effectiveness.

Overcoming Nerves

When you are nervous, it means that you care and that you’re invested in the outcome. Nerves are not only a positive sign, they are a condition of success. It’s the dizzying sense of fear that can either launch your audition to the next level, or capsize you into distress. If you’re nervous, then make nerves your ally. Nervousness is energy. Transform your anxiety into enthusiasm. To be enthusiastic originally meant to be possessed by a God, or inspired by a celestial source. Enthusiasm is that inner energy that fuels our love for our art. Bring it with you, and create a divine performance.

takecontrol Enthusiasm does not mean you have to kiss up to the auditors or fetch the director’s slippers. An over-willingness to please and be “liked” by your auditors can fuel the kind of negative nerves that will swamp your performance. Successful actors are not desperate for the job. You’re not there to prove anything. We already know you’re an actor. That’s why you’ve been invited to the casting. Read like a star does-- as if you already have the role. Claim the casting and the space and time it takes to do your work, then gracefully exit.

Training

Unfortunately, it is very difficult for actors to specifically train for performance in front of camera. Almost every acting programme concentrates on theatre acting. While theatre is a great place to start, the camera requires that actors calibrate their performances differently.

There are many successful theatre actors who don’t make it in film castings because they don’t know the on-camera techniques. When we were shooting Euro Trip in Prague, I read a famous Czech theatre actor.

When the directors met him, they loved his performance. I thought it was a done deal, and was shocked when he didn’t even make the short list. When I asked why, the directors said, “he was flat on screen.” It didn’t matter that they loved him in person.

The good news is that casting is not just about luck. Nature didn’t dole out “good casting” genes in the DNA of certain actors and not in others. Auditioning, like acting itself, is not just an art - it is a craft. A craft can be learned, practiced and perfected. There is no mystery to it.

It’s a myth that some actors have “it” and other actors don’t in front of camera. While it’s true that some people are naturally more “watchable” on screen, there are skills that actors can learn to develop and improve screen presence. When you first learned to drive a car, you didn’t just head into rush hour traffic. You had to learn and practice. Screen acting, and auditioning requires the same type of training and commitment.

In Secrets from the Casting Couch, I have elaborated upon the strategies and techniques that I teach in my casting master classes, and in the Prague Film School Acting Department. Ultimately, there is no substitute for practice on screen. Volunteer to work on student films so that you can learn by doing; this will help you feel more comfortable in front of the camera. Take as many film and audition technique classes as possible. Every actor should own a camera, (even if it’s a cheap one) for two reasons: firstly, you can practice working with it on your own.

Secondly the internet is making the world smaller. More and more often actors are given the opportunity to film themselves and send a link via internet, if they are unable to come to the audition. Be ready.

To sum up, enjoy auditioning, turn your nerves into enthusiasm and realise that your drama school training is only the beginning. An actor’s training lasts through the duration of his or her career. ● For more information about Nancy Bishop and to order her book, visit www.nancybishopcasting.com - We have copies to give away to five lucky readers! Email your details with Nancy Bishop in the subject line to win@thedramastudent.co.uk.

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takecontrol

THE CASTING DOs & Neil Rutherford is Head of Casting for the Ambassador Theatre Group, one of the UK’s leading theatre producers and theatre owners, where he has cast numerous plays and musicals for West End, regional and International productions. He shares with us his top audition DOs and DON’Ts. DO remember that the audition panel want you to be fabulous. We do not want to spend a day seeing 100 people and having no one to cast at the end of it!

DO be respectful to everyone you meet at the audition. Even the person greeting you at the front desk may have a role in deciding the outcome of your audition.

DO keep focused and alert from the minute you arrive at your audition (and preferably before).

DO

prepare your audition material thoroughly. Learn lines of script/ songs sent out in advance, but also keep the script with you, even though you’ve learnt it, just in case. It’s not a memory test.

DO make sure your music or script is in the right page order before you go into the room.

DO make it your mission to know some background about the piece, the role, the director and the company you’re auditioning for.

good to have standard ones up your sleeve, it’s a joy for us to hear new pieces executed brilliantly.

DO enjoy your audition; if you do, it’s likely we will and we want to work with people who enjoy their craft.

DO be prepared to take direction in your audition, and take it with grace and modesty. It’s not the time for you to question the director, though of course ask questions if you are unsure of his/ her requests.

DO bring a sense of humour to the audition, though in moderation. It relaxes everyone in the room, but can go against you if it is forced.

DO

be yourself. Acting is about taking on a character, sure, but the panel want to see the real you as well as your performance skills.

DO grab the panel’s attention in the first 30 seconds.

DO if you’re singing, remember to act throughout the song.

Straddling the

DO make it your mission to find interesting audition material. Whilst it’s

DO ask to start again if you fluff your lines. Once is forgivable, but only once and no more.

“You shouldn’t be the judge of your own talent. You should be an open vessel – turning up, having self-belief and having done your homework - but let them judge you, don’t judge yourself. The hardest part of this industry is the casting process.”

These words come from Simon Greiff, and if anyone should know about the casting process, it’s him. Simon holds a unique position in the London casting scene. A jobbing actor himself (with major West End and film credits) he also moonlights as a ‘reader’ and casting assistant to such heavyweight casting directors as Pippa Ailion. Simon is the man they turn to when they want to give auditionees a real actor to read opposite, rather than a casting assistant. In this capacity, he has sat through numerous auditions and seen both the good and the bad. In his opinion, auditions are all about preparation.

“As long as you are prepared, you’ve learned the material and have done as much research as you can, that’s all that you can do. You can only turn up as a blank canvas and hope that you are the person they are looking for.” Ultimately though, Greiff says, it comes down to your look. “If your look doesn’t fit, then you are going to have to go a long way to convince the director that you are right. I have seen so many talented people coming in, and they think it’s because they aren’t talented enough that they aren’t getting the job, and it’s really because they aren’t tall enough, or the wrong ethnicity.”

Staying positive is crucial. “I’ve seen people through the industry over the years a lot, sometimes for the same part and same show year after year. Like We Will Rock You: I’ve seen two particular people who have been in four times, four years running for this particular job and still not got it. And in the end I assume they are saying ‘I’m just not good enough. I’m never going to get it.’ But actually is there really a place for them in the show? Are they the right type? Has their voice improved? Have they really got the right look?”

These are difficult questions which sometimes we as actors don’t want to ask ourselves. But Greiff himself has had plenty of time to question his own role within the industry. Before finishing training at Central (“I have very fond memories of Central”) he was cast as the supporting lead, Bobby C, in the world premiere of Saturday Night Fever. “Then I got hit with this wall of West End Musical, and

takecontrol

DON’Ts DON’T

ever be late to an audition, but if you are, either call the audition venue, or your agent giving your estimated arrival time.

DON’T

make excuses for a poor audition

DON’T wear a ‘costume’ or outlandish clothing to an audition unless you are specifically asked to. Plain, black and neutral is best.

DON’T say you can do something if you can’t.

DON’T

take an audition if you don’t want the job; it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

DONT experiment at auditions, but similarly be brave enough to go one step further.

DON’T cover your face with your hair.

DON’T roll your eyes in disgust if your pianist or co-reader isn’t very good. Any dismissive look or comment is an absolute no no.

DON’T

Footlights ever forget that an audition is an opportunity; don’t waste it, grab it.

Good luck!●

a year of your life doing the same thing eight times a week, working with people who love, or hate, or resent the business. And it was a very strange learning curve. I hit this wall where half the cast don’t want to be there, and half of us are struggling against those other people. It was a very strange feeling.”

Not as strange as finding himself unemployed after his contract with Fever was over. From a lead role in the West End, he found himself doing promotional work handing out leaflets in the West End or “beg, stealing or borrowing to try and pay the rent.” It was at this point that Pippa Ailion called.

Pippa Ailion is one of the West End’s most prolific and well-respected casting directors. She was also head of the acting programme at Central when Greiff was a student. “She was always supportive when I was at college and my first sort of introduction to casting was when she said to me ‘would I mind coming in and helping her out?’”

As his reputation as an audition reader grew, Greiff took on the role with other leading casting directors like David Grindrod, Jill Green and Maggie Lunn. Along the way, he also picked up work as a freelance drama teacher/director at several drama schools, and dialect/dialogue coach (including work on Fame and Saturday Night Fever). These experiences have culminated in his current role as Resident Director on the UK tour of We Will Rock You. This allows him to bring all of his knowledge of both sides of the footlights to play in one role.

When We Will Rock You ends, he will certainly move on to something new. “I have made an effort, especially this year, to do other things, no matter what. There are other areas in this industry where I can work.

My philosophy always was that if I couldn’t find any acting jobs, then I needed to find something else within the industry.”

And whether that next role is on stage, or directing/casting/teaching, he will be putting his talents on the line. “In the end, talent is irrelevant.

As long as you are open and you’ve done your homework, there’s nothing else you can do as an actor.” ● Knight Hooson

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Dudley

by Michael Culkin

I’ve had a number of angry letters asking why am I so pompous.

Well as Tom Hanks replied ‘habit mostly’. It is truly not pomposity, I don’t have the confidence for pomposity, but what I do have, obviously, are opinions.

Though I cannot insist on this as a bullet point, I can only encourage you to cultivate opinions. Your own! We must make our garden grow, says Voltaire in Candide.

Whilst we are all fond of quoting our favourite comedians or TV show, unless we learn from these how to cultivate our own quips, we slowly become a replay of someone else. I am not advocating quipping as a prerequisite skill but simply: if you are going to say something make sure it’s yours.

There is of course nothing new under the sun, but originality is born of the reshaping of what humanity has already learned.

Take a risk, amazingly, speak before thinking. Frightening and embarrassing as this can be, you will develop a skill, for humour and opinions entirely your own. It will only get you into hot water a couple of times as you learn.

Having lunch in a major stars major trailer, I sensed some sadness behind the eyes and asked boldly ‘But are you lonely?

Having misheard the question he answered, “Loaded? Yes I suppose I am”. Rather than panic I battled on and within this misunderstanding the roots of our long enduring friendship took hold.

I once spent too much time trapped in a car, crossing France, with Stephen Spender. His formidable erudition, though daunting, was challenged by what I’d learnt on the mean streets of ‘acting’. What I had experienced in dubious ‘night clubs’ and at drama school, was an unlikely match for this poets scholarship.

I believe that speaking out in fervour with ignorance can lead to true learning. Staying tight lipped leads nowhere but to where you already are. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got!

Perhaps the bullet point is actually originality. Something that only comes with risk. With danger and trepidation.

Filming recently in Scotland, with the BBC, I found myself as Judge Buller, facing a moment of explosive anger. Andrew Buchan, he of Fixer fame, had overstepped the mark in my Court. How might an infamous 18th century Judge react?

I stopped thinking and waited for Andy to drop the bombshell, I heard it and exploded. It was only a few words, his name in fact, but my reaction was real. There was action, and then there was reaction. No thinking required. The set fell to a stunned silence.

Unexpected, even to me, and original, I will not remember it though, it will not be reused, will not be added to any ol’ bag of tricks. Next time it will be new again.

Next time I get angry letters I might write scented thank you notes, I’m not certain, what I might do… You never can tell! ●

Working together over decades, Equity members have constructed a framework of basic rights to fair treatment, decent working conditions and protection from exploitation.

Without the union there would be no minimum rates of pay, no overtime, no guaranteed breaks and protected rest periods, no rights to pay for rehearsals or extra pay for understudies or swings, none of the basic conditions that those who work on Equity contracts across the country now take for granted.

Without a union, performers would, once again, find themselves isolated in a vulnerable position and easily exploited by any unscrupulous employer.

As well as all of this, Equity Agreements all have clauses about best practice for auditions, plus we have guidelines for casting directors, which we produced with the UK broadcasters, on casting performers with disabilities, and we offer other advice to members and student members about personal safety. There are some unprincipled people out there who are nothing to do with the entertainment industry but who pretend to be directors, agents, casting directors, producers etc as a way of enticing people into unacceptable situations.

Without the union, this kind of support and protection and all the other benefits would disappear and the working lives of performers – who are always vulnerable and always in danger of exploitation – would become much, much worse.

Equity is more than just an insurance policy for when things go wrong or a handy service provider when members need something. The dedication of generations of Equity members in the fight for better rights and fairer working conditions has shaped the industry, but the struggle to preserve and reinforce those rights goes on all the time, every day. Make sure you are part of it and are contributing to making the industry better. ●

www.equity.org.uk

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Alan Bates Bursary Winner The Alan Bates Bursary, named in honour of the much loved champion and former patron of The Actor’s Centre, has been running for 5 years and applications for the award have been growing since its inception. It’s open to any actor under the age of thirty, graduating from an NCDT accredited BA Acting course or 2 year diploma in Acting and is awarded to one student who shows exceptional talent.

Each year applicants audition in front of a panel of judges lead by the Artistic Director of the Actor’s Centre, Matthew Lloyd. He was joined this year by Henry Goodman and Lindsay Duncan.

The winner receives membership of the Actors Centre for one year and classes to the value of £1000. They also get a year’s Spotlight subscription and receive subsidies to cover other career expenses.

Manchester Metropolitan BA Acting graduate, Christine Clare, saw off 160 others to win the prestigious award this year. Caroline Byrne, Membership Manager at the Actor’s Centre, said: “She’s is a very gifted young actress and this bursary will help her establish her career both in Manchester and in London’.

Christine told The Drama Student Magazine that the whole process was extremely welcoming.

“It didn’t feel like there was a lot of pressure,” she says. “I was very nervous and I felt like I was very quiet, but I don’t think it mattered. It was very much a group thing, so it didn’t feel like you were on your own really.”

She recalls a rather bizarre moment when she was interviewed by the panel. “One of the strange questions they asked me was ‘had I done any languages at school?’ And I couldn’t quite figure out why they’d asked me,” she laughs. Although Christine agreed she had, she wasn’t sure if she would remember anything there and then. So did she ever find out the reason they asked? “I have no idea! I never found out.”

Christine received a call from Matthew Lloyd an hour after the final workshop, while she was waiting for her bus back to Manchester. “It was really embarrassing because it was really noisy. I was just trying to hear what he was saying.” she recalls. “He said that they would love to give it to me and that they’re looking forward to working with me. It was such a shock.

It was brilliant and I wanted to celebrate but I didn’t have anyone to do it with, in the middle of a bus station!”

The full award is worth £2,000 and will assist Christine in preparing for the exciting journey ahead with classes, headshots, show reels, voice demos, subscriptions and expert mentoring.

To read the full interview with Christine, visit www.thedramastudent.co.uk

Graduate Vs Fresher Hola! The journey begins…

Your first day at drama school is quite possibly one of the most exciting days in your journey as an actor. You may find you spend several years auditioning to secure a place, but when you finally get accepted, the process of becoming a fully fledged professional can truly begin.

Drama school training gives a young actor a solid grounding in various acting techniques, voice and movement. But not only that, students are given the opportunity to explore, practice and even make mistakes in order to better themselves, which is a huge privilege. You’re surrounded by professionals who will monitor your progress, helping you build up your own tool box of skills, which will allow you to develop a process that works for you.

Samuel Garcia Guanche is a young actor who hasn’t stopped smiling since he was accepted on the three year acting course at East 15. He moved to London from Tenerife in the Canary Islands two years ago, with one vision in mind. To become an actor. He had already spent two years auditioning for London drama schools, without success. But when most would have given up hope, it only made the twenty-one year old more determined.

“I moved to London to improve my accent, get some acting coaching and do the best I could,” he explains. So how does a nineteen-year old cope with moving to a strange city? A new country even? Was it a big step? “It was in a way, and it wasn’t,” he says. “It was something I had in my mind since I was a kid, I knew that if I wanted to have a successful acting career, I had to move abroad. It was exciting, like an adventure.”

In the year before he was accepted, Samuel enrolled on the Foundation course at Arts Ed, an initial training that he found invaluable. “It helped me a lot to improve my acting,” he says.

“Every day I was learning new things. I decided to write everything down that I had learned and by the time I had my auditions, I thought okay, what can use for my auditions? It really helped me a lot.”

So how does he feel about the journey ahead? “After four years auditioning, now getting a place is like my dream came true. It was the happiest day when I got my letter,” he smiles.

“Having the chance to study and to do something you’re passionate about, it makes you feel really happy.”

Listen to the full podcast interview with Sam at www.thedramastudent.co.uk

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ARTS EDUCATIONAL SCHOOLS LONDON

TRAINING THE AWARD WINNERS OF THE FUTURE DEGREES IN ACTING & MUSICAL THEATRE GCSE’S, A LEVEL & MT6

(Musical Theatre 6th Form)

WWW.ARTSED.CO.UK

studentsupport

SPEAK THE SPEECH I PRAY YOU AS I PRONOUNCED IT TO YOU

Often, when applying to drama school, the most daunting piece to prepare can be the classical monologue. If that’s how you feel, then rest assured you’re not alone, writes Josh Boyd-Rochford.

Many professional actors admit to being frightened of Shakespeare, to feeling adrift with the language, to a nagging sensation of not being clever enough. But all of us have to overcome that fear sooner or later.

If you’re preparing a Shakespeare monologue, or indeed any classical monologue and feeling adrift with the language, then worry not; you’re not the only one.

Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, writes in his wonderful book Will & Me “Stupefaction…I couldn’t understand a blind word anyone was saying…Then I looked around and saw that a large percentage of the adults in the audience were as stupefied as I was.”

Once you’ve recognised you’re not alone, then tackling the text itself is actually a relatively easy matter. Let’s assume you’ve chosen your monologue, and you’re happy that it fits your personality and appearance. It’s worth pointing out, that although Shakespeare is probably the one that leaps to mind first, there are many wonderful monologues from Marlowe, Shaw, Middleton, Chekhov. These tend to be less commonly performed at auditions. Don’t choose one of those just to shy away from Shakespeare though – face your fear!.

There are many ways to begin unpicking the text; you may find some of these suggestions don’t work for you, or don’t work in the order I’ve suggested. That’s fine, take what does work, and put the rest aside.

I try to understand how a piece of text is written first, and then find the emotional journey through it. You may prefer to approach it with heart first and head later.

I once had the pleasure of working with Prunella Scales and Timothy West on a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These giants of British theatre spent many hours working with a group of neophyte actors, distilling their knowledge of classical text. I’ve found their advice invaluable, not just in classical work, but also applied to modern text.

The most important piece of advice when working on a text, any text, is to work out loud, not in your head. Plays were written to be spoken.

My preference would be to work on your feet, moving the piece around – it’s a performance after all. Later, you can change this if necessary, but always commence text work on your feet.

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Begin by writing out your monologue. If it’s a verse monologue, you’ll find it helpful to ignore the line endings and to write the speech in sentences. Next, take a marker and highlight all the nouns; names of people, places or things. Now, in a different colour, highlight the verbs.

In each sentence there should be one main stress, usually the noun. Try reading your speech through, being careful not to overstress, giving the main stress in each sentence to the noun, and a lesser stress to the verb.

I’ve found this immediately begins to throw some light on previously difficult pieces. You may find two or more nouns in a sentence – make some intelligent choices.

It’s a common fault that we overstress our speech. Don’t fall into the trap of stressing a personal pronoun (I, he, she, me, mine, yours etc). It is obvious who is speaking, and should be obvious who is being spoken about. Similarly, negatives don’t need to be stressed, they take care of themselves. Avoid stressing prepositions too. These are words that explain the relationship between the noun and another object (on, at, beside, between, during). Conjunctions (so, and, but, or, yet, for, nor) don’t need to be stressed either.

Don’t over-emphasise titles like Sir, Madam, or oaths, or formal phrases of introduction such as Good My Lord. This can interrupt the flow of the text. In the same way, exclamations like Oh, Alas, Ay, Me, should be treated as intakes of breath, or exhalations rather than as laboured, stressed words.

The sheer length of lines can cause confusion. With subordinate clauses, those enclosed in commas, brackets or other forms of parenthesis, try not stressing them, or saying them all on one note. In this way, you can take them as slowly or quickly as you like. The substance of the sentence is not carried by the subordinate clause, but by the main clause. In very long sentences, try removing the subordinate clauses, leaving only the main sentence, to help you understand the meaning.

Breathe regularly throughout, it’s perfectly permissible to breathe at a comma, and always drive through to the end of the sentence, not just the end of the line – this is where writing the speech out in sentences can help. Where a sentence does run over two or even three lines, it can help to drive through to the end of the sentence. Give the word at

studentsupport the end of the line it’s due weight and then hit the first two words of the second line relatively hard.

It’s useful too, to watch out for sequences of monosyllabic words; sometimes it can indicate that each word should be given equal stress, or that the words should be given special consideration. Watch out also for two consonants close together eg. And down. Consider running the two words together rather than enunciating each consonant – this can sound affected.

Time and again you will find antithesis in classical text. Antithesis is generally the use of an opposite which highlights the contrast between two propositions. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. In this instance, foul is the antithesis of fair. Using antithesis in classical text is extremely important.

Almost every character in Shakespeare uses antithesis; acknowledging and utilising it in a reading will give your performance sophistication and intelligence. It reveals so much about the character, their thought process, their state of mind. Think of antithesis as a gift to an actor, search for it, rejoice in it, and use it.

So far, so technical. We’ve picked apart the piece technically, analytically, grammatically, and you may be feeling this is more appropriate for an examination than a performance. What about the emotional heart of the piece?

A monologue, like a sonnet is usually constructed of three sections – an introductory statement, an exploration of that statement and a conclusion. Identify the three sections and work out how your character moves emotionally from one section to another.

A useful exercise is to speak the text without consonants – just the vowel sounds. My voice teacher at Mountview, Cath Baxter, taught me that the emotion of a text is found in the vowel sounds – the top voice teachers, like Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenberg, both of whom were required reading when I was training, teach the same thing. What is the overall sound of the piece? Where is the movement? What is the effect on the listener? It can help to ask someone to listen to you doing this exercise and to get their feedback.

Remember that characters in a play, any play, are like us, they rarely think first, then speak. What prompts them to speak? The previous line will give you some clues here – ask yourself why it elicits the response it does. Also, watch out for questions in your speech. Questions in text are there to be answered. You need to discover that answer as you speak. Imagine that the question is being shouted at you by another character, or by a member of the audience. If there aren’t any questions in the text, it’s still helpful to try this exercise. What question would prompt you to say this? Then imagine that question being shouted at you, and you answering.

I think a classical text often has more imagery than a modern text.

This is another gift to the actor. When working on your speech, actively seek out the wonderful, visual images in the text and really concentrate on seeing them in your mind. Try this exercise: focus on the words and build up a detailed, three-dimensional picture in your mind. When you have it, speak the word slowly, relishing the sound in your mouth, connecting the sound and the word to the image in your mind. Now, each time you speak that word, picture that wonderful rich image. If you see it, then the audience will too.

Having worked on your text, you should now know it pretty well.

You should understand the character, the motivation to speak and the journey through. The final benchmark, according to Timothy West, is to ask yourself three questions: • Is it true?

• If true, is it clear?

• If it is both true and clear, is it interesting?

The classical monologue is a wonderful challenge for any actor and you will never stop learning about it. Enjoy the richness of the language.

Remember, as my tutors often told me, give the language it’s full worth but do not be intimidated by it. The classical texts have survived the centuries; if you allow the words to speak themselves then their beauty and power will shine through. Don’t try to place too much on top of the speech, actions, gestures, vocal fireworks; allow the text to drive you, rather than the other way around.

Perhaps the final word on classical text should go to Shakespeare himself; “use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.” ● Josh Boyd-Rochford is an actor and drama coach.

justask@thedramastudent.co.uk

Take me seriously I have sung from the age of three years old and been heavily involved in amateur Musical Theatre shows. My private singing tutor says I have an outstanding singing voice, but I don’t seem to have the passion I once had for it. I’m am 20 years old and now ready to audition for drama school this year, but I am confused about what course to go for. I want to be a serious actress and am concerned that after doing a Musical Theatre course, I won’t be taken seriously for straight theatre and film roles. What would you advise?

Gemma Kenwood, Kent Hi Gemma, I am a great believer that you need passion, passion, passion to succeed and survive in this business. If you feel your passion is to train as a “straight’ actress rather than for musical theatre, then that is what you should do. You will always have your voice (and hopefully will continue singing) and that would be a selling point for you - an actress who can sing well. Your agent might well send you up for musicals, especially if they are confident about your vocal ability. If you train in Musical Theatre then I would expect you to want to work in that genre, but there would be nothing to stop you being considered for non-musical theatre roles. Trust me being a musical theatre actor is serious business - and as tough as being a ‘straight’ actress. It is not that you won’t be taken seriously, more to the point - have you the talent to get the job. Be realistic and perhaps audition for Musical Theatre and Acting courses and see how you get on. Hope it goes well.

Kids from fame I absolutely love your Drama Student Magazine because I am an aspiring young actress, with a passion for fame.

I am 12 years old, with a good singing voice and I would love to feature in a movie. Do you think I could ever make it big?

Daniela Sordillo, Italy How lovely to hear from you Daniela. I think there is a little part of every actor that would like it but fame is not the be all and end all. Working regularly and appearing in good quality productions is also really important. I think, reading between the lines, that your passion is for performing and I would recommend that you make the most of your talent and attend classes and develop. Then when you are 18, apply for training at drama school, so that you can hone your talents and learn the necessary skills and disciplines to embark on a professional career. Once you are trained you need to be committed, work hard, and retain that ever important passion.

With a good agent, lots of luck and boundless talent you could see your name up in lights - I hope so. Good luck.

Yvonne I’Anson is Head of Marketing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Can Yvonne Help?

If you have a question, no matter what stage in your journey, email justask@thedramastudent.co.uk *Please note that Yvonne is unable to respond to your questions personally.

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student support No two drama schools are exactly the same. That is to be celebrated! However, this independence of approach is reflected in the wide variation in what’s required for audition & application deadlines, writes Simon Dunmore.

School

Definition of ‘Classical’

Definition of ‘Modern/ Contemporary’

Other Parameters

Application deadline

ALRA

Shakespeare

After 1950 - to camera

No longer than 2mins each.

Mid January - via UCAS

Arts Ed

Classical

Modern

No longer than 2mins each.

31st March

Birmingham

Shakespearean/Jacobean (They provide you with a list that you MAY choose from)

“Last 20 years”

No longer than 2mins each. A song for the recall, with sheet music – no more than 3mins.

1st March

Bristol

Classical (preferably Shakespeare) - verse

Modern Prose

2 speeches together should not exceed 4mins. An unaccompanied song.

1st March

Central

Two from supplied list

After 1960

Drama Centre

Shakespeare/Contemporaries - verse

After 1830

Drama Studio

Classical

Modern

East 15

Shakespearean/Jacobean “10-15 lines only”

20th/21st century “Serious”

And a speech from a contemporary play (after1950) No longer than 2 mins each.

Short song with sheet music.

Mid January - via UCAS

Guildford

Two Classical – ideally Shakespeare and in verse

Two Modern

No longer than 2mins each.

31st January

Guildhall

Shakespeare/Jacobean verse

Modern

And a ‘lighter’ speech from any period. No longer than 2 mins each. A short unaccompanied song .

Mid January

ltalia Conti

One from supplied list

After 1870

No more than 1.5mins each.

31st May

LAMDA

Elizabethan/Jacobean

20th/21st century

No longer than 3mins eac hand clearly contrasting. Asked to sing at recall.

1st March

Manchester Met.

Shakespeare – blank verse

After 1970

And a contrasting speech from any published play. No more than 2mins each.

Mid January - via UCAS

Mountview

Elizabethan/Jacobean

After 1945

Oxford

Shakespeare

Modern

Rose Bruford

16th/17th/18th century or Ancient Greek

After 1960 -”not verse”

RADA

Elizabethan/Jacobean

Modern

Second Classical speech may be required. A song in recall.

1st March

Royal Scottish

Shakespeare - “Preferably in verse”

A contrasting speech of your choice

No less than a min and no more than 3mins each. Song.

Mid January

Royal Welsh

Elizabethan/Jacobean

Modern

No longer than 2mins each.

Mid January - via UCAS

Mid January - via UCAS No longer than 3mins each.

Alternative is to do a duologue.

Mid January - via UCAS No specific deadline

Mid March No more than 1.5mins each.

31st May Mid January -via UCAS

Notes: • • • • • • •

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When only ‘Classical’ is specified, this can mean anything written before about 1800.

When only ‘Modern ‘ or ‘Contemporary’ is specified, you should be fine with anything written after 1945 - and speeches written between 1900 & 1945 have often proved acceptable in this category.

‘Verse’ is sometimes specified - this doesn’t mean that it necessarily needs to rhyme.

You’ll find various definitions in the ‘Classical’ column - “Shakespearean/Jacobean”, “Elizabethan/Jacobean”, “Shakespeare/ Contemporaries”.

Strictly, these all imply slightly different (but overlapping) periods in history. In practice, anything written between about 1560 & 1640 should be fine.

See individual schools websites for more detailed audition requirements & advice.

See my An Actor’s Guide to Getting Work and/or Actors’ Yearbook for more detailed advice on auditioning.

Professional Development for Actors in Moscow Art Theatre School (MXAT) 6 February – 20 March 2010

This intensive six week course includes: > Acting-Stanislavskian training and Chekhov technique > Dance / Ballet > Singing > Theatre History > Learn basic Russian > Live in well equipped dorms > Taught by tutors from MXAT > Trips to the theatre > Final performance in MXAT studio.

Fee: £3,000 Audition/interview dates: 19th and 26th of September.

To book an audition of for more information email spcd@cssd.ac.uk or call 020 7559 3960.

Central also offers a wide range of Short Courses: > Elocution > Audition Pieces > Directing > Singing and Voice Power.

THE CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA University of London

ACTING SCHOOL

Courses at Loughton and Southend • BA Acting

• CertHE in Theatre Arts

• BA Acting and Contemporary Theatre

• MA Acting

• BA Acting and Stage Combat • BA Community Theatre “The contribution of East 15 actors to British theatre, television, and film over the past decades has been immense.

Several generations of brilliant young actors and actresses have come out of this highly original conservatoire.”

Mike Leigh OBE

• BA Physical Theatre • BA World Performance • FdA/BA Technical Theatre

• MA Acting for Film, TV and Radio • MA/MFA Acting (International) • MA/MFA Filmmaking • MA/MFA Theatre Directing

For further details or to request a Prospectus: call 020 8508 5983 or visit www.east15.ac.uk East 15, Hatfields, Rectory Lane, Loughton, Essex, IG10 3RY

East 15 Acting School is part of the University of Essex and is a member of the Conference of Drama Schools

training

Bring ItON

Next year Cygnet Training Theatre will be celebrating thirty years as a hands on school, training actors in all areas of the business. Christine Foster finds out more.

We’ve all met those two theatre professionals – the one who insists that you absolutely should go to drama school and the one who says no, no, you absolutely should not. The second will peer at you kindly over the rim of his wine glass and inform you that all that voice, movement and scene study are great but they aren’t going to give you the one thing you need most to hone your craft – the response of an audience. Well, what if you could have the ultimate combo platter? Enjoy all those valuable classes in technique and also have the chance to play several full runs a year to an enthusiastic, paying audience? The best of both worlds?

Could be. Especially if you could get it all in a recognised Conference of Drama Schools three-year programme. Well, the good news is that you can - at Cygnet Training Theatre whose home is a flexible 100 seat studio theatre in a converted church hall in historic Exeter.

Cygnet was founded in 1980 by the late Monica Shallis and current Administrative Director Mary G. Evans, and grew out of their association with Exeter’s highly regarded Northcott Theatre. It was their idea to offer drama students the experience of being in their own professional acting company. The prospectus invites applicants from 18 to 35, but most students are in their twenties. That seems to be the ideal age for the maturity, physical energy and passion required to handle the long hours required to learn every aspect of performance and stagecraft. Because, if you get into Cygnet, you’re going to climb ladders and hang lights and wield hammers or sew costumes and shift sets and paint the stage from day one. This isn’t a programme for anyone wondering whether they want to be in the theatre. If you don’t have a solid work ethic or just want to stick an experimental toe into dramatic waters, don’t bother to audition.

On the other hand if you think baptism by theatrical fire sounds just the ticket, why not check it out? Cygnet welcomes applicants from across the UK and internationally as well. One of the current company hails from Sweden, one from Israel, and another from Canada.

Audition slots are scheduled from February to July each year, and the other students will sit in to hear your monologues and songs and

34

then do some improvs and workshops with you afterwards. Be prepared to be there for the whole day, as, after all, you are being assessed as a potential company member and your personality and attitude are a major consideration. If you’re lucky enough to pass muster with the whole team you will be invited to a two to three hour call back where your potential in presence, emotional range and aptitude for group work will be even more closely assessed.

If you should be accepted the next step will be to sign a contract outlining your responsibilities to the company - and the company’s to you. Fees at Cygnet are lower than average because you and your fellows are, in part, working for your training. The results of your work sell the tickets, so, if it feels a bit like you’re signing onto a job as well as a school, you are.

Everyone takes classes in everything from stage fighting to sight reading. Music is stressed, says Principal (and vocal coach) Rosalind Williams “because an actor who can sing and read music has extra skills that might just make the difference in getting a job.”

The First Years not only learn stage management but begin performing immediately, in small parts. The first production (just before Christmas) is chosen to build a solid, positive, company feeling, and might be anything from a Panto to Noel Coward to a musical. In the New Year rehearsals begin on a more classical work - perhaps Shakespeare or a Restoration piece or a Dickens adaptation. Is it hard balancing a well-varied season with the needs of the students? “Sometimes,” says Artistic Director Alistair Ganley, “but the priority is to give everyone - especially the Third Years - the strongest, most challenging casting to showcase their talent and develop it further.” The Third Years also participate in showcases in London, to which casting directors and agents are invited, and the entire company often take a production up to the Edinburgh Fringe - this year it was Ganley’s innovative and moving take on The Tempest, featuring Ben Crispin as Prospero (see sidebar).

“Each year we also do outdoor performances to develop techniques for large venues and allow students to learn to engage their voices,”

training says Ganley. “And our touring programme gives them the direct experience of the rigours of fitting up a show then going on and playing major roles.

After all, the reality is that most young actors will, at some point, be on a TIE tour or in a small company doing one nighters.”

The maximum company size is 16 so every student gets individual attention and their progress is thoroughly evaluated by outside professional assessors at the end of each term. “The benefit of such a small company,” Rosalind Williams points out, “is that it allows those with less experience to learn directly from those who have already worked through some of the same things they are struggling with. It also gives those who are higher up a sense of their own progress as they take on major roles and become leaders in group morale.”

In addition, if a student should have a particular interest in directing, dance, or musical theatre, then the programme can be tailored to their needs. This past year, Becky Musto, also a Third Year, directed two one acts which played as part of the scheduled season and were enjoyed by a regular paying audience.

A small school also means, of course, that everyone has to muck in socially. With all the pressures and pleasures of techs, dress rehearsals, openings, and tours, mutual support and constructive teamwork are definitely put before ego. The good news is that if you’re mature enough to handle Cygnet’s regimen, you’re going to have a pretty good chance in the business. And your knowledge of every skill that goes into “putting on a show” will be enviable. This is becoming even more valuable in today’s economic climate. With jobs increasingly thin on the ground, Cygnet graduates have an impressive record of not only finding but also generating their own work, including organising their own tours and companies.

Cygnet’s patron, Peter Brook, whose inspiring, flexible attitude to theatre informs the philosophy of the school, notes that: “Everything is possible but you must find your own way. All the work that I’ve done has been through trial and error, in changing times.”

As times and students change, so does Cygnet, making it a great place to develop in a supportive environment while playing important roles to a wide audience - especially if your own attitude is “Bring it on!” ● Cygnet Training Theatre Tel: 01392 277189 www.cygnetnewtheatre.com

graduate profile Ben Crispin, 25, is a Cygnet Graduating Student.

What

were experiences?

your

very

first

theatre

I grew up in Cornwall, where Kneehigh did school tours, and remember being wowed by all the colours and action from the time I was 6 or 7. Then I started seeing shows at Theatre Royal Plymouth, and auditioned for their Young Company summer programme when I was 15. That was brilliant. All these people working together, going on this amazing adventure. I was really inspired by the director, Rod Dixon, (now with Red Ladder in Leeds). He was one of those people you meet and think ‘if the profession is full of people like him, this could be an extraordinary life.’

What made you audition for Cygnet?

I’d read So You Want to be an Actor? by Prunella Scales and Timothy West, and they mentioned Cygnet as one of the schools known for turning out working actors.

And

once you got here, was it what you expected?

Well, it’s not like being in a class with 30 students. In such a small group everyone is a real individual, and so different that you don’t feel competitive – you’re never right for the same parts. Of course you get to know everyone in a very intense way because you keep getting up in front of each other and making mistakes. It’s a big risk - exposing yourself emotionally over and over - but finally you start to relax, and in the end you start to forgive yourself, and not take things personally. You learn to trust them, and yourself, and you end up treasuring their feedback.

And having regular audiences, how does that help?

That’s the way you really find out what you’re doing right. And the more shows you do, the more you understand, find new moments, try different things, which you just can’t do if you’re only doing scenes with your classmates. Especially with Shakespeare.

Any downsides to the Cygnet experience?

Sometimes it’s hard to catch your breath! You’re usually involved in at least two shows, learning lines for another, doing class work - but then again, with so many projects on the go, there are also rewards of some kind, all the time.

Did you have a favourite Cygnet role?

I loved playing Shelley in Bloody Poetry (by Howard Benton.) The five of us all had meaty parts and it really gelled. Plus these were parts close to our own age, which doesn’t always happen in school. These were roles we might actually get cast for in the professional world. And it’s a great play.

Now you’re leaving, what are your plans?

I was lucky enough to sign with an agent who saw our showcase at The Globe. And I’ve just finished my first professional job, a short film for the BBC. So - now I move up to London and see what happens next! ●

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training

The Meisner Technique(or, Sandy Who?)

You may well be familiar with the name, but are you aware of Sandford Meisner’s acting technique? Scott Williams trained with the legendary practitioner and shares with us an introduction.

With the arrival of YouTube and Google, the 21st Century actor can learn a great deal just by pointing and clicking. So the title of a 1985 documentary about an American acting teacher – ‘Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre’s Best Kept Secret’ – is no longer really apt. Meisner’s name and work is far more familiar to actors around the world today than 25 years ago.

I moved to London from the United States in 1996, when there was very little awareness here of the man and his teachings. A few classes were offered, a few people claimed him on their CVs, but he was largely unknown. After I taught a series of classes for the Royal Shakespeare Company, for example, the legendary Cecily Berry came to me and pressed my hand, whispering into my ear as if telling me a great secret, “My husband studied with Meisner, and I’ve been trying to get his work introduced here ever since.”

But in the past decade, Meisner’s name has become ubiquitous, and when I teach his work in workshops at London’s Actors Centre, or around the country, or for my own organisation, The Impulse Company, many people arrive already familiar with the man’s name, if not with his work.

Sanford Meisner was a fixture at his ‘home’ in New York, the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre from 1934 until he finally retired in 1990, though he continued teaching privately up until his death in February 1997 at the age of 93. When I studied with him in the 1970s he was a broken shell of a man, the victim of a stroke, bad eyesight, a horrible accident with a truck, and, most devastating of all for a teacher, a laryngectomy (removal of his vocal cords). He walked with the aid of a cane, saw with the aid of thick glasses, and spoke with the aid of a microphone. But burning inside that shell was the most intense acting teacher I have ever encountered.

Like Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, Stella Adler and others, Meisner’s teachings grew out of his experience as a member of the Group Theatre.

For ten years in the 1930s, this vibrant troupe explored the techniques developed by Constantin Stanislavsky, and is primarily responsible for introducing to the United States an approach to acting now referred to as the ‘Method.’

During that exciting time, Meisner would act in or direct shows for the Group during the afternoons and evenings and teach at Neighborhood Playhouse during the mornings. Over the nearly 65 years he taught acting, Meisner constantly refined his exercises, arriving at some key distinctions between his approach and those of Strasberg, Adler and other ‘Method’ teachers. It is those distinctions which, for me, make his such an elegant and eminently practical approach to the actors’ craft.

At the Playhouse the first class begins with silence. We are instructed to listen; just sit and listen to whatever we hear: the cars going by in the street, the whirr of the air-conditioner, the squeak of a chair. Then, a

36

question: “Did you listen as a character or did you listen as yourself?”

The correct answer is, of course, as yourself. The point is to return us to basics: what we hear or the way we hear is not so important as doing the action of listening. We don’t pretend to listen, we do it. “The foundation of acting,” according to Meisner, “is the reality of doing.”

Acting begins with the doing of an action: listening for traffic, counting tiles in the floor, making a bed. The simpler the doing, the more specific the purpose, the better the action, the more truthful the acting.

Ah, truth. It was at this point that Meisner introduced his definition of acting. It is clear, elegant, refined. After more than 30 years of teaching this work, I’m struck by the fact that it always seems to reduce to this simple statement: “Acting is living truthfully under a given set of circumstances.”

This definition is deceptively plain, but quite foolproof. And in its elegant, interlocking construction, it describes the process of acting from one end to the other. Meisner – perhaps because of his laryngectomy, but I suspect he was good at it before that – was uniquely gifted at expressing a complex idea in its most condensed, distilled form. That definition is proof.

The foundation exercise of the Meisner ‘technique’ is called repetition. It is exactly that: an exacting, repetitive exercise which involves repeating your partner’s observation from your own point of view. She looks at you and says, “You are wearing a blue shirt.” It is the first impulse that strikes her upon looking at you. You reply, “I am wearing a blue shirt.” “You are wearing a blue shirt,” she says.

Then you: “I am wearing a blue shirt.” The exercise continues, without manipulation by either participant. One cannot say “I am wearing a blue shirt?!?” or “You are wearing blue shirt,” or “I am wearing a blue shirt,” because that is an unnatural manipulation of the scene; one would then be trying to create interest by falsifying some meaning in the reading.

One can only respond – and this is very important – based upon what your partner causes in you. Your attention is placed not upon yourself, or the audience, or the game itself, but on your partner. Anything you do must be caused by your partner’s behaviour.

If I were to be asked to define the difference between Meisner’s teachings and other Stanislavsky-based approaches, I could sum it up in this concept: for Meisner, what happens to you as an actor does not depend on you; it depends on what the other person does to you.

Meisner called this, with typical brevity, ‘the pinch and the ouch.’

The repetition exercise, repeated ad infinitum (at the Playhouse we worked at repetition and nothing else for three hours a day, five days a week, from September until Christmas and a good deal of the time thereafter), becomes a very important one throughout Meisner’s teachings. It instructs us that the words we say are not important in and of themselves. We cannot intellectualise the process of acting into

the conveying of ideas to an audience, but we must simply, truthfully, impulsively respond to the behaviour present in the people and the things – the given circumstances – around us. Meisner put it like this: “The text is like a canoe, and the river on which it sits is the emotion.

The text floats on the river. If the water of the river is turbulent, the words will come out like a canoe on a rough river. It all depends on the flow of the river which is your emotion. The text takes on the character of your emotion.” I would add that the riverbed which supports the entire process is the technique beginning with the reality of doing, listening, responding.

Once the repetition is underway, we turn to independent activities.

Meisner uses activities to free the response mechanism by diverting the attention of the speaker to something other than his or her intellectual self. If I have broken my mother’s beautiful Limoges teacup into seven pieces, I can give myself the task of gluing it back together so she doesn’t notice it was ever broken. This task has the important elements of an independent activity: it is difficult to do, it is important, it has urgency, and it is specific. Breaking a plate by itself isn’t enough to power an independent activity; one must understand the significance of it and one must work with the difficult but important task of completing the activity at all costs. That urgency moves the activity forward and provides the way of doing. Only by being specific is that way of doing alive in the actor.

The concept of being specific, like the entire art and craft of acting, takes years to perfect. According to Meisner, it takes 20 years to become an actor. “You wouldn’t expect to pick up a violin and play like Heifetz.

You need to learn fingering, bowing, all the techniques of playing the violin. Then you need to do it all so well that you forget the technique and simply do the playing. That’s what takes 20 years: the forgetting.

The final basic element of Meisner’s approach is emotional preparation. This is similar to other emotion-based exercises like sense memory with one very vital difference: it is never used on stage.

“Preparation,” according to Meisner, “is that device which permits you to begin your scene or play in a condition of aliveness.” If you use any such technique in the middle of a scene, you will be drawn out of the scene and into your own head; you will stop responding truthfully to those circumstances around you. But if you have rooted yourself in an emotional condition before the scene begins which is appropriate to the beginning of that scene, then you can release your emotion in the first moment onstage and it will colour the scene without intellectualising it.

Another important distinction of emotional preparation is that it isn’t necessarily embedded in the memory or remembering of an actual event, but in the imagining of a given set of circumstances. If you cannot recall your glorious night with your favourite film star, that’s okay: your imagination will provide you with all you need to take on a specific emotional aliveness.

These three fundamental exercises – repetition, independent activities, and preparation – make up the primary aspects of the rigorous first year of training at The Impulse Company, just as they did at the Playhouse. The total immersion into the simple exercises that this schooling provides is a cleansing process which creates a fresh, open approach to acting. Actors trained in this way are wonderfully responsive, intuitive, emotional creatures. “Take it from a director,” said Elia Kazan, “if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you’ve been blessed.” Playwright Arthur Miller wrote, “Every time I am reading actors I can pretty well tell which ones have studied with Meisner. It is because they are honest and simple and don’t lay on complications that aren’t necessary.”

The simplicity and precision of Meisner’s approach is what appeals to me most: it is eminently teachable and, if the student is dedicated and open-minded, it is practicable and effective. Meisner’s approach doesn’t involve a lot of mystical exercises of a mind-clouding intellectuality.

Instead, his technique is closest to real life: in his method we work in the strange, evanescent and wondrous world of truth and reality. And that strikes me as the best theatre of all. ● Scott trained with Sanford Meisner at Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and with William Ball at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

Upon moving to London he founded and is the Artistic Director of The Impulse Company, dedicated to the art of the actor. In addition to his work teaching and directing, he is an internationally-known theatre practitioner, offering workshops and directing plays in France, Spain, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong, Australia, and the US. His next project with The Impulse Company is a student repertory of two plays: Twelfth Night and The Three Sisters, to be performed in December 2009. www.impulsecompany.co.uk

A Career

Rejuvenated The Actors’ Temple was founded in 2002 in the heart of the West End and continues to grow with actors claiming it has rejuvenated their careers.

It’s a small venue, but one that is bursting with passion. The Actors’ Temple was set up by Mark Wakeling, Ellie Zeegan and Tom Radcliffe, believing that there was a need for a place where actors could go not only to study, but also to refresh their training, principally in the Meisner Technique.

The shared ethos of the company aims to become the leading influence in dramatic film making in the UK and to revive the tradition of the Repertory theatre whereby company members continuously rehearse and produce plays.

The company offers classes every day at the studio off Tottenham Court Road in London and it is clear that the excitement not only comes from those taking the classes, but from the students who are determined to stayed connected to their art form. Introductory four hour ‘taster’ classes can be taken in three slots throughout the day, with many students signing up to the full five week course either in the evening or during the day.

The centre has moved in leaps and bounds since it was first launched in Wakeling’s living room five years ago. Their links with the industry are strong, often in close contact with production companies in London and beyond and with the intentions of serving as a casting resource to them.

The Actors’ Temple continues to produce their own productions, both for theatre and recently in film. The cast and crew are all made up of those who work frequently at the centre and who have trained in Meisner there themselves. Their philosophy firmly believes that you can’t be a successful and inspiring director, if you’re not a skilled actor yourself. After all “you wouldn’t ask someone who couldn’t dance to choreograph a ballet” stated Radcliffe recently.

The Actors’ Temple has an array of different courses and classes to suit every actor, whatever stage in their journey. Check out their website or drop in for a chat and you could be on the way to invigorating your career.

The Actors Temple info@actorstemple.com Tel: 020 3004 4537 www.actorstemple.com

training Readers will already be aware of East 15 Acting School’s commitment to developing unique courses to address the needs of a changing world of performance, writes Kevin Wyatt-Lown.

All the World’s a Stage

A few months ago I wrote about the BA in Acting and Stage Combat, still the only course of its kind in the world. The world is shrinking and global communication is the core driver behind ensuring that traditional cultures step firmly onto the world stage. As a result, the face of theatre is changing with the times. Intercultural productions such as the recent Monkey King at the O2 in London are playing to sell out crowds, and Bollywood now invades Hollywood with boxoffice hits like Slumdog Millionaire. If China’s stunning Opening Ceremonies to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics are a sign – the world of performance offers unique training and opportunities far wider than the West End. The students of the World Performance BA programme at East 15 Acting School are a new breed – performers for a globalised world, ready to create the theatre of tomorrow. The first of its kind in the UK, the course offers an innovative syllabus combining traditional Western acting instruction with rigorous training in a wide range of performance disciplines from many different cultures.

Students explore Stanislavski and Michael Chekhov, the techniques of Sanford Meisner and Jacques LeCoq, but this foundation is built on with intensive training in Chinese Jingju (Beijing Opera), Japanese Kabuki, Noh, and Butoh, Brazilian Capoeira, African Dance, Hula, Indian Kathakali, Balinese Shadow Puppetry and Kecak, and other traditional performance forms.

Roger Dalla Santa, current 2nd Year student, outlines his view of the programme’s unique approach: “Besides the intensive, traditional preparation typical of all drama schools, World Performance offers experience in non-Western styles of performance, approached both on a practical and a theoretical level. Then we learn how to devise and direct original pieces created by combining all these different techniques.”

Sara Cockrill chose World Performance for practical reasons, hoping to stay ahead of the changing demands of the entertainment industry: “World Performance opens so many doors to different and exciting career opportunities. It’s the only course that offers such a diverse variety and range of styles.”

So what kind of student should be considering this course? Emma Longthorne, another 2nd Year, has her own, very distinct view; “I would recommend this course to any performer interested in creating their own theatre rather than following the more traditional strands of performance. For someone who possesses their own thoughts and opinions on the world of performance and wants to break away from the status quo and make an impact globally.”

Nicolas Logue, the Head of World Performance at East 15 echoes this important aspect of the programme: “Our aim is to create ‘thinking actors’. The challenges the world faces today demands intelligent and cultured young people – especially in the performing arts. The world is deeply in need of a Renaissance, and it is my hope that young professionals such as our graduates will be in the vanguard of new movements in theatre for the audiences of today and tomorrow.”

Logue also muses that global inspiration is nothing new: “Innovation comes from stimulus.

From Bertolt Brecht’s emulation of Chinese Jingju to Jerzy Grotowski’s constant interactions with the traditional theatre arts of India – theatre history in the West is littered with great minds looking outward for stimulation and combining their own theatrical traditions with cultural offerings from around the world. This is what World Performance is all about.” ● www.east15.ac.uk

A Unique Training Situated right in the heart of the bustling market town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the Market Theatre is a 75-seater professional theatre with a dedicated following and a growing reputation. Indeed, the word must be getting round, for most of the plays now go on tour to six national theatres once they have completed their run in Hitchin.

Professional director, writer and the theatre’s Artistic Director, Kirk Foster, used to be the Principal of Hertfordshire Theatre School, which ran a three year course in Acting and Musical Theatre. The same ethos, passion and dedicated teaching are now applied to the new One Year Course run by the Market Theatre.

Approximately 60% of the course deals with all Acting Styles and Genres, 30% with Singing, Musical Theatre and Cabaret and 10% with Dance and Movement. The course is 100% practical.

“What makes this course so unique”, says Kirk “is that because it is an intensive course run by a professional theatre, students are constantly in touch with professional actors and directors during their daily training and in the evenings. Our profession is tough enough as it is, so the instant contacts and continual networking, due to the nature of the course’s environment, put them in a good position when they first graduate.

The Market Theatre also offers professional opportunities to some students upon graduation. Several Market Theatre performers have had shows and plays specifically written for them.” ●

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The Market Theatre Tel: 01462 437 817 www.markettheatre.co.uk

Ralph Richardson Memorial Studios, Kingfisher Place, Clarendon Road, Wood Green, London N22 6XF

l Musica Theatre

Acting

al Technic Theatre

Stage

ment Manage

n structio n o C • Design • d n • Sou ighting

• L

Undergraduate & Postgraduate Courses Plus an exciting programme of Part-time and Summer Courses

Mountview is committed to equal opportunities.

Tel: 020 8881 2201 Fax: 020 8829 0034 enquiries@mountview.org.uk www.mountview.org.uk

NY

This year I made a choice to embark on a journey that would “Summer In The City” 2009, is a summer drama programme organized by the prestigious New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, who are twinned with the British drama school, Guilford School of Acting, and it summoned me to the city that never sleeps. Straight from my journal, here is my New York Story.

February 2009

Pre July 2009

The conservatory have made a trip to London to audition pupils for the two year programme, as well as students like myself who are interested in a scholarship for the summer programme.

After a stressful on-camera audition and a grueling three weeks of waiting, I hear back. The letter informs me that I had been accepted into the programme with a scholarship. I am over the moon. Now the hard part, persuading my parents to let their sixteen year old son take a bite of the Big Apple.

June 2009 Flights have been booked, first nights hotel booked, accounts settled and books ordered.

Arrival, 18th July 2009 I have just landed in New York and I can almost taste the sweet smell of Broadway; the lights, the action, the thrill!

First Day, 19th July

Navigated the infamous underground labyrinth called the New York Subway to get to my first class today.

Upon arrival we were placed into our sections for the programme. Our group will be studying; Shakespeare, Michael Chekhov Technique, Voiceover, Commercial Course, Scene Study and Stage Combat.

(Enough to keep me busy for a while!). Although I have probably dipped into these subjects whilst working on a production, I can’t wait to study them in depth over the next month. I hurry to my Shakespeare class and see a group of students, ready to get stuck in. The amount of information we covered in this first class was mind boggling. I left wondering if I had what it took to master this material. Was I in over my head? Next was our Chekhov class where we were greeted by Janice, a larger than life character who taught us the theatre practitioner’s “transformation” technique, through a series of weird and wonderful exercises. As the day progressed I started to feel a part of this New York family. Lunch bell sounded and we rushed off to grab our first American meal. I quickly picked the first delicious thing that caught my eye and devoured my way through a “Lox (Smoked Salmon) and Cream Cheese Bagel”, a Manhattan speciality. I made my way back to the school and took the lift up to the 12th floor for my scene study class. A discussion raged for the entirety of the lesson, as my classmates voiced their opinions on the differences between stage and screen acting and I left the class feeling enlightened.

Small and sassy, Marie Elaine Monti, our voiceover tutor beckoned us into her studio. She guided us through the basics of her profession and I marvelled at the sheer amount of work she told us was available in her field. Could I really be a voiceover artist? I had never thought about it, but the prospect of not having to get off my seat somehow captivated me! After an exhilarating but tiring day, the jet lag started to kick in and I quickly made my way back to the dormitory to rest my head. My first day in New York had been a success and although I had already been worked to the bone, I was hungry for more. Earlier in the day one of my classmates had told me about a swimming pool in the gym of the dormitories so I decided to take a quick dip before bed. Stepping in to the changing rooms, I looked down and spotted the biggest cockroach of my life! I ran as fast as I could back to my room and quickly jumped in to bed. What a way to finish my first New York day.

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youngvoices

The next

change my career, training and life, writes Benji Potter.

Rehearsals

We had plenty of material to learn by heart. Shakespeare, Chekhov and commercial script was only a fraction of it. We had to take responsibility and rehearse in groups or by ourselves, dependent on the task. Stage Combat class required us to choreograph a fight scene for the end of the programme, and I had great fun devising a wicked scene involving myself and my friend Chris. It took much practice and careful rehearsing as we maneuvered around the way-too-small dormitory room.

Progress

Have I made some? Of course. Preconceptions that I had about film and television acting were certainly extinguished as I listened and learnt from our scene study teacher, Maury, who guided us through a range of techniques and methods to connect with our emotions both on screen and on stage. This is training that I will retain and use for the rest of my life. Along with the invaluable training, the school housed a number of professional television filming suites enabling us to improve on our technique in a working environment.

Interesting piece of info - We had to run the studios ourselves.

Members of the class had to take up roles such as marker, grip, camera 1&2, AD, sound technician and camera technician, an experience that educated us on the working of a real television environment, in New York City - what can beat that?

New York Life

Living in Manhattan is either expensive, small or both. However, we were housed in Brooklyn which is a thirty minute subway ride from the school.

The rooms were sufficient and we were expected to cook, clean and look after ourselves just as any professional actor would. At first the temptation was to stay up till all hours getting to know our new friends and generally have a good time. But we soon learnt that the good times were for the weekends, and if we were to survive the experience, we would have to be sensible with our week-day routine.

9 to Five The Musical

Weekends

The ‘TKTS’ booth in Time Square sold reduced priced tickets for audiences looking for an affordable theatre experience, and we took advantage of their offer. On my first weekend in New York City, a few of my friends and I made a trip to the Marriott Theatre to sample some of Broadway’s finest Musical Theatre. 9 to 5, The Musical, based on the blockbuster film has music written by Dolly Parton and a whole host of fantastic performers playing in it. The musical soared beyond my expectations and the whole house on its feet crying for more, I couldn’t wait to see my next performance.

Coney Island Freakshows, rollercoasters and a sandy beach! Coney Island, located just off the coast of Manhattan is a tourist destination filled with people from all over the world. The weather was heavenly and as I dipped my feet in the tepid sea I felt a million miles away from muggy Manhattan.

Comedy Show

During the second weekend in Manhattan a big group of us managed to waggle a bunch of free tickets to check out the local stand-up comedy scene. We were unfortunately conned in to having to buy two $10 dollar drinks at the club and although the comedy was okay, the bill was not. Nevertheless, it was all part of the Big Apple experience and with a hand full of actor’s in a comedy club, we managed to make a night of it! ●

Step...

This summer I was lucky enough to take part in two prestigious courses, Taking Notes (from the creative team responsible for Notes from New York) and Audition Techniques at GSA. I learnt a lot, not only from the professionals but from other talented individuals. I also began to believe in myself more, although a lot of questions were beginning to take shape.’ Would I be good enough for drama school training? Would I emotionally be ready? Was it really what I wanted?’ But my answer to all three questions was ‘Yes.’ Taking Notes was an incredible experience. I loved every single second of it because everybody involved from the guest tutors to the other students, were passionate about fresh, contemporary Musical Theatre. We workshopped with Michael Bruce, our resident Musical Director for the week. He was the winner of the Notes For The Stage competition, a search for original, up and coming composers. One of the songs entitled ‘Looking Back,’ was from Ed: The Musical, which recently won Best Musical and Best Book at the Edinburgh Fringe. It made me cry on our first day, an overwhelming experience because that has never happened to me whilst performing. It just illustrates how much I was learning about myself. We also had master classes with Sam Buntrock a Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk nominated director, responsible for the award winning Menier Chocolate Factory production of Sunday in the Park with George. Although I didn’t get the chance to workshop directly with him, I learnt so much just by watching others, I felt like a sponge soaking up all this information! Other professionals included Julie Atherton (Avenue Q) Clare Foster (The Bill), Oliver Tompsett (Wicked) Kieron Foster (RSC) and the wonderful Paul Spicer (The Last Five Years) who was such an inspiring mentor.

After all the hype of Taking Notes it was on to GSA for Audition Techniques. We workshopped with members of the faculty who were all so approachable and I came away armed with a lot of knowledge that I know will sustain me for the audition rounds.

GSA made me realise that drama school training is 100% the environment I want to be training in as opposed to a theory based Drama Degree.

I particularly enjoyed the Rosemary Ashe Master Classes and it was a dream come true to sing in front of her (twice!) because she originated the role of Carlotta in Phantom. I also found the Q & A sessions with Gerry Tebbutt (Head of Musical Theatre) very insightful and the improvisation classes so much fun! I also went to see Niall Bailey, outside of GSA for some vocal coaching who also doubled up as the pianist in the last of the Rosemary Ashe Master Classes. He has given me so much help with my repertoire.

Since the spring issue it’s been a busy year and a lot of hard work juggling two Musical Theatre courses - but I achieved Distinction in my Trinity Guildhall examination as well as a Distinction for my BTEC Nat. Award in Musical Theatre!

For many of you, I’m sure that you are realising the audition rounds are starting soon! Don’t panic. My best advice is research your material. When I came home from Guildford, I started researching and building afresh my repertoire for the forthcoming audition rounds as I realised most of it was overdone! It does take time and effort, but stay focused. Secondly be optimistic - My mindset is that I will either be doing a 3 year Musical Theatre course or a Foundation programme. ● Make sure you check out my online blog at http:// themusingsofmusicaltheatre. blogspot.com/

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Oh Yes it is!

The good news for drama students coming up to graduation is that at Christmas there is loads of festive work for actors up and down the country, writes Graham Bennett.

Theatres have big cast productions and are playing to packed houses, but what is it pulling in those audiences? Pantomime of course, such a uniquely British popular entertainment. Pantomimes are fun to be in and could guarantee you several weeks of work.

So how do you get a job in a panto? Well you need to start planning before you graduate from drama school as most principal roles in panto are cast by June, so as well as working on your graduation shows you should already have contacted some producers.

Most of the major theatres use specialist pantomime producers to put their shows on. This is great because you don’t have to contact so many people. The largest is Qdos, who present over 20 major productions at No 1 theatres, but there are many others including First Family, UK Productions, Spillers Pantomimes, Hiss and Boo, Imagine Theatre, New Pantomime Productions, Evolution Pantomimes and Paul Holman associates. Many theatres also produce their own in-house, so you would need to contact those directly. A great resource packed with information and news about what theatres are putting on at Christmas is www.its-behind-you.com Don’t worry if you don’t have an agent yet, producers are always looking for new young talent, but what you do need is that - talent.

Ideally you should be an all-rounder – acting of course, but also a good strong singing voice, stage presence and dance or movement skills.

Also invaluable is experience in working with young audiences – they can be very boisterous, so make sure you have done something similar at drama school and highlight it in your CV. Producers will want to see that you have worked with a family audience.

What roles should you be aiming at? Think of the most famous pantomime subjects – the most popular are Cinderella, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and Peter Pan. So producers are looking for lovelorn girls, handsome princes and oriental princesses, boys who never grow up, cheeky lads, comics. Tinkerbelle is often on roller skates, so it wouldn’t do you any harm to borrow a pair and learn how to skate. Pantomime also feature dames and ugly sisters but these roles are usually played by very experienced actors, so it may be a few years into your profession before you can consider these as an option. Many of the largest theatres also have professional dancers, but again you will need to be versatile, with

44

some acting skills and usually good singing. Dancers are cast later in the year but most will be cast by September at the latest. The dancers often understudy principal roles so you may get your big break if a flu pandemic breaks out!

Don’t be put off by the fact that pantomimes seem to feature big names from television, variety and reality shows. The biggest No 1 theatres do but there are hundreds of other theatres without a ‘name’ and are happy to give talented newcomers their break. In fact that is how I made my first professional appearance – in pantomime at the end of the pier in a wintry windswept Blackpool and yes, I got the job without an agent and before I finished my professional training.

If you don’t like hard work, panto is not for you! Performance schedules are usually two shows a day and six days a week. Rehearsal periods are very short. Two weeks would be luxury and some start rehearsal on a Monday and open on the Friday. And don’t get hung up with your motivation. Your motivation is to get a big musical show on fast and directors don’t have much time. You need to be off the book quickly so get the script under your belt before rehearsals start. And be prepared for changes – scenes come and go with bewildering speed, sometimes between the tech and the dress rehearsals as precious minutes may need to be cut from an over-long running time, or added to cover a scene change.

But think of all those thousands of happy kids, Mums and Dads and Grandparents you will be entertaining. You may only get Christmas Day off but you’ll be part of an extraordinary theatre tradition and the children in the audience will totally believe in the magic you create and be spellbound by it. You will be playing a part in making them the theatre audience of the future and who knows, some of those children will be inspired to become stage performers as perhaps you were. ● Graham Bennett retired as a Theatre Manager and Pantomime producer in 2005. He went into theatre management after a very successful stage career that included a panto at the London Palladium. Graham produced nearly 20 pantomimes in his career, usually in collaboration with his director, Bonnie Lythgoe.

Graham now takes exceptionally good actor portfolio pictures. www.grahambennett.biz

Photo: First Family Entertainment’s Production of Cinderella at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley 2008/9

It’s Panto Time

Professional Development for Actors in Moscow Art Theatre School (MXAT) 6 February – 20 March 2010

This intensive six week course includes: > Acting-Stanislavskian training and Chekhov technique > Dance / Ballet > Singing > Theatre History > Learn basic Russian > Live in well equipped dorms > Taught by tutors from MXAT > Trips to the theatre > Final performance in MXAT studio.

Fee: £3,000 Audition/interview dates: 19th and 26th of September.

To book an audition of for more information email spcd@cssd.ac.uk or call 020 7559 3960.

Central also offers a wide range of Short Courses: > Elocution > Audition Pieces > Directing > Singing and Voice Power.

THE CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA University of London

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Speaking in Tongues Speaking in Tongues is a new piece of theatre that originally premiered on Broadway. Written by Andrew Bovell whose previous work includes Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, Speaking in Tongues is a high charged thriller. The story is based on random confessions of a group of strangers and pieced together by a detective investigating the disappearance of a psychiatrist.

John Simm (Life on Mars, State of Play) returns to the stage leading an exciting cast including Ian Hart (The Virgin Queen, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone), Lucy Cohu (The Queen’s Sister, Torchwood) and Kerry Fox (An Angel at my Table, Shallow Grave).

The play promises to be a powerful study of infidelity and interwoven lives.

Runs until 12th December 2009

theatre

By Recebba Hammond

La Cage Aux Folles La Cage Aux Folles has successfully run for nearly a year now, and is undoubtedly the campest musical on the West End, sure to rekindle your love for glitzy dresses, and get you dancing in the isle with all the family.

It is a feel good cabaret for all ages, and a great nights entertainment. Best bits are the dancing male chorus that have sexier moves than Beyonce, and longer legs than Kate Moss. The songs are catchy; the story compelling leaving you feeling warm, fussy, and slightly gay.

With the fresh new cast including the fantastic John Barrowman it will no doubt keep raking in the crowds to watch this quirky musical for a long time to come.

The Playhouse Theatre Northumberland Avenue London, WC2N 5DE Box Office: 08448717631 www.ambassadortickets.com

The Duke of York’s Theatre St. Martin’s Lane London, WC2N 4BG Box Office: 0844 8717623 www.ambassadortickets.com

Shawshank Redemption Originally a short novel by Rita Hayworth Shawshank Redemption rewritten by Stephen King inspired the later popular film by Owen O’neil and Dave Johns.

Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and his lover and is sent to the notorious Shawshank Prison to serve two life sentences. Stripped of his life, family and freedom, Andy is forced to endure a spirit-crushing routine. But with his quiet strength and inner courage, there is one thing that Andy never loses - and that is hope.

Age limit of over 15 + due to strong language, nudity and other adult themes.

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Runs until 14th February 2010.

Wyndham’s Theatre Charing Cross Road London WC2H 0DA Box Office: 0844 482 5125 www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

culture

By Phil Matthews

Astronomy Photographer of the Year For those who get engrossed in the world of photography, we recommend you get your skates on to see this stunning astronomy exhibition.

The winner of the Earth and Space category is Australian photographer Ted Dobosz for his picture of star trails taken while camping in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.

The picture captures a dark starry night where the glow from the galactic bulge of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds stretched across the night sky. As the Earth spins during the 30-minute exposure of the photograph the stars make trails around the southern celestial pole.

Competition judge and BBC Sky at Night presenter, Chris Lintott said: ‘It is the ghostly images of the Milky Way’s two companion galaxies that make this image something very special. The trees give a sense of being rooted on Earth as the heavens turn above you.’

Runs until 10th January 2010 Royal Observatory Romney Rd, Greenwich London, SE10 Tel: 020 8312 6565 Admission: Free www.nmm.ac.uk/astrophoto

Insane in the Brain If you haven’t heard of Bounce, then where have you been hiding yourself?!

They’re one of the UK’s most exciting dance companies and are famous for creating high energy, imaginative street-dance theatre, enjoying hit runs at both the Peacock Theatre and the Roundhouse.

They’re latest offering is taken from the classic story of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest injected with a large dose of hip hop energy. In the confines of a psychiatric hospital, break dance becomes a way of expressing freedom and rebelling against the iron rule of Nurse Ratched – who happens to be a ballet fan.

The company is currently on tour in northern England and Scotland.

Check out their website for a venue near you.

BOUNCE – INSANE IN THE BRAIN On Tour www.insanetour.co.uk

SHAZIA MIRAZ

SHAZIA MIRAZ On Tour www.shazia-mirza.com

Award winning British Asian stand up Comedian Shazia Miraz has worked all over the world, touring the US, Sweden, Denmark, France, Holland and Germany. She’s also a favourite on television stateside and the UK, most notably Have I Got News For You? The Birmingham born comic gained enormous publicity several months after the 9/11 attacks when she would take to the stage in a hijab dress and declare: “My name is Shazia Miraz. At least, that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence.”

Miraz is genuinely a funny Comedian. She’s currently touring the UK, so if you fancy a night with a giggle, be sure to see this rare talent.

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A Drama You Don’t Want!

Stage Fright wellness

“If stage fright is the most common fear, and death is the second-most common, the person at a funeral should feel more pity for the person giving the eulogy than the person in the casket!” Jerry Seinfeld.

Stage fright is a form of performance anxiety whereby fear is aroused in an individual (mainly performing artists) by the requirement to perform in front of an audience or camera. In the context of public speaking, this fear is termed glossophobia and is one of the most common phobias affecting 75% of the population.

Anyone who has had bad nerves before a social speech or an interview can identify with how unpleasant this type of anxiety can be. However, for drama students the repercussions can result in poor grades, bad performances and even fester into a tragic waste of talent.

Stage fright can arise in mere anticipation of performing and it has numerous manifestations which include; a pounding heart, dry mouth, shaking, blushing, diarrhea, facial nerve tics and corpsing (forgetting what you are supposed to be saying or doing).

Stage fright may be observed in people of all ages from beginners to professionals and can strike at any point during ones career. For example, Donny Osmond entered into show business with the Osmond clan when he was just 6 and then developed stage fright after performing in public for 33 years. He says; “There were times when if I had been able to choose between going on stage or dying, I would have chosen death.”

Ian McDiarmid, the award-winning actor and director from the Almeida Theatre says; “Van-loads of film stars have wobbled like jelly in a hurricane climbing on to that theatre’s stage”. One of McDiarmid’s stage fright anecdotes was of fellow actor, Ian Holm.

In a preview of The Iceman Cometh, Holm unfortunately forgot his lines during a 22-minute monologue. In terror, he blundered off stage and curled up on his dressing-room floor. As a result, Holm refused to return to the theatre for 17 years.

Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah went see the stage hypnotist Paul McKenna to cure her stage fright before her West End run of The Seven Year Itch. Prior to receiving help, Hannah had such fear of appearing on stage that she refused to accept any theatre work.

She confessed: “I’d lose it even walking into a premiere. If I become in

any way, shape or form the centre of attention, I become like a deer in the headlights. I just freeze. I get catatonic... I can’t think, I can’t see, I can’t hear.”

Renowned singer Barbra Streisand is infamous for having avoided live performances for nearly three decades. In 1967, Streisand suffered a debilitating bout of stage fright during a concert in New York’s Central Park. She forgot the lyrics to one of her songs and described the experience as “staggering.” Streisand explained; “I couldn’t come out of it. It was shocking to me to forget the words so, I didn’t have any sense of humour about it. I didn’t sing and charge people for 27 years because of that night. I was like, ‘God, I don’t know. What if I forget the words again?’”

Streisand returned to stage in the early 1990’s (probably coaxed by the $1500 each tickets prices).

Some performers use beta blockers or alcohol to avoid stage fright and there are many cases in which the above has led to habit forming behaviour. In recognition of this, various unions and associations for performers such as Equity, the Screen Actors Guild and The British Performing Arts Medicine Trust, help put afflicted performers in touch with various relaxation therapists to help relieve their career crippling symptoms.

Relaxation therapies like hypnotherapy, meditation, positive affirmations and guided visualisation are all highly effective, natural and non addictive approaches to combating stage fright and coping with the stresses of the performance industry. The above therapies work by releasing negative thought patterns which cause stress and anxiety and replace them with high levels of self confidence and relaxation which are the antidotes to stage fright.

So next time you’re on stage or at school or an audition and you feel those butterflies and sweaty palms approaching - ‘chillax’. Remember, you perform for the love of it and have a good time. ● Paula Kay has relaxation tips at www.pkperformance.co.uk – She is offering a free download of Total Body Relaxation to all readers. Email pkperformance@hotmail.co.uk with Drama Student in the subject line.

5 Quick Tips to Avoid Stage Fright If

you forget a word, do not stop, just continue.

Try to use other words that were not in the script. If your scene partner makes a mistake, stay in character.

Do your best to ignore the mistake, or, if it was too large to let pass, improvise around it. Having the ability to improvise is an essential attribute of a true actor.

Don’t forget to breathe!

One of the first physiological changes that the body makes when nervous or anxious are short, shallow breaths which can result in becoming light headed and even fainting. The best way to reduce stage fright is to take slow, deep breaths from the diaphragm.

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Imagine that you are someone else doing the performing.

If you’re singing, visualize yourself as your favourite confident singer or when acting, imagine that your Meryl Streep or Brad Pitt and just go for it.

Be prepared.

That means learning your stuff back to front and upside down. And on the day of your performance; wake up on time and arrive early to to ground yourself before performing.

Dont be a drama queen

Yes, we all love drama but come on now people. We aren’t saving lives and the world won’t end if we forget our lines or don’t book the job! So, let’s just reeeeelax and enjoy ourselves!

NEVER FORGET

Yvonne I’Anson remembers the actors who have shaped our rich theatrical history.

Evelyn Laye 1900 –1996

In 1992 I was fortunate to work on a production called Glamorous Nights which starred Evelyn Laye, and after a short tour, culminated with a tribute performance at the London Palladium where Sir John Mills described Miss Laye as “the fairest prima donna this side of heaven”. I must admit I felt very privileged to be involved with this show – and to witness the beauty and charm of this extraordinary performer, who was still delighting audiences at the age of 92.

Evelyn (Boo) Laye made her name in musical comedy and operetta. She made her first stage appearance in 1915 at the Theatre Royal, Brighton as Nang-Ping in Mr. Wu. During her early career she was determined to equip herself with the skills she felt necessary to have a successful future, so her days were filled with dancing, fencing and singing lessons, paid for out of her meager salary. By this time her singing voice and beauty had begun to be recognised and when the 1894 musical The Shop Girl was revived 19-year-old Laye was offered the lead. Her performance was so well received it made her a star overnight. She went on to star in over thirty West End musicals including The Merry Widow, Madame Pompadour, Princess Charming, Lilac Time, Blue Eyes, Bitter Sweet, Helen, Wedding in Paris and Phil the Fluter.

She made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet. In his autobiography Coward, described the Broadway opening – “It was Evelyn’s night from first to last. Early on in the ballroom scene she conquered the audience completely by singing the quick waltz song so brilliantly and with such a quality of excitement, that the next few minutes of the play were entirely lost in one of the most prolonged outbursts of cheering I have ever heard in a theatre. It was she, and she alone, who put the play over that night.” She later returned to Broadway in Sweet Aloes and Between the Devil.

Evelyn also appeared in films in the UK and Hollywood including One Heavenly Night (1932), Evensong (1935) and The Night is Young (1936), When war broke out she volunteered to sing for the troops, and she was put in command of all entertainments for the Navy. In 1959 she appeared in The Amorous Prawn at the Saville, and later in No Sex Please - We’re British - establishing herself as a highly accomplished comedienne.

Evelyn Laye was a major star in theatre, television and film – and was also one of the most sought-after pantomime principal boys of her time.

She married her first husband actor/comedian Sonnie Hale in 1926 but this union ended in a scandalous divorce due to Hale’s adultery with actress Jessie Matthews. Her second husband was actor Frank Lawton, whom she worked with on several occasions including in the 1956 sitcom My Husband and I. Not only was Evelyn Laye beautiful, charming and glamorous, she was totally dedicated to her career and to achieving perfection in everything she did. In 1973 she was appointed CBE. Try and get hold of her autobiography - Boo To My Friends. ●

French’s Theatre Bookshop Playscripts * Libretti * * Speech Training Resources * * Free Theatre Books Lists * * Audition Material * Accent CDs * *

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www.samuelfrench-london.co.uk

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PUBLISHING EDITOR Phil Matthews editor@thedramastudent.co.uk

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IT CONSULTANT Dominic Fallows DISTRIBUTION Paul McGuire CONTRIBUTORS Karla Crome, Knight Hooson, Francesca Waite, Josh BoydRochford, Sam Peter Jackson, Daniella Gibb, Nancy Bishop, Neil Rutherford, Michael Culkin, Louise Grainger, Yvonne I’Anson, Simon Dunmore, Christine Foster, Scott Williams, Kevin Wyatt-Lown, Benji Potter, Marika Visser, Graham Bennett, Rebecca Hammond, Paula Kay. COVER IMAGE Legally Blonde – The Musical Published by MarcoMatt Media LLP Top Floor, 66 Wansey Street London SE17 1JP Tel: 020 7701 4536 Fax: 070 9284 6523 www.thedramastudent.co.uk editor@thedramastudent.co.uk SUBSCRIPTION 12 months subscription 4 issues - £12.90 ISSN 2041-7330 © Copyright MarcoMatt Media LLP 2009 all rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publishers.

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50

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