STUDENT GUIDE TO www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/SGDE 2021-22 Application know-how First-hand advice on your auditions and interviews, from the people who Overcoming make the decisions obstacles Why Brexit and Covid-19 shouldn’t be barriers to your dream career What’s drama training really like? Student and graduate reports on their experience of the 8 most common performing and technical courses Comprehensive advice for those applying to study or train in any aspect of the performing arts 001_SGDE21-22_COVER-2 [APPROVED].indd 1 29/07/2021 10:56 24 – 25 SEPTEMBER 2021 Business Design Centre, London REGISTER FREE: mdexpo.co.uk REGISTER FREE TODAY! • Visit Europe’s largest exhibiton for everyone involved in music and drama education • Two days of expert-led, free-to-attend CPD seminars designed to improve your skills and techniques • A bustling exhibition featuring a variety of expert suppliers, the latest products, and much more! musicdramaexpo musicedexpo musicanddramaexpo Sponsors & Partners SGDE_2021-22.indd 2 03/08/2021 09:57:22 MDEE21_210x276_Printad_CTAs_x3-v11.indd 3 13/07/2021 15:32:04 Welcome The Student Guide STUDENT GUIDE TO to Drama Education is also available to read free online. Visit www. dramaandtheatre. 2021-22 co.uk and go to the tab called ‘SGDE’. elcome to the Student Guide to Drama Education – designed to off er comprehensive advice to anyone thinking of applying to study or train in any aspect of the performing arts. W Everything in this guide has been written straight ‘from the horse’s mouth’ – students and graduates of all the major disciplines share what it’s like to study their courses; teaching staff from world-class Higher Education institutions tell you what you need to know about applying; and working professionals off er career tips for those all-important early years in and out of training. The books section forms the basis for an essential reading-list for anyone with a desire to work in this exciting industry, and fi nally some of the top institutions in the UK give full break-downs of their off erings so that you can compare courses, fees, and application systems in one handy place. As the industry begins slowly to emerge from a global pandemic, there is lots of precariousness EDITORIAL about – as I write this, theatre productions are being forced to pause at a moment’s notice so that Editor Sarah Lambie close contacts of positive Covid cases can isolate. Careers have been halted and Design Calvin McKenzie even lost entirely in the turmoil caused by the spread of the virus. However, ADVERTISING there is also much cause to be hopeful. Across the industry, creative solutions Advertising manager Amy Driscoll have been found to ensure that training, performance and the launching of Production controller fl edgling careers could continue to take place despite extraordinary challenges. Daniela di Padova Some of those creative solutions are here to stay. The Covid and post-Covid PUBLISHING generations of arts graduates will be those more au-fait than any other Managing Director workers in the industry with online auditions, video showcases and live- Ravi Chandiramani Publisher Amy Driscoll streamed theatre performance. Now that it has been found to be able to Production Director reach much wider audiences across the globe, this technology won’t be Richard Hamshere Chief Operating Offi cer Jon Benson packed away just because we’re no longer in lockdown; and the actors, Chief Executive Offi cer Ben Allen designers and technicians embarking on their training and careers this Chairman Mark Allen year will be better equipped than any to utilise it. Whatever your year of applications for Higher Education may bring, I wish you the very best of luck. Sarah Lambie, Editor Part of Cover image: Absolute Scenes, performed by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School © MARKDAWSONPHOTOGRAPHY www.markallengroup.com Student Guide to Drama Education 2020-21 is published by Contents MA Education Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, Training abroad post-Brexit and Covid ..... United Kingdom. Features 26 © MA Education Ltd, 2020. All rights reserved. How to become a voice over artist ................29 No part of Student Guide to Drama Education Higher Education: the options........................4 may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, Recommended reading: or transmitted in any form or by any means Tuition Fees: the facts .........................................5 electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, Books to read ........................................................30 or otherwise without prior written permission What it’s like to study… .......................................................... of the publishing director. The views expressed Plays to read 32 do not necessarily represent those of the editor. …Acting ...................................................................7 The presence of advertisements in Student Guide …Acting for Musical Theatre .......................... to Drama Education implies no endorsement 8 Training institutions of the products or services offered. Every …Directing..............................................................9 effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot …Applied Theatre ................................................10 The Council for Dance, Drama and Musical accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, …Stage Management ..........................................11 Theatre ........................................................................34 or an advertiser not completing their contract. We .............................................................. have made every effort to secure permission to …Lighting Design 12 ArtsEd..........................................................................36 use copyright material. 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Printed in the UK by Pensord, Pontllanfraith, Applying for musical theatre courses ..........21 The Royal Central School of Speech and Blackwood, NP12 2YA Technical training applications ......................22 Drama ..........................................................................42 Post-pandemic training and careers ............24 ALRA ............................................................................43 www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/SGDE 2021/22 Student Guide to Drama Education 3 003_SGDE21-22_CONT+EDIT [APPROVED].indd 3 29/07/2021 10:59 Drama school or university Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Which way to go… 2019 production of Provok’d MIHAELA BODLOVIC There’s no one-size-fi ts-all answer to this question, but Nick Smurthwaite talks it all through, to give you some aspects to think about... or budding actors who are also Many top directors have taken both Caveats academically bright, choosing routes – university degree course fi rst, Codes of conduct should also be carefully between drama school and and then a post-graduate one-year drama scrutinised. In recent years many UK university can often be fraught school course – giving them the best of drama schools have been in the spotlight Fwith diffi culty. Will drama school satisfy both worlds. for failures of student safeguarding. your thirst for knowledge? Will university Does it all come down to whether Drama school training, indeed the off er enough practical instruction to or not you can aff ord to go to drama industry in general, can be tough on kickstart an acting career? And will you be school? ‘Fifty per cent of our students mental health and self-esteem. ‘If I was able to aff ord either? are in receipt of some kind of bursary or a parent looking to place my child in a So what are the key factors to take into support,’ says Orla O’Loughlin. ‘Ensuring drama school I’d look very closely at consideration? those fi nancial support channels are their codes of conduct,’ says John Byrne, The fi rst thing to sort out is what skills available is all part of our duty of care to careers adviser to The Stage. ‘If you’re you already have, which ones do you wish the students.’ looked down upon for asking those to acquire, and in which area of theatrical questions, it’s probably not the drama endeavour do you see yourself fi nishing Industry springboards school for you.’ up? If you’re hell bent on becoming an For wannabe designers and technicians, Sally Ann Gritton agrees that it is actor, then you’re probably better off it is important to research the courses important to determine whether or applying for a drama school place. on off er, whether they are with drama not you have the resilience to deal with Generally speaking, the aim of most schools, art schools, universities or the training before you commit to a drama schools is to immerse you in technical colleges. Placements, ie. course, adding that