Sorry for the lull in posting. I needed to take some time off to re-evaluate what I wanted to do.
I have been busy job hunting and it hasn't been easy! All I've been able to find so far is a part-time temporary job at a popular high street clothing retailer. I really enjoy it, but it's stressful knowing that when my contract runs out (end of this month) that could be it, although they did say there is a chance they could extend my contract. Not sure how long for, though, and it'd still only be part time, so... the hunt continues!
Because I am broke, I knew I wasn't able to afford attending my LIPA audition on the 20th - I had to cancel. I feel sad that I won't be able to write an article about it here (and even sadder that I can't get my audition fee back), but that's just the way it goes. It wasn't my time this time.
As I can't afford the new, higher university fees, it is extremely unlikely I'll re-apply to schools/universities again, no matter how bad I want to (and I do). I think what I'm going to do is, for the next couple of years, keep acting as my hobby - join a theatre group, get some acting classes in, possibly do some extra work - and work full-time to fund all the lessons and such. Once I have a decent amount of experience under my belt, perhaps then I will be in a better place to decide if acting is for me as a full-time thing or if I just want to keep it as a hobby.
So, there won't be so many new articles on here in the coming months - if there are any, it will be from my little sister, Shannon's, experiences with auditioning. She has a couple coming up. But I'll of course leave up all my old posts in the hopes that it will help someone.
Thank you for all your kind words of support, through comments, emails and Twitter - it's much appreciated :)
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
News From Bournemouth
I didn't get in. I've spent the last few days feeling depressed about it, because I really, really wanted to get in, and I thought I actually had a good chance. The reason given was my "audition wasn't as strong as other candidates" :/
I wrote a whole long entry earlier, but I was just waffling... Essentially, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do now. Obviously, this means I haven't gotten in anywhere this year (I am struggling to find means to get myself to the LIPA audition; am still trying to figure out a solution) so I'm looking to all my back-up plans and seeing which one I am going to go with. I think the one I am leaning towards the most is just working full-time this year and saving up, then applying to schools again next year - my only concern with that plan is, if i get accepted somewhere... how on earth will I raise all that money for tuition fees?! It seems impossible.
But thankfully I don't have to figure that out right now, and maybe by the end of the year my life will have taken another direction or I'll decide drama school isn't for me. Though, if it wasn't for the new, higher tuition fees putting me off, I would have no qualms about applying again next year. That's the thing, I really, really want to re-apply!
For now, I am just throwing myself into finding a job; I have an interview tomorrow morning so wish me lots of good luck.
Even though my auditioning year is (most likely) over, there will still be some audition experience articles popping up on here! Shannon, my little sister, MT student, and occasional guest writer on this blog, has some auditions coming up and she'll be writing some articles on her experiences with those. And it's obviously schools I've not written about here before, as it's Musical Theatre she's applying for, so it'll be all new info. She's still in her first year of college so she's really only auditioning for experience; if she actually gets accepted somewhere, she won't be able to go because she'll still need to finish her second year of college to qualify for entrance. But it'll be a good test to see if/where she gets in!
I wrote a whole long entry earlier, but I was just waffling... Essentially, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do now. Obviously, this means I haven't gotten in anywhere this year (I am struggling to find means to get myself to the LIPA audition; am still trying to figure out a solution) so I'm looking to all my back-up plans and seeing which one I am going to go with. I think the one I am leaning towards the most is just working full-time this year and saving up, then applying to schools again next year - my only concern with that plan is, if i get accepted somewhere... how on earth will I raise all that money for tuition fees?! It seems impossible.
But thankfully I don't have to figure that out right now, and maybe by the end of the year my life will have taken another direction or I'll decide drama school isn't for me. Though, if it wasn't for the new, higher tuition fees putting me off, I would have no qualms about applying again next year. That's the thing, I really, really want to re-apply!
For now, I am just throwing myself into finding a job; I have an interview tomorrow morning so wish me lots of good luck.
Even though my auditioning year is (most likely) over, there will still be some audition experience articles popping up on here! Shannon, my little sister, MT student, and occasional guest writer on this blog, has some auditions coming up and she'll be writing some articles on her experiences with those. And it's obviously schools I've not written about here before, as it's Musical Theatre she's applying for, so it'll be all new info. She's still in her first year of college so she's really only auditioning for experience; if she actually gets accepted somewhere, she won't be able to go because she'll still need to finish her second year of college to qualify for entrance. But it'll be a good test to see if/where she gets in!
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Free Stuff! Audition Snack Box
Let me just start off this article by telling you this: I wanted to make this post last Monday but I ate the subject-in-question so fast and only remembered after it was all gone that I wanted to take pictures and put them up here. It's seriously that good.
What am I talking about? Well, this is what I got in the post today:
What am I talking about? Well, this is what I got in the post today:
To see what I got in my box, click here: http://www.graze.com/b/LQTPR
This is the PERFECT little snack box to take with you on auditions. You go on their website, Graze.com, and tell them which foods you do/don't like from their selection. It's all healthy food, too, selected by their team of expert nutritionists so it's ideal for helping you sustain throughout those long audition days. Then you just tell them where you live and what day you want the box, and they'll send it out 1st class to you so you always get it on the day you want.
I just love companies like this; everything they send you is recyclable and with each box they send you a little personalised booklet telling you nutritional info about your selected foods. They also run a school in Uganda that teaches locals how to grow crops like avocado, lemon, sweet mango, etc, that will help them make a living. If you refer a friend to Graze, you actually have the option of donating £1 (per referral) to their Graze School of Farming, too.
Now here's some good news for you. You can get a box for FREE - no delivery costs, nothing, £0.00 - by using this code at their website (or just click the link under the picture above):
WN4GCL33
Not only do you get a free box, if you decide to continue to Graze, you'll get your second box half-off ;) If not, you can cancel at any time, no cost to you whatsoever.
So if you have an audition coming up, order one of these to arrive the day before so you're all set for your big day. I will NOT go to my LIPA audition without one!!
Saturday, 15 January 2011
AUCB Audition
Readers, I am in love. Case in point:
I had my Bournemouth (AUCB aka Arts University College Bournemouth) audition today and it was amazing. The school completely surpassed my already high expectations and the audition was the most fairly assessed one I have had thus far. Unsurprisingly, it was also the one I felt I did the best on, because each candidate got a good amount of time to show what they've got in what turned out to be an extremely friendly and encouraging environment.
AUCB is unique in that they don't have any kind of recall stage. As Course Leader Doug Cockle told us this morning, "We used to have recall stages but we found out that we didn't really find out anymore about the candidates the second time round than we did the first time we auditioned them". Instead, they spend about 10-15 minutes with each candidate individually (no group auditioning - yay!) and actually spend time getting to know you and asking you questions. I am shocked that this was my first audition that they actually did that and this is supposed to be one of the schools with the not so great recognition for their Acting programme. It was definitely my favorite school to audition at by far.
Alright so, what does an audition at AUCB actually entail?
My audition day started at 9:30am. You go to the main reception, announce your arrival and wait for the course leader to come fetch you and all the other candidates. There were 26 of us at all, which was the smallest bunch I've auditioned with so far. A little after 9:30, we were lead off into a rehearsal room; no real tour but Doug kind of pointed things out along the way and everything is well sign posted so you kind of get the gist of things yourself as you walk around.
Once everyone's inside, you all sit in a large circle of chairs facing the audition panellists: 3 teachers and 6 third-year students. Doug spoke at length about the audition day, a little about the course and opened up the floor for questions. All this took a good chunk of time and they were really informative; the third year students also spoke up a lot in the Q&A session, so you got both perspectives of the course.
After that, they split us up roughly into three groups (as in, it wasn't pre-planned). Each group gets 1 teacher to audition them individually with two students sitting in on the panel (not to make any decisions on whether or not to offer you a place, more to just help with making sure the day runs smoothly). I was auditioned by Kenneth Robertson (Ken). So, just to clarify, you go in individually and there is one teacher and two students who see you.
When it's your turn, one of the two student helpers on your assigned panel comes to fetch you from the rehearsal room. So if you're near the end of the list (like I was) there will be a lot of waiting around! I'm so glad I wasn't first - I was actually second to last - because I was able to use, like, an hour and a half to do a good vocal warm-up, stretches, read over my monologues and just calm myself down. I never get really nervous for auditions, but for this one I literally had to remind myself to breathe. I just wanted to impress them so bad!
I was a little surprised that I seemed to be the only one doing a warm up of any kind; everyone else seemed focused on making new BFFs with the other auditionees and just sat around chatting. For me, a vocal warm up was especially important because my throat was feeling horrible that morning.
So when it was my turn, I was led upstairs by one of the students and they chat with you along the way to put you at ease. Really, I can't stress enough how friendly everyone is. Even the students who didn't have anything to do with the Acting course were lovely; I got chatting to some in the reception while waiting to be lead through to begin auditions and they wished me luck when we were called off to begin the audition!
I chatted with the panel a bit before I started (because they wanted to know where I was actually from, and Ken and I had something in common). Generally speaking, you start right away with your monologues, if they don't spend a few minutes chatting with you when you first come in. From what I heard from the other auditionees, that wasn't the norm.
You can choose yourself which one you want to start with, your Shakespeare or your contemporary. I started with my Shakespeare because I knew it was my strongest. Right after you finish your first monologue, they tell you to just launch right into your second and final monologue.
Then you sit down in front of them and the interview part begins! It's very casual and informal, but of course they are judging you so take it seriously and just be confident in your answers. I was asked things like why I chose my monologues, a bit about my educational background, why I wanted to be an actor... and I can't really remember what else. All in all, my audition was a little over 10 minutes.
I wasn't asked to repeat any of my monologues, which they can ask you to do and most people that came back to the audition room told about how they were asked to repeat one or both of their monologues and take some direction with it the second time round. They all seemed so pleased because they felt the second time around, with a bit of direction, they were able to perform SO much better - so I don't know if my acting was so bad that they'd seen enough or it was so awesome they didn't need to see anymore :D Somehow, and I know I shouldn't say this, I highly doubt it was the latter. But you never know, right?
Same thing with the questioning, really. The "examiner" didn't ask me that many questions (I did give quite long answers, though). Again, I don't know if this is because they've already made their mind up about me that I'm not right for the course or that they just had everything they already wanted to know, but I know I shouldn't read too much into it.
Once your audition is finished, you're free to go! So even though they say the audition lasts from 9:30-12:30, if you're called first you could leave as early as 10:30. They told us we will usually hear something back within 2 weeks. Let the nail biting begin. Oh! And before I forget, they informed us that this year they will be taking 50 students in, which is more than they've ever done before. Of course, if you're one of the 50, you'll be split up into smaller groups so the teaching standards are still high.
I'm TRYING not to think about it or over-analyse it all, but I really, really want to get in, I'm not going to lie. I absolutely fell in love with the town and I'm actually considering living there even if I don't get into AUCB. My only concern, of course, is if there would be enough acting opportunities for me down there... London is only 2 hours away, but if I had to travel up there constantly for auditions, it wouldn't be worth it to live so far away. But I want to live there so bad! Is there anyone who lives in Bournemouth that can give me an insight on what it's like to live there?
So that's it. I'm hoping to GOD I will hear back something this week or I may start pulling eyelashes out. I'm trying not to get my hopes up or think about it because I really don't want to get disappointed.
I had my Bournemouth (AUCB aka Arts University College Bournemouth) audition today and it was amazing. The school completely surpassed my already high expectations and the audition was the most fairly assessed one I have had thus far. Unsurprisingly, it was also the one I felt I did the best on, because each candidate got a good amount of time to show what they've got in what turned out to be an extremely friendly and encouraging environment.
AUCB is unique in that they don't have any kind of recall stage. As Course Leader Doug Cockle told us this morning, "We used to have recall stages but we found out that we didn't really find out anymore about the candidates the second time round than we did the first time we auditioned them". Instead, they spend about 10-15 minutes with each candidate individually (no group auditioning - yay!) and actually spend time getting to know you and asking you questions. I am shocked that this was my first audition that they actually did that and this is supposed to be one of the schools with the not so great recognition for their Acting programme. It was definitely my favorite school to audition at by far.
Alright so, what does an audition at AUCB actually entail?
My audition day started at 9:30am. You go to the main reception, announce your arrival and wait for the course leader to come fetch you and all the other candidates. There were 26 of us at all, which was the smallest bunch I've auditioned with so far. A little after 9:30, we were lead off into a rehearsal room; no real tour but Doug kind of pointed things out along the way and everything is well sign posted so you kind of get the gist of things yourself as you walk around.
Once everyone's inside, you all sit in a large circle of chairs facing the audition panellists: 3 teachers and 6 third-year students. Doug spoke at length about the audition day, a little about the course and opened up the floor for questions. All this took a good chunk of time and they were really informative; the third year students also spoke up a lot in the Q&A session, so you got both perspectives of the course.
After that, they split us up roughly into three groups (as in, it wasn't pre-planned). Each group gets 1 teacher to audition them individually with two students sitting in on the panel (not to make any decisions on whether or not to offer you a place, more to just help with making sure the day runs smoothly). I was auditioned by Kenneth Robertson (Ken). So, just to clarify, you go in individually and there is one teacher and two students who see you.
When it's your turn, one of the two student helpers on your assigned panel comes to fetch you from the rehearsal room. So if you're near the end of the list (like I was) there will be a lot of waiting around! I'm so glad I wasn't first - I was actually second to last - because I was able to use, like, an hour and a half to do a good vocal warm-up, stretches, read over my monologues and just calm myself down. I never get really nervous for auditions, but for this one I literally had to remind myself to breathe. I just wanted to impress them so bad!
I was a little surprised that I seemed to be the only one doing a warm up of any kind; everyone else seemed focused on making new BFFs with the other auditionees and just sat around chatting. For me, a vocal warm up was especially important because my throat was feeling horrible that morning.
So when it was my turn, I was led upstairs by one of the students and they chat with you along the way to put you at ease. Really, I can't stress enough how friendly everyone is. Even the students who didn't have anything to do with the Acting course were lovely; I got chatting to some in the reception while waiting to be lead through to begin auditions and they wished me luck when we were called off to begin the audition!
I chatted with the panel a bit before I started (because they wanted to know where I was actually from, and Ken and I had something in common). Generally speaking, you start right away with your monologues, if they don't spend a few minutes chatting with you when you first come in. From what I heard from the other auditionees, that wasn't the norm.
You can choose yourself which one you want to start with, your Shakespeare or your contemporary. I started with my Shakespeare because I knew it was my strongest. Right after you finish your first monologue, they tell you to just launch right into your second and final monologue.
Then you sit down in front of them and the interview part begins! It's very casual and informal, but of course they are judging you so take it seriously and just be confident in your answers. I was asked things like why I chose my monologues, a bit about my educational background, why I wanted to be an actor... and I can't really remember what else. All in all, my audition was a little over 10 minutes.
I wasn't asked to repeat any of my monologues, which they can ask you to do and most people that came back to the audition room told about how they were asked to repeat one or both of their monologues and take some direction with it the second time round. They all seemed so pleased because they felt the second time around, with a bit of direction, they were able to perform SO much better - so I don't know if my acting was so bad that they'd seen enough or it was so awesome they didn't need to see anymore :D Somehow, and I know I shouldn't say this, I highly doubt it was the latter. But you never know, right?
Same thing with the questioning, really. The "examiner" didn't ask me that many questions (I did give quite long answers, though). Again, I don't know if this is because they've already made their mind up about me that I'm not right for the course or that they just had everything they already wanted to know, but I know I shouldn't read too much into it.
Once your audition is finished, you're free to go! So even though they say the audition lasts from 9:30-12:30, if you're called first you could leave as early as 10:30. They told us we will usually hear something back within 2 weeks. Let the nail biting begin. Oh! And before I forget, they informed us that this year they will be taking 50 students in, which is more than they've ever done before. Of course, if you're one of the 50, you'll be split up into smaller groups so the teaching standards are still high.
I'm TRYING not to think about it or over-analyse it all, but I really, really want to get in, I'm not going to lie. I absolutely fell in love with the town and I'm actually considering living there even if I don't get into AUCB. My only concern, of course, is if there would be enough acting opportunities for me down there... London is only 2 hours away, but if I had to travel up there constantly for auditions, it wouldn't be worth it to live so far away. But I want to live there so bad! Is there anyone who lives in Bournemouth that can give me an insight on what it's like to live there?
So that's it. I'm hoping to GOD I will hear back something this week or I may start pulling eyelashes out. I'm trying not to get my hopes up or think about it because I really don't want to get disappointed.
Alice... Olivia... put in a good word for me! ;)
(Yes, yes, I know they've already made their minds up about me earlier today and I don't really mean it... but a girl can dream!)
Here are some more pictures from my day today from around Bournemouth town centre:
Thursday, 13 January 2011
University of Northampton Audition
I don’t want to sugar coat anything in this blog. That wouldn’t really help those of you who’re choosing schools/universities to apply to, would it? I want to be 100% honest with you, and now I know I’m not ever going to apply to the University of Northampton again... I don’t feel so reluctant to really speak my mind.
I’ll just start with the facts, what an audition at University of Northampton actually entails. Then I’ll go on to my personal thoughts and opinions of the day.
The audition day starts at 10:15am. You go to the front reception and register any time between 10:00-10:15. You are given a name sticker and a man takes your photo. After registration closes, you are split up into 2 groups right there in the lobby, and then you’re lead off to some practice rooms – one group in one room, the second group in an adjoining room.
Both groups start with a good 20-minute warm-up. They don’t really give you a vocal warm up, though, so just keep that in mind. After the warm-up, they give you around 3-4 minutes to “get into the headspace you need for your monologue", so you could always do a vocal warm-up at this point.
One group starts with their Shakespeare monologues, while the other does Contemporary. My group started with Shakespeare. It was pretty routine: go up, say your name and what piece you’ll be doing, perform, sit down, and watch everyone else do theirs. No input from the examiner (of which there was just one, the same teacher who guided us through our warm-up).
Then that teacher left the room to go to the other group, and we got 2 new teachers come in to see our Contemporary monologues. First they handed out a piece of paper with 4 tongue twisters on them; we all stood in a circle and had to say each one individually while one of the teachers stood and watched (the other one fucked off somewhere without notice). We had to say all of them, in turn, so it took a while. Once finished, we sat down and started on the monologues.
It was the same routine this time round, except before you started they asked you why you chose that monologue (I was ready to scream if ONE MORE PERSON said “because it was a challenge!”) Then afterwards, they asked you to perform your monologue while doing another action - for example, I got “Pretend you are working out in a gym”. Others got:
That kind of thing.
Once both groups had finished their monologues, we met in another room (a lecture room) for a power point presentation on the course. That was pretty straightforward. A few questions at the end, although we didn’t get such great answers and I think that discouraged people from asking. (Oops going into personal opinion a bit there!) Then we broke for a 45-minute lunch.
After lunch, the candidates met with the 3 teachers again and they split us up into 2 groups: the successful and the unsuccessful. The successful goes off into another room and then have an hour to do another workshop, an interview AND a tour of the school… an hour. One. They recalled about half of the people there.
Okay, now onto my personal opinion…
It was rubbish. Northampton as a town was horrible – all the buildings were boarded up, the only businesses that seemed to be open were casinos and sex shops; on the bus ride there, I was just thinking, ‘If I get accepted here, HOW am I going to find a job?!’ (An official government unemployment rate chart for Northampton confirms my suspicious; it would be extremely difficult to find one, especially among people in my age range.)
Then the university… to be fair, I did only see one campus (Avenus Campus) but again it wasn’t a very nice area and the building was really… university-y. Dated blue carpets all throughout, boring white walls, lecture rooms abound... if you’re looking for a drama school environment, this ain’t it! They actually said at one point during the presentation that this campus was like “Fame”, because they had other creative types on other courses like… Film Studies. Yeah, they’re a fun bunch! (I was a Film Studies student for many years – really, all they ever do is sit around in dark rooms and watch films! Hardly a “Fame”-type environment!)
During the seemingly reluctant question time (really, she didn’t even offer to answer questions, we kinda just had to start asking them ourselves), someone asked how many hours students can expect to work each week and if it would be similar to drama school hours. One of the other teachers piped up saying, “I really don’t like that question because we, as a university, are restricted by university legislation! We WANT to give you drama school hours but we can’t. But even though, on paper, there is only maybe 12 “contact hours” per week [oh god], you’ll be working JUST as hard as drama school students because of all the homework and exercises we’ll give you to do on your own!” …Yeah :/
In the presentation they also outlined the curriculum, and it was just filled with a lot of non-practical acting stuff. I dunno... I just knew then it wasn’t what I wanted for myself. It was just a university trying half-heartedly to be like a drama school course but failing miserably. They would throw in little anecdotes during the presentation, too, like, “If you’re looking to come here and be a teacher… this course isn’t for you!” and “We have LOADS of industry contacts” (FYI: none in London and no one important).
My apathy towards the course was confirmed when I saw WHO they selected to go through to the recall stage (I can't bring myself to call it an afternoon audition, it only lasted an hour). I’m not a vain or arrogant person but I wanted to laugh seeing which people they picked “over me”. I know that I did a good job at my monologues and was one of the best there, certainly not among the worst. I am just in disbelief at how they could see me to be totally unworkable, compared to some of the other people there (who got through). I can't really give any examples without being mean. It was just funny to me more than anything and it just reconfirmed that it wasn’t the school for me. I really feel horrible typing that, but I want to be truthful.
If I were rating these schools I'm auditioning at out of 10, I would struggle to give Northampton a 1 just because it had nothing I was looking for in an Acting course, it was very much a university not a drama school, I hated the town it was located in and I knew I wouldn't be challenged by the teachers or my peers. Maybe they ARE a good university (although The Complete University Guide by The Independent only ranked them #93 in 2009, right near the bottom), but if you want to study acting avoid this course at all costs! ...At least there was no audition fee.
Overall, it was a horrible day yesterday. I took SEVEN buses to get there and back, and I had to wait two hours in the freezing cold in the very early morning because one of my buses apparently decided to just not bother showing up. I was so exhausted on the ride home I was falling asleep on the bus, which I never do.
To sum up my day, it would be this beautiful shot from the bus leaving from Northampton bus station:
I know you all weren't exactly chopping at the bit to hear about my University of Northampton audition but I'm glad I went and I think it makes for a good article: it gave a harsh, truthful insight into how different university acting courses can be to actual drama schools. I'm sure there are wonderful uni courses out there for Acting, but this certainly wasn't one of them from what I saw.
I have really high hopes for my Bournemouth audition on Saturday, though! It's probably the one I've been most excited for (after Central of course). I will legit be disappointed if I don't get in!
I’ll just start with the facts, what an audition at University of Northampton actually entails. Then I’ll go on to my personal thoughts and opinions of the day.
The audition day starts at 10:15am. You go to the front reception and register any time between 10:00-10:15. You are given a name sticker and a man takes your photo. After registration closes, you are split up into 2 groups right there in the lobby, and then you’re lead off to some practice rooms – one group in one room, the second group in an adjoining room.
Both groups start with a good 20-minute warm-up. They don’t really give you a vocal warm up, though, so just keep that in mind. After the warm-up, they give you around 3-4 minutes to “get into the headspace you need for your monologue", so you could always do a vocal warm-up at this point.
One group starts with their Shakespeare monologues, while the other does Contemporary. My group started with Shakespeare. It was pretty routine: go up, say your name and what piece you’ll be doing, perform, sit down, and watch everyone else do theirs. No input from the examiner (of which there was just one, the same teacher who guided us through our warm-up).
Then that teacher left the room to go to the other group, and we got 2 new teachers come in to see our Contemporary monologues. First they handed out a piece of paper with 4 tongue twisters on them; we all stood in a circle and had to say each one individually while one of the teachers stood and watched (the other one fucked off somewhere without notice). We had to say all of them, in turn, so it took a while. Once finished, we sat down and started on the monologues.
It was the same routine this time round, except before you started they asked you why you chose that monologue (I was ready to scream if ONE MORE PERSON said “because it was a challenge!”) Then afterwards, they asked you to perform your monologue while doing another action - for example, I got “Pretend you are working out in a gym”. Others got:
- Pretend you’re sunbathing on a beach
- Pretend you’re clothes shopping at the January sales
- Pretend you’re about to go scuba diving
- Pretend you’re a clown, getting ready to go on stage
That kind of thing.
Once both groups had finished their monologues, we met in another room (a lecture room) for a power point presentation on the course. That was pretty straightforward. A few questions at the end, although we didn’t get such great answers and I think that discouraged people from asking. (Oops going into personal opinion a bit there!) Then we broke for a 45-minute lunch.
After lunch, the candidates met with the 3 teachers again and they split us up into 2 groups: the successful and the unsuccessful. The successful goes off into another room and then have an hour to do another workshop, an interview AND a tour of the school… an hour. One. They recalled about half of the people there.
Okay, now onto my personal opinion…
It was rubbish. Northampton as a town was horrible – all the buildings were boarded up, the only businesses that seemed to be open were casinos and sex shops; on the bus ride there, I was just thinking, ‘If I get accepted here, HOW am I going to find a job?!’ (An official government unemployment rate chart for Northampton confirms my suspicious; it would be extremely difficult to find one, especially among people in my age range.)
Then the university… to be fair, I did only see one campus (Avenus Campus) but again it wasn’t a very nice area and the building was really… university-y. Dated blue carpets all throughout, boring white walls, lecture rooms abound... if you’re looking for a drama school environment, this ain’t it! They actually said at one point during the presentation that this campus was like “Fame”, because they had other creative types on other courses like… Film Studies. Yeah, they’re a fun bunch! (I was a Film Studies student for many years – really, all they ever do is sit around in dark rooms and watch films! Hardly a “Fame”-type environment!)
During the seemingly reluctant question time (really, she didn’t even offer to answer questions, we kinda just had to start asking them ourselves), someone asked how many hours students can expect to work each week and if it would be similar to drama school hours. One of the other teachers piped up saying, “I really don’t like that question because we, as a university, are restricted by university legislation! We WANT to give you drama school hours but we can’t. But even though, on paper, there is only maybe 12 “contact hours” per week [oh god], you’ll be working JUST as hard as drama school students because of all the homework and exercises we’ll give you to do on your own!” …Yeah :/
In the presentation they also outlined the curriculum, and it was just filled with a lot of non-practical acting stuff. I dunno... I just knew then it wasn’t what I wanted for myself. It was just a university trying half-heartedly to be like a drama school course but failing miserably. They would throw in little anecdotes during the presentation, too, like, “If you’re looking to come here and be a teacher… this course isn’t for you!” and “We have LOADS of industry contacts” (FYI: none in London and no one important).
My apathy towards the course was confirmed when I saw WHO they selected to go through to the recall stage (I can't bring myself to call it an afternoon audition, it only lasted an hour). I’m not a vain or arrogant person but I wanted to laugh seeing which people they picked “over me”. I know that I did a good job at my monologues and was one of the best there, certainly not among the worst. I am just in disbelief at how they could see me to be totally unworkable, compared to some of the other people there (who got through). I can't really give any examples without being mean. It was just funny to me more than anything and it just reconfirmed that it wasn’t the school for me. I really feel horrible typing that, but I want to be truthful.
If I were rating these schools I'm auditioning at out of 10, I would struggle to give Northampton a 1 just because it had nothing I was looking for in an Acting course, it was very much a university not a drama school, I hated the town it was located in and I knew I wouldn't be challenged by the teachers or my peers. Maybe they ARE a good university (although The Complete University Guide by The Independent only ranked them #93 in 2009, right near the bottom), but if you want to study acting avoid this course at all costs! ...At least there was no audition fee.
Overall, it was a horrible day yesterday. I took SEVEN buses to get there and back, and I had to wait two hours in the freezing cold in the very early morning because one of my buses apparently decided to just not bother showing up. I was so exhausted on the ride home I was falling asleep on the bus, which I never do.
To sum up my day, it would be this beautiful shot from the bus leaving from Northampton bus station:
I know you all weren't exactly chopping at the bit to hear about my University of Northampton audition but I'm glad I went and I think it makes for a good article: it gave a harsh, truthful insight into how different university acting courses can be to actual drama schools. I'm sure there are wonderful uni courses out there for Acting, but this certainly wasn't one of them from what I saw.
I have really high hopes for my Bournemouth audition on Saturday, though! It's probably the one I've been most excited for (after Central of course). I will legit be disappointed if I don't get in!
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Just A Reminder
I have my audition at the University of Northampton tomorrow, starting at 10am. So... think of me, send good vibes my way, cross any appendages you can, start a prayer circle, etc, etc. I'll make a whole long post about it as soon as I can! I was also thinking of taking a camera with me so you could also be in for a fun picture post. If you're too impatient to wait, I'll be updating my Twitter account during the day, too, so look out for that.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
1000 Visitors - THANK YOU! :)
Sorry, I had to upload it on TinyPic; YouTube uploaded it horribly out of sync!
(And hahaha - that video thumbnail is ridiculous).
Also, wish me luck today! I have a job interview at 3pm; not acting-related, but a good ole' pub job! Desperately need it so think of me at 3:00 and send good vibes my way ;)
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