GSA

Was in a very tight schedule today, for me anyways. Lots of trains and tubes and buses to catch! I applied for the Foundation (acting pathway) course at Guilford school of acting not long after receiving my audition result email from Drama Centre. Oh! Speaking of which, I'm on the waiting list! Hurrah! I really admire the school and the students it produces so I'm quite proud– even if I don't get onto the course. But anyway, back to GSA. So I got an early train to KX this morning and then hopped across London like a proper commuter to get my connection to Guilford from Waterloo. Everything was f i n e. until.... I lost my ticket!!! Or so I thought; after ten minutes of frantic searching and almost buying another ticket I found it in my pocket. In my defence, I knew that ticket was there but I thought it was only valid from Newcastle to KX... Ok no excuse, I know. I made a pho par!

I got to Guilford a bit early so I wandered out of the station and had a meander through Friary shopping centre (just across the bridge) and mozied on up the high street– which is very nice by the way! I happened upon a little side street with a few independent cafe's and figured I may as well spend my extra time drinking coffee! 

Bill's slightly industrial-esq interior grabbed my attention so I went in and took up a pew (after banging my head on the low light) right next to the window and read a few blogs (Joy the Baker, The Londoner). 

Super friendly waitress, nice coffee, lovely atmosphere and the clientele was good too. I didn't have anything to eat but whatever the two ladies next to me ordered looked great! 

All coffee'd up and ready to roll I set off to the bus station and got the 17 to the uni campus (GSA is part of the university of Surrey). The lady in front of me on the bus very kindly gave me directions as to which stop to get off at and where to head after that– she'd heard me on the phone talking about Newcastle (& or maybe she recognised my accent, weak though it may sometimes be) and it turned out she was from Durham! Small world and all that jazz. 

GSA was really interesting. It very much had a university feel to it, especially with it being on the main Stag Hill campus in Surrey, but that was by no means a bad thing! It was actually really nice to be in amongst it all with all of the other disciplines and areas– quite a change from all of the other places I've been! The actual drama school building even has a Starbucks. I mean, really? Is there any need? Don't I already spend enough money on coffee as it is? Apparently not. 

A group of about 8 of us were taken to the top floor for a quick warm up session with two current Fda students (Samuel and Oliver) and some Musical Theatre pathway students joined in too. Just the usual Zip Zap Boing and stuff like that. Then Andrea and Anna (two teachers on the course) took over the rest of the session. Anna led us through a fairly physical exercise focusing on the energy in your body and moving that to different areas; we would concentrate on a finger and whisper our monologues to it, transferring the energy from the speech directly into the tip of the finger. This went on to allowing that body part to lead us around the room, before coming to a stop and having to find someone else's finger to concentrate on to say our monologues again. 

We did a little bit of work on the seven levels of tension, walking round and balancing the space whilst speaking our lines. So for instance one scenario would be that we were in our favourite place and the next might be that someone was following us. My favourite part was when we had to imagine that behind the white wall was a waterfall about to collapse over us all, therefore our only objective was to keep the wall from falling down. Performing a solo piece in an ensemble-like situation can be daunting, but this was just so moving. We all struggled together, all had the same instructions from Anna and all saw our monologues in a completely new light. That's the best part about workshopping a speech; you begin to say it like you never have before and discover so much more about it. Breaking away from the wall at our own pace/speed to perform for the final time was so climatic! I felt so in tune with what I was saying and everything just fell into place. 

The next bit was a little difficult. Standing with our eyes closed we were each tapped on the shoulder when it was our turn to perform (our speeches). That's all well and good, but I was nearly last and was standing– with my eyes shut– for over 45 minutes. Numb feet, twitchy eyes and a dizzy head were just a few of the side effects. In all honesty though, I actually really enjoyed that part of the session. It never occurred to me that just hearing a monologue could be so much more interesting than seeing it. 

After we had all nearly passed out, the MT's were allowed to leave and us Actors were to stay and perform another monologue. I went first, deciding to do my Love's Labour's Lost speech after doing The Honest Whore for the rest of the session. So I introduced my piece, took a deep breath.... And started with the first line from The Honest Whore. REALLY AMY?!? They didn't mind, I started over and finished my piece knowing it was ok but could have been better. 

We all watched each others then had a chat afterwards with Andrea, Anna, Samuel and Oliver about auditioning, drama schools, GSA and tips for the future. All in all a very imaginative session and some very useful advice. 

Got the bus back into Guilford with one of the other girls who was auditioning (she was Danish and lived in London– really lovely!) and we had a right good natter. Always like to chat after an audition. We Facebooked each other, said our goodbyes, offered company and local tours if we were ever in each others home towns and I got on the next train back to Waterloo. Another hop across London (like an experienced commuter this time) and I was eating sushi in KX waiting for my train to arrive. It didn't. Well, not on time anyway– it was 20 minutes late. Just an excuse to by a coffee to bide the time! A chai latte always goes down a treat at the end of the day. 

Drama Centre

In the past two months I've been to Drama Centre, London twice. Once for my BA (Acting) audition and then again for the Foundation in Performance course. After going for the BA I wasn't exactly thrilled by the school. It was more of a come-in, go-out sort of thing; a little brutal and with little attention to the school and it's facilities. But of course, not everything can be rainbows and butterfly's can it? That being said, my FdA Performance audition day was a completely different experience altogether.

BA Hons (Acting)

I took my mamma with me to this audition as a continuation of my birthday celebrations, knowing/suspecting that I wouldn't be recalled to the afternoon session– and I wasn't wrong. The morning started off very well, finding that the school was only a 3/4 min walk from King's Cross down a straight path right in between St. Pancreas and KX. The Central St. Martin's building is amazing. It's an old granary done out to an incredible standard; kind of what you expect from an art & design uni building. The reception was located on the right and with over an hour to wait we headed left into The Caravan, an industrial-esque trendy bistro. I advise anyone going to Drama Centre, or anyone looking for something to eat close to KX to go here; the food is lovely and the decor is pretty cool.

I opted for apple&maple porridge and mamma went for poached egg and salmon (or some other fish) on toast, which she still hasn't stopped banging on about. Washed down with a pot of tea, it was a lovely way to start the day after a long train journey. 





On the audition panel were two men, one with white hair, the other with dark who were very polite and asked me a few questions about my age and my pieces and then asked me to take the space to perform, using chairs if necessary. I did use a chair for both speeches and was encouraged to take as much time as I needed between speeches– I seem to recall being praised slightly for my usage of the chair, or for something anyways. When I was done I was asked what I was currently doing and how I found my college course, then I was free to leave. Like I had predicted, my name wasn't on the recall list for the afternoon, but only 4/20 were so I wasn't too disheartened. 
On the audition panel were two men, one with white hair, the other with dark who were very polite and asked me a few questions about my age and my pieces and then asked me to take the space to perform, using chairs if necessary. I did use a chair for both speeches and was encouraged to take as much time as I needed between speeches– I seem to recall being praised slightly for my usage of the chair, or for something anyways. When I was done I was asked what I was currently doing and how I found my college course, then I was free to leave. Like I had predicted, my name wasn't on the recall list for the afternoon, but only 4/20 were so I wasn't too disheartened. 
A few weeks earlier my Dad and some close family friends took me to an incredible little wine bar tucked behind the tube station here called Gordon's and I absolutely fell in love with the place. It's a converted wine cellar that's a few hundred years old, with Rudyard Kipling as one of it's past inhabitants. Managing to keep it a secret until coming back with mum I surprised her with a few of her favourite things: wine, cheese and an "experience".
A few weeks earlier my Dad and some close family friends took me to an incredible little wine bar tucked behind the tube station here called Gordon's and I absolutely fell in love with the place. It's a converted wine cellar that's a few hundred years old, with Rudyard Kipling as one of it's past inhabitants. Managing to keep it a secret until coming back with mum I surprised her with a few of her favourite things: wine, cheese and an "experience".

That last one is very important to us as a family. Experiences are something we search for on a daily basis, trying to limit things of a more material nature (not that we don't ever go clothes shopping, because we most certainly do do that!). This time being taken out of the sun wasn't a problem at all and we enjoyed a rustic platter of 3 chunks of cheese, half a baguette each, lots of chutney, pickle and cranberry accompanied by a glass of red wine and a tumbler of port. Now Gordon's do proper portions. When I say a "chunk" of cheese, I mean it– even if it doesn't look that big on the picture.
That last one is very important to us as a family. Experiences are something we search for on a daily basis, trying to limit things of a more material nature (not that we don't ever go clothes shopping, because we most certainly do do that!). This time being taken out of the sun wasn't a problem at all and we enjoyed a rustic platter of 3 chunks of cheese, half a baguette each, lots of chutney, pickle and cranberry accompanied by a glass of red wine and a tumbler of port. Now Gordon's do proper portions. When I say a "chunk" of cheese, I mean it– even if it doesn't look that big on the picture.
Foundation in Performance
When I first applied for Drama Centre I didn't choose the Foundation in Performance, mainly due to the cost of the course (you can't get any funding for it through student finance). However, two weeks after my BA audition I received an email from the school saying that the panel had been "sufficiently impressed" by my audition and wanted to recommend me to take a foundation course, then going on to invite me back to DC to audition for theirs free of charge. Finally disappointment after disappointment I had some good news!

I left mum to have a glass of wine or two and headed over to reception to be escorted up stairs by a 2nd year Acting student with some other auditionees. The corridor we were taken to was all hustle-and-bustle with students and teachers from all disciplines striding along past us. After taking a seat amongst earlier-morning auditioners I was called in after about 45 mins.

After rescuing mum from having to buy another glass of wine we headed out into London for a sunny afternoon. Until we got on the tube. I then made the terribly bad decision to go to the V&A museum with a mother who can not stand to be indoors when the sun is out. Woopsie. U-turn made and another tube  ride later we had a wander past Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and along the Thames until we reached embankment. 

 

A 3 cheese platter will definitely fill two people, a 2 cheese platter probably would as well. Me and my Dad had the Brie, Smoked Cheddar and Gruyere and I nibbled a bit at our friends' Dolcelatte which is now one of my favourite cheeses ever; Mamma and I went for Brie, Fleur de Maquis (new second favourite) and Camembert. I can't remember the names of our wines/ports but I think Derna had the sweet white port which I could drink far to easily.

We wandered through Soho, stumbled upon Oxford Street, got lost in Aldo (honestly) and made our way merrily back to King's Cross. Then the train journey home was cold, long and uncomfortable followed by a long wait for a taxi in a stupidly cold train station surrounded by drunken fools. There had to be one downside to the day!

I couldn't believe I was auditioning at the same school when I went back on Saturday. There were only three of us auditioning that morning so our lovely student helper showed us through the school and answered loads of our questions. I went in first and was met by Richard and Leanna who were incredibly kind and funny rushing around to get me a chair and close the curtains over the mirrors. Following normal audition etiquette I was asked about my choice of pieces, although in much more detail than usual and then allowed to perform using all the time and space I needed. My classical piece went very well, probably the best I've ever done it. But of course something so good always comes with a compromise. I ruined the second half of my modern piece. Silly old me decided it would be good to show the panel two different monologues from my BA audition, giving myself less than 3 weeks to find and prepare Eve from Apples and to re-aquaint myself with the Princess from Love's labour's Lost. This would have been fine if I hadn't been so busy! The week before my audition went by in such a blur I can barely remember any of it and it didn't help that my best friends birthday was the day before my audition. Hopefully I didn't loose too many brownie points for leaving her birthday party early– but I made the extra effort to get there super early and look after her while she was drunk! She had a really great night though and that's all that matters.

Excuses aside, the interview after my monologues was great, for once giving me the chance to show my maturity and love for the theatre and performing. We talked about everything from the last few shows I had seen to what sports I do and what performances I had done in the past. Richard and Leanna were extremely lovely to talk to and I felt so comfortable because of it. I rejoined Lucy, Max and our tour-guide/student/host Chris and watched as they took it in turns to leave and return.

All of us got a recall!

YESSA. To celebrate me, Lucy and Max went to Nando's for some lunch before heading back to our afternoon workshop. Chris introduced us to three girls from the afternoon round of auditions who also got recalls and then we went back into the studio to do a movement and acting session.

Leanna took us for movement getting us to create letters with our bodies, do lots of swinging and swaying and then several exercises to do with space, physicality and awareness. I got a little confused at one point thinking she had asked us to mirror someone when she might not have at all... Hopefully Max didn't mind too much, or better yet didn't realise what I was doing.

Our "Acting" part of the session was taken by Richard and involved some very simple tablo and still image exercises followed by a few games. At the end of the workshop we were allowed to ask questions to both Richard and Chris (who had taken part in the workshop too).

All in all a great afternoon.

Our little trio headed back to King's Cross, made sure we had each other on Facebook and went our separate ways. Lucy lives in Scotland so we both decided to wait for our trains in Pret with a soda. It was so nice to meet such genuinely lovely people who made the whole day that much better. With an hour or so to spare I rang everyone back home and had a wander into the Harry Potter store– I will NEVER be too old for that– before getting a Chai latte from Nero's to take on the train. The sweetie behind the counter gave me two stamps instead of one as well– bonus!

RADA

I'm doing this all back-to-front, and even though actor's are meant to have good memories, I've probably forgotten half of what happened at my RADA audition so please, bare with me. For any of you who don't know what RADA is, it's the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art who crafted such phenomenal actor's as Michael Gambon and Anthony Hopkins.

I was meant to get the train down with my Dad so we could have a trip away together, but he fell ill literally on the morning of my audition, so my Gran swiftly took his place instead at 6am in the morning (bless her). So we got the metro to central station, grabbed a coffee and jumped on the train. This was probably my most nerve wracking audition because it was my first and  it was for flaming RADA, so I spent most of the journey going over my monologues.

When we arrived at King's Cross we headed straight for St Pancreas and got two all day passes. You're told by the school that the closest station to them is Goodge Street. This is true, but to get to Goodge St from Pancreas would mean changing lines when it's only two stops or so to get there anyway. So I bit the bullet, left Gran to have breakfast near Warren Street station (where we got off) and walked the rest of the way. It was actually really nice to peruse the streets around the school to get a feel for the area, and if you've got a map or a smart phone I'd definitely recommend getting off a stop early (as long as you've got plenty of time!).

After finding the academy, I went for a walk in the park just round the corner— Gordon Square Garden. Great place for running lines and not being looked at funny– I saw a woman doing some weird combination of tai chi and ninja-combat: making talking to yourself look normal.

20 minutes before my audition time I headed back to the school; I went in the green entrance that you see if you go on google maps. Don't go in there. It's the wrong entrance. Duh. I was redirected through the school to the opposite side (which doesn't look like the entrance to a drama school, just a white marble building with a small wooden door in the middle) and had to be buzzed in, which seemed to annoy the lady behind the desk (woops!). I checked in and took a pew on the bench next to the stairs.

Slowly, it started filling up with other auditionees, me being the only Geordie. What was really nice about RADA, was that every single student who went passed wished me good luck, or winked at me or asked if I was auditioning or something– it kind of settled the nerves for me a little. 5 minutes late, we were all escorted into a board room to fill in some extra forms (audition pieces etc) and double check our original forms, we were then introduced to two ex-students who took us across the road to another building. I didn't talk to mine much and she didn't offer much either. The school shocked me in a way, I think I was expecting some sort of grand, open space with lots of marble and a grand piano, what you get is a a large building that's quite messy, informal and higgeldy-piggeldy– takes the pressure of a little.

The group of ten was split in two and we went off to different floors– ours was the third, I think. We sat along a wall of windows looking at a glass box of a room (the blinds were pulled down– don't worry!) waiting to be called. I was bang on in the middle, so had enough time to stretch and think, but not so much time that I'd start freaking out.

The panel were lovely. A woman and a man, the former of which was actually on an episode of Sherlock (no pressure there then!). They asked me a few questions, some related to acting, some not (the first was actually "do you do sports?") and really helped calm the nerves. I was then given the space to perform, which was a little difficult as there was a pillar going straight through the centre of the room. But I persevered, started with my classical and finished with my modern. I was asked to go and sit back down and was then congratulated on my choice of classical monologue, as they had "never, at [their] whole time auditioning at RADA seen anyone do it before"– YESSA! Exactly what every actor wants to hear. After a few more questions I was free to leave, so went to find my Gran and spent the rest of the day looking round London.

After the usual, i.e Harrods, Selfridges etc, we went to Hyde Park for the winter festival (it was the 4th December) and sat in a German style pop-up pub and had a mulled wine. Now, if you happen to be going to London with an elderly person and you plan on doing the things I've just mentioned, don't. Just do one of them. It was a tiring day for me never mind my 60-odd year old Grandmother.

Nonetheless, we got back to King's Cross and got on to the train home– first class. Oh yes. But, first class with East Coast wasn't as good as I had expected. Yes, we got a nice meal, snacks and drinks included, with lots of extra leg room, but lets just say I was glad my dad had only had to pay an extra £15 for the upgrade; I don't think I'd ever pay much more than that for it.

All in all, a great day and a great audition. Exactly a week later I received a letter to inform me that I had been unsuccessful. That's life! There's nothing from stopping me trying again after all.