Confessions of a Drama School Auditionee

For this blog entry we have invited Emily Thornton, who has been an associate artist with the Company since 2008, to share some of her recent experiences of auditioning for drama school.

“My love of drama sprang from Drama lessons at school at 14 years old. I was desperately shy and it gave me confidence. I loved disappearing into a character, devising scenes with my classmates and just being silly. Soon after, I wanted to do more outside of school so I joined a local youth theatre group and began appearing in musical theatre productions.”

What did you gain from being part of the youth theatre?

“I think it is one of the best experiences a young person can have. It not only teaches team work and discipline but boosts self-confidence. Ever since then I have performed in amateur dramatics societies across West Yorkshire, playing a variety of roles in many different genres of performance including musicals, plays, short film and voice-over.”

So what was your next step?

 “I left secondary school during the first year of sixth form. I had given it every effort but it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t extremely academic and I felt the teachers had not helped me develop to my full potential. I was getting top marks for practical studies in Performing Arts but low marks for exams. I believe that academic study isn’t for everyone. This should be made much clearer when Year 11 students are making their decisions about Higher Education.”

After leaving school what did you do?

 “Children shouldn’t feel pressured to choose what other people think is right for them. I remember going to the Deputy Head’s office for him to sign a sheet so I could leave the school and he said, these words will never leave me, ‘We all have to make these mistakes, don’t we?’ And I thought, ‘No. This wasn’t a mistake because it taught me what I really want to do with my life’. With this in mind I decided to take a course in Performing Arts at Bradford College.”

It was there that we met.

 “The course suited me down to the ground as the majority of it was practical. It was the best and worst two years of my life as it changed me as a person. I wasn’t the same person that walked onto the course in 2006.”

The best and the worst two years, you say? Was it worth it?

 “I would recommend it to anyone! I even managed to come out with brilliant grades including my written work which had vastly improved.”

So, you gained your BTEC qualification. Which route did you take from there; university, drama school or employment?

“After leaving college, I felt drama school was the next move for me. I began applying and was rejected at every audition.”

How did that make you feel?

 “I didn’t let it get me down. I was 19 and knew that I was still young. Drama schools often look for prospective students with life experience that might be in their 20’s. So I continued to apply the following year. Still nothing!”

You must have been disappointed.

 “I was pretty fed up at that point. Although I knew I had to keep going so in the meantime I carried on with my part-time job and got involved with as much acting as possible. I auditioned for every amateur dramatics production going. But the problem with am dram is the politics. You have to be ‘a friend of a committee member’, or a ‘long-standing member’, or ‘the director’s girlfriend’ to get a part in a society you haven’t been involved in before. I kept plugging at it and started to get bigger parts. It’s all about perseverance.”

And what about your dream of going to drama school?

“During my third year of auditions, I was a lot more successful. I got two recalls at Italia Conti Theatre School and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I was overwhelmed and knew my hard work was paying off. Unfortunately they ended with rejections but I was so proud of what I achieved.”

So, five years on from leaving the sixth-form at school, do you still have the passion and the drive?

“I am currently in my fourth year of auditions and I have a great feeling about it. I’m working full-time to support myself and pay for the audition fees and train fares. I have a recall to attend at Rose Bruford in Easter and I’m awaiting letters from other auditions.”

Keeping three sets of lines in your head at once can be a challenge!

Is there any advice that you would pass on to other people about to embark on their first round of auditions?

 "To anyone who wants to follow their dream and pursue a place at a drama school, here’s a few do’s and don’ts that I have learnt along the way...

DON’T give up hope. If the first audition didn’t end with a recall, it doesn’t matter. Life goes on and you’ll have more fire in your belly for next time. Use it to spur you on.

 DO take a gap year or two; if you’re 18, you’re probably too young. Unless you’ve had a really tough start in life, you don’t know enough about life to cover the broad range of emotions. You need to have lived a bit first. Get a job. Learn the values of money.

DON’T doubt yourself and be defeated before you go into the audition panel. It will show on your face.

DO be assertive and know EVERYTHING about your speeches because you don’t want to be caught out by a question and end up feeling stupid.

DON’T let other people’s comments make you lose faith in yourself. They might think you’re chasing a pipe dream but it’s your life!

DON’T worry, Judi Dench auditioned for drama schools four or five times before she eventually got in. Remember that!

DON’T go OTT! One thing I have learnt is the panel aren’t interested in big dramatic monologues where you’re dying of a terminal disease or sobbing your heart out. A truthful, genuine speech might not be earth shattering but its real and it can be more personal to you. If you understand the feelings that the character is going through then it will be delivered in down to earth way.  From what I’ve seen at auditions, those OTT people just end up going home before the afternoon recall.

DO wear dark colours. Patterns and bright colours are distracting. You might think it’s going to get you ‘noticed’ but it can distract from your speech. Keep it neutral.

DON’T worry if someone does the same speech as you, they will be doing it in a totally different way, which is THEIR way. Don’t try and adjust your speech. It will spoil your performance. Perform what you have rehearsed.

DO wear flat shoes, girls. I saw a girl wearing heels to a recent audition and she was asked to take them off during her speeches to make her more ‘grounded’.

DO take a deep breath before your speeches to the panel. I usually stand for about 5 seconds before I jump into a speech to calm my nerves and centre myself. I might feel like a long time but the panel will appreciate your performance much more. They need a moment to digest what you’re about to deliver and if you rush into it then they could miss the first part because you gabbled it."

Update: at time of posting, Emily has been offered a place at Italia Conti on their BA in Acting course, and has recall auditions at Rose Bruford and Birmingham School of Acting.

We wish her the very best of luck!

It is written in the stars

This blog post is by Julia.

Have you been watching the skies lately? Stargazing? Wonders of the Universe?

Prospero certainly has. He hears the music of the spheres; he understands their movements and their majesty. He knows that he is part of them and they are part of him. He knows that this beautiful, complex, painful dance of life is all part of the cycle, the cycle of birth and death and rebirth.

"Our story is the story of the Universe. Every piece of everyone and everything you love, of everything you hate, of everything you hold precious, was assembled in the first few minutes of the life of the Universe, and was transformed in the hearts of stars or created in their fiery deaths. When you die those pieces will be returned to the Universe in the endless cycle of death and rebirth. What a wonderful thing to be a part of that universe - and what a story. What a majestic story!"  

(Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen - Wonders of the Universe. BBC Books 2011

The Tempest is a beautiful illumination for our times of what is at life's heart.

The quote above sums up the story of The Tempest. It makes it hugely relevant to the moment, not a piece of antiquity, but as fresh as a daisy; living breathing wisdom!

It is 'interesting' to note that recently one of the United States of America banned the use of The Tempest for teaching at College level on the somewhat tenuous pretext that the play was 'racist'. This is, at best, small-mindedness and ignorance, at worst a fascistic removal of texts that contain wisdom and insights that allow and encourage humans to think for themselves and be free. As Ariel sings to Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban at one point, "Thought is free!"

Stephano, Trincula, and Caliban

We began the latest rehearsal, the first one back after the festive break, with a romp through the scenes featuring the light relief of the play - Stephano and Trincula. The former is usually imagined as a butler, and the latter as a kind of court jester. In our production, due to the necessity of doubling up, we have re-imagined Trincula as a sort of courtesan and Stephano as a drunken publican.


Kate and Stuart have been having great fun working on the banter, physical comedy and timing. Several kinds of chaos ensue once Dave is involved as Caliban. Playing most of the first scene where the two washed-up characters first meet Caliban on his knees, Dave resembles an anarchic ET. The scene was already funny to watch but by the end of the hour my ribs were hurting from laughing.

Juno, Iris and Ceres - the pastoral interlude

One of the most challenging sections of The Tempest is the pastoral 'play within a play' where Prospero conjures up the spirits of Iris, Ceres and Juno to amuse and amaze Ferdinand and Miranda.

"I must bestow upon the eyes of this young couple some vanity of mine Art"

The sequence is traditionally played as a masque or dumbshow and, in the original stage directions, employed the latest stage technology. Indeed, in the RSC production of The Tempest in the early 1990's the masque section took place in a life-size pop-up theatre within the main stage, complete with scallop footlights that popped up out of the stage, and a costume budget that would fund us for a whole year's worth of productions!

The section is not just difficult in terms of staging; the content itself is archaic and based on ancient folklore that modern audiences do not understand. Many productions cut this section out altogether, or at least trim it right down to a minimum.

We are currently working on an idea of how to stage this section which gives a flavour of what it is about (a gentle warning to the young Ferdinand and Miranda of the duties and demands of married life) but also demonstrates Prospero's magical abilities.


We have spent a couple of rehearsals now using the technique of human puppetry to bring this particular interlude to life. Prospero and Miranda join together in showing Ferdinand their 'party trick' of manipulating the supernatural beings of the island as if they were marionettes.

It has been fun and interesting to see what effects we can achieve, and it has also been a great way to build trust and complicity amongst the company.

Marc Chagall - a visual influence on The Tempest

In creating the world of the play, we rely on a wide range of influences to inspire the process. In terms of how the play will look, our director, Julia, has turned to the paintings of Marc Chagall. (1897 - 1985)

His use of colour and symbolism is providing a rich palette of ideas to draw from. Recurring themes of the bride and groom, spiritual elements, and dream-like states are mirrored in the text. Already we have begun to identify some of the characters from the play with figures in the paintings.

This is not to say that we are relying on Chagall's work for our final visual style, but rather that we are adding his influence to the pool of ideas that draw upon.

It pays to remain open to all kinds of inspirations and influences; they can take us to some surprising places.

A labyrinthine text.

Another rehearsal on the Tempest this week that found us mining even more from the text. We are finding references in the play that are spinning us off on some really interesting tangents.

Prospero's Isle is developing into a game board where he plays the characters like chess pieces. This, in turn, is giving the actors the chance to explore how they move in the space as they are 'brought into play' by Ariel at Prospero's bidding.

As ideas and discussion open up new possibilities, we actors are responding by finding new ways of relating to the text, and to other characters. Having a relatively small cast means that we have to multi-role anyway, so the chance to draw clear distinctions between our roles in terms of movement as well as characteristics is really helpful.

As we know, seldom is anything black and white, and certainly on Prospero's Isle, things are not always what they seem. This merging of truth and fantasy, of nature and the supernatural, gives us much to play with. The course of the story, from tempestuous opening to the calm reconciliation at the end, is Prospero's gameplan enacted. He stands at the centre of the labyrinth into which he draws the other players, and from which they must escape.

Tempestuous Times

Rehearsals are now well underway for our latest production. The cast are being assembled (still a couple of parts to be covered) and scenes are taking shape. The photo below shows Emily, Jeremy and Jamie being directed by Julia.
It is great to be working on a Shakespeare text again; there are so many discoveries to be made in the text about character and meaning. As actors we are given so much to work with.
Finding meaning and relevance for today in words written over 400 years ago is wonderful and humbling - Shakespeare certainly knew about the power of words; we need to tap into that power in these tempestuous times.