by Bel | Nov 1, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
TA short while ago, The Stage ran a piece entitled “What can an acting coach help me with and how do I find a good one?” It featured two experienced acting coaches – Dee Cannon and Martin Harris. The fact that the paper is devoting an entire page to sharing “about what they and their peers can do to enhance your chances” is significant, as this publication identifies itself as “The weekly for the entertainment industry.” Their target readership will be performers who most likely will have attended drama school and are already in the profession. It is indicative of how acting coaches are increasingly used not only to get into drama school, but throughout an actor’s career.
Dee Cannon teaches at RADA and has coached actors such as Jon Voight and Matthew Modine. Acting coaches are far more common in America; but Britain is catching up.
“Drama school can offer you a vast amount of knowledge. What they don’t often have time to teach is how to precisely sift through this knowledge to prepare you for auditions. I believe auditioning is a specialised technique, condensing all your skill sets. The advantage of using an acting coach is to guide you methodically through the specifics of the techniques you will need to help you ultimately nail the role.”
At Audition Doctor, Tilly often has actors that come to her for screen auditions. Tilly’s approach to coaching actors for screen and stage barely differs. As Cannon states: “When preparing for stage or screen auditions there’s very little difference in approach. For screen you really don’t have to focus as much on your vocal or physical technique. You don’t have to project since the camera will pick up everything. However, you do have to know who you are, where you are, and what you want, etc. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, you need to connect to your character for both mediums and make strong choices on the text and find belief in the imagined circumstance.”
She warns against choosing acting coaches who give line readings or overly impose their take on the character. This is something that Audition Doctor categorically refuses to do. More than anything else, the sessions are all about bringing the you into the character.
Martin Harris focused on what Tilly constantly talks about in her sessions – the paramount importance of selecting the right speeches. “I think it shows much more imagination to find a less familiar piece and one which may also spark the interest of the director who has been watching audition pieces all day.” As much as they try, the first rounds of drama school auditions will make you feel like cattle. It’s not their fault – the incredibly high volume of applicants can dwarf any sense of individuality or originality that you thought you possessed. Picking unusual speeches will buoy you; you won’t feel so much like a number if you aren’t the third Sheila from A Day in the Death of Joe Egg going in.
At the end of the article, John Byrne – an entertainment industry career adviser at The Stage – emphasised how, ultimately, “the success of long term work with whichever coach you choose is also going to depend on the relationship between you and that individual coach…It is noticeable that in both contributions the key quality the guests have indicated as the goal of effective acting coaching is connecting with the truth.”
This is what the vast majority of Audition Doctor sessions are about – understanding the intentions and motivations behind what your character says. It is also why Tilly doesn’t take on every single student that she meets. Good work usually comes from sessions over an extended period. It’s important that both you and Tilly’s work ethics work well together and when they do, you can really stretch the capabilities of your acting.
by Bel | Oct 31, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
There has been much debate recently over the usefulness of drama schools. Derek Jacobi averred: “It can teach you movement, it can teach you voice, it can teach you deportment, it can teach you fencing skills, all sorts of things. But I firmly believe that it cannot turn someone who walks into a drama school as a non-actor into an actor.”
Furthermore, Paul Roseby stated: “Drama schools are incredibly expensive and the majority of actors don’t need three years’ training. They need various modular courses every so often to go to. But they don’t need three years. You don’t need to learn how to act, you need to learn how to sell yourself. You can either act or you can’t.”
Drama school is expensive, but it costs no more than a normal degree. While drama school is by no means the only form of training, it is one that is professionally recognised. Additionally, alternative models that allowed Jacobi time and opportunities to hone his craft, such as repertory, no longer exist. Drama schools are still places where those who do have, what Jacobi calls, the “seed, the desire, the will and the talent” to become a professional actor can learn their craft. Although some actors do manage to build successful careers without training, the majority of actors on stage or on television will have had some form of professional training.
Furthermore, Nick Hytner this week confessed that even he found Shakespeare’s plays confusing. Drama school is a place where there are tutors who have extensive experience to unpick language and explore the possibilities of what you, as an actor, are capable of.
Edward Kemp, – Artistic Director of RADA- hit back at Roseby by saying: “These days RADA graduates such as Jessie Buckley can find themselves playing leading roles in major theatres almost upon graduation.” He added that training can give confidence and bring an improved sense of self-image that one could argue were requisite in marketing yourself to the industry.
This is precisely what Audition Doctor affords every one of her students. The way you perform you speeches is absolutely linked to confidence and self-image. Even if you have the will and the talent, a speech cannot be performed at its best if you are self-conscious in anyway. As mercenary as it sounds, an audition is also an opportunity to market yourself to the panel as a student worthy of a place. Audition Doctor sessions strip all the extraneous “acting” and self-conscious ticks which leave you knowing that you will be your greatest asset as opposed to your own obstacle at your audition.
by Bel | Oct 25, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
The announcement of Rufus Norris as new Artistic Director of the National Theatre coincided with another disclosure. Although it was admittedly not as newsworthy as said appointment, it was no less important for students who are eager to go to drama school.
It was the Telegraph’s article which proclaimed “Shakespeare frightens us, admits Britain’s top actors” and gleefully proceeded to reel off a roster of names that included Michael Gambon, Mark Rylance, Zoe Wannamaker, Christopher Eccleston and Ralph Fiennes.
Many confessed to have no understanding of iambic pentameter, frequently found Shakespearean language “incomprehensible”, “frightening” and having that “familiar feeling on giving up at a Shakespeare play.”
If you want to be a trained actor in this country, there is no escaping Shakespeare or his contemporaries. Every single accredited drama school will require you to perform a monologue from the Elizabethan period as part of your audition. Many candidates hate Shakespeare, however, his work doesn’t appear to be declining in popularity so it’s best that you ensure you aren’t daunted by his work by the time you come to audition.
Many students’ first foray into Shakespearean territory will probably be in an English lesson at school. The teacher probably assigned everyone a part and everyone monotonously intoned the unintelligible text and died a little inside. This is why to become better at speaking Shakespearean verse, you have to go and see it performed precisely by the actors listed above. They often find it baffling and incomprehensible. However, they have all trained and subsequently used the skills learnt at drama school to intelligently unpick the text and transform the unwieldy ye olde language of it all into a reality that an audience recognises and believes.
This week, Ben Kingsley spoke to the Evening Standard about the importance of good actors in bringing the works of the Bard to life: “After leaving the RSC and before I did Gandhi [in 1982], I had the privilege of visiting schools in America with a group of Shakespearean actors. And instead of bashing their way through the text, we walked into the classroom and we performed scenes in the classroom for them. The pupils were slapping their hands on their foreheads and saying, ‘Wow — that’s what he meant!’ A good actor, a focused actor, can unlock a 400 to 500-year-old text and make it hit you as you’ve never heard it before”
This is what Audition Doctor can help with. Having performed Shakespeare professionally, Tilly is aware of the necessity of truly understanding the text. Frequently, she can hear if you, the actor, are saying a line without knowing what it means as the intentions behind what you say become unclear. An audience can hear when actors speak without knowing why. This is the luxury that Audition Doctor affords – the time to sift through all the obsolete language and to find modern equivalents which render your speech coherent. If anything, you at least want the audition panel to understand what you’re saying.
But Audition Doctor lessons give you much more than that. They are the reason why you can go into an audition and know that the panel will listen to you – because you are going to be one of the very few candidates that hasn’t capitulated in the face of the difficult language and truly understands not only what you are saying, but why you are speaking in the first place.
by Audition Doctor | Oct 15, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, classes for acting
by Bel | Oct 10, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
The forward march of autumn signals the advent of that sentence that many applicants have nervously been waiting for on drama school websites – Applications for September 2014 are now open. Download application form here. While it can often feel like you are one of many just bursting through the starting gates, filling out whether you are male or female is the least stressful part of the entire process. While the advice “get your application form in early” is not without foundation (RADA even have different audition fees for applications received after a certain date in December), sending off the form knowing that you have the right audition speeches is a far better move strategically.
You can be called to audition within two weeks of you sending it; two weeks is not enough time to have sat in French’s or a Waterstones researching various monologues as well as have explored the countless ways of playing the character. There is also the simple fact that the longer you have to work on your speeches, the better you know your lines. This means you are far less likely to dry in front of the panel. Forgetting your lines when you’re redirected is common; performing a speech with opposite intentions when the panel watch you in the process of discovery. Knowing your lines inside out means that you can concentrate on exploring the acting side of things, as opposed to making your audition a memory test.
Today on Ideastap, the Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre, Paul Roseby, spoke about what he looks for in auditions. He emphasised the importance of finding “a speech that suits you. I like ambition – people coming in with ambitious ideas about their future, themselves and what they’re doing. But we want to see great characters. Look for something or someone that interests you because, if it interests you, then it’s probably close to you.” He also averred “There is no guarantee in auditions. Like we say, we want to ban the bland. It’s about watching somebody who is watchable. That doesn’t mean they have to, technically-speaking, have the best audition. It’s about the personality as much as the audition technique.”
Having said this, some drama school applicants do seem to believe that their personalities are the most important aspect of the audition. They think the panel have to “like” them. While there is an element of truth in this, they’re not there auditioning you to be friends with them, they want to pick the people with the best potential. As Audition Doctor repeatedly attests, it is always the audition speeches that can afford you the best opportunity to show them this.
Many people come to Audition Doctor believing that they can succeed in the industry without training. While this has worked for some, Tilly is the first person to always stress how training is the best possible route to secure credibility and longevity in the profession.
When Arthur Darvill was asked how useful he found his training, his responded: ” Training is a funny thing. I was very lucky and went to RADA. That was the Holy Grail for me, before I went. But it meant that I spent my first year trying to “get it right” rather than get what I could from it. The truth is that you never get it right, you just keep learning. Drama school was a great opportunity to do that and – like any place of learning – you get out what you put in.” Audition Doctor works on the same basis which means the number of sessions you will have will be totally up to you. However, you absolutely get back in spades what you put in, which makes Audition Doctor your best bet for getting into drama school, as well as being a taster of how you want to approach your training should you get in.
by Bel | Oct 3, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
When asked what advice he would give for any actor starting out, James McAvoy replied “Advice is difficult for me, because everyone’s journey is so personal and different. Everyone’s style is so personal and different. What makes anyone good is so personal and different. Some people just try to be truthful and are brilliant at it, but I work very differently to that. A lot of the industry is down to luck, and being ready at the right time.”
Being “ready” is vital but, as McAvoy emphasises, whatever your chosen method, it’s up to you to inhabit your character as believably as possible.
“You should do whatever works for you, and trying to be a method actor doesn’t work for me at all. Maybe it will do one day, but I try to keep an eye on what story I’m telling. It’s not just about what character you are and being truthful to that; it’s about keeping your eye on the narrative. I see acting as more about mimicking truthful situations. You’re a storyteller, and naturalism and realism and all that stuff are just a style. I prepare by spending a lot of time working out what story we’re telling exactly.”
When asked what they do to prepare for their part, most actors will cite reading and re-reading the play. Yet it’s surprising how many drama school applicants fail to read the play which their speeches come from. Often when workshopping speeches, the audition panel will ask what has happened in the scene before as a gormless candidate squirms and gabbles something palpably vague. It is mortifying whether or not the panel put it down to nerves and soothes you by saying “don’t worry, take your time”, or in one case, defiantly write the word “NO” across a hapless candidate’s assessment sheet.
The Stage cited the reason as being because “many students and actors are frightened of the verse in Jacobean and Elizabethan plays and, in some cases, of the language itself. Odd when you think about it given that 95% of the vocabulary Shakespeare uses is still in current use and that the heartbeat-like iambic pentameter sits very comfortably in the rhythms of modern English. Think about “I left my brief case on the Northern Line” or “When Susan wants to rant she shouts a lot”.
Evidently, however, the key is striking a balance as the publication simultaneously lamented how many times they had heard actors “gabble [words] so fast that they’re incomprehensible” and were adamant that “you cannot make Shakespeare sound like a bit of dialogue from Eastenders and it’s very misguided of actors and directors to try.”
Making Shakespeare sound both unforced and convincing takes an inordinate amount of preparation.. To be dexterous with Shakespearean language requires you to understand the text. After comprehension comes practice and this is what Audition Doctor sessions afford you. It is uncommon to have an interrupted hour purely to work on Shakespeare, especially if you practice in the comfort of your own home – distractions abound. Having the space to concentrate solely on your speeches with an experienced actor at hand is a rarity which more and more applicants are realising. With the drama school audition season officially beginning, time with Audition Doctor is getting booked up. Those who want a fighting chance this year should book lessons well in advance to ensure availability.
by Bel | Sep 27, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
It is commonly acknowledged that the final year showcase at drama school is the figurative starting gate to an actor’s career. There are stories of actors whose trajectories segue seamlessly from showcase to well-known agent to BBC1 television series. Rather depressingly, Susan Elkin’s article in The Stage confounds the expectation that drama school showcases are vehicles which celebrate students’ variety and skill.
She criticises the showcase model as a considered and reasonable method of judging talent – “Does this industry really expect to judge a student’s ability, after two or three years of intensive training, based on a stressed, strained, out-of-context two minutes at the Criterion Theatre (or possibly the Soho)? Surely any casting director or agent worth even the tiniest pinch of salt takes him or herself out to the colleges to see the students in action in proper full length shows?”
The problem is that many drama schools do not allow the public to see their students in action until their final year. Michael Billington has spoken about his desire for this to change, arguing that the earlier students are exposed to criticism, the better they are able to understand the profession.
However, drama school is one of the few places where students can experiment. An actor’s profession is by its nature public. Increasingly, there is less time or space to engage in genuine trial and error without it being meticulously documented. (The Telegraph reported today that the “State of Play: Theatre UK” survey revealed that audience members tweeting/using social media during live events was on the rise.) Exposing students who are not – as of yet – fully trained actors may stifle the freedom that closed productions afford them to push their boundaries of perception without the risk of a critic’s review.
However, unfortunately this is the reality of the acting profession. For the vast majority of actors, it is a successful audition rather than the merit of previous work that is the reason why they will land a job. Professional actors, as well as drama school applicants, are judged to be suitable for parts in the frequently small amount of time that an audition takes. The number of actors for each available role has been documented ad infinitum and it goes without saying that there is no time for casting directors to assess the minutiae of every single actor’s CV. An audition is the only way to pass judgement.
Elkin’s article also claims “…if a student is to appear more than once the two pieces should – obviously – be contrasting to demonstrate versatility. And yet, I’ve lost count of the showcases I’ve seen in which a student is effectively typecast in the same role – black guy with racist chip on his shoulder, for example – two or three times. If the purpose of a showcase is to highlight breadth of ability then many fail dismally.”
This is why Audition Doctor is essential for all actors – whatever stage you are in your career. If you are applying to drama school, the reassuring thing about Audition Doctor is that you know the speeches you will work on with Tilly will not only showcase the varied nature of your abilities, but also highlight what comes to you naturally. Entering an audition having confounded the panel’s expectations means there is far less chance you will be typecast.
It must be emphasised that although Audition Doctor gives a huge amount of guidance in choosing speeches, they must be chosen by you. The speeches that will challenge your acting, vulnerability and flexibility will be the ones that excite you and speak to you instinctively. When the right speech is chosen, a large amount of the work is already done. What Audition Doctor is exceptional at is pushing you to discover intentions and choices that you didn’t even know were open to you.
by Bel | Sep 20, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
Many will have noticed that in the initial letter from various drama schools, aside from delineating the acceptable length of speeches, what timeframe constitutes as “modern”, the precise date and time of your preliminary audition, there will be general advice. Some of it is invaluable – “Don’t imitate a performance you have seen before”, some of it is unrealistic – “Don’t prepare for for your audition by receiving any sort of coaching.”
Coaching comes in all different guises. The vast majority of the applicants will have had been members of the National Youth Theatre, some will have parents who are actors, some will have already had experience in professional productions. The term “coaching” does not only mean attending acting workshops or private lessons. In the hugely competitive world of drama school auditions, it would be unwise to naively walk into an audition thinking that all your other competitors have done to prepare is recite their speeches to a cupboard in their bedroom which “acts as the panel” a couple of times.
In his final interview for Ideastap, Andrew Scott said: “I think often in an audition situation what they want is to see if you are directable. Even if they like what you do, they want to see if you can do other things. That you’re not a one-trick pony.” It’s hard to do this if you are on your own with said cupboard. Experimenting with different intentions for your character’s thoughts is crucial to prove that you are malleable. Thinking of the intention yourself inhibits the spontaneity that comes from just receiving the instruction and throwing yourself into it. Discovering new nuances to a speech often comes from not over-thinking and just trying it out.
Mark Rylance mentioned in his talk at The Old Vic how crucial the rehearsal period is for any actor. Audition Doctor sessions are rehearsals for your drama school audition. Rylance mentioned that he didn’t expect actors to understand every line of a Shakespeare play in the initial stages. However, he did mention how the rehearsal period was integral to unearthing the text, which is precisely what the initial lessons with Audition Doctor focus on. Rylance also stated: “If an actor understands the meaning of the line, but doesn’t understand why he says it, it’s clear to me and it’s clear to the audience.” One can only assume that a drama school audition panel will be just as unequivocally forensic.
Andrew Scott also voiced the opinion: “With character work, if you go too far from yourself, it can over-complicate things. Try just acting it as yourself – don’t put any character on it.” This is much harder than it sounds; there is a natural tendency for most people to “act”, thinking that’s what the panel wants. What Audition Doctor does so brilliantly is strip away any “theatricality” and get to the simplicity which is often more real. Even Mark Rylance mentioned how hard it was not only for an actor but a director to do this. Having played Benedict himself, he fought hard to ensure that he didn’t force his own Benedict onto James Earl-Jones and wanted this Benedict “to be as close to James as possible.”
Like Rylance, drama schools don’t want imitations of previous Beatrices or Benedicts, no matter how marvellous they were. They want to see you. Audition Doctor sessions make sure that you don’t enter thinking that you will only be noticed if you are the “bells-and-whistles-you”, they make you realise that the “you-just-as-you” is far superior.
by Bel | Sep 12, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
This week the Stage announced that figures from the University and Colleges Admissions Service show that the number of applications to drama courses for 2013 have increased by 7.3%, with nearly 50,000 made.
The expectation that applications would slump drastically due to the tuition fees hike has proven to be unfounded. You would have thought that with the papers routinely filled with phrases such as “fiscal cliff” and “challenging economic climate”, entering a profession with no guarantee of regular work would be an unattractive prospect. Not so. The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama said it had experienced a 12% increase from last year. Of the near 5,900 applications it received this year, around 4,900 were for its BA acting course.
If the odds are in your favour (175:1) and you do manage to get a place at drama school, it’s cheering to know that the competition is just as infuriatingly furious in the actual profession. However helpful conservatoire training is, to think that a drama school degree will automatically mean you are “set” is to be naïve.
The Stage also published an article in the same week entitled “Top tips on How to Make Your Audition Count” where they asked actors, casting directors and agents to give their most valuable advice. Every single one of them began with “preparation”. From April Nicholson’s “Proper preparation prevents poor performance”, Alexandra Lloyd-Hamilton’s “Preparation, preparation, preparation”, Jimmy Jewell’s “Over-prepare”, Mark Inscoe’s “Be prepared” to Spencer James’ “Prepare!”
Not only is the run up to auditions a long one, but the wait between multiple recalls sometimes feels interminable. Most people find the early stages of preparing for drama school auditions easy – finding speeches, filling in the forms, organising audition dates, are all done in an initial optimistic flush. The hardest bit comes when you are six months in the process, when you’ve had a couple of recalls but also a couple of rejections. It is at this stage that the need to keep your audition speeches fresh and spontaneous is crucial. The audition panel don’t care that this is your tenth audition, the whole point of acting is to make it seem like it’s the first time you’ve uttered the words that you’ve said countless times before in front of countless impassive panels. They want you to be a convincing human being. This can be difficult when you’ve woken up at 5am to catch the train to get to your 9am audition in Bristol. This is why sessions at Audition Doctor are priceless. Getting to the emotional place in your speech every time is vital to securing a recall and the work done with Audition Doctor enables you to do this.
The temptation to just “wing it” and “see what happens” is alluring at some stages during the auditioning process – with many erroneously confusing under-preparation with inspiration. The ability to make interesting and daring choices spontaneously can only happen with months of text-work, exploration and preparation. Professional actors continuously stress the necessity of extensive preparation and working with Audition Doctor means that you automatically outrival those naïve or arrogant enough to think they can just go into an audition without having done any work on their character or the play.
by Bel | Sep 5, 2013 | acting classes, acting classes london, audition classes, audition doctor, auditions, classes for acting, tilly blackwood
When Joel Fry (currently starring in Public Enemy at The Young Vic) was asked in an Ideastap interview whether he thought peopIe need to go to drama school, he replied: “I don’t think they need to, but it can be quite a lot of fun. It’s the opportunity to hang around with loads of other talented actors, although it does get a bit nasty and competitive later on. It makes you feel like you’re part of something. It also helps getting an agent – I don’t know how people get an agent otherwise.”
In the same week, The Stage ran an article entitled “Is Your Agent An Arsehole?” which denounced agents as having “too much control”, “too much leverage”. However, the reality is that an actor without an agent is significantly disadvantaged. Students go to drama school not solely for artistic reasons but for commercial ones as well. The third-year showcase is the launchpad for most students’ careers. It’s where agents can be made aware of new talent and getting the right agent is crucial. Talent does not trump all; without the right representation, it’s highly likely that it will go unnoticed. From getting you auditions to negotiating contracts, agents are influential and helpful in both your artistic decisions and financial situation. Actors who don’t have agents will find it incredibly hard to be seen by casting directors as open auditions are rare and professional contacts are crucial.
Drama school gives you the best opportunity to be taken on by an agency that is highly respected in the industry. Many agents featured in Spotlight specify “No new applicants. Existing clients only.” Although new talent is always being sought, it is worth remembering that it is already an overly-crowded profession. Talent without the backup of vocational training over the course of 3 years is frequently not enough. Training at an accredited drama school is a sign to prospective agents that you have achieved a certain level of professional affirmation and you have the creative, as well as technical, abilities to sustain an acting career.
This is why Audition Doctor is so integral to your path to becoming a professional actor. While Laurie Sanson’s (head of the National Theatre of Scotland) comments of England facing a “talent migration” to the North should not be dismissed as mere scaremongering, the fact is that English drama schools are considered unequivocally to be the best in the world and the rising of tuition fees has barely made any difference to the number of applicants. The number of prospective drama school students attending Audition Doctor has also risen. There is no substitute for being taught by someone who has attended one herself and who is on the panel for auditions at the Actor’s Centre. Accurate insider knowledge is hard to come by and Audition Doctor offers this alongside peerless acting advice. This is why Audition Doctor sessions place in you the best possible position to get into drama school and secure an agent.
