On RADA and Other Things

Hi there.

Do you remember me?

I’m that dude who was writing that blog about drama school auditions.

You know, the blog with the ridiculously long posts that take forever to read.

I haven’t updated it in a while.

I’m sorry.

It’s just that it’s a bit of a bore trying to find something to write about a rejection letter, when there’s not much else to look forward to in the immediate future that could provide a nice ending paragraph of hopefulness and positivity to take the edge off it…

So yes, I got a “No” from RADA through my letterbox last Friday, which, in case you didn’t get my drift before, wasn’t entirely unexpected. It was a poor audition and quite frankly I would have been considerably taken aback if I had been given another recall, because I would have had to say to myself, “Why the HELL did I get another recall from RADA after a rubbish audition, if I thought I did quite well at RWCMD and got nothing out of it?” It would have been confusing to say the least. At least now, I know that I can get a recall, if I perform well. I don’t have to worry about somehow being given recalls for bad auditions and not getting them for good ones.

In other words, my mind feels much clearer now that I can see how and why I got rejected, which is most definitely a good thing.

When I opened the letter and read what it told me, oddly enough, I felt pretty unaffected by it – almost happy. It was certainly the least disappointed I’ve ever been after a rejection, which is surprising, considering it was the furthest that I’ve ever got to in any drama school audition process. I think I just thought that if I was rejected, at least I knew that I could have done better. If I had thought I had done brilliantly and then been rejected it would have felt a million times worse than this did. As it stands, I got rejected, I know why, and I can now tell myself quite clearly, “You did well to get a recall. You could have done better. You will do better in the future. Do not be disappointed with this rejection.”

I genuinely feel good right now. I don’t see what happened at RADA happening again. My mind feels clear and focused. As far as I’m concerned, last year was a trial run and doesn’t count; this year I’ve gone from getting nothing at RWCMD, to getting through one step at RADA, and if I continue the trend then I should make the final round at Guildhall and get offers from LAMDA and Guildford…

Hmm.

But wishful thinking aside, I do really feel like I’ve turned a corner. I know I’ve done the groundwork properly. I have two good, solid speeches (three, really) that are well put-together, contrasting and definitely make an impact. The magic ingredient that I was missing at RADA was spontaneity. I don’t mean that I think I should go into my next audition and start jumping on the spot as I do my speeches. I don’t even mean that I should find new and different emotions in them than I did before. I just mean that I need to make the thoughts and emotions that I have already worked on come spontaneously. They need to feel fresh. Not different, but fresh. In real life, if you feel upset about something it doesn’t feel boring, it feels intense and new and certainly not something you can properly expect or prepare for. That concept is the same for any emotion to a large extent, and I want to bring that to my auditions. The character does not plan to say what he says, and does not prepare to feel what he feels. It just happens.

This is why I am seriously considering spending a lot less time running my monologues in the week or so before the auditions. In fact I doubt whether I’ll run them much at all in that time, unless there’s something specific I need to sort out. It’s just that I know they are good and I want them to feel fresh. Not under-prepared, not particularly different, but fresh.

And that brings me on to the topic of when exactly I’m going to be putting this plan into action. Because the drama schools are so well-co-ordinated with one another and they work together to make things easier and less stressful for people, Guildhall and LAMDA have decided to put their two audition days literally right next to one another. Guildhall is on the 10^th April, LAMDA on the 11^th…

So that’s just brilliant. Oh well, at least I’ll have something to distract me if Guildhall give me a “no”…

But anyway, there’s a little while to go before my next encounter with a member of the Holy 21 schools. Until then, I have a theatre company to help set up, and a course with the National Youth Film Academy to be getting on with.

Not bad, eh? In fact, I’ve got a pretty good month ahead of me I think.

Though I’d swap everything for a place somewhere…