claytoncast

Acting for you I left drama school without an agent. It didn't bother me too much at the time. I had an eight month contract for the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester in my hand, and I thought I had it made. I was pretty sure that once I got on the stage  I would be spotted by lots of people who couldn’t resist the temptation to work with me and jobs would be forthcoming.  As young actors go, I don’t think I was or am alone in that assumption. Last Monday we had a fantastically successful event at The Actors Centre in Covent Garden. entitled “Moving On Up”. It was aimed at this year’s drama graduates from all the major drama schools. The building was packed to the seams, and it was great to see so much potential gathered in one place. Like me,  so many years ago, these young people are all focused on getting an agent. Indeed, for many of them, that will be their main focus, rather than actually getting a job. One of the facilities we provided last Monday were five ve

Tomorrow night, Monday, 20 January, the doors of The Actors Centre in Covent Garden will swing open to welcome a large number of this years drama school leavers. We're staging a new event entitled "Moving On Up", designed to help drama school graduates prepare for the moment they step out of the womb of training and prepare to face the world of work. In the space of two hours  the young would-be actors will get to meet prospective employers, agents, casting directors, recent graduates, accountants, and staff at the actors Centre, all of whom could help to play a vital role in the development of their careers. What they will also meet is each other. Or as it might be referred to - the competition. At this moment in time all of these graduates are aware of the rest of their peer group at their own drama school. They've not yet really come into contact with the final years of up to 12 or 14 other drama schools who will be releasing their graduates into the job marke

As one gets older, it's only too easy to bemoan change. My mother recently announced that the New Year hasn't been the same since the war. Quite what the threat of Nazi invasion brought to December 31st that is now missing I'm not sure, but she is adamant. She's also adamant that telephones aren't what they were. Indeed they aren't. They're now mobile and she is the proud owner of a mobile phone which she loves, but...it's not the same. For this reason alone, and so that my partner can't throw that below the belt threat of "You're just like your mother"at me, I try to embrace change.   Though perhaps next time he wants to go down that road i might remind him of the words of the wise Oscar Wilde. "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his." I'm not sure that applies to gay men. I'll have to ask! This year Richard and I are thinking of making the biggest change o