Moving On Up

So popular they are queuing in the street!

Last Monday evening the Actors Centre was absolutely packed to the gills with new talent. 130 of this year's graduates came along to our "Moving Up" Event.  This is only the second time we have run this event and it's proved an incredibly successful and popular evening. A chance for anyone graduating from drama UK approved drama courses in 2015 to come along and see what the Actors Centre is all about.

Most actors have heard of the Actors Centre. It's been in existence now for nearly 40 years, and everybody thinks it's incredibly worthwhile. But an awful lot of people wouldn't actually be able to tell you where it is. They know how good it is, and but they haven't actually been there themselves. Just to clear this up, it's actually in Tower Street in Covent Garden, the sort of place that is incredibly well located, and great for meeting up with your colleagues, your friends, and your peers. There has been a thought previously that the Actors Centre was for actors who actually couldn't get work, or worse still, didn't work, but like to come into the Actors Centre to do a few workshops which enable them to still think of themselves as an actor.

Over the last few years the focus has changed. The centre still offers a brilliant programme of workshops, but these are now firmly focused on the industry. If you haven't done an audition for a couple of months, then when you walk in for a 10 minute meeting, there is a very good chance you won't actually be at your best . You will be nervous, you'll feel pressurised as this is the only opportunity you have to connect with the world of employment and, of course, you want to do well. Then why not do a dummy run? Why not come to an audition workshop at the centre, and put yourself through the process before the real thing. If nobody has put you on camera for quite a while, then come and do the same. See yourself back. Appraise your own work, and get some feedback from other people as to how you come across on screen.  Despite offering the best drama training in the world, British drama schools still are a little lax on giving good screen technique. Mainly due to time I suspect, and also the fact that they quite simply don't have the equipment.

Doing a workshop at the Actors Centre means you'll be in a small group, and see yourself onscreen guided by expert hands.

The Actors Centre is not a place for people to hide. When you come out of drama school you've made an incredibly large investment in terms of time and money into a career that you want to make work, and yet now you will be cast adrift. Drama schools have to move on and give their full attention to their new intake and their new final year. You've got approximately 5 months while you're still a novelty - the newest kids on the block, and that's when you need support. The Actors Centre is a bridge between the world of training and the world of work. Where else could you sit in a room with a top casting director and have 10 minutes of their time exclusively focused on you? Where else would you get the opportunity to meet agents and take part in question-and-answer sessions with actors whose work you admire? Increasingly lots of actors are creating their own projects, and the Actors Centre has its own highly praised theatre run by two brilliant young producers who give workshops on how to produce your own work, and programme at least two weeks of the year with Actors Centre members own shows.

 If my blog this week sounds like a big commercial, then it is. Shamelessly, I was among those people who wondered what the Actors Centre was for. The only time I'd ever been in it before was to do a read through of "Ali G in the House" about 15 years ago. I've been very lucky and I've worked, or I've worked very hard at making work, and I certainly have never seen the need to go and do classes and workshops to fill in my time. I was too busy chasing work and making connections with people who might be able to give me work. That's why the Actors Centre has changed. That's why now, under the management of the new team, it's a place that links to the industry.

Any good event has a goody bag.

Last Monday evening 130 new graduates came into the building. They got the chance to meet Hannah Miller, the casting director of the RSC. They met key employers who appreciate the skills of actors and can offer work for those in between times  which for most actors can be up to 80% of their career. They got the chance to speed date with seven agents, all of whom took away a bunch of CV's, and they got chance to meet working actors, who just a few years ago were in the same situation that they are now.

Packed theatre quiz a top panel 

Agent speed dating

Of the 130 people who came into the building 104 signed up as new members. Yes, we did a special offer just for the night, but 104 people can't be wrong. That's 104 of this year's new graduates who have increased their chances of sustaining a long, fruitful, and rewarding career.

 Add this to those who have signed up to take part in this year's Alan Bates award,  in which the finalists will take part in a unique mentoring scheme (keep your eyes peeled for more on this later) and there's little doubt that the Actors Centre now occupies a unique place in the working lives of new British Actors.

Yours truly opening the evening swamped by new talent!