Seamus “I’ll take the first one that offers me a place.”

Peter I didn’t go to drama school. I went to university and didn’t want to continue being a student. I entered theatre as an acting assistant stage manager.

Jon Are we the same person? I’m exactly the same. Although that route had largely disappeared by the time I started, so I was lucky.

Peter In my day, people came into the profession by a lot of different routes. I think that was quite healthy – a mix of traditions.

Jon Even now, at my advanced age, I sometimes get a bit of a ‘oh no, an intruder’ vibe when I say I didn’t train.

Roland I auditioned two years on the bounce, the first year was everything and everywhere as I was from a small town in the middle of north nowhere.

Seamus I was in no position to be picky. I had no background in acting, no familial connections and no money. Back then, an audition cost about 25 quid (plus rail fare if it was in London), so I picked five schools and hoped for the best.

Roland The next year I’d done my homework and only went for five schools I thought would be a good fit. The one I was accepted into was the one I enjoyed the most and felt that the teachers were doing something different.

Emily I had a gut feeling when I went to audition in some of them and knew it wasn’t the right place for me. Always trust your gut in life.

Seamus Like Emily, the school I ended up going to was the one where I thought: “Yeah, I like this place”.

Emily I remember going to one of them and there was a chat with some of the students as part of the day. They were talking about how much they loved going out

and hanging in the bar and I was like, I’m not coming here for the freshers’ experience – I couldn’t care less about that. I also had an auditioner who was more interested in her green smoothie.

Jon I love the idea of them thinking: “We really persuaded her; we showed her what fun it is here” and you were like: “Nope.”

Riley I went for London schools as I was brought up close to London, and auditioned for the schools that had alumni whose work I enjoyed.

Seamus Yes, another criterion when I was young and impressionable was looking at the schools’ alumni. If actors who I admired went there, then I was more likely to apply.

‘If the alumni represent a cross-section of ‘who’ that school is, they can often be a very helpful indicator’

Jon That’s two mentions of admiring alumni, which I find fascinating as that idea never crossed my mind.

Peter I’m wary of the alumni feel. Some people would have been good actors wherever they went.

Seamus True, but if the alumni represent a cross-section of ‘who’ that school is, they can often be a very helpful indicator.

Riley The alumni steer for me was just one way to whittle it all down as it was quite overwhelming.

Seamus For what it’s worth, the alumni at the drama school I got negative vibes from are generally actors who leave me pretty cold. It’s all subjective obviously, but at the time it felt like a big deal.

Peter I suspect a better steer is not the good actors who come out of a school but the bad ones who do.

Jon Did anyone get more than one offer of a place? Is that where gut feeling came in?

Seamus Not necessarily. Just the vibe you got when you turned up at the audition. How you were treated, what the panel and the other students were like.

Riley I had a crap time at drama school, but I’m grateful for the leg-up it gave me. I trained during the Covid pandemic, everyone was angry at one another, there was a huge reshuffle in all departments and nobody knew what to do.

Jon I cannot imagine how stressful it must have been to train during Covid. Hats off to your entire year.

Seamus Sorry to hear that, Riley.

Continues...