UCAS and CUKAS drama school applications

Hi beautiful thespians,
So it is coming up to that time of year again when its time to start getting those Drama school applications in! I'm so excited and nervous already about it all. Especially because up until an hour ago I couldn't find a sutible monologue as a contempary. But finally I've got it. Anyway this post is a little database on some of the drama school's available via the UCAS and CUKAS website's with some basic infomation. Now with UCAS and CUKAS there is a £16 fee (CUKAS) and a £23 fee (UCAS). You can only apply to up to five school's on UCAS. This inclueds any other university course's that you might be applying for.

UCAS drama school's:
1. The Royal Central school of speech and drama.
UCAS institution code- C35
Course ( BA Acting) code- W410
Audition fee - £50
Audition process- 1 contempary (post 1960's) and 2 shakespeare monologues chosen from a list on their website. Max of 2 minute duration. Also two songs needed,  one from a musical with accompanying piano music and another song unaccompanied. (Although from what I understand the singing part of the audition is for the musical BA.)
Audition is at the school.

2. Drama Center
^Under the name of University of the Arts in UCAS
UCAS institution code- U65
Course code- W410
Audition fee- £45
Audition process- 1 contempary (post 1830) and 1 shakespeare monologue, both with a maximum of 3 minute duration, dualogues are also accetable (you must have a partner) for both speaches.
Audition is at the school.

3, Guildford school of acting (GSA)
^ Under the name of University of Surrey in UCAS.
UCAS institution code- S85
Course code- W410
Audition fee- £35
Audition process - 1 contempary speech (post 1950) and one classic monologue (pre 1800). Also you must bring a sonnet with you,  you don't have to learn it. They should not exceed a 3 minute duration.
Initial audition's are held in:
·Belfast
·Cardiff
·Dublin
·Exeter
·Edinburgh
·Newcastle
·Manchester
·Guildford (I.e the school) + all recall's.

4. Manchester school of acting
^Under the name of Manchester Metropolitain university in UCAS.
UCAS institution code- M40
Course code- W411
Audition fee- £45
Audition process- 1 contempary (post 1950) speech, 1 shakespeare speech and another monologue of your choice. All should not exceed 2 minute duration.
Audition's held at the school.

5. Rose Bruford
UCAS Institution code- R51
Course code- W410
Audition fee-£45
Audition process- Two speaches, one classic monologue and one contempary (I presume as the school's website does not give much infomation.)
Audition is held at the school.

Other UCAS school's include Italia Conti and East 15.

CUKAS school's:

1. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS)
CUKAS institution code- R58
Course code- W410
Audition fee- £45
Audition process- 1 Shakespeare speech and one contempary speech. All should not exceed a 3 minute duration.
Audition is held at the school.

2. Royal Welsh school of music and drama college.
CUKAS institution code- R59
Course code- 200F
Audition fee- £45
Audition process- 1 Shakespeare speech and one contempary speech (post 1950). And should not exceed a 2 minute duration.
Audition's held at:
· Cardiff (I.e the school) plus all recall's.
·London
·Edinburgh
·Belfast
·Manchester
Hope this helps people,
Cheerio,
Terri ; D

The Drama School Audition Awards!

Hello and Welcome to the first national Drama School Audition awards!

Well what a year it has been, 6 auditions down the line and not a single recall later (she says, chortling on her wine) means that it's time to reveal who has come top of the best audition of the year!!!!!!

So here are the Categories...

1. Best Overall Audition - RADA
Maybe I was just in a good mood that day, or maybe because I had high expectations of RADA that I thought that it was the best. Everyone was nice, the place was sweet, it didn't cost that much to get there. In conclusion RADA, you rock!

2. Worst Overall Audition - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Liked the placed, but apparently my stomach did not. Sorry Glasgow.

3. Most welcoming Panel - RADA
...Yeah I was really impressed by them. Both of the panel shook my hand before they began and they made me feel so comfortable that it was hard for me not to enjoy that audition.

4. Most Intimidating Panel (boo hiss) - National Youth Theatre/Italia Conti
I have come to this conclusion because mainly both panel's looked like I had thrown a water balloon filled with wee in their faces after I had done my audition. Was also freaked out by the fact that neither panel asked me questions in the audition either.

5. Audition Best Value For Money - Manchester Metropolitan
With a 45 minute warm up, a considerably long audition and only having to pay £2.50 for the train fare made this the most value for money

6. Audition Least Value For Money - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Guildhall just missed out on this title by £1 but... at £61 (£45 + CUKAS fees) with no warm up and a 5 minute audition the RCS is the loser of the round.

7. Best facilities (at the school) - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Looking at the above, I really do seem to have a mixed view of the place. However on the tour this place showed that it really does have everything you need to get a brilliant acting education.

8. Worst facilities (at the school) - Italia Conti
Was situated within a grubby looking part of London and due to the number of auditionies that day, we were all too squashed in that room.

9. Best "gut instinct" Feeling Audition - RADA
Like I said above, RADA totally rocked.

10. Craziest Panel Outfit Competition (i.e. the most important information you need to know about a future audition e.c.t.) - Guildhall!
This prize was suitably won by the female judge on the panel who sported the baggiest green harem pants I have ever seen, a Hawaiian shirt and to top it off, a stiff leather jacket.

Thank you all for reading this blog for the past year, and hopefully I'll be compiling another one of these next year for all you lovely people.
But for now, enjoy the show that is called life!
Terri ;D x

Just to let you know

Hey guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just to let you know that I am going to be going to a summer school acting workshop at the RCS next week starting monday and that I will be blogging about what we got up to each day there :D

^As you might of noticed I am very very very very excited about going as it is such a good opotunity to gain more knowledge about drama schools!!!!!!!!!

Going to start packing now as we will be heading up sunday!!!

Right, BYE.

Drama School Potentials (UCAS/CUKAS applicable)

Heya there!

Now firstly I should really think up a less cheesy way of starting a post because at the moment what Im doing is just saying "yeah she still watches High School Musical and Camp Rock in her spare time..." Which I don't, well not camp rock.

Anyway the point of this post is to discuss the different drama schools that I really want to audition for.

If you have done your research then you will know that there are 100's of different places which offer Acting/Drama degree's. 

Now personally I have avoided all courses which offer a Drama BA because according to my "So you want to go to Drama School" book these courses are very academic in structure and have little pratical lessons, so this to me would sound a bit like torture. In a lecture theatre having some old person waffle on about Shakespeare seems to me, rather dull plus a waste of three years. (Also you have to get the top grades to get onto these courses which for me will never happen.)

Now because of this, with places that offer the Acting BA the number of places offered in minute compared to the amount of applicants. For example at LAMDA they only take 3.5% anually so they really do want the best of the best.

And to be the best of the best you need to know what they want from you.

OK so I'm going to first start with the one's that you can apply for via UCAS...

1. Manchester Met.

One of the few Universities which offers a high standard Acting BA course it has trained the likes of Julie Walters and the late Richard Griffiths.

Number of places available - 80

Fee for audition - £45

Qualifications needed - 2 B's and a C at A2 level. (Or 280 UCAS points)

The initial audition peices (3 monologues are wanted) - 

*One Shakespeare which must be written in blank verse (this is when there is a flowing beat but it does not rhyme, usually it is iambic pentameter).

^Don't worry too much if you don't understand that, the majority of Shakespeare's monologues are written in this form, but if you are not sure then ask someone who has a good knowledge of the english language (an english/drama teacher perhaps) to check it just in case.

*The next needs to be from a play written after 1970.

*A monologue of your choice, from any era/genre.

Remember - These monologues can last up to 2 mins so they will probbably need to be cut down to the time limit. (In saying this, ensure that they are not too short either and that you understand the character and what they are saying - i.e. particually with shakespeare - and where this monologue is in the play.)

Why I choose this course...

-This course has been acredited by the NCDT. (Always look for this as it shows that the teaching standard is of a high quality.)

-It is very close to home so I would not have to spend money on rent and live at home instead.

- The course looks interesting and would help to be employable afterwards.

-The University has a very good special needs department that could help me with my dyslexia.

http://www.theatre.mmu.ac.uk/courses/ba-acting/

2. Italia Conti

 One of the oldest stage training schools in the world, covers a vast range of art training including opera, musical theatre and many others.

Actors who have trained there include Karen Gillan (Amy Pond - Dr Who), Noël Coward, Russel Brand and many more...

No. of places available - 24

Fee for Audition - £45
Qualifications needed - 2 C's at A2 level

The initial audition peices (2 monologues wanted) - 

*A shakespeare peice to be chosen from a list on their website :/

* A monologue from a play written after 1870.

The duration of each of these peices needs to be around 1.5 mins, if it is alot longer then you will be stopped.

Why I choose this course...

- It is a NCDT acredited course

- I belive this course would challenge me in the different aspects of theatre.

- If you don't get onto the BA course they also consider you for their foundation course which looks the best out of all the foundation courses that I have looked at.

http://www.italiaconti-acting.com/

3.Drama Centre London

Within the St Martin Central Campus the place is surounded by a creative energy (god I sound like a hippy) which the school focuses on in its aspect of learning. Famous students include Oscar winning Colin Firth, John Simm + more.

No. of places available - 16!

Fee for audition - £45
Qualifications needed - 2 Passes at A2 level

The initial audition peices (2 monologues are wanted) -

*A Shakespeare peice

*A monologue from 1830+

Remember - the monologues can be no longer than 3 mins (so they can't be too short either).

Why I choose this course...

- This course has been acredited by the NCDT.

- It offers something very different compared to the rest of them which I really like.

- Unlike the majority of drama schools in London it has accomadation.

http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/dramacentrelondon/

And now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, which you have to apply for via CUKAS (a website which works in a similar way as UCAS).

Based in Glasgow in the summer I am doing a course there with my freind and the School has trained people like David Tennant and James McAvoy.

No. of places available - Around 25

Fee of the audition - £45
Qualifications needed - 2 Passes at A2 level

The initial Audition Peices (2 monologues needed) - 

*One shakespeare, any of your choice.

*A moden one, now the site dosent say how far back you can use one from but I'll say go back about 50 years max as I feel that is a safe boundary.

Why I choose this course...

- An acredited course

- Has a broad range of ways in which to improve an actor

- Based in Glasgow so will be cheaper to live there in comparison to London.

http://www.rcs.ac.uk/

I will do another post on the Drama Schools that I want to go to which you have apply by their website individually but I don't want this post to get too long so I am going to bugger off now and do some maths revision...

Byeeee

Terri ;D