The Old Vic's A Streetcar Named Desire: The Review.

Hi again,

So yesterday I watched the Old Vic's latest production of A streetcar named desire, directed by Benidict Andrews, via the National Theatre Live scheme at my local cinema.

Having not much knowledge about the play before seeing it, I didn't know what to expect. So I let my Dad tag along and watch it with me.  It was quite ranchy, which made the experiance of watching it with my Dad quite arkward...

But it was brilliant all the same. 

To people who haven't heard of the play, it was written by Tennesse Williams and it was the 1952 movie version of this play that help start Marlon Brando's acting legacy. The play is set in southen america and there are three main characters. Estella, her Husband Stanley and her drunkard sister Miss Dubuoise who has come to stay with them in their tiny place while she gets her life back into order, but its already too late for that.

Gillian Anderson, who play the miserble drunk sister, was good. But I felt that it took her a while to  really get into her role and show us her skills. The real attraction of the play was Stanley himself. As while he didnt have that much to say, he was able to create the tension and the unearthing sense that he was going to snap at any second whenever he came onto the stage.

The play itself was set in the round and the set, ie a see through rectangular apartment, revolved so the audience  members each had a different perspective of the play, an idea which I found unique and interesting to watch.

I would compleatley recomend going to see this play as it was gripping, mesmerising and a utter joy to watch.

In terms of what I'm doing next - in terms of drama school applications -  I've applied for a audition at an agency in manchester and I'm going to be seeing a performance of romeo and juliet at the Victoria Baths in Manchester next week, so I will write a review of that when I have time.

For now though,

Cheerio,

Terri ;D.

The Royal Exchange's Hamlet: A review

Hello again,
So many of you will starting to get yourselves ready for all the drama school audition's coming up. I know that with eleven around the corner I just want to get cracking. But first I want to talk about the production of Hamlet which I saw yesterday. Starring Maxine Peakes as a female Hamlet, the first thing that really stood out to me was the gender split of the cast,  which was pratically 50/50, with a large number of male role's being cast as female. I loved that,  mainly because I a great annoyance about the fact that males get a higher proportion of roles in both TV and screen. I Also loved the way the actors used the stage, with it being in the round, it definitely gave the play the edge over other productions of Hamlet,
However, one thing that I wasn't sure of was the young actors used as the players. Now I know that it was to show the link between old members and the new, but for me... it just felt a bit tacky, and took the point away from the meaning of why the actors were being used.

Anyway tonight I'm seeing A streetcar named desire at the Cinema with the NT live scheme.  I've also booked to go to the Rose Bruford open day on thursday and the Guildhall open day next month so things have started to roll now. Cannot wait to start auditioning again.  I'm so excited!
Hope to write some more soon.
Adios,
Terri ;D xxx

Guildford School of Acting: Open Day

Hi there!

So last Saturday I went to the open day/ tour of the GSA (Guildford School of Acting) facilaties, and to be quite frank. I'm not compleatley sure what my feelings are about the place.

So to give you an overview of the place, I will just tell you the main parts of what I learnt about it.

- The GSA is part of the University of Surrey and is set within its campus. Which is massive.

- GSA is still regarded as a conservatoire however - in being part of the University of Surrey - you do need to get top grades to secure a place (ie AAB/ABB Alevel grades). 

^ This is the part that I don't understand, and what tinges my opinion of the school. As no other drama school, weather associated with a University or not, has such abnormally high academic grade expectations.

- They only offer 36 places and around 1,500 people applied last year

- Has a minimum of 30 contact hours each week and, while it has a core staff unit there teaching full time, they regually have directors come in and give lectures.

-The BA acting course is accedited by Drama UK
- The facilities are fabulous, they even have a Starbucks in the GSA building which is very cool.
- With the audition process they do have regional auditions in some major cities across the UK
-Around 30% of applicants are recalled to the second round.

Overall the day was pretty interesting and I learnt a lot from it. Still uncertain weather I will be applying there but I'll let you know asap.
In terms of the other stuff that I'm up to at the moment,  This is the start of my gap year (which is very terrifying to think about) so I'm in the middle of filling out a vast deal of job applications as well as learning monologues and applying to short acting courses to help boost my drama school applications this year.  Including a drama school audition masterclass week with the National Youth Theatre.
I should be going to a Rose Bruford Open day next week so I will write more about that then.
But until then.
Adios,
Terri ; D

Lucy Kerbel on 100 Great Plays for Women by National Theatre - Podcast

Lucy Kerbel on 100 Great Plays for Women by National Theatre



Hi!

So as might be expected I am very busy at the moment learning my monologues for Drama School auditions. But during my research I came across this brilliant podcast by the National Theatre on plays that are female dominated. And I thought that you guys would also benifit from listening to it too!

Anyway enjoy, Im going away to London this weekend and will be watching the musical Matilda! Also 1 year til I go see Hamlet starring Benidict Cumberbatch. I cannot wait!

Bye,

Terri ;D

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

Dedication to Robin Williams

So I guess that you have already heard, but I was really shocked to hear that one of the best American Actors, Robin Williams,  has so suddenly passed away. He really was a true legend in my eyes.  With some of his greatest roles including Mrs Doubtfire and the teacher in Dead poet's society.
I hope to someday have a fraction of the skill and talent that he posessed.
Farewell Robin,  you are now free.
RIP xxx

Sun is shining in the sky, I think that this will be a beautiful day!

Hey fellow thespians,

So I know that you guys are still waiting for me to post a database of all the drama schools that Im applying to this year and to give you some infomation on them, but first I thought that I'd give you guys a quick update on whats happening at the moment in my life.

Firstly it is less than two weeks til my A level results arrive. And, lets face it, I kinda just want to vomit every time I think about it. I don't know what everyone elses thoughts/feelings are about results day but I wish you all the best for the traumatic hour that will be 6:00 am on the 14th of August.

As a postive I'm going to be heading down to Leeds festival soon and I'm compleatley buzzing to go. I know that Leeds fest has quite a bad reputation for drugs and theft, and fair enough as last year I had my sleeping bag stolen for no apparent reason :/ but I guess that that is part of its charm.

Another positive is that I've just been to the cinema to watch Guardians of the Galaxy, the new marvel movie staring Chris Pratt and Bradley Cooper. Now for thoes who haven't yet watched it I won't spoil the plot but the soundtrack is brilliant and Chris Pratt is a fabulous dancer!

And the last positive thing is… I'm going to see a total of 4 different shakespeare productions within the next year incuding… Benidict Cumberbatch's Hamlet at the Barbican next August!!!!!! IM SO EXCITED I cannot wait for 2015 to arrive!

I waited two hours in the online queue (a very english queue I might add) and I reckon its going to be compleatly worth it!

Of course I'm heading up to see the Hamlet at the Royal Exchange too (which was a quater of the price than the barbican production), Romeo and Juliet at the Victoria Baths in Manchester and Love Labour's Won (i.e Much ado about nothing) at the RSC. 

With the Love Labours Won show, I never intentionally bought tickets for that, what I am doing is going to a weekend of workshops held at the RSC to help with my performance of Shakespeare and the show was thrown in as a perk if the workshops there.

As you can see I'm using my Gap year to see as much theatre and movies as I can, including attending open days and going to drama school auditions to try and start my campaign to becoming an actress.

On drama school, Im still struggling trying to find the perfect contempary monologue, obviously I could use last years monologue for Port by Simon Stephens but I'm not certain I was able to showcase my skills well with that piece.

Anyway, as I'm on a packed train trying to write this. I guess that it would be wise to write some more later.

Adios,

Terri ;D xxx