It is really interesting to research the different Drama Schools and find out what they are looking for in their auditions. Over the next few weeks we are going to look at some of the top drama schools and see what they say:
RADA’s artistic director Edward Kemp told The Stage newspaper on 26th March talks about TWO THINGS: Versatility and Imagination.
“We’re looking for that peculiar combination of individuality and generosity that makes a great actor. A passionate curiosity about the world and people that fires the desire to explore the totality of the given character and situation coupled with the very personal idiosyncratic imagination which will make that exploration both true and utterly unique. We are also primarily interested in two things.
One is the individual imagination – we have no set model of what the RADA actor is like in terms of look, sound, race, age, educational background, class and no quotas for anything apart from gender (we take 14 of each). We’re looking at the 28 most interesting actor’s imaginations that come through our doors each year – we quite often see people who are brilliantly imaginative but don’t to us seem to need to express that through acting – as opposed to writing, performance art, directing.
The other is a degree of versatility – we occasionally encounter people who can do one thing very truthfully, but that’s it. They may potentially have very successful careers doing that one thing (especially on TV) but they interest us less than those who have a greater breadth of transformative ability.”