I always wanted to be a teacher and I loved acting too. No one in my family had ever been to university. Acting appeared even less probable as a career, but I had an amazing drama teacher at school who encouraged me to audition for drama school; I had nothing to lose. At that time there was a system of grants that had to be auditioned for. If you didn't get a grant and couldn't afford the fees drama school was out of the question. I eventually auditioned successfully for East 15 School of Acting and was fortunate enough to be awarded a grant – without which drama school and the rest of my career wouldn't have been possible. But it was thanks to that drama teacher that I even took the chance.
Between then and now I have worked as an actor in theatre, radio and television as well as teaching and directing, alongside achieving an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice and a PhD at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central). I became the Short Courses Programme leader at Central in January 2023 and teach on the Acting Diploma programmes. The thing that I love most about my job is that every day I'm involved in big and exciting questions: why do we make theatre? What is acting? How do we teach acting and what methodologies and methods of teaching should we use?
We have an awesome responsibility to justify our choices and what they say about us and the world we live in. Central is a place where the whole community playfully, openly and respectfully engage with these questions to facilitate the artists of the future. It is part of my job to inspire young people to take the chance that I did.
The course
The Gap Year Diploma at Central is a part-time course for those between the ages of 18 and 25, many of whom want to apply for full-time conservatoire degrees. Some just want to explore acting in more depth. The diploma provides a year to finesse their process and build their confidence. The part-time nature of the course means students can work alongside should they choose to. We accept a maximum of 16 students enabling us to get to know each individual while building an ensemble.
The drama school audition day can be incredibly daunting to applicants. Over the course of the programme, we help students to prepare both practically and psychologically. We also explore the fundamentals of acting, acting for camera, voice movement and devising, culminating in a final production shared with a select audience.
The focus
Our work is focused on six key areas:
- How do we make clear and specific acting choices?
- How do we decide what are the most appropriate acting choices?
- How do we physically realise our choices?
- How do we be playful?
- How do we have fun?
- How do we be pragmatic and disciplined in our application process?
The 2024 Gap Year Diploma cohort have been offered places at a number of institutions including the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford, Oxford School of Drama, Manchester Metropolitan, East 15 School of Acting, Drama Center London, Birmingham Conservatoire and Leeds Conservatoire. However, this is not our only measure of success. I am proud of all of our students for their hard work, determination and kindness towards each other and the rest of the community at Central; they're a creative ensemble who are a credit to us.
Auditions
For the first round of auditions for the Gap Year Diploma we ask for a self-taped two-minute contemporary monologue. You also need to say why you want to study on the course and come to Central. The second round of the audition involves coming to our campus, taking part in a workshop, taking a tour of the building, performing your monologue, taking redirection and having an interview – it's as much about you getting to know us as it is about us getting to know you.
We're interested in applicants who demonstrate a passion for acting, self-discipline and a determination to develop as artists. Everyone is different and we actively celebrate and encourage the individual creative voices of our students. We welcome people who are open-minded, kind and respectful of others and their positionalities.
In April of this year, Central was the first major London drama school to remove all audition fees for diploma and undergraduate courses. This is an important step to help widen access to applicants from all backgrounds. We also offer full and partial bursary places on the Gap Year Diploma.
Find out more about the programme and apply now via our website. You can also book on to an Online Information Session led by James which will cover the course in more detail followed by a Q&A. Visit http://cssd.ac.uk/gap-year-diploma