Opinion with Meg Walters

In 2017, I graduated from one of the country's top drama schools. I stepped out of the sweat-stained classrooms where I had learned how to use my body and voice to craft a character and entered the real world filled with hope. It wasn't fame I was after or even a part on a TV show – all I wanted was to be a jobbing theatre actor.

I had grown up idolising theatre actors of the 20th century, some of whom had come to our drama school and regaled us with tales of their ‘tough’ early careers – the camaraderie of the rep seasons at the National or the RSC; the bohemian flats filled to the brim with actors all living on top of each other. It sounded like heaven – and now, I was about to experience it all for myself. Sure, teachers and younger visiting alumni had warned us that it was a tough industry now. But surely, I thought, this world still existed. And was now within reach. After all, I was trained, and I was good!