Once again there is a flurry of activity around the fact that the 'working man' is getting lost in our industry. Times are changing and not for the better (they cry). Bring back rep (they cry). However isn't the current noise coming from the people that are the elite or at least have become the elite? The ones that have made it in our industry? Isn't it something like 2% of performers actually make a living out of being a performer? I mean great that they're shouting, and using their position to make some noise, but is that all it is? Noise?
What happened to the drama college that was going to be funded by actors, where all the fees were going to be covered by the professionals? That was 'launched' with panache and then fell by the wayside (unless I've missed something?)
Shall we start at the beginning of the cycle as opposed to jumping to the middle. The 'working man' can't even afford to go to the theatre to get inspired to even think of it as a career at the moment. So is this just the elite shouting to the elite anyway?
Since 2010 The MTA has run a scheme whereby any local children can come and watch our panto on a pay what you can arrangement. When we were at the Drill Hall, you won't be surprised to hear that the two schools that took us up on the deal, could pay a fair rate. In subsequent years we've been in less affluent areas so the pay what you can rate has gotten considerably lower. Then in 2014 we did our first panto in what was then going to be our 'new home' down at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham.
Thanks to the combined efforts of local schools, us and indeed BGAC, in the first year alone we played to over 1000 children. A lot of whom had NEVER been to the theatre before. It was the most humbling thing ever to watch their amazement at the 'magic' of a simple mirror ball. They didn't mind that we didn't have a fancy all singing, all dancing set...they loved just being entertained by the simple magic of theatre.
Last year we extended the scheme and played to over 1500 children. Again their faces were a joy to watch (in fact I had to work hard to remember that I was supposed to be watching the show, not watching the joy on the children's faces). After each show we arranged a meet and greet with the cast, and the children were ecstatic. Even the older 'cool kids' visually got excited by 'meeting the stars'. Let's keep it real here - the stars were just our 2nd years. . . having the time of their lives being idolised by all the kids, and learning themselves the importance that panto has not just for our industry, but also in our society.
The trouble is though, that shows and hiring theatres cost money. In a 2 week run we don't stand a chance of recouping our losses. However part of our students' fees go towards funding 4 shows a year for them, so in a way each show is subsidised. In a bid to extend the scheme even further this year we've started to fund raise. Obviously we're looking for commercial sponsors(so if you're a Tottenham based firm and fancy helping out this Christmas, please do get in touch). So we're trying a 'buy a child a seat' crowdfunding scheme https://www.gofundme.com/24vga64
I'm aware that something similar was tried recently for Dougal Irvine's The Busker's Opera down at The Park theatre, although I missed if they managed to raise the money or not. I hope so as it was a great idea.
I'd love to take the credit for the fund raiser, however it was our Health and Welfare Consultant, Angie Peake who thought of it and decided to give it a go. She did the usual sum of 'if all of my friends on FB sponsored just one seat we'd raise X amount of money' Of course in reality this just doesn't happen for a multitude of reasons I suspect. That said we've already funded 30 places, which is nearly a class coming to see the panto this year, that maybe wouldn't normally afford to even contemplate a theatre visit.
We're aiming to get 2000 children in this year...so the race is on to find the extra money that this will cost us. We'll do it though...because it's important.
Then what if one child loves what they see and decides to 'give it a go' themselves? What then? Well I hate to say it, but we're back in the realms of the haves and haves not. How do they afford to go to classes? What schemes are there in the local community to fund children slowly building aspirations?
The thing is though, we're not just talking about theatre, which let's face it has always been elite? Why are we pretending that this is new? When I was training it was elite...but the 'working classes' will always find a way to help their children out of their rut. That's just what we do! If your child wants to study ANYTHING in HE the working classes are priced out of the market. So who's going to build the social housing of the future? Will it be some upper class architect with a social conscience, trying to make amends for their own family's wealth? Shouldn't it be designed by the people who understand the needs of the community, the people that were brought up in that environment?
Of course architects don't generally 'have a public voice', so we don't keep reading in the papers what they're saying about the future of their industry. So we're back to so called celebrities, using their platform to voice their concerns and rattle a few cages.
My TL is engulfed with people Sharing or RT'ing' these worthy statements - but what do YOU do to change things? It's easy to click and 'share'. It's easy to write a rousing comment to go with the 'share', but what do you actually DO to make a difference?
The reality is, probably nothing. You want the answer to come from the government. It's THEIR fault that we're in this situation, so THEY should do something about it.
The trouble is....they won't.
Whichever government it is...they won't.
If socialism is ever to work as anything more than just some rabble rousing rhetoric, then each of us will have to make different choices. Don't have your Starbucks tomorrow and donate that money to a more worthy cause. Don't have that pint after the show, and donate the money to a worthy cause. The thing is, we could ALL do our bit but our apathy or introverted thinking means that we won't(and I'm not exempt from this argument. I could make different choices too).
So next time you click 'Share' or RT an amazing speech, hold up a mirror and ask yourself if you could do something different...just once? If you're not sure what to do...then do remember that this appeal will be running for months: https://www.gofundme.com/24vga64
Saturday, 28 May 2016
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Self Validation...it's worth more than a blue tick
I'm always being asked about when The MTA is going to expand and my answer is always the same - it's hard enough getting one course right for 22 people, I just couldn't contemplate for a moment adding anything more into the mix.
Already the course has changed so much since I opened the college in 2009. In 2013 we added a screen component to our acting course. Hell today we're now having to add a 'self tape audition' workshop into the mix, as this new phenomenon has swept through the industry. If you'd told me 8 years ago that we'd be doing a workshop on how to audition via your mobile/computer, I would have felt like I was in some surreal scene in the new 'Back to the Future' film.
One thing that we've always taught though is how to manage your social networking life. Back in 2009 it was a simple lesson of how to protect your Facebook profile. Even that seemed complicated as FB constantly changed their security settings. Then Twitter took over, and that became a game changer. Very quickly we were hearing that in the US people were getting cast based on how many followers they had. Knowing that the UK would invariably end up following this example, we started to promote the use of Twitter amongst our students. In fact we insisted on it. I became the nagging Principal, reminding them to Tweet, but also checking their tweets to ensure that they weren't saying anything that could come back and bite them on the backside later on. The world of the screenshot meant that you had to act really quickly if a 'bad tweet' had gone out (with the knowledge that somebody might already have saved your error).
These days 'Managing your Social Network' is a minefield. You can Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, You Tube...the list is endless, but they all have one thing in common - manage them wisely as they can make or break careers.
Back in ye olden times, we'd meet audiences at the stage door, they might write to our agents for an autographed picture. Of course there were always the Stage Door regulars who seemed to appear more times than you felt comfortable with, but you'd say hello, sign another piece of memorabilia then go home, safe in the knowledge that your job was done.
Now though, the savvy actor will be tweeting snippets of their life in a bid to attract the Stage Door regulars. Of course you have to be careful exactly what you are saying on these public forums. Suddenly strangers appear to be your 'friends', as you can converse with them over the 140 character limit, they feel like they know you a bit more than they probably should; they come to see you in your shows, taking selfies with you. To some of them (and of course this is the minority) they are friends with you.
These people don't know you - but they most definitely know the public persona that you've put out to the cyber world. For those of you not wishing to be 'friends' with the famous (or indeed the not so famous...but they're in your favorite show, so they've suddenly become famous to you) start Twitter watch...it's like people watching, but at a faster pace. Watch the performers who slowly start to believe their own press (always a danger with performers)...see them grow into PR hungry professionals. Some are subtle and discrete, answering their followers in a genuinely grateful way, others are practically screaming for you to follow them. They start mentioning the bigger stars that they know in a bid for their followers to follow them. They start dropping hints about what they'd like to eat/wear before a show, in a bid for some firm or another to 'surprise them' with a load of cupcakes with their faces on (or whatever the latest craze it).
However there are also the performers who start to need those followers. It's like some sort of real life SIMS. They build an online rapport with them, and you almost sense their fragility as they post (quite genuinely) about how shit they feel about some performance or another, and watch their hoards of followers bolster them and tell them how wonderful they are. Some troll attacks them and a hundred minions attack the troll, in defence of the person, because that 'persona' is their friend....their famous friend whose picture is probably their phone's wallpaper.
The only thing that I can compare it to, is that years ago I watched a Broadway/Hollywood legend on the stage. This person was showbiz personafied, and I was desperate to watch them perform live. Half the show was amazing, my absolute dream come true. Then the other half was tragic. Missed notes, hell...missed keys. Still giving the showbiz razzle, but they were truly awful. Yet we applauded for the performer that they used to be, not the performer that had turned up that day. At the end watching them soaking in an ovation, which in truth, they didn't deserve...but which was given because we all wanted them to be brilliant. Then I watched as their need for applause, became like some addiction for the adulation. It was tangible that we were 'feeding' them in that moment. However it felt like an Audrey II moment. We were simply being sucked into their memory bank, for them to relive in moments of lonely desperation.
Twitter is littered with these fragile stars. They are the fodder of the social networking world. They are 'fed' by the minions telling them that they're wonderful...because in spite of having the infamous blue tick to prove that they've been verified...they failed in life to verify themselves.
Today's performer has to be marketing guru, selling 'brand X' to everyone. Brand X has to deliver the goods and keep up the persona 24/7...but only in the SIM world of social networking. Behind Brand X is the performer...the human being. Invariably suffering from ...well ...life! 1 in 3 performers suffer from Mental Illness, they mask this by self medicating in ways that you wouldn't think e.g. drink, drugs, sex. So you see 'a party animal'...and I sometimes see the person screaming for help.
The 'followers' love it - it's part of being brilliant isn't it...the fragile star? Well actually no! It doesn't have to be. Friends and family need to see the warning signs much earlier. We need better Mental Health information out there. The party animal is as likely to be your severely depressed friend. If a person is looking for validation so blatantly on social networking...you need to talk to them. You need to check how they're really doing. You need to tell them that the only person that can validate them is them.
Twitter, Facebook...all of it, feeds the brand not the person.
Your agent, PR company tell you to tweet, build up your fan base, it'll help your career. That'll be the career that they're taking a commission on right? Your friends need to tell you when to stop, as their investment is much bigger - it's in you!
So we teach our students 'how to tweet', but we also tell them that it's not real. After shows I'm RT'ing' like a person possessed, but I'm only going to be RT'ing' the good stuff aren't I? It's not real, it's a fantasy world that we all buy into and accept.
However, like in life, read what isn't being said (especially with the 'over sharer)? Then suggest that they get some help quickly.
How quickly a story spreads these days, and how thoughtlessly we can all fan the flames. Everyone 'sharing' a headline because 'it's interesting'? Well to someone it's not interesting at all. It's their life. Surely everyone deserves to have some privacy, especially when it's clear that they're struggling? Why share it? Why RT it? I guess you'll pick up a few followers yourself won't you....and so you too get 'validated' by the 'minions'.
Isn't it our responsibility as a college to teach our students about the potential perils of social networking? Isn't learning how to tweet responsibly as important a lesson to the contemporary performer as learning how to self tape? Then there's that elephant in the room, the one that looks like mental illness, but we can't name it can we? Easier to be part of the problem rather than helping to find the solution? But then we teach our students all about that too...so when the day comes that one of them is in trouble. We can but hope that the others run to help.
That's why The MTA could never get any bigger. We need to evolve with the industry whilst taking care of our past. We wouldn't have it any other way
Back in ye olden times, we'd meet audiences at the stage door, they might write to our agents for an autographed picture. Of course there were always the Stage Door regulars who seemed to appear more times than you felt comfortable with, but you'd say hello, sign another piece of memorabilia then go home, safe in the knowledge that your job was done.
Now though, the savvy actor will be tweeting snippets of their life in a bid to attract the Stage Door regulars. Of course you have to be careful exactly what you are saying on these public forums. Suddenly strangers appear to be your 'friends', as you can converse with them over the 140 character limit, they feel like they know you a bit more than they probably should; they come to see you in your shows, taking selfies with you. To some of them (and of course this is the minority) they are friends with you.
These people don't know you - but they most definitely know the public persona that you've put out to the cyber world. For those of you not wishing to be 'friends' with the famous (or indeed the not so famous...but they're in your favorite show, so they've suddenly become famous to you) start Twitter watch...it's like people watching, but at a faster pace. Watch the performers who slowly start to believe their own press (always a danger with performers)...see them grow into PR hungry professionals. Some are subtle and discrete, answering their followers in a genuinely grateful way, others are practically screaming for you to follow them. They start mentioning the bigger stars that they know in a bid for their followers to follow them. They start dropping hints about what they'd like to eat/wear before a show, in a bid for some firm or another to 'surprise them' with a load of cupcakes with their faces on (or whatever the latest craze it).
However there are also the performers who start to need those followers. It's like some sort of real life SIMS. They build an online rapport with them, and you almost sense their fragility as they post (quite genuinely) about how shit they feel about some performance or another, and watch their hoards of followers bolster them and tell them how wonderful they are. Some troll attacks them and a hundred minions attack the troll, in defence of the person, because that 'persona' is their friend....their famous friend whose picture is probably their phone's wallpaper.
The only thing that I can compare it to, is that years ago I watched a Broadway/Hollywood legend on the stage. This person was showbiz personafied, and I was desperate to watch them perform live. Half the show was amazing, my absolute dream come true. Then the other half was tragic. Missed notes, hell...missed keys. Still giving the showbiz razzle, but they were truly awful. Yet we applauded for the performer that they used to be, not the performer that had turned up that day. At the end watching them soaking in an ovation, which in truth, they didn't deserve...but which was given because we all wanted them to be brilliant. Then I watched as their need for applause, became like some addiction for the adulation. It was tangible that we were 'feeding' them in that moment. However it felt like an Audrey II moment. We were simply being sucked into their memory bank, for them to relive in moments of lonely desperation.
Twitter is littered with these fragile stars. They are the fodder of the social networking world. They are 'fed' by the minions telling them that they're wonderful...because in spite of having the infamous blue tick to prove that they've been verified...they failed in life to verify themselves.
Today's performer has to be marketing guru, selling 'brand X' to everyone. Brand X has to deliver the goods and keep up the persona 24/7...but only in the SIM world of social networking. Behind Brand X is the performer...the human being. Invariably suffering from ...well ...life! 1 in 3 performers suffer from Mental Illness, they mask this by self medicating in ways that you wouldn't think e.g. drink, drugs, sex. So you see 'a party animal'...and I sometimes see the person screaming for help.
The 'followers' love it - it's part of being brilliant isn't it...the fragile star? Well actually no! It doesn't have to be. Friends and family need to see the warning signs much earlier. We need better Mental Health information out there. The party animal is as likely to be your severely depressed friend. If a person is looking for validation so blatantly on social networking...you need to talk to them. You need to check how they're really doing. You need to tell them that the only person that can validate them is them.
Twitter, Facebook...all of it, feeds the brand not the person.
Your agent, PR company tell you to tweet, build up your fan base, it'll help your career. That'll be the career that they're taking a commission on right? Your friends need to tell you when to stop, as their investment is much bigger - it's in you!
So we teach our students 'how to tweet', but we also tell them that it's not real. After shows I'm RT'ing' like a person possessed, but I'm only going to be RT'ing' the good stuff aren't I? It's not real, it's a fantasy world that we all buy into and accept.
However, like in life, read what isn't being said (especially with the 'over sharer)? Then suggest that they get some help quickly.
How quickly a story spreads these days, and how thoughtlessly we can all fan the flames. Everyone 'sharing' a headline because 'it's interesting'? Well to someone it's not interesting at all. It's their life. Surely everyone deserves to have some privacy, especially when it's clear that they're struggling? Why share it? Why RT it? I guess you'll pick up a few followers yourself won't you....and so you too get 'validated' by the 'minions'.
Isn't it our responsibility as a college to teach our students about the potential perils of social networking? Isn't learning how to tweet responsibly as important a lesson to the contemporary performer as learning how to self tape? Then there's that elephant in the room, the one that looks like mental illness, but we can't name it can we? Easier to be part of the problem rather than helping to find the solution? But then we teach our students all about that too...so when the day comes that one of them is in trouble. We can but hope that the others run to help.
That's why The MTA could never get any bigger. We need to evolve with the industry whilst taking care of our past. We wouldn't have it any other way
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Is there a stand-by in the house?
For those of you that know me well this blog is well overdue, for those of you that don't know me, please settle down as I jump off the fence, catapulting over my soapbox, straight towards the high horse I intend to ride for the next few moments.
Not since Martine McCutcheon went off in My Fair Lady have I ever known such a fuss about a leading performer going off, and an understudy or cover going on.
So unless you've lived under a rock for the last week, Glenn Close disappointed thousands of fans by being ill. Due to star in Sunset Boulevard at the ENO, this was a rare opportunity for UK based fans to see a real live Hollywood icon on stage, in a role that she had already won a Tony for some 12 or so years ago.
The ENO did that notorious thing of putting the name of the star above the title of the show, which for those in the know means that if the star isn't performing you should be able to get your money back. They have effectively rated the star better value than the show.
Since the era of franchised musicals in the 80's we've lost the stars of musical theatre in this country. Who's playing the Phantom right now? Who's Fantine? Who are the performers singing ABBA songs every night? The shows got bigger than the stars...and as a result the stars got smaller. MT fans might know, but Joe Public don't have a clue and even more importantly don't care. They've bought into the 'product' not the performers. In the world of theatre we have huge stars...yet outside of our world nobody knows who they are. They're not even big enough to hook a show onto. Why do you think that established performers are resorting to shows like The Voice or X Factor? The legend that is Imelda Staunton who actually has some Joe Public value had to bide her time to play Rose, as she wasn't considered box office worthy enough to open the show any earlier.
Sheridan Smith, Michael Crawford, Michael Ball....they could all open a show and the PR world would be taking it a little bit easier as these legitimate theatre stars have the potential to sell out a limited run of a musical, in an average size house(then you'd better pray for someone else to turn up at the end of their contract).
The Elphabas could probably sustain a few week's worth of tickets (but only if they'd played the part for a sustained period of time).
Anyway I digress. Back to the ENO. There's something very peculiar about the world of Opera that has always baffled me (not that I've been to that many)...it's about how vocal the audiences are. No stiff upper lip here. Seemingly in an opera house it's OK to boo as well as 'brava or bravo'. I was first alerted to this on my first trip to see a 'proper grown up opera', when I watched part of the Richard Jones interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle. It was the part that they dared to have some of the characters in naked fat suits. To be fair I rather liked the interpretation (but I confess I was already a Richard Jones fan having seen his version of Into the Woods several times, and had personally worked first hand with Julia Bardsley, who worked very closely with Jones). Anyway on the press night it all kicked off. The creatives came to take their bows (another peculiar thing about this world)...and I was truly taken back to hear people booing them. Suddenly I felt like I was in some sort of surreal parallel universe. I've often spoken about my working class roots, and so I was already feeling somewhat out of place at the Royal Opera House (with my best ironed jeans on)...until this moment. When suddenly I felt like I was being transported back to a panto at the Swansea Grand. The audience had been split down the middle and half of them were shouting bravo (which up until that point I hadn't realised was a 'real thing'...for some reason I thought that it was made up), and the other half were actually booing people that had spent weeks creating this vision.
Now whether you like a piece of not, surely you must give respect to people's right to express artistic opinion? I know, I know...which leads to a whole debate about freedom of speech and the audience's right to express their opinion too.
So...jump back to last week, and let's spare a thought for the poor, poor bloke that had to stand up on that stage and announce that Ms Close was off? He was greeted by this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4_s0h5_g8&feature=youtu.be
Now what the hell is that about? I 100% get that you've waited your entire life to see someone live playing a particular part, and I 100% get the immense disappointment you feel when that person isn't on. Your dreams are shattered, your wallet is lighter, and for what? When I went to see Gypsy, I distinctly remember that stomach churning moment just before the show started, when I literally held my breath in case that dreaded announcement came across the tannoy 'in this afternoon's performance of Gypsy the role of Rose will be played by...'. Fortunately it didn't happen BUT it has happened to me several times in my life, and every time I've been secretly devastated...but the key word here is secretly. Never in my wildest dreams would I vocalise my upset because I understand that some poor sod is stood in the wings getting ready only to hear an audience sigh/groan...and my heart just feels for them. I'm also aware that there are other people in the show, and I know from personal experience how despondent it can make you feel when you know that the audience are against you from the start. However, that said...this was the ENO...so there were no sighs, there was a full out shouting war going on.
I went on the 2nd night and I heard a similar reaction (probably not quite so pronounced)...and saw people instantly getting out of their seats to leave the theatre. So they hadn't come to see the show AT ALL...it was literally all about Ms Close. Yet ironically IMHO the star of Sunset is Joe Gillis. He never gets top billing, but it's HIS story isn't it? He guides us through the events that led to his death; I mean he's barely off stage.
In this current production the part of Joe is played just beautifully by Michael Xavier. It's the first production of Sunset that I've seen where I actually felt a sense of empathy for him, if I'm honest in the other productions I could have shot the Joes myself a few scenes earlier (if I were a fading film star with a psycho streak that is of course)
However Sunset is always billed around the Norma. Maybe because you can always surprise people with your casting I don't know. It Antonio Banderas played Joe maybe the tables could finally turn (or even better...James Corden...too far?).
Again I digress. So the show is held for 20 mins as everybody takes it out on the box office staff and the FOH staff (as they are clearly the reason that Ms Close is indisposed), meanwhile waiting in the wings was one of the West End's most accomplished performers, ironically waiting to sing the role that she had actually originated. Maybe the thing that we should be most ashamed about here is the fact that when her name was announced, Joe 'I came to see a Hollywood star' Public didn't even recognise her name. As far as they were concerned, the director had bolted it to the Theatre Cafe and asked if any of the people singing karaoke fancied taking a stab at the role. This randomer from Wales had volunteered, the outfit fitted so she was on.
Now as some of you know I happen to know Ria personally....in fact I've known her on and off for around 40 years, since she was a child star, and I was . . . well, I was finding my place in the world ;-)
In fact I've known her predating her days belting out a show tune or two in the working men's clubs around the Swansea area. I played the same circuit...but I was playing the electric organ, attempting to accompany the 'acts', as they got seriously heckled - very, very quickly(there was none of this 'give them a chance' time at some of the venues). I say attempting because some of those clubs were so tough I couldn't hear the acts let alone follow them, due to the audience opting to give a vocal critique as though the cabaret was some nightmarish immersion theatre piece. Interestingly I would say that the crowd were a bit rough at times....but having been at the ROH that evening, I can now reframe the occasions into an audience with vocal energy.
In other words... I knew that Ria, with her 40 odd years of stage experience was not going to be beaten by the boos. I also knew that she has wanted to play this role since she originated it back in Sydmonton when dinosaurs were still ruling the earth. For the past 20 odd years I've worked off and on as Ria's MD, and she invariably sings a Sunset song, and it always brings the house down. Just last year we did a gig back in Swansea together and she sung As If We Never Said Goodbye (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqhRcYIjqI) - listen to that applause at 2 mins 48 secs. Without fail when she sings that exact moment, I get goose bumps. In recent years the line has been even more poignant given her much publicised health scare.
So here's my moan - I KNOW that it's PR gold to talk about the understudy becoming a star, but that's never real. In fact it's as real as Norma Desmond's comeback. It's a fantasy, spun to the world, to make us all think that there's a short cut to success. Shouldn't the headlines be shouting out "FINALLY THE ACCOMPLISHED THEATRE STAR GOT TO PLAY THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME"? Shouldn't Ria be dragged onto every talk show going, to talk about this unique journey of hers? Shouldn't we be attempting to make her a household name in that precise moment? Shouldn't we be using the opportunity to finally explain to 'Joe Public' how amazing our understudies are...and that they're very likely not playing the lead, because their public profile isn't big enough? Then let's talk about the real saviours of Musicals - the Swings. The performers learning countless tracks, ready to switch sides and harmonies within a heartbeat, in order for the show to continue. Shouldn't we talk about the fact that in NY the Swings are revered, yet over here it's almost a 'next best thing' to be the Swing in a show.
Maybe we should talk about the fact that in NY Broadway performers can demand a huge salary, whereas reaching the top in the UK...those not famous performers who are supposedly at the top of their profession as they're performing in the West End....invariably have to get a day job to subsidise their income in order to live in the city that we all aspire to work in.
Maybe...just maybe...we could have just spoken about real life theatre?
The PR story was great - the Theatre Cafe girl won over the crowds and in the end they cheered her. The movement gathered momentum and people started to book tickets in the hope of seeing her...but what now? One paper rightly commented that they hoped that Ria's agent was currently taking their time sifting through hundreds of offers, then choosing their pick of shows for her to do. There's a Joe 'musical theatre fan' Public rumbling almost daring ALW to produce a full version of the show with Ria finally in the lead. Could that happen, or more specifically could that happen without Ria first having to compete on live TV with all the other actresses of a certain age, that could equally play the role brilliantly? Of course that wouldn't happen, as the majority of those actresses (Ria included I would suspect) wouldn't put themselves through the editing hell that is a reality 'Search for your Star' programme.
So what's my annoyance? A dear friend and colleague finally got to play the role of her dreams, and everybody got to hear about it. My annoyance I guess is that we now live in a world that needs us to spin a story, as oppose to acknowledge and celebrate hard work and perseverance. Ria is the only person I know in this industry that has never done a 'crap job' just to get by and pay her rent. I think that that is phenomenal, and secretly we'd all like to dislike her a bit for that fact, but we can't, because she's also notoriously nice. She's the worse that this industry can produce....a lovely grafter, like Kerry Ellis, Caroline Sheen, Rosie Ashe, Killian Donnelly, Mike Jibson, Alistair Harvey, A J Casey, Cassidy Janson, Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans...Michael Xavier my list is endless. Is there any wonder that we're in a world where young graduates leave the industry within 5 years because they haven't 'made it' yet, or where people won't tour, because they're waiting to 'open in town'. Even when something great happens, we feel the need to perpetuate the myth. Not necessarily in the full articles, but pretty much in every headline.
I keep screaming this - let's create stars out of our stars. People like talent. Ria proved that 4 performances in a row...and because she's a seasoned professional, I'd put money on the fact that she could have played the role every performance (unlike a ridiculous article that I was reading today about how roles were now so difficult all performers needed a show or two off??) It you're playing Eva Peron maybe (just maybe)...if you're playing Charity Hope Valentine, just develop the stamina to do the job that you're paid pennies to do.
Our industry has the most phenomenally talented people in it, advertise them at the side of your Hollywood stars, as you never know...one night they might have to go on and save you £££££'s in returned ticket revenue.
Not since Martine McCutcheon went off in My Fair Lady have I ever known such a fuss about a leading performer going off, and an understudy or cover going on.
So unless you've lived under a rock for the last week, Glenn Close disappointed thousands of fans by being ill. Due to star in Sunset Boulevard at the ENO, this was a rare opportunity for UK based fans to see a real live Hollywood icon on stage, in a role that she had already won a Tony for some 12 or so years ago.
The ENO did that notorious thing of putting the name of the star above the title of the show, which for those in the know means that if the star isn't performing you should be able to get your money back. They have effectively rated the star better value than the show.
Since the era of franchised musicals in the 80's we've lost the stars of musical theatre in this country. Who's playing the Phantom right now? Who's Fantine? Who are the performers singing ABBA songs every night? The shows got bigger than the stars...and as a result the stars got smaller. MT fans might know, but Joe Public don't have a clue and even more importantly don't care. They've bought into the 'product' not the performers. In the world of theatre we have huge stars...yet outside of our world nobody knows who they are. They're not even big enough to hook a show onto. Why do you think that established performers are resorting to shows like The Voice or X Factor? The legend that is Imelda Staunton who actually has some Joe Public value had to bide her time to play Rose, as she wasn't considered box office worthy enough to open the show any earlier.
Sheridan Smith, Michael Crawford, Michael Ball....they could all open a show and the PR world would be taking it a little bit easier as these legitimate theatre stars have the potential to sell out a limited run of a musical, in an average size house(then you'd better pray for someone else to turn up at the end of their contract).
The Elphabas could probably sustain a few week's worth of tickets (but only if they'd played the part for a sustained period of time).
Anyway I digress. Back to the ENO. There's something very peculiar about the world of Opera that has always baffled me (not that I've been to that many)...it's about how vocal the audiences are. No stiff upper lip here. Seemingly in an opera house it's OK to boo as well as 'brava or bravo'. I was first alerted to this on my first trip to see a 'proper grown up opera', when I watched part of the Richard Jones interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle. It was the part that they dared to have some of the characters in naked fat suits. To be fair I rather liked the interpretation (but I confess I was already a Richard Jones fan having seen his version of Into the Woods several times, and had personally worked first hand with Julia Bardsley, who worked very closely with Jones). Anyway on the press night it all kicked off. The creatives came to take their bows (another peculiar thing about this world)...and I was truly taken back to hear people booing them. Suddenly I felt like I was in some sort of surreal parallel universe. I've often spoken about my working class roots, and so I was already feeling somewhat out of place at the Royal Opera House (with my best ironed jeans on)...until this moment. When suddenly I felt like I was being transported back to a panto at the Swansea Grand. The audience had been split down the middle and half of them were shouting bravo (which up until that point I hadn't realised was a 'real thing'...for some reason I thought that it was made up), and the other half were actually booing people that had spent weeks creating this vision.
Now whether you like a piece of not, surely you must give respect to people's right to express artistic opinion? I know, I know...which leads to a whole debate about freedom of speech and the audience's right to express their opinion too.
So...jump back to last week, and let's spare a thought for the poor, poor bloke that had to stand up on that stage and announce that Ms Close was off? He was greeted by this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4_s0h5_g8&feature=youtu.be
Now what the hell is that about? I 100% get that you've waited your entire life to see someone live playing a particular part, and I 100% get the immense disappointment you feel when that person isn't on. Your dreams are shattered, your wallet is lighter, and for what? When I went to see Gypsy, I distinctly remember that stomach churning moment just before the show started, when I literally held my breath in case that dreaded announcement came across the tannoy 'in this afternoon's performance of Gypsy the role of Rose will be played by...'. Fortunately it didn't happen BUT it has happened to me several times in my life, and every time I've been secretly devastated...but the key word here is secretly. Never in my wildest dreams would I vocalise my upset because I understand that some poor sod is stood in the wings getting ready only to hear an audience sigh/groan...and my heart just feels for them. I'm also aware that there are other people in the show, and I know from personal experience how despondent it can make you feel when you know that the audience are against you from the start. However, that said...this was the ENO...so there were no sighs, there was a full out shouting war going on.
I went on the 2nd night and I heard a similar reaction (probably not quite so pronounced)...and saw people instantly getting out of their seats to leave the theatre. So they hadn't come to see the show AT ALL...it was literally all about Ms Close. Yet ironically IMHO the star of Sunset is Joe Gillis. He never gets top billing, but it's HIS story isn't it? He guides us through the events that led to his death; I mean he's barely off stage.
In this current production the part of Joe is played just beautifully by Michael Xavier. It's the first production of Sunset that I've seen where I actually felt a sense of empathy for him, if I'm honest in the other productions I could have shot the Joes myself a few scenes earlier (if I were a fading film star with a psycho streak that is of course)
However Sunset is always billed around the Norma. Maybe because you can always surprise people with your casting I don't know. It Antonio Banderas played Joe maybe the tables could finally turn (or even better...James Corden...too far?).
Again I digress. So the show is held for 20 mins as everybody takes it out on the box office staff and the FOH staff (as they are clearly the reason that Ms Close is indisposed), meanwhile waiting in the wings was one of the West End's most accomplished performers, ironically waiting to sing the role that she had actually originated. Maybe the thing that we should be most ashamed about here is the fact that when her name was announced, Joe 'I came to see a Hollywood star' Public didn't even recognise her name. As far as they were concerned, the director had bolted it to the Theatre Cafe and asked if any of the people singing karaoke fancied taking a stab at the role. This randomer from Wales had volunteered, the outfit fitted so she was on.
Now as some of you know I happen to know Ria personally....in fact I've known her on and off for around 40 years, since she was a child star, and I was . . . well, I was finding my place in the world ;-)
In fact I've known her predating her days belting out a show tune or two in the working men's clubs around the Swansea area. I played the same circuit...but I was playing the electric organ, attempting to accompany the 'acts', as they got seriously heckled - very, very quickly(there was none of this 'give them a chance' time at some of the venues). I say attempting because some of those clubs were so tough I couldn't hear the acts let alone follow them, due to the audience opting to give a vocal critique as though the cabaret was some nightmarish immersion theatre piece. Interestingly I would say that the crowd were a bit rough at times....but having been at the ROH that evening, I can now reframe the occasions into an audience with vocal energy.
In other words... I knew that Ria, with her 40 odd years of stage experience was not going to be beaten by the boos. I also knew that she has wanted to play this role since she originated it back in Sydmonton when dinosaurs were still ruling the earth. For the past 20 odd years I've worked off and on as Ria's MD, and she invariably sings a Sunset song, and it always brings the house down. Just last year we did a gig back in Swansea together and she sung As If We Never Said Goodbye (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqhRcYIjqI) - listen to that applause at 2 mins 48 secs. Without fail when she sings that exact moment, I get goose bumps. In recent years the line has been even more poignant given her much publicised health scare.
So here's my moan - I KNOW that it's PR gold to talk about the understudy becoming a star, but that's never real. In fact it's as real as Norma Desmond's comeback. It's a fantasy, spun to the world, to make us all think that there's a short cut to success. Shouldn't the headlines be shouting out "FINALLY THE ACCOMPLISHED THEATRE STAR GOT TO PLAY THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME"? Shouldn't Ria be dragged onto every talk show going, to talk about this unique journey of hers? Shouldn't we be attempting to make her a household name in that precise moment? Shouldn't we be using the opportunity to finally explain to 'Joe Public' how amazing our understudies are...and that they're very likely not playing the lead, because their public profile isn't big enough? Then let's talk about the real saviours of Musicals - the Swings. The performers learning countless tracks, ready to switch sides and harmonies within a heartbeat, in order for the show to continue. Shouldn't we talk about the fact that in NY the Swings are revered, yet over here it's almost a 'next best thing' to be the Swing in a show.
Maybe we should talk about the fact that in NY Broadway performers can demand a huge salary, whereas reaching the top in the UK...those not famous performers who are supposedly at the top of their profession as they're performing in the West End....invariably have to get a day job to subsidise their income in order to live in the city that we all aspire to work in.
Maybe...just maybe...we could have just spoken about real life theatre?
The PR story was great - the Theatre Cafe girl won over the crowds and in the end they cheered her. The movement gathered momentum and people started to book tickets in the hope of seeing her...but what now? One paper rightly commented that they hoped that Ria's agent was currently taking their time sifting through hundreds of offers, then choosing their pick of shows for her to do. There's a Joe 'musical theatre fan' Public rumbling almost daring ALW to produce a full version of the show with Ria finally in the lead. Could that happen, or more specifically could that happen without Ria first having to compete on live TV with all the other actresses of a certain age, that could equally play the role brilliantly? Of course that wouldn't happen, as the majority of those actresses (Ria included I would suspect) wouldn't put themselves through the editing hell that is a reality 'Search for your Star' programme.
So what's my annoyance? A dear friend and colleague finally got to play the role of her dreams, and everybody got to hear about it. My annoyance I guess is that we now live in a world that needs us to spin a story, as oppose to acknowledge and celebrate hard work and perseverance. Ria is the only person I know in this industry that has never done a 'crap job' just to get by and pay her rent. I think that that is phenomenal, and secretly we'd all like to dislike her a bit for that fact, but we can't, because she's also notoriously nice. She's the worse that this industry can produce....a lovely grafter, like Kerry Ellis, Caroline Sheen, Rosie Ashe, Killian Donnelly, Mike Jibson, Alistair Harvey, A J Casey, Cassidy Janson, Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans...Michael Xavier my list is endless. Is there any wonder that we're in a world where young graduates leave the industry within 5 years because they haven't 'made it' yet, or where people won't tour, because they're waiting to 'open in town'. Even when something great happens, we feel the need to perpetuate the myth. Not necessarily in the full articles, but pretty much in every headline.
I keep screaming this - let's create stars out of our stars. People like talent. Ria proved that 4 performances in a row...and because she's a seasoned professional, I'd put money on the fact that she could have played the role every performance (unlike a ridiculous article that I was reading today about how roles were now so difficult all performers needed a show or two off??) It you're playing Eva Peron maybe (just maybe)...if you're playing Charity Hope Valentine, just develop the stamina to do the job that you're paid pennies to do.
Our industry has the most phenomenally talented people in it, advertise them at the side of your Hollywood stars, as you never know...one night they might have to go on and save you £££££'s in returned ticket revenue.
Monday, 25 April 2016
Auditions. Whatever happened to class?
Auditions are a funny old thing aren't they? They can last just minutes, but sometimes they can determine the path that your life is going to take from that moment. At The MTA my graduating year group have just survived their hardcore round of private auditions. 15 auditions over the course of 6 days, spread out over 2 weeks. I was in awe of their resilience walking back into the room, exuding confidence, when in reality they were slowly getting acquainted to our old friend rejection. Of course, they weren't actually getting rejected, they just didn't fit into the books of the agents that we'd invited at this stage. Of course it doesn't feel like that at the time, when all of your friends' mobiles are pinging because yet another agent has invited them in for a meeting. The other day we were talking in class about validating yourself, because if you wait for the industry to do it, you'll probably give up your dream really early, whilst acknowledging that it is again easier to do so if you have had a pinging phone for a week!
The MTA has an amazing record of getting 100% of our graduates representation prior to graduating, but that in itself puts a huge pressure on the students. Who's going to be the poor sod that's the first one not to get signed from the college? We are forever talking to them about being proactive and going after their own work, and indeed a few of the late 'signers' have always found their first contract prior to leaving college by simply getting themselves out there on the circuit. Of course it's easier with an agent...2 people working for you not just one (aka you)..but it's certainly not impossible. I fail to see how we can keep up this record, and myself and the team are always under the tightrope ready to catch the person or indeed people that feel like they've already been thrown off, before they've even began.
Then there's the tortuous set of auditions that performers have to take, in order to get into a college like ours in the first place. Now I've written about this before: http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-the-audition-problem/ 2 whole years ago in fact. How desperately annoying then that the problems that I wrote about then are still so prevalent today.
Just the other week 6 people did a no show? I mean, what the hell is that really about? So at The MTA, we send people an initial letter and get them to confirm their attendance. Even in that letter I write a whole thing about 'if you've changed your mind, just let us know, so that we can offer your place to someone else'. I even helpfully add in the link to the above blog, so that people get a sense of how annoying it is. A week before the audition I write to them again, just confirming everything from our point of view, and again checking that they can attend. So this would be the perfect time to write back and say thanks but no thanks, meaning that we can offer someone that place with a full week's notice. Simple yes? However nothing could be further from the truth. We audition on a Friday this year - late on Wednesday one person contacted me to say that they'd opted for a different college (along with an apology for the late notice). Now I know that they had secured their place a few weeks earlier...so why not have told us then? Next up Thursday evening...the night before audition day, when nerves would be at their peak. Cue my phone pinging then...one drop out at 10.30pm, one drop out at 11.30pm. Obviously I contemplate the possibility of calling someone up and offering them the slot - after all they would have had 9.5 hrs notice to prepare?!?! The audition day arrives...and a further 3 just don't show up...they don't phone, they don't email...nothing. Seemingly it's OK nowadays to just not bother, I mean who knew? Did I miss the memo that everyone else seemed to have, which states that you no longer have to be courteous when you get an email? Maybe it was sent to our old address?
A few days later I hear from a casting director that they too have had the same problem, with professionals just not turning up, or dropping out at the last minute. Yet people are regularly moaning about not being seen for jobs? How does this work?
So when did this spate of not giving a damn kick in? When did it become OK to just not bother and not say anything? At the end of every MTA audition day we send out written feedback to every applicant. You know the sort of written feedback that everybody says that they so desperately crave? I also make a point of asking them to acknowledge receipt of the feedback, even if the over all result of the day isn't as they would have wanted. On average only 50% of applicants will acknowledge receipt of that email?
We will continue to acknowledge receipt of every serious email that gets sent to the college, as I believe it to be courteous. We will also continue to preach to our lot that they not only must do the same, but also, if they are lucky enough to get an audition, they should bloody well attend it, and try to get a job. In other words, in spite of the increasing rudeness that we're seeing, we will continue to be respectful to other people. Isn't it a shame that we all don't think the same? Does our disposable culture now automatically mean that people have some sort of 'filter' in place which means that they only 'switch on' when it's something that they really want, or indeed need to hear/read about?
To all those people, starting out and indeed established professionals that continue to put themselves relentlessly through the audition circuit, you have my admiration. To all those people that don't turn up, don't communicate...try learning some professional etiquette. It's a small industry with long memories. Opportunities aren't just created in an audition room - they're created by the way in which you treat others.
The MTA has an amazing record of getting 100% of our graduates representation prior to graduating, but that in itself puts a huge pressure on the students. Who's going to be the poor sod that's the first one not to get signed from the college? We are forever talking to them about being proactive and going after their own work, and indeed a few of the late 'signers' have always found their first contract prior to leaving college by simply getting themselves out there on the circuit. Of course it's easier with an agent...2 people working for you not just one (aka you)..but it's certainly not impossible. I fail to see how we can keep up this record, and myself and the team are always under the tightrope ready to catch the person or indeed people that feel like they've already been thrown off, before they've even began.
Then there's the tortuous set of auditions that performers have to take, in order to get into a college like ours in the first place. Now I've written about this before: http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-the-audition-problem/ 2 whole years ago in fact. How desperately annoying then that the problems that I wrote about then are still so prevalent today.
Just the other week 6 people did a no show? I mean, what the hell is that really about? So at The MTA, we send people an initial letter and get them to confirm their attendance. Even in that letter I write a whole thing about 'if you've changed your mind, just let us know, so that we can offer your place to someone else'. I even helpfully add in the link to the above blog, so that people get a sense of how annoying it is. A week before the audition I write to them again, just confirming everything from our point of view, and again checking that they can attend. So this would be the perfect time to write back and say thanks but no thanks, meaning that we can offer someone that place with a full week's notice. Simple yes? However nothing could be further from the truth. We audition on a Friday this year - late on Wednesday one person contacted me to say that they'd opted for a different college (along with an apology for the late notice). Now I know that they had secured their place a few weeks earlier...so why not have told us then? Next up Thursday evening...the night before audition day, when nerves would be at their peak. Cue my phone pinging then...one drop out at 10.30pm, one drop out at 11.30pm. Obviously I contemplate the possibility of calling someone up and offering them the slot - after all they would have had 9.5 hrs notice to prepare?!?! The audition day arrives...and a further 3 just don't show up...they don't phone, they don't email...nothing. Seemingly it's OK nowadays to just not bother, I mean who knew? Did I miss the memo that everyone else seemed to have, which states that you no longer have to be courteous when you get an email? Maybe it was sent to our old address?
A few days later I hear from a casting director that they too have had the same problem, with professionals just not turning up, or dropping out at the last minute. Yet people are regularly moaning about not being seen for jobs? How does this work?
So when did this spate of not giving a damn kick in? When did it become OK to just not bother and not say anything? At the end of every MTA audition day we send out written feedback to every applicant. You know the sort of written feedback that everybody says that they so desperately crave? I also make a point of asking them to acknowledge receipt of the feedback, even if the over all result of the day isn't as they would have wanted. On average only 50% of applicants will acknowledge receipt of that email?
We will continue to acknowledge receipt of every serious email that gets sent to the college, as I believe it to be courteous. We will also continue to preach to our lot that they not only must do the same, but also, if they are lucky enough to get an audition, they should bloody well attend it, and try to get a job. In other words, in spite of the increasing rudeness that we're seeing, we will continue to be respectful to other people. Isn't it a shame that we all don't think the same? Does our disposable culture now automatically mean that people have some sort of 'filter' in place which means that they only 'switch on' when it's something that they really want, or indeed need to hear/read about?
To all those people, starting out and indeed established professionals that continue to put themselves relentlessly through the audition circuit, you have my admiration. To all those people that don't turn up, don't communicate...try learning some professional etiquette. It's a small industry with long memories. Opportunities aren't just created in an audition room - they're created by the way in which you treat others.
Friday, 18 March 2016
Mental Health in Drama Schools Conference
So after 4 years of quietly mentioning it, 2 years of positively shouting about it, and about 18 months of screaming in despair about it....I finally decided to do something positive about what I considered to be the plight of poor mental health provision in drama schools. What better thing to do than to call a conference? To call together all the people interested in this area and then to brainstorm how to ensure that we improved things.
I won't 'go on' again, but the perceived understanding(taken from a variety of International Studies) is that 1out of every 3 people involved in the arts will have a mental health issue at some point in their lives. This is higher than the National average of 1 in 4. At The MTA we've always had a unique take on this area insomuch as we've made it one of the cornerstones of the course. There is no stigma around Mental Health, all the students understand various mental health issues, and most importantly of all most check in with our Health and Welfare consultant at some point during their training (and indeed after). H&W in this instance happens to be Angie Peake who is a dual registered nurse and therapist, who has the skill set to actually diagnose mental health illnesses, and then as she also happens to be a nurse prescriber is also able to liaise with the GPs etc as to what the best course of treatment is, and finally is able to discuss a relapse prevention plan with the student.
So the conference was called being very clear that we were going to be discussing our unique model..however as we acknowledged in the conference we could only do this because at any time the maximum students we could have would be 44. Even that was pushing our resources sometimes, but we could do it!
Since I've started shouting about Mental Health I've successfully managed to polarise friends in the industry. There are some that have found me to be the annoying fly that won't go away, but the one who can't be ignored, however the majority of the industry just agrees with me that there is 'an' issue.
I advertised the conference for 4 months on FB and twitter. I also put out a request for people to tell me their experiences of Mental Health awareness at college. Though not inundated with stories, I didn't hear one good thing (with the exception of The MTA lot that wrote in, who mostly acknowledged an illness, said that they had been helped through it by Angie, and informed me that they were now having a lovely time carrying on with the rest of their lives). The stories that I was told were shocking and dangerous. Staff saying completely inappropriate things to people, which they've continued to carry with them to this day. In a few cases inappropriate 'treatment' at colleges had resulted in people not going on to have the career that they would have liked. Now even reading the emails with a realisation that I was hearing a 'one sided' argument, and that the person could have been misinterpreting what a teacher was saying to them...it was still bloody shocking. People bravely wrote of their experiences purely in the hope that by writing the email, they might make a difference. Their voice (though anonymous) would be finally heard.
A few weeks before the conference The Stage had done a 'Green Room' feature (which is set out like an informal Green Room discussion between actors all talking under a pseudonym), on Mental Health in the Arts. The feature was shocking - the ignorance displayed by the actors was terrifying BUT if that was the perception of 'well' people in the industry, then at the very least we had an industry that needed educating.
In the build up I'd had several conversations with people about the conference, and indeed reassurances that 'so and so' would be there representing 'such and such' institution. Interestingly a few people that I'd contacted about the conference who had been extremely public about their own mental health struggles had failed to connect at all. Still I increased the tweets and FB posts right up until the day. A big shout out here actually to @WestEndProducer who was a big twitter supporter, never failing to RT when asked (unlike lots of other tweeters with large followings)
Then came the day of the conference and I was literally inundated with messages from people wishing me well for the conference, and suddenly revealing their own mental health pasts, and again stating that something had to be done about it. I felt like the Mother Abbess in the Sound Of Music hearing all these 'confessions'. Yet why were they all so hidden? Is the stigma around Mental Health even worse than I realised? I should add that I had been thinking that way for quite some time, as since I've been blogging and shouting about it, The MTA's phone had started to ring, not with the usual student enquiries, but this time from people saying that they didn't know where to go, but they were in trouble, they were ill - please could we help them? They'd read some of my blogs or had seen that I was 'going on ' about mental illness so maybe I could point them in the right direction. Hell at one point even a major production company contacted us in order to have some assistance on a Mental Health issue. To be fair the only direction I can ever point anybody in on this topic is Angie, who, as far as I'm aware always helped them out.
The conference was set up to be time limited, to ensure that we could remain focussed and on topic, as it's so easy to drift. Although we set a rule up about protecting anonymity all the 'delegates' have indeed tweeted to say that they were with us, so I'm not breaking any confidences when I say that we had someone from a FE college (their identity remains protected I believe), Susan Elkin from The Stage, Pat O'Toole from Rose Bruford, Laura and James the co-founders and Principals of the Dorset School of Acting and Equity, who impressively had sent a senior member from their main office plus Adam Pettigrew the Chair of Equity YMC...and ............well that was it.
I completely applaud Equity for sending 2 senior members, in an instant showing how important a subject they considered this to be. I'd go so far as to give them a standing ovation given that I had gone a few rounds with them on Twitter over this topic many a time. Similarly great to see our industry's paper there ready to report on this important and life changing subject...but where were the other drama colleges? Drama UK who I've always maintained are a joke, didn't show, in spite of being sent a reminder email a few days before (which of course was acknowledged by an automated response. No doubt they were over in China or somewhere building up their brand awareness). However where were the course leaders that on twitter always publicly comment on my thoughts about Mental Health, and always ask to arrange a coffee to discuss the topic...and who have never, ever followed through? Where was the Pastoral team member from another major college who had had an extensive email exchange with me over the conference, agreeing that something needed to be done, and stating that they had already popped the date in their diary? Where were the actors, who had been very vocal with me about their own struggles during college, and telling me in no uncertain terms that they would be at this conference as something had to be done?
10 of us in total were in that room, and do you know what the saddest thing of all was...that had exceeded my expectations. I knew that all those people wouldn't turn up. Everybody today is a social network warrior. They'll shout about stuff on FB, they'll press 'attend' to all the political events and rallies. They'll write posts and share posts about how we should be implementing social change. They'll moan and rant about simply anything...but when it comes to leaving their homes or offices to actually implement that change....nothing. Of course there will always be the anti establishment extremists who turn up at any event ready to fight whoever over whatever, but they're not the people that we're trying to engage here. I'm talking about the everyday actor who knows that this industry is struggling (and I know this because as well as seeing it myself, they've told me). Talk to me about your time at college when you witnessed people going through so much pain, with so little help. Oh that's right, you will talk or write to me about that 'poor' person, but you won't go and sit in a room one afternoon in a bid to help the next poor sod going through the system?
As it turns out the conference was extremely useful. We all sat around and nodded as we shared experiences of mental traumas in college. Even in that room the 1 in 3 was sounding like an optimistic figure.
Equity were very much on the front foot, and had some plans underway which might help the issue somewhat.
However there IS still an issue here, and if anything Drama UK being useless has made it even harder. All of the colleges, big and small, should have a mental health policy..but you know a policy means nothing. It means that someone sat down, like I'm sat writing this blog, filling up a word document, with all the right 'things' that we'd want them to say, no doubt hitting on the buzz words of the moment. Here's the rub though.....it don't mean a thing, if in practice your staff and your students don't understand Mental Health. A person in crises won't just suddenly knock on a stranger's door to tell them their issues, more than that, if they're in crises, they might not even know that they're in crises. Good mental health policy (as witnessed at the conference actually) showed that these things had to be 'picked up' not just ignored by staff and students, or put down as 'being a bit off', or 'having the bad day'.
Who does now regulate drama schools? Or indeed does it matter? Should good Mental Health policies (and by that I mean the ones that actually deliver....not like one that I heard about that got 'put on the table every time that there was an inspection') almost get a Kitemark, to show that they operate within an agreed set of guidelines (or at the very least are attempting to)? If so, who's to hand out the elusive 'marks' and then who's going to go around every year and check that they're being upheld? It almost needs a 'secret shopper' approach to ensure that standards are upheld.
So lots of questions still to be answered, but at least we started.
Ironically it's not my students that I'm worried about, I know that we're implementing an active Mental Health policy. I'm actually fighting for seemingly the majority of the rest of them. The stunning teachers, like the other ones in the conference, are fighting for their students that they can't get hold of because they're swamped and over subscribed.
How to convince a 'business' to invest in the invisible that won't pay back a dividend for years? Invest in your students today and don't see any reward for years? As that's what we're asking. The payback for good Mental Health would be experienced throughout the entire industry (hell CSM's wouldn't know what had hit them). First though...how to get everybody to leave their homes and offices to have the discussion?
I won't 'go on' again, but the perceived understanding(taken from a variety of International Studies) is that 1out of every 3 people involved in the arts will have a mental health issue at some point in their lives. This is higher than the National average of 1 in 4. At The MTA we've always had a unique take on this area insomuch as we've made it one of the cornerstones of the course. There is no stigma around Mental Health, all the students understand various mental health issues, and most importantly of all most check in with our Health and Welfare consultant at some point during their training (and indeed after). H&W in this instance happens to be Angie Peake who is a dual registered nurse and therapist, who has the skill set to actually diagnose mental health illnesses, and then as she also happens to be a nurse prescriber is also able to liaise with the GPs etc as to what the best course of treatment is, and finally is able to discuss a relapse prevention plan with the student.
So the conference was called being very clear that we were going to be discussing our unique model..however as we acknowledged in the conference we could only do this because at any time the maximum students we could have would be 44. Even that was pushing our resources sometimes, but we could do it!
Since I've started shouting about Mental Health I've successfully managed to polarise friends in the industry. There are some that have found me to be the annoying fly that won't go away, but the one who can't be ignored, however the majority of the industry just agrees with me that there is 'an' issue.
I advertised the conference for 4 months on FB and twitter. I also put out a request for people to tell me their experiences of Mental Health awareness at college. Though not inundated with stories, I didn't hear one good thing (with the exception of The MTA lot that wrote in, who mostly acknowledged an illness, said that they had been helped through it by Angie, and informed me that they were now having a lovely time carrying on with the rest of their lives). The stories that I was told were shocking and dangerous. Staff saying completely inappropriate things to people, which they've continued to carry with them to this day. In a few cases inappropriate 'treatment' at colleges had resulted in people not going on to have the career that they would have liked. Now even reading the emails with a realisation that I was hearing a 'one sided' argument, and that the person could have been misinterpreting what a teacher was saying to them...it was still bloody shocking. People bravely wrote of their experiences purely in the hope that by writing the email, they might make a difference. Their voice (though anonymous) would be finally heard.
A few weeks before the conference The Stage had done a 'Green Room' feature (which is set out like an informal Green Room discussion between actors all talking under a pseudonym), on Mental Health in the Arts. The feature was shocking - the ignorance displayed by the actors was terrifying BUT if that was the perception of 'well' people in the industry, then at the very least we had an industry that needed educating.
In the build up I'd had several conversations with people about the conference, and indeed reassurances that 'so and so' would be there representing 'such and such' institution. Interestingly a few people that I'd contacted about the conference who had been extremely public about their own mental health struggles had failed to connect at all. Still I increased the tweets and FB posts right up until the day. A big shout out here actually to @WestEndProducer who was a big twitter supporter, never failing to RT when asked (unlike lots of other tweeters with large followings)
Then came the day of the conference and I was literally inundated with messages from people wishing me well for the conference, and suddenly revealing their own mental health pasts, and again stating that something had to be done about it. I felt like the Mother Abbess in the Sound Of Music hearing all these 'confessions'. Yet why were they all so hidden? Is the stigma around Mental Health even worse than I realised? I should add that I had been thinking that way for quite some time, as since I've been blogging and shouting about it, The MTA's phone had started to ring, not with the usual student enquiries, but this time from people saying that they didn't know where to go, but they were in trouble, they were ill - please could we help them? They'd read some of my blogs or had seen that I was 'going on ' about mental illness so maybe I could point them in the right direction. Hell at one point even a major production company contacted us in order to have some assistance on a Mental Health issue. To be fair the only direction I can ever point anybody in on this topic is Angie, who, as far as I'm aware always helped them out.
The conference was set up to be time limited, to ensure that we could remain focussed and on topic, as it's so easy to drift. Although we set a rule up about protecting anonymity all the 'delegates' have indeed tweeted to say that they were with us, so I'm not breaking any confidences when I say that we had someone from a FE college (their identity remains protected I believe), Susan Elkin from The Stage, Pat O'Toole from Rose Bruford, Laura and James the co-founders and Principals of the Dorset School of Acting and Equity, who impressively had sent a senior member from their main office plus Adam Pettigrew the Chair of Equity YMC...and ............well that was it.
I completely applaud Equity for sending 2 senior members, in an instant showing how important a subject they considered this to be. I'd go so far as to give them a standing ovation given that I had gone a few rounds with them on Twitter over this topic many a time. Similarly great to see our industry's paper there ready to report on this important and life changing subject...but where were the other drama colleges? Drama UK who I've always maintained are a joke, didn't show, in spite of being sent a reminder email a few days before (which of course was acknowledged by an automated response. No doubt they were over in China or somewhere building up their brand awareness). However where were the course leaders that on twitter always publicly comment on my thoughts about Mental Health, and always ask to arrange a coffee to discuss the topic...and who have never, ever followed through? Where was the Pastoral team member from another major college who had had an extensive email exchange with me over the conference, agreeing that something needed to be done, and stating that they had already popped the date in their diary? Where were the actors, who had been very vocal with me about their own struggles during college, and telling me in no uncertain terms that they would be at this conference as something had to be done?
10 of us in total were in that room, and do you know what the saddest thing of all was...that had exceeded my expectations. I knew that all those people wouldn't turn up. Everybody today is a social network warrior. They'll shout about stuff on FB, they'll press 'attend' to all the political events and rallies. They'll write posts and share posts about how we should be implementing social change. They'll moan and rant about simply anything...but when it comes to leaving their homes or offices to actually implement that change....nothing. Of course there will always be the anti establishment extremists who turn up at any event ready to fight whoever over whatever, but they're not the people that we're trying to engage here. I'm talking about the everyday actor who knows that this industry is struggling (and I know this because as well as seeing it myself, they've told me). Talk to me about your time at college when you witnessed people going through so much pain, with so little help. Oh that's right, you will talk or write to me about that 'poor' person, but you won't go and sit in a room one afternoon in a bid to help the next poor sod going through the system?
As it turns out the conference was extremely useful. We all sat around and nodded as we shared experiences of mental traumas in college. Even in that room the 1 in 3 was sounding like an optimistic figure.
Equity were very much on the front foot, and had some plans underway which might help the issue somewhat.
However there IS still an issue here, and if anything Drama UK being useless has made it even harder. All of the colleges, big and small, should have a mental health policy..but you know a policy means nothing. It means that someone sat down, like I'm sat writing this blog, filling up a word document, with all the right 'things' that we'd want them to say, no doubt hitting on the buzz words of the moment. Here's the rub though.....it don't mean a thing, if in practice your staff and your students don't understand Mental Health. A person in crises won't just suddenly knock on a stranger's door to tell them their issues, more than that, if they're in crises, they might not even know that they're in crises. Good mental health policy (as witnessed at the conference actually) showed that these things had to be 'picked up' not just ignored by staff and students, or put down as 'being a bit off', or 'having the bad day'.
Who does now regulate drama schools? Or indeed does it matter? Should good Mental Health policies (and by that I mean the ones that actually deliver....not like one that I heard about that got 'put on the table every time that there was an inspection') almost get a Kitemark, to show that they operate within an agreed set of guidelines (or at the very least are attempting to)? If so, who's to hand out the elusive 'marks' and then who's going to go around every year and check that they're being upheld? It almost needs a 'secret shopper' approach to ensure that standards are upheld.
So lots of questions still to be answered, but at least we started.
Ironically it's not my students that I'm worried about, I know that we're implementing an active Mental Health policy. I'm actually fighting for seemingly the majority of the rest of them. The stunning teachers, like the other ones in the conference, are fighting for their students that they can't get hold of because they're swamped and over subscribed.
How to convince a 'business' to invest in the invisible that won't pay back a dividend for years? Invest in your students today and don't see any reward for years? As that's what we're asking. The payback for good Mental Health would be experienced throughout the entire industry (hell CSM's wouldn't know what had hit them). First though...how to get everybody to leave their homes and offices to have the discussion?
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