Becoming An Actor: Becoming a Student (for a bit)

It’s Christmas (imagine that said with the gusto of Slade) and I’ve been gifted with a fortnight off. Two weeks for Christmas doesn’t seem like all that much of a gift when compared to your standard university student, but at drama school it’s a welcome and necessary caprice.

One problem with being a student at Drama School is that that is all you become. Tales of students going out four times a week, sleeping into the afternoon and missing lectures remind me of the kind of fantasies people in East Berlin might have created about what it was like over the wall… the days are long, and the work often physically, and sometimes emotionally, draining. There isn’t a chance to sleep late or to miss lectures, not only because I don’t have ‘lectures’ to miss, but also because it’s just not acceptable behavior. We are being conditioned for a world where if you are a regularly late or absent, there will be a queue of people waiting to stand in your place.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that drama school takes over your life; it’s not that I don’t make the time for excessive student drinking (but for the record I should say that, in all honesty, I probably wouldn’t), it’s that we’re not given the time. A standard first/second year timetable will start at 9am and plough through until 9pm three days a week, and 5:30 on the others. That’s not to mention weekend rehearsals, which are not mandatory but are obligatory – if such a narrow distinction can be made. Then there is the extracurricular work; classes to prepare exercises for, scenes to learn, stage combat fights to master – nobody ever manages to do it all to the best of their ability, but even those who put in the least effort would struggle to find the spare hours for a midweek game of pub golf.

My point is, I think, that drama students miss out on a lot. We miss out on having so much free time you tin foil your flat-mate’s bedroom, or brew beer in your bath. We miss out on all the rubbish on iPlayer… I’ve yet to watch an episode of Snog, Marry, Avoid – which I am reliably informed is great broadcasting. Not only do we miss out, but when I tell people I’m at Drama School I can see them jumping to the stereotype of a boy mincing in a leotard, excited by musicals, and loving the sound of his own voice… I wonder if anyone will notice me ticking one of those boxes in the writing of this blog?

In actuality, it doesn’t matter because I didn’t come to drama school for the ‘university’ lifestyle. However, I feel it is a part of my job to keep up to date with the industry, and even that isn’t easy. Though I’m nearly at the theatre as much as I might like to be I’ve completely missed a whole host of brilliant films and TV dramas that, with industry employment the way it is, are just as important.

Which is why two weeks off every year for Christmas is so welcome! Dad has finally invested in Sky+, so I’ve a fortnight of quality telly ahead of me – if Mum has persuaded him to read the instructions rather than arbitrarily pressing buttons on the remote.

But before I tuck into that, as I sit on the train back to the Midlands with my fingers firmly crossed that technology hasn’t managed a festive foxing of my father, I will read a book. Not a theatre book. Just a book. Because for the upcoming festive period I will become an ordinary student. I might drink more than is necessary, I will almost certainly sleep for long periods, and I’ll definitely be doing things completely unrelated to the industry – including reading a book or two.

Excuse the radio silence over the next few weeks. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and, as Bart Simpson said, remember the true meaning of Christmas “The birth of Santa”!