Six tips from our Spotlight Prize winners and finalists to help you get the most out of your drama school experience.
So you’ve decided that drama school is the right path for you, you’ve succeeded with your drama school audition and you’re finally in. You now have three years (or less, depending on your course) to embrace your training, connect with other actors and soak up every piece of advice that comes your way before you graduate and get sent out into the world to earn a living.
This time will fly by, and you’re unlikely to be in the unique environment drama school offers again. You need to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way.
At the Spotlight Prize 2024, we asked the winners and finalists – who have almost come to the end of their own courses – for their top tips to really make the most of your time at drama school. Here’s what they shared:
1. Meet People at Drama School
Knowing more people is never a bad thing; almost everyone you meet at drama school will be in the same boat as you. You’re likely to see them again during the course of your acting journey, so get to know them, support them and make short films with them. You never know which friendships may lead to opportunities in the future or what you may learn from them.
Cindy Chawula: “Just soak everything up as much as possible and make friends that will support you when you’re going through it.”
Bethany Wooding: “It’s amazing – the group of people who are in your year, but also the teachers are experts in their field. Then you’ll have directors coming in and stuff. Just be really aware of how amazing these chances to meet people are.”
2. Keep Learning
Don’t limit your learning to the lecture halls. While you’re surrounded by people who will help guide and critique you, try new skills and focus on areas you struggle with.
Adam Hashmi: “Challenge yourself every single day with something to better your craft. Even if you think that you’re good at one thing, keep on practising it every day. If you know that you’re bad at another thing, just ask people for help [and] advice constantly.”
Zannie Benfield: “Ask lots of questions – stupid questions, everything. You don’t want to walk away feeling like you didn’t carve everything out.”
Dúa Roberts: “Even if you don’t think the lesson is speaking to you, find something in it that you can use. Not everything is going to speak to you in the way it might speak to someone else.”
3. Don’t Compare Your Progress to Other People’s
The worst thing you can do is look at other people on your course and compare your progress to theirs. No one is going to have the same journey at drama school, so don’t feel like you’re doing bad just because someone else is doing better. Set your own goals and objectives in mind and measure your progress against those.
Katie Shelley: “Try not to compare yourself to other people. Comparison is the thief of joy, and your time at drama school is the time to completely enjoy yourself.”
Jessica Oppong: “Know that this is where I want to be at this time. Be present in each moment that you’re training and really hear and digest the information you’re getting, but don’t put pressure on yourself to be something at a certain point.”
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes
Being in a new environment and surrounded by hundreds of new people may be intimidating, but the quicker you can get over this, the quicker you can start benefiting from it all. Be fearless in your learning, trust yourself and don’t get hung up on the mistakes you make.
Georgi Arthur: “For me, I learned so much about myself at drama school. The quicker you become more comfortable with yourself and where you are, the more you can just let go and play and have fun.”
Alyssa Thabisile Sibanda (Stage Prize winner): “Come home to yourself every day after drama school or weekly. Just be intentional about remembering the person you [are and] the actor you came to drama school as.”
Jaden Asha Evelyn: “Trust in yourself, believe in yourself, but also put your front foot first. Always be on the ball, always stepping forward, because this is the only time that you have a chance to explore and get stuff wrong and just experiment and see what works and what lands and what doesn’t.”
Trudy Akobeng: “Don’t be scared. I think that’s easier said than done, but don’t be scared to just play around, especially in your first year.”
Gabrielle K. Appiah: “Don’t be afraid of looking stupid, because [drama school is] the best place to fall flat on your face.”
Emma Symmonds: “It’s okay to make mistakes. That’s how you learn. You don’t learn from crazy amounts of success. It’s always your mistakes that end up propelling you into something.”
Senam Akpokavi (Screen Prize winner): “Always encourage failure. Really throw yourself out there, because the only way you’re going to learn and improve and grow is through really striving to do something and learning your mistakes, finding your difficulties and working on them.”
Niamh-Ella McCann: “Give it a go. Someone will help pick you up, or you can pick yourself up, and you’ll keep going and you’ll learn from all your mistakes.”
5. Seize Every Opportunity
You never know what an opportunity will lead to, so make the most of as many as you can while you’re at drama school.
Lara Dailey: “Just take every opportunity you possibly can.”
Callum Alexander-Smith: “Get involved as much as you can. Be in the building as often as you can because, before you know it, you’re going to be out of there.”
Scott Bowden: “Have a go at everything. It makes you feel better as well, like you’re being productive. So just throw yourself at everything.”
Tsen Day-Beaver: “Enjoy the city that you’re in as well because if it’s a city that you’re not used to, then sometimes you can find a new home, which is great.”
6. Keep Notes
As we said, your time at drama school will fly by, so our final piece of advice is to keep notes so you can remember everything.
Penny Morris: “Get a book that you keep throughout your three years and write down every nugget of wisdom that really, really speaks to you. And write – keep it in that book.”
A massive thanks to our Spotlight Prize 2024 winners and finalists for sharing their drama school advice!
Take a look at our News & Advice section for more video interviews and drama school tips and advice, including:
