LAMDA Stage Management and Technical Theatre

Original post by katmits

definitely Guildhall, although the cost and complication of living in London is frightening!!
Do you think that the practical exercises will be used as an assessment or was it just for fun? I'm a bit clueless!!
How did you like RADA, very famous.

The lighting lecturer said they were more of a way to spend the time usefully, so I don't think they will be using them to a great extent, I think they will probably get a good idea of our knowledge by looking at our portfolios, but it may be used to see the type of of person you are and if you would fit in. I couldn't do the knots they taught us at all so I hope it didn't count too much :\
I really liked RADA, but I think Guildhall is just kind of one up on it in terms of facilities, friendliness and course content for me, but I am still considering it, as it seems a really great place to be. That's the one people know when they ask me when I am applying, but I always have to explain to them that I am not doing acting 😊

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 42

Hello

I had my Guildhall interview a week ago today (Stage Management pathway) and LAMDA two weeks ago today. I've accepted an offer from LAMDA, and am waiting for Guildhall to get back. I imagine it will be at least another week until we hear, as my understanding on the day was that this week was also an interview week. Not sure which one I'll go with if Guildhall offer me a place as well... Pretty sure I want to specialise in SMgt, but not quite 100%...
Went to the open day of RADA but didn't like it as much as LAMDA or Guildhall? And I heard from several other people not to try Mountview or Central. Mixed reviews of both, though.
Just thought I'd get involved with fellow applicants - don't know anyone else applying this year! Where are all of you guys from? I'm just in North London :smile:

Reply 43

Original post by Sierra-McC

I'm sure you did great! I felt that too, everyone was really friendly 😊 I'm thinking it will be my first choice, if I get an offer, I hope you get in, let us know 😊

You're sweet! Best of luck to you too! Let me know when you know! Perhaps we'll be studying together after the summer! :smile:

Reply 44

Original post by cookieanon

Hello

I had my Guildhall interview a week ago today (Stage Management pathway) and LAMDA two weeks ago today. I've accepted an offer from LAMDA, and am waiting for Guildhall to get back. I imagine it will be at least another week until we hear, as my understanding on the day was that this week was also an interview week. Not sure which one I'll go with if Guildhall offer me a place as well... Pretty sure I want to specialise in SMgt, but not quite 100%...
Went to the open day of RADA but didn't like it as much as LAMDA or Guildhall? And I heard from several other people not to try Mountview or Central. Mixed reviews of both, though.
Just thought I'd get involved with fellow applicants - don't know anyone else applying this year! Where are all of you guys from? I'm just in North London :smile:

Hi!

It's good to talk to other people doing similar things since I don't know anyone who is currently there or has applied. That would make sense about another week, because I remember them saying interviews are being held for most of March, really want to know :smile:

I applied to RADA later than Guildhall and Mountview because whenever I talked to people from there, they didn't seem particularly friendly. Then I applied because I didn't want to regret not applying. I think I prefer the course but I just really loved Guildhall, partly because of the involvement the students had with the interview day :smile:

Mountview were so nice when I went and I was thinking RADA and Guildhall would have to be really good to beat it, and they were. I think the facilities made a huge difference there. I have also heard people say to avoid Mountview, which although they were lovely, made sense when you see the facilities at Guildhall or RADA.
Guildhall is really good for specialisation, and although I am pretty sure I want to go into lighting, it would be good to try more of set and stage management than they get to do at Guildhall. But they still do some of the other courses so I think it is still my first choice.
I really wasn't impressed with the facilities or the location of LAMDA with the busy road, and I think I only talked to one student for the whole interview. But the interview panel were really nice, and there seemed to be some really good opportunities for work experience, just not for me. Also, it did seem more into SM than technical which is what I want to do, so the course didn't appeal to me as much :smile:

Sorry, I just realised how long that message was! Well done for getting an offer from LAMDA and good luck with Guildhall!!
I'm from Bedfordshire, I got an offer from RADA and Mountview, I turned down LAMDA, and am still waiting for Guildhall. How did you find the Guildhall interview? Did you apply anywhere else?
:smile:

Reply 45

Original post by cookieanon

Hello

I had my Guildhall interview a week ago today (Stage Management pathway) and LAMDA two weeks ago today. I've accepted an offer from LAMDA, and am waiting for Guildhall to get back. I imagine it will be at least another week until we hear, as my understanding on the day was that this week was also an interview week. Not sure which one I'll go with if Guildhall offer me a place as well... Pretty sure I want to specialise in SMgt, but not quite 100%...
Went to the open day of RADA but didn't like it as much as LAMDA or Guildhall? And I heard from several other people not to try Mountview or Central. Mixed reviews of both, though.
Just thought I'd get involved with fellow applicants - don't know anyone else applying this year! Where are all of you guys from? I'm just in North London :smile:

Hi!
Congratulations on the LAMDA offer, sure you then did great at guildhall too. :smile:

I'm also an applicant for the stage management pathway, only applied for Guildhall.. Went to central for open day, not really impressed , also went to RADA but it wasn't for me :smile:

I thought they only had the interviews my week(the week before yours) and then yours - at least that was what the first years said . But I guess my odds just went down a bit of there is also interviews this week
- I'm from Copenhagen :smile:

Reply 46

Original post by Sierra-McC

Hi!

It's good to talk to other people doing similar things since I don't know anyone who is currently there or has applied. That would make sense about another week, because I remember them saying interviews are being held for most of March, really want to know :smile:

I applied to RADA later than Guildhall and Mountview because whenever I talked to people from there, they didn't seem particularly friendly. Then I applied because I didn't want to regret not applying. I think I prefer the course but I just really loved Guildhall, partly because of the involvement the students had with the interview day :smile:

Mountview were so nice when I went and I was thinking RADA and Guildhall would have to be really good to beat it, and they were. I think the facilities made a huge difference there. I have also heard people say to avoid Mountview, which although they were lovely, made sense when you see the facilities at Guildhall or RADA.
Guildhall is really good for specialisation, and although I am pretty sure I want to go into lighting, it would be good to try more of set and stage management than they get to do at Guildhall. But they still do some of the other courses so I think it is still my first choice.
I really wasn't impressed with the facilities or the location of LAMDA with the busy road, and I think I only talked to one student for the whole interview. But the interview panel were really nice, and there seemed to be some really good opportunities for work experience, just not for me. Also, it did seem more into SM than technical which is what I want to do, so the course didn't appeal to me as much :smile:

Sorry, I just realised how long that message was! Well done for getting an offer from LAMDA and good luck with Guildhall!!
I'm from Bedfordshire, I got an offer from RADA and Mountview, I turned down LAMDA, and am still waiting for Guildhall. How did you find the Guildhall interview? Did you apply anywhere else?
:smile:

I agree - the students at the Guildhall interview day were a great feature. We only got to talk to one (ex-)student at LAMDA, which was still quite useful, but I thought Guildhall was much better in terms of that. The interview panel was three people at both places, and all were really lovely and friendly.
The associated studies at Guildhall look good, and I didn't realise before quite how long they were. A whole halfterm pretty much?
The interview at LAMDA was a bit unexpected, as it was almost like a quiz at times! I hear it's the same for everyone though, even for the Guildhall students I spoke to who interviewed there last year. The location of LAMDA is a bit second best to Guildhall's, but the new facilities in 2016 look to be amazing.
Congratulations on your RADA and Mountview offers! I've only applied to LAMDA and Guildhall.

Reply 47

Original post by SisJose

Hi!
Congratulations on the LAMDA offer, sure you then did great at guildhall too. :smile:

I'm also an applicant for the stage management pathway, only applied for Guildhall.. Went to central for open day, not really impressed , also went to RADA but it wasn't for me :smile:

I thought they only had the interviews my week(the week before yours) and then yours - at least that was what the first years said . But I guess my odds just went down a bit of there is also interviews this week
- I'm from Copenhagen :smile:

Thanks!

I know a stage management student who recently finished at Central, and they were not too impressed with them. Then again, I know a lighting student there who absolutely loves it. Central always seems quite serious to me, though... Fingers crossed about Guildhall!!

Reply 48

Original post by cookieanon

I agree - the students at the Guildhall interview day were a great feature. We only got to talk to one (ex-)student at LAMDA, which was still quite useful, but I thought Guildhall was much better in terms of that. The interview panel was three people at both places, and all were really lovely and friendly.
The associated studies at Guildhall look good, and I didn't realise before quite how long they were. A whole halfterm pretty much?
The interview at LAMDA was a bit unexpected, as it was almost like a quiz at times! I hear it's the same for everyone though, even for the Guildhall students I spoke to who interviewed there last year. The location of LAMDA is a bit second best to Guildhall's, but the new facilities in 2016 look to be amazing.
Congratulations on your RADA and Mountview offers! I've only applied to LAMDA and Guildhall.

Thankyou

I agree about the new facilities at LAMDA, I'm just not sure I want to be in the middle of the change whilst studying, especially as it is only two years. It was strange with the Stage Management questions at the LAMDA interview, I think I got very few of them right, so I wasn't expecting an offer at all. Mountview was only one person doing the interview which was a lot easier, because you don't need to worry about who you should be speaking to when which I found difficult at Guildhall, RADA and LAMDA. Although, it was nice to have representative from each department. What do you think about foundation course/ the BA? It would be nice to have the option to change whilst studying at Mountview and RADA, but if I go for the three years anyway I might as well have gone to Guildhall, it is very difficult.

Reply 49

Original post by Sierra-McC

Thankyou

I agree about the new facilities at LAMDA, I'm just not sure I want to be in the middle of the change whilst studying, especially as it is only two years. It was strange with the Stage Management questions at the LAMDA interview, I think I got very few of them right, so I wasn't expecting an offer at all. Mountview was only one person doing the interview which was a lot easier, because you don't need to worry about who you should be speaking to when which I found difficult at Guildhall, RADA and LAMDA. Although, it was nice to have representative from each department. What do you think about foundation course/ the BA? It would be nice to have the option to change whilst studying at Mountview and RADA, but if I go for the three years anyway I might as well have gone to Guildhall, it is very difficult.

I quite like having more than one person on the interview panel - I find it much less intimidating not having to just stare into one persons eyes the whole time. Being able to talk to a few people is quite nice. I got most of the quiz questions right, I guessed a couple accurately ('I don't know, but if I were to guess...'), and just had to say I don't know for the others. I'd been told to not lie, and it worked :smile:

The BA is one of the things attracting me to Guildhall over LAMDA. I'm not that fussed about having a degree, personally, but if I don't do stage management/tech theatre for my whole life, having a degree post-theatre would be quite invaluable, I imagine. LAMDA also offer the third year BA on top of the FD, but apparently in the five or six years they've been running it, nobody has ever taken it. Apparently because they all feel employable enough after the first two years! There is the thought of if you're going to do a degree, just stick with guildhall though...
Other reasons why I'm leaving towards guildhall are the halls (look AMAZING and not available at LAMDA), large music school (I'm quite musical myself), facilities and central London location!

Reply 50

Original post by cookieanon

I quite like having more than one person on the interview panel - I find it much less intimidating not having to just stare into one persons eyes the whole time. Being able to talk to a few people is quite nice. I got most of the quiz questions right, I guessed a couple accurately ('I don't know, but if I were to guess...'), and just had to say I don't know for the others. I'd been told to not lie, and it worked :smile:

The BA is one of the things attracting me to Guildhall over LAMDA. I'm not that fussed about having a degree, personally, but if I don't do stage management/tech theatre for my whole life, having a degree post-theatre would be quite invaluable, I imagine. LAMDA also offer the third year BA on top of the FD, but apparently in the five or six years they've been running it, nobody has ever taken it. Apparently because they all feel employable enough after the first two years! There is the thought of if you're going to do a degree, just stick with guildhall though...
Other reasons why I'm leaving towards guildhall are the halls (look AMAZING and not available at LAMDA), large music school (I'm quite musical myself), facilities and central London location!

I can't work out if it would be better to do an fda or ba because if you are employable after two years you are saving a lot of money, but then it is good to have a degree, as lots of the jobs I have researched out of interest have needed one. That's does seem odd that nobody has done it though, I guess it speaks quite highly of LAMDAs course though.
The halls at Guildhall are really nice and it would be good for accommodation to just be sorted at least for the first year, rather than looking for a flat. It would be really cool to live so near all the theatres, Guildhall has the second widest stage in Europe or something crazy like that, and they have an automated flying system, it seems really relevant to what the actual job would be like which would be really useful 😊 if you haven't seen the Guildhall course blogs they are really interesting, there is a link on the course page on their website 😊

Reply 51

katmits

It would be quite nice to save a year's tuition and accommodation costs!!

At the open day we heard of a couple of Guildhall Students who had been offered jobs after the first 2 years and had left without completing their degree. I get the feeling that if you have gone on a good course what then really counts later on is the work you have done and the experience you have - a degree seems less important in this area than in other jobs.

Reply 52

Original post by Sierra-McC

I can't work out if it would be better to do an fda or ba because if you are employable after two years you are saving a lot of money, but then it is good to have a degree, as lots of the jobs I have researched out of interest have needed one. That's does seem odd that nobody has done it though, I guess it speaks quite highly of LAMDAs course though.
The halls at Guildhall are really nice and it would be good for accommodation to just be sorted at least for the first year, rather than looking for a flat. It would be really cool to live so near all the theatres, Guildhall has the second widest stage in Europe or something crazy like that, and they have an automated flying system, it seems really relevant to what the actual job would be like which would be really useful 😊 if you haven't seen the Guildhall course blogs they are really interesting, there is a link on the course page on their website 😊

Money is a big factor, of course, but we won't really notice it because it will all be loaned automatically from the government. I suppose that the type of job you walk into also matters - perhaps the degree students get slightly better and higher paid jobs than at lamda? I don't know. Would be very difficult to measure.
The blogs are very interesting, aren't they :smile:

I enjoy reading them.
I've only got a few days to decide once (if) guildhall give me an offer... They are so many different arguments both ways!

Reply 53

That's true, it is largely about the experience you have (and the people you know!). But if you don't do theatre for your whole life, dont you think it would be good to have a degree in order to move into a different career, if you chose to do so? Unfortunately, degrees seem to be very highly valued over everything else currently, even if it doesn't matter in this field.

Reply 54

of course the money matters, but i will tell you to go with your gut - thats the disicion you will be more happy with in the long run :smile:

Reply 55

Original post by SisJose

of course the money matters, but i will tell you to go with your gut - thats the disicion you will be more happy with in the long run :smile:

That's the problem - after a while of thinking so much about it, I've ended up overthinking it and not knowing what my gut says anymore... Anywho, wait and see if they give me an offer first! Good luck! :smile:

Reply 56

Original post by cookieanon

That's the problem - after a while of thinking so much about it, I've ended up overthinking it and not knowing what my gut says anymore... Anywho, wait and see if they give me an offer first! Good luck! :smile:

That is exactly how I feel, there are too many factors to take into account, but I definitely think you should go where you feel happiest. I'm trying to think of it as a completely separate stage rather than just a pathway to a job, it is three years, and I want to be able to enjoy it, especially for the money 😊

Reply 57

Anyone heard from Guildhall yet?

Reply 58

Original post by cookieanon

Anyone heard from Guildhall yet?

Not yet! Had a minor heart attack when I saw someone had replied .. Perhaps one of you guys had heard something 😝

Reply 59