Technical theatre / stage management (2017 entry)

Hi,
I have applied to do stage management at RADA, LAMDA, Guildhall and Bristol Old Vic. I have received a holding letter from RADA, as they are still interviewing and I have been offered a place at Bristol Old Vic, which I need to accept.
What about you? Where have you applied and course have you chosen?

Reply 2

OP

I've applied for SM at Mountview, LAMDA & Bristol Old Vic. I've got an offer for Mountview but I'm on the shortlist for LAMDA & Bristol. I really want to go to Bristol but they won't let me know til end of May 😐
I might end up just accepting the Mountview offer though cos at least it guarantees me getting somewhere in the industry but idk I hate having to wait so long for an answer 😔
Congrats on ur Bristol offer tho I really loved it when I went down. What did u think about the other places? What made u pick Bristol as the one you've accepted? 😊

Reply 3

I know. Playing the waiting game is exhausting, but I would wait if I were you until you definitely have all your offers before making a decision because you never know what might happen.
Initially I wasn't drawn to Bristol on the day of the interview because I had my heart set on living in London; however, on reflection I do really like the atmosphere and the student to teacher ratio.
I am going to accept my Bristol offer because I have to accept it within two weeks otherwise they will give my place to someone else, but I can also change my mind and later decline.
However, I haven't had my LAMDA or Guildhall interviews yet. I have Guildhall on Thursday and LAMDA the following Thursday, so I could still change my mind on whether I want to go because I haven't looked round either of them yet.
Did you take a portfolio to each of your interviews? Because I know they say it is desirable, but not necessary.

Reply 4

OP

When I went to look round LAMDA I found it was my least favourite of the 3 places I visited. I felt that the atmosphere was quite a bit different and I thought, compared to the others, they didn't put much effort into wow-ing me or convincing me that they were the best place - kinda just that they knew they were good and you had to want them.
They are also in a state of moving at the moment to you may find half the school in boxes, but they do show you around all of the old bit of the campus and let you know that they are building their own theatre next door (which I did think was one of their main selling points in comparison to what other places offer).
Also, be prepared for a certain amount of theatre knowledge quiz style questions that I was extremely taken aback from when I was asked in the interview.
I did bring a portfolio to all my interviews because my past experience is mostly art & design related, so I thought it would be helpful for them to actually be able to see the things I was talking about, rather than just take my word for it. I found that it was very effective at my Mountview interview (helped greatly by having the props lecturer on the panel), but I felt that it wasn't really used to it's full potential at LAMDA or Bristol - I felt that they wanted to find more out about me as a person and my personal experiences, rather than any tangeble material that I had produced. 😊
What are the types of experience that you have for your portfolio?

Reply 5

I have finally had all my interviews and I had the exact same experience at LAMDA. I found the interviewer was happy to correct me when I did not provide him with the answer he was looking for. However, he was sometimes surprised when I knew things he did not expect me to answer correctly and further asked how I knew the answer, which was really off putting. In addition, the main interviewer did not fail to mention that "LAMDA is the best place to study Stage Management". In fact, I think he mentioned it about 4 times during interview.
For the price of the application, travel to get to LAMDA and the 1 hour I spent there, which included a tour, I am really unimpressed and also is my least favourite.

My portfolio was a hardback spiral bound A3 art book, that I spent time painting and drawing about my experience but each page took a really long time to do so I only filled about 14 pages of this 60 page portfolio. Also my portfolio seemed to a lot different compared to all the other interviewees I met. They all seemed to have portfolios on their laptops, whilst I was carrying this giant portfolio full of drawings that I had done in my spare time to the different venues.
I incorporated plays that I worked on, such as, Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus" which I was the stage manager and "A Clockwork Orange" which I am currently assistant directing. Therefore, I had pictures from the performances, rehearsal pictures and my personal opinions. I also included pages on performance that I had been to see and was inspired by and plays that I had even studied in my English and Classical Studies lessons at college. So I did a few costume designs, painted different staging ideas and lighting mood boards, things like that. I basically used my portfolio to showcase my creative side, which might not have come across during the interview.
I found my portfolio really aided my interviews at Bristol and Guildhall; however, it was quickly looked at during my RADA interview.

Have you heard from Bristol and LAMDA yet?
How weird would it be if we both ended up going to Bristol? 😂☺️

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

OP

No, unfortunately I think it will take until the very end of May to hear - I absolutely can't bear it though. 😅
I'm currently in the process of accepting my Mountview offer, so at least I have a place but if Bristol were to offer me a place I'd deffinately take that instead (although I would feel a bit bad about snubbing Mountview but I suppose that's just how it goes?)

Not sure what I'd do if LAMDA offered me a place... I'd probably reject it in favour of Mountview tbh if I was to just go off how the interview days went.

How did you find Guildhall? I've read some positive things about them but I couldn't apply cos I thought it was through ucas. Is Bristol still ur preferred option now that you've interviewed everywhere? 😊

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

I know. It's horrible having to wait to hear.
My Guildhall interview was good, but it seemed like a really formal place compared to Bristol. But on the day of my Guildhall interview, a student, who was showing us around the building, pulled me out of the way of a tutor and
really frustratedly told me to "just get out the way". The tutor didn't even say anything. It was like he just expected me to clear a path for him because he believed he was more important than me, which he is but it shouldn't be like that. I didn't even realise I was in his way because I had my back to him as he was approaching.
So that experience has really tainted my opinion on Guildhall. But the day of the interview was good and I felt like I got my money's worth because it was a long day and there was a really long tour and we also had to do a creative task. This involved making a substitute prop out of recycled materials, which fun.
I didn't have to apply through UCAS for Guildhall because I used my 5 options to apply to universities to study Classical Studies.

Bristol is definitely my first choice. I just felt really welcome there and the two interviewers seems really lovely and gave a good impression of the place.
If you got an offer from Bristol, would you reject Mountview? Also, if you accept your Mountview offer, can you later decline if you were to receive an offer from Bristol?

Reply 8

OP

If Bristol gave me an offer I think I would definitely take it over Mountview. However, I think it's a bit frowned upon that I have formally accepted the Mountview offer but then would decline afterward should Bristol offer me a place. Like, the form says that by accepting the offer I'm committing to attending. Ideally, I'd like to wait until June when I have all my offers back, but Mountview said I only have 2 weeks to accept the offer before they could give my place to someone else and I really don't want to risk it. I think I'd sooner have a confirmed place at my 2nd choice then hold out for my 1st and end up getting nothing.
I've asked a few people what they think about this tho cos it does feel a bit dodgey, but they've all told me to just accept the offer I have and then reject later if I have to.
If all the unis just got back to me then I could sort this out properly without having to possibly snake anywhere 😓

Am I doing the right thing?

Reply 9

Original post by ELLESAPPELLE

If Bristol gave me an offer I think I would definitely take it over Mountview. However, I think it's a bit frowned upon that I have formally accepted the Mountview offer but then would decline afterward should Bristol offer me a place. Like, the form says that by accepting the offer I'm committing to attending. Ideally, I'd like to wait until June when I have all my offers back, but Mountview said I only have 2 weeks to accept the offer before they could give my place to someone else and I really don't want to risk it. I think I'd sooner have a confirmed place at my 2nd choice then hold out for my 1st and end up getting nothing.
I've asked a few people what they think about this tho cos it does feel a bit dodgey, but they've all told me to just accept the offer I have and then reject later if I have to.
If all the unis just got back to me then I could sort this out properly without having to possibly snake anywhere 😓

Am I doing the right thing?

I had the exact same problem with Bristol. After receiving my offer, they wanted me to accept the offer within 2 weeks; however, at that point I hadn't finished interviewing everywhere. I just sent them an email, asking if I could wait before accepting my offer and if they would hold my place for me whilst I did that and they said that it was fine and that I just had to keep in contact with admissions when I receive my other offers.
So I say just send whoever is head of admissions an email asking if they will hold your offer whilst you wait for other offers to come in because the worst they can say is no and if they do and Bristol give you an offer, you can then just reject the Mountview offer. ☺️

Reply 10

OP

Okay, I'll do that. Sounds better than snubbing them outright without trying to get the offer held first.
Thanks!! 😊
You mentioned you interviewed at RADA - what was that like? I felt way too intimidated to even look there haha 😊

Reply 11

Yeah, it will look more respectable if you email them. No problem. ☺️
It was okay, but there were three people on the panel yet only one of them asked questions. I felt it was less about getting to know me as a person and more about my experience and what I knew. And because they decided to hold some interviews in Manchester, I haven't actually seen the facilities so it's not my first choice.
Did you have to paid for your application for Mountview?

Reply 12

OP

No my Mountview one was free (other than extortionately high train fares of course), but I had to pay for the others.

Unfortunately they only offered local interviews to the actors, otherwise I definitely would have gone to one - but at least I got to go to the actual schools.

I've emailed Mountview so we'll see what happens 🤞🏻

Reply 13

chesher123

Hey, I applied for the RADA TTSM course and had my interview last week. RADA was the only school i applied to. Now the long waiting game begins...... does anybody know (if they applied for RADA TTSM, or even maybe schools like LAMDA, Guildhall etc that could be similar) how long the wait is before you hear anything from them? I'm a member at National Youth Theatre and when i applied there, the waiting time for my acceptance email was 2+ months, really hope it's not that long this time round!!!

Reply 14

OP

Original post by chesher123

Hey, I applied for the RADA TTSM course and had my interview last week. RADA was the only school i applied to. Now the long waiting game begins...... does anybody know (if they applied for RADA TTSM, or even maybe schools like LAMDA, Guildhall etc that could be similar) how long the wait is before you hear anything from them? I'm a member at National Youth Theatre and when i applied there, the waiting time for my acceptance email was 2+ months, really hope it's not that long this time round!!!

Hi, I had to wait about 3 weeks for all of mine 😊 Good luck
Btw that's so cool that your a member of the NYT! What's it like?

Reply 15

chesher123

ah cool! well done on your offers/shortlists!! I'm just wondering if you hear a lot sooner whether or not you get accepted/a holding letter/rejection and then if you get a holding letter THEN you have the long wait, if that makes sense? thank you, good luck to you too! NYT is amazing! the 3 week summer course was so fun and i got given a placement by one of the scenic artist teachers to work with her on The Libertine at the Theatre Royal Haymarket & Theatre Royal Bath straight after the NYT course!! which school would you prefer to be going to in September then?

Reply 16

Original post by ELLESAPPELLE

No my Mountview one was free (other than extortionately high train fares of course), but I had to pay for the others.

Unfortunately they only offered local interviews to the actors, otherwise I definitely would have gone to one - but at least I got to go to the actual schools.

I've emailed Mountview so we'll see what happens 🤞🏻

Have you heard anything from Mountview? ☺️

Reply 17