Should I Go to Drama School?

Oh these blogs always get me into trouble. So I’ll be balanced and here’s five reasons for and five reasons against why you should go to drama school.

FOR

ONE – Drama School is… especially for younger actors, it’s a place to grow, mature and come of age under professional tutelage. You get to know what’s expected of you and you learn how to be a young professional.

TWO – Getting directed by established directors teaches you to adjust your own particular way of working to suit different directors, it also let’s you know how to work under the expectation of others.

THREE – Production experience is probably the most useful part of being at drama school

FOUR – You can learn from the mistakes of others, you can learn from your own mistakes without ruining your career and reputation.

FIVE – You can be pushed outwith your comfort zone in a friendly environment, allowing you to become a riskier actor, taking on bigger challenges with abandon.

AGAINST

ONE – Frankly there are enough actors, the world doesn’t need any more.

TWO – It’s very tough to get into and when you’re there, you may not enjoy it.

THREE – The techniques they teach don’t really work and when you look at what professional actors do in rehearsal or performance, you discover they barely touch any of the crap they were forced to do in drama school.

FOUR – Classes are often taken by former actors/directors who having no particular way of working, and can only instruct and steer you to stick to general rules of good practice or to please them. Since they have no shared language with their students, their advice constantly needs translating into practicable use.

FIVE – The reputation of the school and not the training will be a badge of honour on your CV/resume, but the school may indeed fail to prepare you for the world of work by focusing on traditional/time honoured practices rather than training you to be the best you can be.