Greetings, aspiring actors, parents, and theatre enthusiasts!  We are thrilled to welcome you to the SSPA blog, a monthly rendezvous where we dive into the world of performing arts, share insights, and guide you on the path to pursuing your passion for acting and musical theatre.  This blog is regularly written by Adam Stadius, an acting coach and currently Deputy Head of the School of Drama at Leeds Conservatoire, but we may well feature alternative guest writers too!

Whether you’re a budding actor, a parent supporting your young artist, or someone intrigued by the performing arts in general, our blog is your go-to source for valuable information. Each month, we’ll explore various facets of the performing arts, from the nuances of actor training to navigating the challenging terrain of drama school auditions.  We also want to respond to things you want to know too, so do let us know in the comments if there’s any burning questions you have too, who knows, maybe they’ll feature in a blog post sometime soon!

In the meantime, we’re really looking forward to sharing experiences, tips, and inspiration that will fuel your passion and curiosity for the performing arts, one monthly post at a time.

To give you a tester of what we’re working on, here’s a shorter insight.  Enjoy!

How do I know which Drama School is for me?

Choosing the drama schools to apply for can feel like a huge direction.  The number of courses at the varying schools has grown considerably in the last ten years, so the choice is huge! But so is the competition!  Below we’ve listed a number of things you may want to look in to when considering where to apply to pursue your dreams:

1. Know your budget – Auditions can be pricey, when looking at schools you should try to work out if they charge for audition fees, some charge for first round and recall auditions, some don’t charge at all!  Something else to factor in is the cost for travel and potentially hotel stays if you’re travelling for far.  Some conservatoires offer partial refunds for travel costs depending on certain criteria so it’s good to look in their websites for all of the information.  Once you know your budget, then you can decide many to apply for.

2. Do your research – All schools display varying levels of information on their websites about their programmes, opportunities and student life on campus.  There are various online groups where you might be able to get first hand information from graduates (Like the Musical Theatre Appreciation Society on Facebook).  You can also look up actors you admire and find out where they trained too.

3. Attend open days if you can – Open day’s give you a chance to feel the energy of a place.  If you’re going to spend 3 years (and a good amount of student finance) somewhere, you want to know it’s a place you feel like you can excel in.  For some people that might look like a warm and friendly environment, for others, you might want somewhere that feelselite. There’s enough choice out there for all tastes, but it’s helpful to have an idea of where feels right for you.

4. Think about where that school is located – If this article was 15-20 years old, many of you would automatically consider London as the target destination for actor-training.  These day’s that isn’t necessarily the golden rule anymore. There are fantastic schools in London, Oxford, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow (and that’s just the UK!).  All cities offer something different so, if you can, look in to the areas where the schools are and what life feels like there.  You might be surprised at the locations that really excite you.  Remember, you’re aiming to have a life around your studies, so think what you would like that to look like.

Happy hunting!