March came in like a lion, kicked me all around the savannah for thirty-one days and then stomped off with bits of blood and flesh dripping from his jaws. A tough, tough month.
Reading: Liza Minnelli, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This
Watching: On stage - Ballad Lines, Come From Away, Hadestown, The Dawn of Reckoning, Phantom of the Opera, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. On screen - Project Hail Mary, The Day After Tomorrow
Most of my notes from March are about the showcases I went to and the graduate interviews I had. Here are some of my notes from the week just gone and my thoughts on how they all work together.
Presence
Standing at the edge
Storytelling
Behaviour
Solving or just changing?
Progress
I don’t know why agents and CDs still call it “grad season”. A season is roughly three months long. These days it’s more like “grad year”. I think RADA’s duologue showcase might have been the official kick-off back in October and it will run right through to early June and the final curtains on the last of the shows.
I have been giving a lot of thought to student showcases this month, and to the different structural choices schools make. Spotlight can claim some of the credit for creating the modern showcase, having organised The Rodney Millington Prize in 1954, featuring graduates from Central, Webber Douglas and LAMDA. In 1956 RADA joined and the event continued until 1970.
However, it may be RADA who should claim the laurels. Founded as the Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the students of the Academy gave their first public performance at His Majesty’s Theatre on February 28th, 1905. The first programme featured the first acts of two popular plays, scenes from A Winter’s Tale and dances. The programme also included what was described in the press as “pantomimic sketches”, probably short physical performance pieces demonstrating ability in gesture and movement. A gold medal was awarded to the student who showed the greatest ability. The Academy continued to present their students annually and, after receiving their Royal charter in 1920, Queen Elizabeth II would often attend.
After the demise of the Rodney Millington Prize in 1970, RADA established the ‘Tree’ in 1977, named after its founder, inviting agents and casting directors to a showcase of graduate performances in its Vanbrugh Theatre. This is widely considered to be the blueprint of the modern drama school showcase.
It’s a blueprint that has been adapted and developed in the almost fifty years since but the basics remain the same: graduating students present their work to an audience of invited industry professionals.
This year, I have mainly attended musical theatre showcases and it has been interesting to note the variation in form across these. Some, very few, schools have opted to keep the showcase closed to all but an invited audience of agents and casting directors. But with so many schools all showcasing around the same time, getting an audience can be difficult. A lot of schools attempt to address this by offering only a filmed showcase. Others offer a hybrid; attend in person or watch the filmed version online. Some showcases incorporate duologues and monologues and dance numbers, while others focus purely on songs. Some include instruments, some (not many) toy with duets. There are those who go full-out and costume each presentation, while others use just one item of clothing which suggests character. Some have a ‘smart’ dress code, others encourage more individual expression, and some use a colour code system for outfits to help identify students. Most showcases clock in around one hour, but there are those who edge closer to two. Sometimes one director is responsible for the entire production, at other times different directors stage individual segments.
Almost all showcases present a cut version of a song and there is a tendency to select the part of the song that shows the most vocal fireworks, or highest belt, or biggest dramatic moment. For the audience this can be both exhilarating to listen to and exhausting. Sometimes in a loud and energetic showcase, the real stand-out moment comes from the performer that is quiet and still. It’s worth noting that, for auditions, when a casting director asks for a choice of song “that shows range” - range doesn’t always have to mean vocal range. When we describe an actor as having range, we don’t mean they can speak really high and really low!
Showcase is a London-centric endeavour, and regional drama schools are all practically obliged to present in both their home venue and a London venue. Hiring a West End theatre is expensive and even the smallest would look like an empty warehouse if industry attendance were low. No wonder then that showcases are increasingly open to family and friends. And why not? Why shouldn’t loved ones who’ve supported the performers for years get the chance to see them on a West End stage? It does, however, create a totally different atmosphere. A closed showcase is usually a quieter affair; a smattering of applause, the scribble of pencils and turning of pages as invited attendees jot down their thoughts. A showcase attended by friends, family, and other student year groups is a much louder event as they vociferously and enthusiastically show their support for the performers. A showcase is no longer solely a means to introduce grads to the industry, now it must also serve as a celebration of finishing training.
Experimenting with the structure may be useful and, in some cases, essential, but it is perhaps more useful to look at the content. The most successful showcases by far are those that have a distinct opinion, one that is specific to that school. The more established schools each have a recognisable flavour. Newer institutions and courses may find it helpful to work out and clearly communicate their own distinct perspective. I attend certain showcases because I know what their grads offer that no-one else does quite as well. I’m not persuaded to attend simply because it offers a different format. Identity matters more.
Overall this year, as every year, the majority of songs presented were American musical theatre and mostly from this century. Obviously students train for the industry they will work in and right now, in the West End, about 70% of the musicals are from this century and many of them are American imports, but more than a third of the musicals in the West End are British musicals and, in Off-West End, fringe, and regional theatres, more and more British musicals are being developed and programmed. I’d say less than 5% of songs presented at showcases this year were British. Yeah, it’s a bit of a bee in my bonnet, but the British musical theatre industry needs support and the writers need promotion.