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Birmingham School of Acting (BSA) first round audition.Birmingham School of Acting (BSA), first round audition.
My audition was at the link building, which is the main site where the school is situated. I found it quite difficult to find the school (not just because I am a country bumpkin) and none of the locals seemed to know where the link building was either. I finally had some success when I asked a police officer and he told me it was just around the corner from where I was! I could have easily walked past the main entrance to the school and when I finally met their admissions officer she told me that she had the same problem with finding the school when she first came to work there and apparently the link building is not even on the map! The link building itself is quite grotty looking, one of the many monstrously ugly buildings, which were naively constructed in the 1960's when it was considered to be the future of city planning. But don’t let this but you off. The school will be moving into a new, custom built building next year, which will boast some impressive new facilities including many soundproofed rehearsal rooms.
The audition started with a short workshop/warm-up ran by two of the first year students on the BA acting course. This workshop did not seem to be very well planned and did not last very long. Although it was fun and served the purpose of helping all of the candidates in the room to calm down and also get to know each other. The two students who were ushering us were consistently helpful throughout the day and were able to answer all most of our questions on the course and living in Birmingham although I cant help but feel that it would have been more useful to have spoken to the final year students who could answer questions on all aspects of the course and not just the first year.
When the time for my audition had come I was walked to the audition room by one of the ushers and made to feel at ease by him and then when i entered the audition room i was greeted warmly by the two panel members (one actually got up from her desk in order to shake my hand which made me feel very welcome. They asked me to perform my monologues first and then we would talk. When performing I noticed that the panel were a good audience to play to. Unlike many other panels, they don’t write notes whilst you are performing (instead giving you their full attention and writing notes afterwards).
The best thing by far about the BSA audition process is that the panel gives you feedback on your speeches. This is not offered at any other drama schools the country to my knowledge. It is a great opportunity to improve your monologues and also to show the panel how you take criticism. Even if you don’t succeed at audition for this school i think it is still a worthwhile experience to get feedback for your audition monologues.
The impression I got of the Birmingham school of acting is that they have developed an audition process that aims to be friendly and put candidates at ease in order to see their true potential. If you are new to auditioning then i would highly recommend the experience i have gained from this school so far.
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