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It was a question asked at a meeting I attended last week. It sounds a bit trivial when there are huge issues about funding training and what a drama school student’s entitlement and training experience should be.
Actually, setting aside my immediate frivolous thought that it’s obviously just set-your-sights-high preparation to play Hamlet in his “inky cloak” and “customary suits of solemn black,” there is a serious side to this and it’s worth thinking about.
For a start it isn’t true that drama students are always required to wear black. Some colleges and schools don’t insist on “uniform” but others do. I visit schools all over the country and I know that policies vary tremendously.
Those that require corporate dress say it puts students in the right frame of mind. “There’s a sense of putting on work clothes to come to work,” says Geoff Colman, Head of Acting at Central School of Speech and Drama which specifies black for classes.
In the 1930s Laurence Olivier and co wore jackets and ties to movement classes and the women sported Grecian style short tunics
The same arguments get trotted out as for school uniform: black depersonalises individuals, takes away the need to compete about what you wear and helps to create group bonding.
It also means that nobody turns up to a class in a “best” garment which they value and so don’t want to lie on a studio floor in it – a self conscious preoccupation which would be bound to inhibit his or her work focus.
Yet some schools are relaxed about dress simply asking for appropriate garments such as leotards, track suit trousers and loose tee shirts without specifying colour or requiring clothes to be purchased especially – potentially yet another cost to add to the drama school experience bill.
In the past, Colman tells me, CSSD – and other schools – had extraordinary student dress codes by today’s standards. In the 1930s Laurence Olivier and co wore jackets and ties to movement classes and the women sported Grecian style short tunics. “We’ve got a photograph somewhere of Cicely Berry, the great voice coach, wearing one of those tunics,” he laughs.
So obviously things have changed and improved. And I’m left wondering whether drama school students still need a uniform and, if they do, whether it needs to be black. I’m doing my wondering with an open mind, though. I don’t know the answers.
Students at the Performance Preparation Academy
What did you wear when you were training? If you’re a student now, what does your training institution advise/require you to wear to classes? Do you think it’s an important issue, and if so why?
I look forward to hearing your views and experiences.
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Comments 15 comments
In house we have Black Tshirts with Class Act Theatre School logo and black leggings/trousers + plimsoles/split sole dance shoes… It keeps them all the same i.e. no competition re: fashion, colour, etc
If they are all on the same playing field they are all equal in my eyes it also gives discipline to the sessions… When doing displays/shows they all look the same so no problems with costumes, unless we require such.
If we perform with other schools in shows then we are easily recognisable. It is also good for advertising as the kids do wear them outside of the school. Hope this helps. Ages of the students 4-17years
Lisa McLeanReport comment
Certainly does. Makes a lot of sense. Thanks very much.Report comment
At degree level I think students should wear anything comfortable and easy to move/work in. I understand the notion of ‘work clothes’ but unless you’re headed for a Chicago audition I’d recommened leaving your blacks at home in the post-training real world. Students should feel comfortable, confident and happy in what they wear whilst training. I’d personally rather celebrate their individuality in dress than shove everyone in blacks.Report comment
For the same reason you wear blacks to perform in recital or concert: when you sweat, the audience can’t see.Report comment
I agree with the comments above and there is good reason to have uniform clothing for those reasons. Although our full time students are required to wear black, they have a choice of zoodie colours ranging from red and pink to green and oxford navy. We do allow the students to modify their t-shirts to suit them (within reason!).
With our youth theatre students, all are require to have a uniform t-shirt of the same colour for classes but they take part in an annual ‘Showcase’ and are required to have a costume t-shirt for this and each Stage (of which there are 5) wears a different colour to represent the different stages. After the show they are free to wear it to classes. They can also choose their own zoodie colour. Whilst it’s important for them to wear a ‘uniform’ t-shirt with the logo etc, we love that they wear different, bright t-shirts. It allows them to express some individuality but still be in uniform and part of a team and we find they wear their coloured T’s more often that not! – it seems a good balance.Report comment
Hello all
As the person who asked the question that has inspired this excellent piece from Susan I thought I should join in the comments.
Just to add some context, when I asked it I was speaking very specifically about degree courses at drama schools not about stage schools and youth theatres. Its great that this article has opened up my initial (and at the time slightly cheeky) question but the reasons Lisa and Laura give in the comments above are about younger students and are the same arguments (on the whole) to school uniform.
Why would students at degree level be required to wear school uniform? To put this into context, when I go and direct second and third years I have seen an increasing requirement for all students to wear black.
I agree with Geoff about having the ritual of changing for class and preparing to work, about wearing something that allows you to move without fearing you’ll damage your best jeans is all valid…
but…
why does it have to be black?
This sounds so silly I know, and again, I’d like to point out that I asked the question partly to get a cheap laugh but, also because I think we are selling students a lie by requiring them to wear black, and its a lie that stops them getting work at the other end of the course.
To quote Susan “black depersonalises an individual”. So here I am, coming to direct a group of young actors in their third year shows and what do I have? A group of unikit drama students. Its that bit harder for me to get to know who they are, what makes them tick, to see their individual personality. Fine, I have a term to do this. But then, all these students leave drama schools and start turning up to castings in blacks and neutral tones. I have 20 minutes to get to know as much about an actor as possible and they’ve made it that bit harder by dressing the same as everyone before and after them.
wearing black is the clothing equivalent of an RP accent. Its useful to have to hand, but over use just creates an anonymous group identical actors.Report comment
I’m just setting up a theatre school, and this is something I’m considering at the moment. On the one hand, I think it is good to have a uniform of some sort because:
1) there isn’t going to be an issue that one person has the latest clothes, and other don’t (especially if you are working with younger children!)
2) if we are doing a dress rehearsal that they aren’t going to be worrying about their clothes
3) the group is recognisable to the public as “that school/theatre” etc, and it will create more of a feeling of belonging, that you are all there for the same reason.
I also like to think that the members of a theatre company / school etc would be proud of being a member, and so perhaps would want to wear a t-shirt with the logo on.
On the other hand it is an extra expense that sometimes people can’t afford.
It’s a tricky one, but personally, I think that some sort of “uniform” is a good idea.Report comment
As a full time university drama student, my institution requires us to wear clothing that will allow us a full range of movement, without restricting our flexibility, are not too revealing (no low-cut tops for the women), and that we are happy to roll around on the floor in. We are also asked to remove any jewellery before class, and if we insist on painting our finger- or toe-nails, we are asked to keep them within a neutral colour palette, as we do every class in bare feet.
We are not specifically required to wear black, however patterns and logos are banned, as they create an unnecessary distraction in class. Block colours are fine, however we often find ourselves in all blacks anyway, simply because it is such an easy colour of clothing to find. Black leggings and singlets for the women, and shorts and tee shirts for the men, tend to be a pretty commonly spotted outfit.
Nobody has ever turned up to class in their Sunday best, as we all know what is expected of us, however the less restricted clothing regulations allows some individual flair to come through, which I think is great, and as has been me ruined in previous comments, is setting us up for working in the industry and finding little ways to distinguish ourselves.
Just thought I’d put in my two cents as a current student (:Report comment
I am at a Drama UK/CDS Drama School on a BA Acting course and am in my 2nd year.
During my first year we were required to wear tracksuit bottoms or lose trousers and loose fitting t shirts/vests for movement classes. Any colour was permitted but no logos were allowed.
However this year new rules mean all black for movement is required. It is good in terms of creating a working enviroment and unifying the ensemble of professionally training actors, but it does take the individualism away and can feel very structured and bound at the same time.
Generally as an acting student at drama school you are there to train to become a professional so while on the course if all black is what you’re required to wear then so be it. For acting classes we have to wear costume, so why not for movement/voice?Report comment
They’re in mourning for their lives. That’s what a surfeit of subtext does to you.Report comment
Can someone please explain why tshirts with logos & patterns are “too distracting”? If someone is distracted by a Tshirt I can’t imagine they’d make a particularly good & focused actor…
Most people attending BA Acting courses at drama UK schools, unlike the majority of university students, are at least 21+ if not older. At that age, someone shouldn’t be dictated to wear a “uniform” whatsoever.
Removing jewellery I can understand for entirely practical reasons (I have received a ring in the face before and it is not pleasant). But seriously, on my course everyone wore whatever they wanted, yes there were some who started off in high heels, tights and dresses, but eventually people adapt and find what is most comfortable to them as an individual. Once you do that, that is when you can really relax into group work… Not when you’re forced to wear black and look at people’s underwear seeping through cheap leggings (THAT is what i call distracting)…..Report comment
Simple, if youre so poor you havent got a washing machine you dont look like a dirty tyke.
Actually Michael Armstrong has got a pointReport comment
Having just graduated from a course where the uniform was all-black, despite the complaints at the time, I can completely understand why it’s necessary. As mentioned above, it puts everyone on the same level from day one. In addition, harking back to something one of our tutors once said, it makes each actor a blank canvas to work from. Training isn’t like being at an audition or in rehearsal for a show, where you want to come dressed in the essence of the piece: you never know what you could be expected to do or be from day to day and a neutral black uniform allows you to fully play and explore anything that a personalised (and personal) outfit may not let you do to the same extent.
We never performed in blacks and by our third year shows, we were allowed to wear anything comfortable and appropriate to the pieces to rehearsals (and of course by then, it was never a fashion parade because we all knew each other and what was expected. Most people stuck to blacks anyway because it was just less effort in the mornings!). We also had it drilled into us never to wear blacks or neutral outfits to auditions once we graduate: you want to be a memorable individual in that situation!
Hope that provides a bit more insight =)Report comment
We use black clothing so that we’re neutral, and not wearing anything that’s “our” style. We’re supposed to be other people, and be able to distance ourselves from our own way of thinking and acting, and absob the characters way of life instead. With a bright pink t-shirt, low cut with the word “hot” on it, you’re not really neutral, are you?Report comment
You can start house training iieedmatmly. Sometimes the easiest way to do it is to crate train. Every single time you get him out of the crate, take him outside to do his business. If he has an accident on the floor, take him outside iieedmatmly to “show” him that that’s where he’s supposed to go. (If you wait too long, it probably won’t do much good). Don’t get mad at him because at his age, it will just take some time for him to “get it.” Keep in mind that very young puppies have to go pretty often, so you’ll probably have to get up at least once, if not two or three times in the night to let him out, at least for a couple of weeks. Some breeds are easier to train than others, so good luck.References : I’ve house trained a few puppiesReport comment