The Stage

Backstage Education - Technical Training supplement

Published Friday 22 April 2005 at 13:15 by Barbara Eifler

Barbara Eifler explores the opportunities in technical training, for those who prefer to stay behind the curtain.

“Many parents would happily remortgage their house to pay for their children to train as actors,” says Francesca Faulkner-Greatorex, director of the technical theatre programme at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. “Yet they wouldn’t consider it if their children wanted to pursue a technical career backstage.” This is strange, she considers, given that employment rates for technical graduates are above 90% whereas for actors they are about 10%.

So what if you do want to work backstage? And what exactly does ‘backstage’ mean? There is a huge variety of jobs available behind the scenes and almost certainly a job that suits you - it is a question of finding it. Most people have heard of stage management but do they know about jobs in sound where there is currently a shortage of qualified staff? Or you could be interested in lighting, set construction, design, costumes, props. Within each area, there are very many different roles.

And how to go about getting such work? Most people feel that some formal training would be helpful. There are thousands of technical theatre courses offering BTEC and HND qualifications all the way up to degree courses. The problem is choosing one that will give you the required skills and a job afterwards. Most drama school courses are accredited by the National Council for Drama Training (NCDT). The aim of accreditation is to give students confidence that their chosen course is relevant and the profession confidence that the people from these courses have the right skills and attributes for the job. Employers, with a stake in the NCDT themselves, therefore tend to favour those graduates.

Drama schools offer one, two or three-year vocational courses, with or without a BA Honours degree, requiring applicants to have A-Levels or equivalent. Applicants also need to demonstrate their commitment to the performing arts but colleges aren’t prescriptive about how you do this. “Those with a genuine interest,” says Faulkner-Greatorex, “will always be able to communicate that at interview.”

Obtaining a degree is not only helpful in guaranteeing funding for students, it also validates technical training and careers as professional choices. There are also still, increasingly so, many who simply start working in their local theatre on a casual basis - follow-spotting for the panto or as additional stage staff for one show - and end up working there part or full-time. Soon this route should be validated by national standards currently being piloted. These would offer work-based assessment and qualifications, allowing those with no formal training to acquire certification for their skills.

So what can you expect when you get to drama school? At Mountview initially all students are taught all technical subjects, achieving a basic grounding in each. After that, students choose one subject and a second ‘minor’ one. The rest of their time at college is then spent working on productions in their chosen fields. This hands-on experience is invaluable. This is a vocational course - mostly, you learn by doing.

But it is also a degree. So where does the academic bit come into it? “If you’re worried that you’ll have to write lengthy essays, then don’t be,” assures Faulkner-Greatorex. “The academic dimension is closely related to your chosen field. You are taught text analysis, research skills, history of theatre, how to source information or materials and how to communicate effectively - essential in a supremely collaborative industry.”

Every single drama school I have visited uses the above elements but in a different mix and with different emphases. So it is important to find out exactly how each one works before deciding where you want to train. There is bound to be the one out there which suits your talents and abilities exactly, in the way Gryffindor not Slytherin suits Harry Potter!

Drama schools will also help you find work when you leave. There are classes on CV writing, mock interviews and personal career guidance. Work placements often lead to jobs after graduation. Mountview also holds an exhibition for technical graduates and publishes a graduate book with brief CVs circulated to potential employers. And your course tutor will be your referee for the first one or two years of your career, which is in itself invaluable as almost all teaching staff tend to be practitioners known in their field, a fact of which drama schools are justly proud.

Staff are also encouraged to keep their links with the industry and thus their practice is current. In addition, each school has a different system of bringing in other freelance production staff either as supervisors for specific shows or as visiting lecturers, encouraging students at all times to be exposed to a diversity of practice, preparing them thoroughly for the broad range of work in the performing arts and the flexibility it requires.

For further information:

• National Council for Drama Training, 1-7 Woburn Walk, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0JJ. Telephone: 020 7387 3650. See its website for a list of accredited drama school courses: http://www.ncdt.co.uk

So you want to work backstage?

• Association of British Theatre Technicians. Free leaflet downloadable from the website on www.abtt.org.uk

• Conference of Drama Schools, the official body for vocational drama training in the UK. Download their Official Guide To Vocational Courses for Drama and Technical Training from www.drama.ac.uk

• The Stage Management Association publish a free booklet Stage Management - A Career Guide, available from 55 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3JB. Telephone: 020 7242 9250. Also available from www.stagemanagementassociation.co.uk

Work based qualifications

• The Association of Lighting Designers’ website has a section on training. See www.ald.org.uk

• Skillscene. Contact info@skillscene.com These are currently in development and should be available from 2006.

• The Society of British Theatre Designers’ website at www.theatredesign.org.uk gives details of training available in all aspects of theatre design.

The Stage would like to thank the following for their support of the 2005 Technical Training supplement:

AETTI

ALRA

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Central School Of Speech and Drama

East 15 Acting School

LAMDA

Mountview Academy Of Theatre Arts

RADA

RSAMD

Skillscene

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