Musical Theatre Graduates

[Su52]

My 23 year old will be graduating from drama school next month.
As everyone knows, the industry is hard & although they have have been sent for many big auditions by the agent (signed in December by a big agency) and been recalled by many, still hasn't yet quite got there.
I'm just wondering if they can apply for any benefits like Jobseekers etc.?
Is there anybody on here in the "know" about these things?

www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/eligibility

Have they met the criteria as above?

Most theatre graduates get a job either in hospitality or in a theatre itself (box office, usher) or find an alternative trade/skill they can offer during ‘testing’ periods between jobs. What’s their plan?

Why wouldn't they be entitled to jobseeker's allowance? They would need to be actively seeking work, of course, but I presume that they'll be doing that anyway. Don't most people just work in cafe/restaurant type jobs or similar to support themselves between theatre jobs. Plenty of work available in that industry at the moment!

What is preventing them from applying for other jobs? It's extremely common to find other work prior to securing anything in theatre- they can apply for job seekers but will be expected to apply for jobs and it will be stopped if they aren't, it's not a way to pay people whilst they wait for their dream job to crop up.

Of course they can apply for benefits like everyone else, however jobseekers is a bit tricky because they'll be expected to apply for any and every job, and take the first one that comes up, and their benefits will be stopped if they don't do that. That's why performers end up in hospitality, etc - also because it's very hard to live on benefits in London!

As have have said. They can apply, and will probably be accepted. However they will be made to apply to any old job.

Main probably is that any-old-job might not fit in with auditions. So they are much better off finding evening work in a bar/restaurant.

Good luck, hopefully they have their lucky break soon.

I think most people going into that industry realise that it's a bit of a gamble and accept that they will have to take low paid hospitality type jobs in the meantime, don't they? It just goes with the territory.

That's one of the main reasons why dd didn't go down that path tbh. Much as she loves the theatre, she knew what a slog it would be, and she didn't fancy waiting tables for years. Your dd has presumably has quite a lot of exposure to the industry by now, so she will be aware of the compromises that people have to make and has probably thought about back-up plans.

This is the problem I had with JSA, if you have any spec of intelligence you will get the first job they send you for. Usually something call Centre related. This is totally inflexible too. So as annoying as zero hours contracts are they prob need something they can dip in and out of for auditions or something connected like working in a theatre.

What area are you in roughly, I've seen some venues / theatres advertising.

Or sign up for extra work

What is their plan B? Everybody in performing arts training needs one really.

Having a backup plan was one of the first things we looked into when dd went down the vocational training route.

I think it would probably be UC they would need to apply for, not Jobseekers.

JSA for MT graduates works exactly the same as it does for any other kind of graduate. Or non graduate.

I have a few friends who went to drama school and they all do other jobs in between acting work. Usually tutoring or front of house/box office.

Why can’t they get another job? Places are crying out for staff - why should the tax payer subsidise them trying to break into a career with a 98% unemployment rate?

Then she needs to get a job. My dd did MT and has never been.out of work.

My former PA was trying to break into musical theatre. We gave her flexibility for going to auditions, which was fine because she was amazing at her job (and set up an office choir).

She was with us for three years, when she realised MT was never going to work out for her, so she trained as a teacher.

My friend's daughter teaches piano and dance in-between auditions. It's a hard career choice.

Bit odd to come to MN for someone in the know… given your daughter is surrounded by people in the know!

There are people on MN who are in the know as well. The OP's dd might be surrounded by people who know about it but the OP isn't, and these places are notorious for not discussing anything with parents. They are also notorious for not making all that much of an effort to support soon-to-be graduates. A small handful of 'favourites' will have their paths smoothed for them, but the rest won't get that leg-up.

But whether you get a leg up or not doesn’t stop a 23yo saying to her coursemates, “so can we claim JSA whilst we sit around waiting for call backs then?” Or googling. Or asking the JobCentre.

Ex-actor (and planning on dabbling again in the future!) here…

I trained as a teacher before drama school and tutored throughout my course (couldn’t afford not to), and also during the few years that I was pursuing acting.

I did primarily voice work and it was easy to combine the jobs, but also tutored during a couple of theatre engagements. Could your DC tutor anything? English, one-to-one monologue classes?

I also did much dog walking, receptionist and call centre temping work, where they understand that you may need to leave an audition at short notice.

Actor friends of mine also did similar work, plus nannying/babysitting, promotions’ work, modelling etc. One friend who is still acting (and fairly successful) also trained as a hairdresser during a quiet couple of years and regularly does this between jobs.

Which school did your DC attend?

leave for* an audition!

OK so I did this exact thing for about 12 years. And obviously had lots of friends with various levels of “success”. The key is to find a side hustle that you really enjoy. For me that was teaching and I had various self employed regular teaching jobs, that I could drop if an audition or job came up (and there are always lots of friends to cover). I got into those jobs through covering for friends and meeting people. Obviously you do have to be actually good at teaching to do that! I taught singing and drama.

its for the long haul so a parallel career one enjoys is really the thing to have. Before I built up enough teaching work I worked in call centres and temping, i found it soul destroying. Really tiring and left me with no creative energy!

Ive had friends who have tutored, had an Etsy business selling slogan t shirts, done removals, waiters, front of house staff at theatres, been PAs, worked in a dance studio front of house, worked in shops, done promotion work, medical role play stuff, murder mystery, events, catering, bar work…. everything really. But the ones who were happy are the ones who found something g they really loved doing between acting jobs. Also the friends who got west end jobs….. even the most successful performers I know…. They’ve ALL had other jobs in between because, you know, bills!

Oh PS please tell your DC - create your own work! Some of the best things I did came about that way, and one thing grew into another actual side career where I had far more performance success than in musical theatre. Earned way more money too and got my performance kick! But you can’t wait for it to come to you go make something 😊 all the best

Hi @Bigoldmachine , snap! What line of work are you in now?

Thanks all! Yes they are obviously applying for jobs in hospitality & bar-tending (I should have been a little more clear). However, I was thinking that if they didn’t get anything in stage etc. straightaway and were having difficulty finding jobs that would allow time off for auditions, would they be allowed to apply…