What Sixth Form studies for someone who wants to be an actress?

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DD is in year 11 and still unsure of what she wants to do next, she said she wants to be an actress and has done a bit of acting; she is also interested in music; but has not done a much of it. She is looking at Btec and A levels too as she is aware acting is a difficult path and would like to have a backup; however when I asked her what else did she see herself doing apart from acting she said nothing else.

I am not sure what to advise really; she could do a diploma in music production and performance at college; but I don’t think music is a backup for acting and is another difficult career.

What A levels and Btec should she choose? She has a good eye for detail, is creative, spontaneous, funny.

Thank you. I appreciate your comments and this is something I will speak with her about it so she goes with her eyes wide open if she wants to follow that path.

She is predicted 7s in Science and Maths

Is there a local performing arts college? My niece is doing her post 16 education at LIPA and there are many similar schools across the country.

There is also an A-level in Film Studies. From what I have read, it's like English Literature, only analysing films instead of books, and I think they either produce a short film or write a script.

I think English Literature, Drama, and Film Studies or Media Studies would be a fun combination for her. Textiles could be another option (costume design). Only do history if she really likes it (that also applies to the other subjects, of course, but I'm assuming she will like those).

Just saw your last post - Is she actually better at maths and sciences than English? Then you need to rethink the choice of subjects. You don't need A-levels in particular subjects to go to drama school.

Classics and Literature will both help with understanding and interpreting plays from the ancients to Shakespeare.

This is a somewhat outdated picture of how 'ancient' plays are performed in the UK now. All Greek plays are translations anyway, and with that comes the slant of modern mores and modern modes of speech, and it's the same with Chekov, or Moliere or Racine or any number of others. The National Theatre's Bacchae, the recent Oedipus at the Old Vic, the current Misanthrope at the National are all profoundly modern and unless you perform them in Ancient Greek or C17th French that will always be the case. Classics is pointless, unless she really wants to do Classics, and the root of pretty much every play I can think of is the human condition, which is to do with someone's (ghastly phrase but I'm going to go with it while shuddering) 'lived experience', not their knowledge of Sophocles' original text.

As for interpretation of Shakespeare (or any playwright), the interpretation itself within the performance structure is the vision the director brings to the rehearsal room, and A level English Lit doesn't teach you about the actual verse speaking, which, as an actor, is the important part. It does teach you to understand the text marginally better, though you can do that by reading Arden Edition footnotes, but to be honest, a graduate from drama school nowadays could go through their whole professional career and never do a classic play, French, Greek, Russian or other, or a Shakespeare, and, frankly, it wouldn't be to their detriment. When I went to drama school a very long time ago, every actor did a Shakespeare and a modern speech for Showcase. I can't remember the last time I saw a Shakespeare piece at any drama school showcase unless it was specifically an event for verse speaking. Even the RSC's current output now has a diminishingly small quantity of Shakespeare (and that's a whole other conversation, but there we go).

She really should go with pretty much anything she likes doing.

But it isn’t about performing ancient texts. It’s about understanding the structure of language, how subtext works, being able to make the language, text and layers of meaning work.

Yes the director has a vision and plan and knows how the actors need to fit into that but it’s much easier to work with actors who are fluent in understanding text critically, and good actors who know how to make text work take it further than ‘direction’

Judi Dench reading a sonnet goes way beyond what can be done on direction alone.

35 years in theatre. The stage bit.

Judi Dench can speak a sonnet like that because a) she is a total genius with a profound and innate understanding of text and iambic pentameter as well as being an extraordinarily kind and lovely human being and b) because Olivier, Peter Hall, John Barton etc all worked their magic at a time when theatre companies drew enough respect that credits at the end of a BBC radio play included the words "Joe Bloggs is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company/National Theatre" - but she didn't get it from taking A level English, and she certainly wouldn't now. To be perfectly honest, I wish more directors actually studied text because I think the knowledge of speaking it - however old fashioned anyone now thinks Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre or Greg Doran's understanding of text is (to name a random four I've worked with rather than any other way of collating directors), at least they understood it thanks to the rigorous teaching of verse at Cambridge University that also taught McKellen, Jacobi, Russell Beale and a host of others.

I would love a resurgence in proper verse speaking - RSC take note - but I'm not convinced Gove's GCSE or A level syllabuses are going to get us there.

I think - as a parent of a young adult now making their way in the performing arts - that for most ‘normally gifted / interested’ young people, the 16 to 18 years have two parts:

• Academically, the focus should be on getting the best grades in their exams that they possibly can, as these will be their backup should the creative dream fall short. If your child will get best marks in STEM, do STEM. If they will get best marks in English Lit, do that. Don’t even do Drama unless it is slam dunk good grade AND a gateway to valuable performance opportunities.

• Extra-curricular activities are key and should be planned in the same way as academic studies. Where are the best performance/ drama group / drama class opportunities? Would adding singing or dance lessons help? Would applications to local, regional or national youth theatre groups be useful? The aim should be to have something developing their skills going on all the time, not just the once or twice a year of a school production.

The advice above is for entry to ‘performance’ type courses, where admission is by audition. If the intent is to study something more ‘performance adjacent’ - theatre studies, academic drama etc - then the precise academic choices will be more important.

(The theatre director / playwright I know anecdotally studied a totally unrelated science subject, and only went into the theatre post degree)

Agree with PPs suggesting Psychology. If she doesn’t make it in acting she could look at being a Drama Therapist.

To be perfectly honest, as I sit here looking at the work that's come up on Spotlight today, which is currently a raft of corporates, some television, lots of commercial work and endless Christmas shows or immersive site specific stuff, because that's the season, it really is a case of whatever she fancies, and me banging on like an old person about verse speaking is utterly irrelevant. By the time she becomes an actor, vertical drama will rule the world and you have to get every emotion under the sun over to the audience in three minutes in that genre.

I was in a business all hands meeting the other day and as I was watching the CEO I was sat there thinking “this is all just acting isn’t it”.

A huge amount of corporate guff is about being about to tell a good story, engage people and be convincing.

These days I honestly think a rigorous acting or fine arts degree is going to be useful than a generic history or English degree for employment.

I think this will be a good degree for her.

Tell your daughter to build on her music proficiency! This helped my dd be able to apply for actor musicianship degrees at drama school. There are fewer people applying for these courses than acting, so are fractionally less competitive.

Having just graduated, they now all have the reality of finding jobs … her First doesn’t really mean much now, unfortunately, in terms of getting an agent!

Good luck to your dd.

She is also predicted at 7 in English Language and 6 English Literature

My DD has just started at Drama School. In the 6th form, she did BTEC Performing Arts and English Lit A level. Most of her fellow students seem to have taken a very similar route. Entry into Drama School is a very competitive business and is, from what I can tell, entirely based on auditions. It’s not the faint hearted!

My daughter did advanced higher drama and a level music. She graduated from a prestigious school in London with a ba in musical theatre in 2016. She's now an employment lawyer.

She has the most amazing voice but really wasn't strong in dance.
A couple of her friends are doing really well on the west end now but a lot of her year have moved on to other roles in life.
I think @mimbleandlittlemy as an agent makes some very valid points. I don't regret my daughter doing musical theatre but having another string to your bow is very important

As the parent of a professional actor, who is reasonably successful - and not pursuing it as their Plan A - if they can see themselves doing anything else then they should do that.

And if they can't see themselves doing anything else, then they need to find something they would.

If you want some sobering viewing, go onto the websites of places like RADA or GSA and look at the alumni pages - you can click onto the actor's Spotlight profile and see how much work they have booked since graduation, and who their agent is.

A sizeable number have no agent or are no longer even on Spotlight 5 years after graduating.

Getting an audition today is a HUGE win. Actually booking work is like winning the lottery. Booking enough work that it's your actual job... that's unicorn territory.

So if any of them want to be an actor, they need to decide what they want to do the 99% of the time that they are not acting.

A lot of my child's acting friends are also pursuing other careers, they have good screen and theatre credits, top agents and when a tape comes in hooray, and even better if they book, but they're not spending all their time on it.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

I'm no expert but I would start by looking at the top drama schools like RADA and see what they ask for.

I think she needs to prep for auditions and the suggestion for something she can do if she is between acting jobs. And that might not be anything like the A level subjects eg nail tech or care work. Not highly paid or prestigious but easy to pick up work anywhere in the UK.

As well as doing acting she could consider working or volunteering at your local theatre to learn how things work behind the scenes.

There isn't really a 'between acting jobs' these days for 90% of actors. There aren't enough jobs available.

It's more having a normal career and life with an occasional acting job... bit like an annual holiday only probably not annual.

So a solid plan B is a happier move. 1k+ new graduates each year, plus all those who have worked since they were kids and don't bother with drama college.

Spotlight has over 90,000 actors in the UK, plus thousands more who aren't eligible for Spotlight.

It is depressing; not sure why people want to be actors/actresses.