"Oh, you want to do Drama at university? Do you think you could make a career out of that?"
 |
| The School Panto 2016 |
I've heard that quote or words to that effect quite a lot growing up. As someone who has loved drama as a subject and all aspects of acting and performance, I've always known that I wanted to study it at university. Honestly, I'm not worried about "not being able to make a career with a drama degree", because I know I will and hopefully it'll be successful. I'm hoping to pursue a Drama and English joint honours to be specific, and I've noticed that people tend to exhale and smile after mentioning the English part of my possible degree—as if that's the thing that's going to make sure I'm 'well-off' or in a respectable job (however you define that).
I believe there's a big misconception about Drama as both a subject and a career, that it's both easy and useless. If you believe that that's fine, but I (and many others) know, that's definitely not the case.
I'll be honest, drama GCSE was a very packed subject. Both year 10 classes were full, with many inside and outside the classes believing that it was a "cop-out" subject, one that you take for a
"bit of fun" and that "anyone can pass it".
Let me tell you right now that it's not.
Both Drama GCSE and Drama AS level were possibly my most difficult subjects, for the following reasons:
- You're basically constantly working with other people so you NEED to learn how to work effectively in a group.
- There's so much writing it's ridiculous.
- There are so many other subjects relevant to Drama that you need to have some idea about in order to understand the context of a play (History, Sociology, English...etc).
- You have to be creative, logical and understanding when devising a performance. No matter what role you take during a practical exam, you need to approach it from the perspective of an actor, director and set designer.
- THERE'S SO MUCH YOU NEED TO LEARN.
My Drama written exam was admittedly the hardest one I sat, and even though I consider it my favourite subject— that exam was horrible and I never want to see it again. Yet, I'm proud that I managed to pass it and Drama has definitely built my confidence up, made me more creative and pushed me into countless opportunities.
Drama for a lot of people isn't just about acting; it certainly isn't just that for me. For a lot of people it is, and those are the people who are determined to make an acting career for themselves and will go to countless auditions and hope that they get into a conservatoire (acting school) or get an agent and will end up on the West End or on the big screen. I know a few people who will and are already on their way there.
I love acting, I really do. I also love script-writing, directing, choreographing, designing, dancing and developing each of these things into something.
That's what I'll do with a Drama degree.
I could go around schools and encourage confidence through performance. I could write plays about issues relevant today. I could produce films that encourage change and star in those films too. I could teach Drama. I could work in the media. I could review performances. I could go abroad and exchange different kinds of theatre with different cultures. I could star in a one-woman show and end up a damn successful actress and be like someone out of La La Land. I could be all of these things, just as you could become a child psychologist, YA author, or a pharmacist. Sam Williams, one of my peers who hopes to make an acting career for himself stated:
"I think it’s a great thing to peruse a career in drama as it can be used to entertain or even educate an audience and that’s a really important thing".
Apart from the fact many jobs don't care what degree you have, just as long as you have one; a degree in Drama will teach me things that I want to learn that no. other. degree. will. teach. me. Which is why I want to study it!
As thespian Cameron Davies put it:
"...the best way to get started is to be involved in as much as you possibly can, big or small, because getting yourself known in the industry is the best way to make contacts to further any sort of career".
I'm not saying that it's easy to launch yourself off into a fulfilling, happy career in Drama because it's not— but it is most certainly possible. So, these things may make it easier for you and this approach can be said about every subject and degree. If you want it to happen it will and I think you've got to have a positive outlook in order to achieve it.
So no, it's not a stupid and naïve career choice to study any aspect of Drama as a degree, it would actually be naïve to think that studying Drama is the worst thing you could possibly study because "you can't make a career out of it".
According to prospects.ac.uk:
"Three of the top four jobs held by graduates employed in the UK include actors, entertainers and presenters, arts officers, producers and directors and dancers and choreographers."
| Destination | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Employed | 76.6 |
| Further study | 9.9 |
| Working and studying | 3.9 |
| Unemployed | 5.2 |
A career through a Drama degree is possible and trust me I will be proof.
