BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Performing Arts)

I've finally chosen my award title! BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Performing Arts).

I've spent ages trying to think of the right award title. Althought I trained in Musical Theatre I didn't want to limit myself to just this and have recently been following more of an acting based career. There is a huge stereotype in the industry against people who trianed in Musical Theatre who are trying to break into 'serious acting' as it is assumed they are not as capable as one specifically trained in Acting. However I also felt I didn't want to limit myself to just acting either. At the moment I am mainly focusing on the acting side of the industry but also want to leave myself open to the possibility of working in Musical Theatre. As you can imagine choosing my award title became quite the dilemma!

I eventually decided on the title Performing Arts as this covers both area's but does not limit to one or the other. This will allow me to enter into both without any stereotying or pre-consceptions  professionals may have.

I always remmember a question and aswer session I was involved in with a director of a Shakespeare play. Someone asked;

What do you look for when auditioning an actor?

His answer was simply that first he would look at where they trained and secondly what they trained in, and if one was trained in Musical Theatre he would not consider them for audition. Although this view isn't necessairily right but the cold hard truth is that this is the way the industry works and something as simple as an award title can have a huge affect on peoples opinions of a performer without even having seen them perform!