Theatre

Acting is a precarious profession that does not have a very healthy reputation for job security and seasoned actors will often name luck as an important ingredient of their success. However, like other careers in this section such as artist and musician, it is a career choice that involves not just pure talent, but can also benefit greatly from a formal education in college.

Successful actors have a mixture of talent, personality and dedication. It is not all about winning Oscars or starring in Fair City, many people make a decent living working in dance and drama without ever being recognised when walking down the street. For those who love pretending to be someone else, and who can handle hardship as well as success, a career treading the boards could be just the thing.

As is the case with music and fine art, a number of associative careers are also available in this industry, such as theatre administrator, costume designer, lighting technician, sound technician, stage designer, stage manager, director and producer.

Education
Potential drama queens (and kings) have a number of different CAO options, with several degree courses in Acting Studies; Drama (Performance); Film, Literature & Drama; and Drama & Theatre Studies to choose from, as well as the higher certificate course at DIT. It is also possible to take Drama as a major subject in an Arts degree. The CAO points required typically range from 380 to 450 and students also have to pass an audition to be accepted onto a course.

Third-level drama courses teach a combination of practical dramatic arts, performance skills, physical techniques, and more theoretical subjects. You may study Voice & Speech, Acting for the Camera, Improvisation, Writing, Singing and Dance as well as gaining a thorough knowledge of Classical drama, Shakespeare and contemporary Irish drama. Students may also take classes in useful business and teaching subjects.

Drama students play different roles in various productions as part of their course – everything from Greek tragedies to contemporary comedies – and often get involved in college drama societies.

FETAC courses provide training for theatre-based roles such as costume design, stage management, sound and lighting, and set design, while degree programmes in Film & Television Production, Film & Television Studies, and Production Design and Art Direction will prepare students for a career in production and direction. Costume designers often graduate from standard fashion design courses.

Options After Qualification
There is no single direct path to success in an acting career. Some people go straight from college productions to major films, but for most there are many small roles and constant auditions to undergo before they become established as a professional actor. Young actors also need to acquire Equity cards. To gain provisional Equity membership, you will need to prove that you have had some professional experience.

Similarly with roles such as set designer, it is a case of garnering experience on your way up the career ladder to working on major productions.

The Work
Actors interpret the work of other writers, or occasionally their own material, and communicate it to the public. The material can vary greatly in depth, form, purpose and of course quality, ranging from a Shakespearean comedy to re-enactments on Crimeline, from TV commercials to radio plays.

Working as an actor isn’t all about glamour – as was memorably portrayed by popular TV show Extras. If you are working on a TV drama, you could endure hours of tedium before they film your two-minute scene. Actors’ lives can be divided into time when they have acting work, and time when they don’t. Many graduates spend years in other jobs – whether bartending or waitressing, teaching or helping with youth drama groups – awaiting their big break. Securing a good agent can be very important for making progress.

Putting on plays can be an extremely complicated and logistical process. Roles that require experience and expertise such as costume designer, lighting technician, sound technician, stage designer and stage manager are often just as important as the actor in creating an effective production.

Personal Qualities & Work Environment
Getting up on stage or in front of the camera can be a difficult and stressful way of making a living, and a good quantity of self-belief and ambition is useful for a career in drama or dance. Acting is also a physically demanding pursuit, and a good level of fitness and health will be beneficial.

Other theatre roles require both creative flair and practical skills. The hours for all involved can be highly irregular with lots of travelling, which can affect your personal and family life.

The Money
Although high profile actors command outrageous pay packets, extras or small parts in a TV series or ad might make €200 a day. Bigger roles will pay more – starring in a TV advertising campaign can pay €3,000. However, this won’t happen every day. Actors starting out often have to supplement their income in whatever way they can.

Behind-the-scenes theatre positions usually earn around €25,000 a year, with the opportunity for greatly increased income resulting from bigger productions and TV or film work.

The Jargon
Chewing the Scenery: Refers to when a performer over-acts, reducing a role to implausible histrionics
Prop: Any object used or located on the stage during a play
The gods:  Refers to the highest, and cheapest, seats in a theatre

Job Title
Actor
Costume Designer
Sound/Lighting Technician
Stage Manager/Designer
Director
Producer
Drama Teacher
Theatre Critic

Further Resources
Irish Actor’s Equity
Liberty Hall
Dublin 1
Web: www.irishactorsequity.ie
Email: equity@siptu.ie
Phone: 01 858 6403

National Association for Youth Drama
34 Upper Gardiner Street
Dublin 1
Phone: 01 878 1301
Web: www.youthdrama.ie
Email: info@nayd.ie

Drama League of Ireland
The Mill Theatre
Dundrum
Dublin 14
Phone: 01 296 9343
Web: www.dli.ie
Email: dli@eircom.net

Abbey Theatre Outreach/Education Department
26 Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1
Phone: 01 887 2223
Web: www.abbeytheatre.ie
Email: michellehowe@abbeytheatre.ie

Macnas
The Black Box
Dyke Road
Galway
Phone: 091 561 462
Web: www.macnas.com
Email: admin@macnas.com