The Mad House…
Let’s face it, life is relatively great up until you hit your 20′s despite how it may seem or how you feel about it in a hungover head on a table in McDonalds state. Ok, so your adolescent years aren’t the best, (with all the triangle bras, sexual turmoil and greasy skin) but as you get older though you've more than likely lost enough memory from drunken nights before to diagnose yourself with mild amnesia although it doesn’t always seem like the best time of your life, life really is great until you turn 21. |Heinsight will teach you this. Then I'm afraid it all goes tits up! (And your tits start to go down, cry) 

Obviously it is important to mention here that I am talking from the perspective of a post-grad 21 year old. I assume if you’ve always worked in the same place from 17 onwards, when you hit 21 you don’t really feel or see a big difference. When you leave education at the age of 21 with what you believe to be a skill set that will last you for life (and a heavy debt hanging over your head) you suddenly realise you’ve been thrown in the mad house without an emergency exit, a map or a weapon of self-defence!!!

University for most is the best time of your life and as a performing arts or creative arts student you probably spent a lot of it doing all nighters with a strong pot of coffee battling inner-demons in order to create fabulous projects over night for assessment. (As a theatre student I honestly only recall making theatre that looked like it had been done under a drug induced state due to sleep deprivation and hysteria). But my point is, during those glorious years of working semi-professionally in a very safe and encouraging environment as an arts student once you’re spat back out into the real, real world, you suddenly realise that no amount of mask workshops or essays on Ibsen’s A Dolls House and feminism could have prepared you for this…

I like to class myself as a theatre-maker (of sorts)…

During my time at Uni I created a lot of different pieces all of which I was particularly proud of and during my third and final year staged and directed my own original play at 2 theatres in both Bath and Bristol with the words ‘experience, experience and experience’ ringing clear through my head! But it appears although I tried to give myself a head start into the outside world by gaining as much experience as I could when i graduated I went straight to being stranded in a brand new city, knowing no-one, working on a Reception desk of an arts organisation trying to piece back together my artistic integrity in my spare time… (Joy!)

(At no point during my well over £27,000 worth education was I painted a picture which honestly reflected my first post-grad steps into the real world).

So I felt it would be wise to create a blog documenting my post-graduation progress (and failures to make you feel better), so that you can gain an insight into what to expect once you have graduated. I have started by creating a few very important bullet points to start you off!

1. Don’t be fooled by alumni…Although your place of education may give you real life examples of students who have gone on to be said artist, director, writer etc, don’t be fooled into thinking this is an immediate transition from graduation into the working world. The real truth is though you have 3 years of education under your belt you should be prepared to hit the bottom rung of the ladder and start building your reputation and experience from scratch again post graduation. Never forget that success comes with hard work and graft, the truth is that these people probably didn’t get a real success story until their late twenties (this stuff doesn’t come about instantly or effortlessly, it is a climb for want of not quoting twerky cyrus, so get your hiking boots on).

2. Accept that nothing gets handed to you on a plate anymore and if it does, well, you’re very lucky indeed! There is no leeway if you miss a deadline for a job, or miss a rehearsal for a play because you’re hungover…and trust me you will not find said jobs and plays without continuous scrawling over the internet! You now have to become pro-active at both hunting for opportunities and promoting yourself, your work and your portfolio. (YES I said portfolio, get it done its the only way)


3. Websites such as IdeasTap and Artsjobs are now you’re new best friend. Use them well and wisely. 


4. This one is probably the most important and daunting piece of advice I have learnt. You have to grow some balls and ask for work! Whether it be free or paid you have to make connections with local arts organisations and ask for opportunities. Most of the time there will be some scheme or someone who is willing to give you the time of day but don’t be too disheartened if they say they can’t, (the arts are always in crisis and sometimes cant help!) Along with this piece of advice also goes know your own worth and capabilities. Don’t just take on any piece of crap because you need to feel like you’re doing something. It’s always great to make connections through doing, but don’t get tied down working for free for years on end on projects you are uninterested in. At some point you are going to need to be paid for your work, always remember that. (You just need to get to that point! PORTFOLIO AGAIN! Get it done, put everything you've done on there, even if you just brought a director coffee once! Prove your worth!) 


Last but not least don’t be afraid to go it alone! Make your own opportunities, set up your own website and company and don’t be afraid to fail. No matter how many firsts or thirds you got at Uni, or how popular or not so popular you were amongst your idolising peers, apart from a grade at the end of it you are now all in the same scary place and there’s thousands of you!! (And to be honest no one gives a shit about the grad student who keeps harping on about their first marks unnecessarily all the time, yes its great at proving you were good at something but these marks were subjective and now yo) You’re new at this, do you think Shakespeares first play was a hit? (Well it probably was but at some point he would have failed, its inevitable!) Take a risk!

So here it is now. A starting point for you. I’m going to carry on this blog in which I will keep constant progress of my struggles and journey as a young theatre-maker in a public forum so those who suddenly find them-self thrown into the mad house can refer to it to for a friendly voice and a guiding hand! If I gain any brilliant advice I will post it on here whether it be for theatre-makers, film makers artists or musicians. (Even retail workers, I will try!) And hopefully will share my crazy roller-coaster journey with you all no matter how strange and down right weird it may get…(all for your benefit obviously!)

From someone already stuck here, welcome to the Mad House guys!