Auditioning for drama school cost me £1k

Chloe Morgan says she is thankful she was able to try out for so many colleges when so many others can't

A performing arts graduate spent more than £1,000 over two years simply auditioning to get into college.

Chloe Morgan, 24, said the expense put many of her peers off from even applying.

Audition fees have sparked criticism over the years, from Labour asking schools to drop them entirely in 2018, to schools being urged to drop them for virtual auditions during the pandemic.

Equity, the performer’s union, has launched its #AbolishAuditionFees campaign, calling all schools to scrap the fees, which they say can range between £40 and £80 per audition.

Many institutions argue that charging to audition is necessary to cover costs, while one teacher described these fees as "the elephant in the room" for her students.

"It was a lot," Chloe said.

"When you put it all together, with food, petrol, trains, hotels, and then additional costs like headshots and new clothes, it all added up very quickly."

She has since graduated from Bird College in Kent, but added: "A lot of my friends didn't go for the vocational schools.

"They just said they could not justify that money."

Curtis (right) now works as a professional actor

Curtis Kemlo, 27, experienced the financial strain of pursuing a performing arts career.

Growing up in Ely, Cardiff, with no family connections to the industry, he had little exposure to the arts.

He saw drama school as the most "definitive route" to get into the industry - but remembers how a lack of resources and guidance held him back during his first attempt at auditioning.

“I literally transcribed a monologue from YouTube because I didn’t know where to find one," he said.

"I was kind of just guessing at it.”

He paid to audition at London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central) but ended up not attending as he felt unprepared.

“The whole thing just seemed very daunting," he said.

It was not until he was offered a scholarship to the now-defunct Young Actors Studio at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama that his path became clearer.

“I learned there what the language of those institutions is," he said.

Even with this support, Curtis estimated he spent around £700 on fees, travel, and preparatory training to audition for drama school over the course of four years - a total he said is quite low compared to some.

“I was making just £5.30 an hour at the time,” he explained.

Getting multiple rejections after spending that kind of money, he added, can leave a “sour taste”.

Kate Griffiths, course leader for acting for stage and screen at Coleg Gwent, said the cost of drama school is the "elephant in the room" with her students.

"We take on many students with fantastic talents, and we have to address the issue of costs associated with them progressing very early on in the course," she said.

Joshua Bendall says there is a lack of diversity on UK performing arts courses

Equity found in a recent survey that two thirds of working-class students and 56% of students overall were prevented from applying to training institutions due to audition fees and hidden course costs.

“It can add up to hundreds and even thousands of pounds, depending on how many institutions you apply to and how many years in a row you have to apply," said Joshua Bendall, chairman of the Student Deputies Committee at Equity.

He added that the cost of auditioning is not the only financial barrier facing performers throughout their careers, but perhaps the easiest to address.

“The reason we’re taking this on is because it is that first problem that people come across,” he said.

Some schools have recently begun reducing audition fees, while others have removed them entirely.

Central scrapped its audition fees in April this year to combat "elitism" in the arts.

Will Hammond, director of the School of Performance at LIPA, said removing audition fees has had a positive impact on both students and staff

The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) removed its audition fees in October 2022.

Director of the School of Performance, Will Hammond, explained that removing them was “in alignment with the school’s strategic plan to increase the diversity of our students”.

He added that “it’s made it a really rewarding process overall, both for staff, the institute, and of course, our student community".

While there is no governing body that could speak for all institutions, the Federation of Drama Schools explains on their website that “the audition fee directly pays for the staff and facilities associated with the audition process and for many schools, this includes extensive outreach work to geographically, culturally or economically challenged areas".

Schools such as Oxford School of Drama and Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have justified their fees since the Equity campaign began, also pointing out that fee waivers are available for some people auditioning.

But Equity's survey also found that 46% of respondents said that having to apply for such waivers would put them off auditioning.

Curtis (right) feels that more could be done to make the industry accessible to those from working class backgrounds

Curtis echoed this, saying that "some people may not have access to the information" to apply for waivers, or supportive parents willing to help find it.

Now working as a professional actor, he believes that change is essential.

“There are a multitude of things that make it difficult for someone from a lower socio-economic background [to access training],” he said.

“But auditions fees are probably the easiest barrier to remove."

He also lamented the closure of the Young Actors Studio, calling it a significant loss for aspiring performers in Wales.

“I certainly wouldn’t have made it this far had it not been for the encouragement I received from that course specifically,” he said.

The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama said: "We look for diverse, motivated, talented actors with great instinct and a willingness to take risks, so a wide range of experiences, skills and competences are taken into account.

"To reflect this, our audition fees are means-tested so they are waived for those applicants from low-income backgrounds."