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Actor: Alice Morley

This Case Study belongs to Actor.

Alice Morley is a theatre actor currently working at the National theatre. She has an MA in Classical Acting from the Central School of Speech and Drama.

I have always loved acting, and have been in theatre groups since I was five. I decided on this career because I loved the variety of experiences, meeting sympathetic and creative people and the thrill of performing. I had an acting agent as a child, and did a children’s BBC series before leaving to concentrate on studying. I studied English and Spanish at Oxford University, where I took part in many student productions. When I graduated, I knew I wanted some drama training, particularly practical training such as looking after my voice and body. Rather than taking another BA and three more years out of the world of work, in 2005 I went on to Central School of Speech and Drama to do an MA in Classical Acting.

Following my degree, I did a lot of fringe theatre while waiting for my first professional job and in 2007 I landed a role at the National Theatre, after a casting director saw me in a fringe show I had produced. Since then I’ve done three plays at the National and have also acted at the Donmar Warehouse. But the thing with acting is you never know where the next job is coming from! I know a lot of actors in the 22 – 30-year-old age bracket, and not many of them are working – and it’s not to do with their ability. Acting does not work on the same lines as other jobs – it is not always based on talent. It involves a lot to do with looking ‘right’ for a part, and with being in the right place at the right time, and then competing with actors who already have a ‘profile’ and would lend the project some glamour. You don’t make much money from acting unless you’re in the big league, so you often have to generate your own work, from short films to tiny theatre venues. This can in itself be very rewarding however!

It is worth having an agent if they have a good reputation, because they have access to a range of auditions that you wouldn’t get if you were representing yourself, but even getting an agent can be hard as there are so many people who want to be actors. A lot of agents take graduates from the BA courses at drama school, less so on the MA courses. When compared to some people who fit my casting bracket and did three years of drama school, I have actually done more work. I don’t have an agent, but have worked consistently since leaving drama school because I have made my own theatre. I am looking to get a good agent to get better auditions, but any actor will tell you that having an agent is no guarantee of actually working.

Having a degree from Oxford has helped me get good work in the periods I am resting as an actor, because I can get high-paid temporary work in the City and in other corporate areas, such as advertising. But if your heart is not in that type of work it can be incredibly boring waiting for the next creative opportunity, and you have to be prepared to be very persistent and patient. It is not a good vocation for someone who takes rejection too personally! However, as much as you might think you are right for a part, it might be that the director has a totally different concept in mind, and you have to accept that you have no influence over their decision, and move on. But when it all goes right, and you get the part, and you’re being paid to rehearse with amazing people, working in a mutually supportive environment on a fantastic project – then it really is the best job in the world.

Case Study sourced by Miranda Glavin of AGCAS, 24 July 2009.