Help Jamie Get to Drama School

My name's Jamie, and I'm thrilled to have been accepted at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to study for an Acting BA in October of this year. Would you consider giving me some financial support to help me afford to take up my place?

 

Going to drama school has been my dream since I was a small boy, and I am delighted, and proud, to have won a place at one of the world’s most prestigious schools. To train at an institution with alumni that include Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Coleman, Jeremy Irons, Patrick Stewart, Naomie Harris and Gene Wilder would be a privilege. It would provide me with an education that would be an asset for the rest of my life and career. I cannot express how much it would mean to me.

 

I have always wanted to be an actor. At eleven, I began attending Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, commuting for four hours a day from my home in Cambridgeshire. While at Sylvia’s I worked professionally alongside experienced actors and West End performers, including at events such as West End Live in Trafalgar Square.

 

While at sixth form I continued to act, and began writing and directing my own work. I played leading roles in Euripides’ Medea, Jez Butterworth’s Mojo and Fin Kennedy’s How to Disappear Completely. I spent a summer training with the National Youth Theatre, of which I am now a member. I also wrote Take Your Vices and Leap Of. The latter play was shortlisted as part of the National Theatre’s ‘New Views’ competition in 2017 and was given a rehearsed reading, professionally acted and directed, at the National Theatre as a result. My theatrical work at sixth form led to me being given a special commendation from the Sir Daniel Day-Lewis Award for Theatre Craft and Drama.

 

When I was accepted to study English at Oxford University I knew that I couldn’t turn such a special opportunity down, and spent three years studying and continuing to act, write and direct (Covid allowing!). In my first year, I played the lead role in Lucy Prebble’s Enron at the Oxford Playhouse, directed Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing, wrote and directed The Music’s Stopped, saw Leap Of re-produced in Oxford, and wrote Bear, which was put on at an Off-West End theatre in London. In my second year, I led a translation project to create a new, official, translation of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo, directing a production of the script in 2019. I also wrote and directed Shadows of Troy, which was produced at the Oxford Playhouse in 2020. I was very proud to be the first Oxford University student to write, direct and act on the Playhouse stage. In my final year, I continued to act alongside my studies, and was delighted to graduate in June with a First Class degree in English. This summer I appeared in Smart Casual, a new musical that toured across several theatres in London and Oxford.

 

As my BA at Bristol Old Vic will be my second degree there is no government funding or loan available to fund fees or living expenses. The school charge fees of £9,250 per annum, and I will need to pay living expenses, including rent, on top of that. I will be working alongside my studies, using my savings, and my family will be supporting me as much as they can, but I will not be able to cover my fees and living expenses for all three years without further support. Would you be prepared to consider supporting me by making a financial donation, however small? Not only would any financial help be greatly appreciated, but to know that people are supporting me throughout my training would mean an immense amount to me.

 

I will of course keep you updated on my progress throughout my training, and beyond. If you have any questions, would like to donate, or help in another way, don't hesitate to contact me.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope that one day soon you will be able to attend the first night of my West End debut, or my first film premiere!

 

With my very best wishes,

 

Jamie