Short Courses: Johnny's story

What inspired you to try an online acting Short Course?

“I had taken a break from acting so I was away from it for a while, doing a bit of behind the scenes work. But I wanted to re-connect with my passion of acting... I’d actually signed up to a course in Dublin, and then just about two weeks before this big performance Covid came and struck... and the industry ground to a halt.

So, I went online and I evaluated all the different drama schools' online courses. RADA’s really spoke to me. The nature of the courses seemed to get to the heart of what it really means to be an actor, and get to the core of acting."

Why did you settle on a RADA online Short Course?

“Because RADA seemed to be as equally passionate about the short courses and the online courses, as the physical courses and the BA Hons course. There's just as much pride and passion and attention to detail.

The first course I did was Second Act... later I did Shakespeare in Action and Stanislavski: Physical Action."

What was it like to complete a Short Course online?

"There’s the obvious benefits of convenience. It’s convenient to be able to do it from home, and it obviously makes sense economically as well because you don’t have to worry about paying for hotels or transport.

In terms of any differences with it being online – I think that emotionally the experience is remarkably similar. The nerves and excitement are equivalent to being there in person. If anything it’s slightly more intense. Often people are in a different time zone, but even though you can be separated by thousands of miles, it's more intimate because everybody’s in close-up all the time.

It’s also closer to screen acting than theatre acting. When you’re doing this online, even when you’re tackling a character for theatre, the performance is still being shown on a screen – and the camera itself acts like a lie detector. You have to be authentic, it has to be in earnest. You can’t be exaggerating your expressions, and that’s screen acting experience more than anything."

What techniques did you take away from your short courses experience?

Physically, the thing RADA opened my eyes to is that acting is not just about bringing a performance alive on your face, it’s also about realising the performance physically and vocally. That's what the Second Act, Shakespeare in Action and Stanislavski courses did. They created a synergy between the physical and the psychological job of being an actor, so with every character we had to access them both physically and mentally. I found that incredibly beneficial. They taught us how to project our voice and how to manage our breathing. It made me reevaluate my process – I started thinking, how does this character walk? How does he hold himself? What are his tics? What song represents him? The thing that the short courses did was, they allowed me to access my creativity as an actor."

What would you say were the highlights of your Short Course experience?

“One of my highlights was definitely performing in Macbeth online (during Shakespeare in Action). I played two characters – King Duncan and Macduff. They were very contrasting characters. Gary (Lagden) was just a brilliant director, and a very talented actor. I don’t know how he managed to direct a play online but he was just like a conductor of an orchestra, he was able to do it with ease. And overall the feeling of doing the play online was indistinguishable from the real thing, emotionally it was the same experience.

A second highlight was working on the Stanislavski in Action course. I had always been curious about Stanislavski, I had always been curious about Stella Adler and people like Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro and their technique. So I had heard Stanislavski’s name mentioned a lot but I had never really understood it in depth. The Stanislavski course gave me the history of the man himself, the evolution of his actor’s system. It empower[ed] me as an actor and I went away with this great approach to acting that I will take everywhere I go, on any project that I do."

How would you say the Short Courses will help you shape your career going forward?

“It’s given me confidence, I would say, and that’s huge. Like anything you do in life, confidence is the key component to success – so to have that confidence coming out of the course, the confidence to go into an audition and know I’m not alone, that I have RADA and the foundations of their teaching and all those tutors at my back, supporting me. Knowing that I’m supported, having the skills and the techniques to approach any role or any script or cold reading, any new character with assurance and assertiveness.”

What would you say to anyone considering doing a RADA online Short Course?

"Jump in. Jump in headfirst. Have faith in the teachers – place your trust in them and know that they’re guiding you in the right direction.

Have a pen and a piece of paper ready to record all the wisdom or any techniques that stand out.

As an actor you always come loaded with your own ideas and your own instinct – but come to this open, not closed. The tutors will tell you: 'Some of this stuff is going to work for you, some of it’s not – let it all run off you, let it all bounce of you, the stuff that’s important will stick.’ Going into a course an actor never knows what they’ll hold and what they’ll let go of. But I’m a completely different actor coming out of the courses than I was going in. You can expect a great improvement in your skills and technique when you come out. Definitely do it."