Post by tomsgirl on Aug 16, 2006 23:14:53 GMT 1
I have just googled in Tom Lister & found this about him-
www.ukperformingarts.co.uk/acting/profiles/tlister.asp
It is always helpful to receive advice from somebody who has achieved success at a level you aim to reach.
Currently starring as Carl King in the popular TV soap 'Emmerdale', Tom Lister looks back on how it all started, his experiences of auditioning for drama schools and what he feels his training has given him in his career today.
Why did you choose to follow a career in acting?
"It was something that came upon me when I was 17-18 years old, although I always had an interest in acting when I was younger. My friends and I used to make up small sketches and we all used to attend a youth group together. In one sense I have always had it in my blood to act. However, when I went to high school I was determined that I would become a PE and geography teacher. Then I started A-level Geography and it started to bore me and I realised that I wanted to act. I went into the school show and got the lead part in a World War I play. After performing in that I just totally got the bug to act. I decided that after my A-levels I would defer university for a couple of years and join a touring company that I had seen perform. For two years we toured all over the UK and after that I thought that I might as well give it a shot and apply to a few drama schools."
How did you choose a drama school?
"I started applying to drama schools - but not all of them - partly because you have to pay to go to the auditions for most. I applied to three (including Birmingham School of Acting - BSA) that covered a nice spread of the country and thought one of them would suit my needs. I auditioned at Birmingham first and it had this really warm environment. You had a chance to do all kinds of things to show different facets of your ability and personality. I also loved the fact that when I auditioned at BSA I was given feedback from the panel whilst I was there - as opposed to leaving the audition not knowing if you did any good. I went to my second audition and it was a completely different experience. You were treated like cattle - they didn't give you reasons why, it was either yes or no, and if it was no you were asked to kindly leave. I never got to my third audition because by that time BSA had already offered me a place and I thought that it definitely felt right for me."
What were your expectations when you started full-time training?
"I started my training having had some great amateur experience, but not from a professional theatre company - it was a charity where a group of people came together and performed a play for the year, touring around various schools. So when I went into drama school I didn't really have any preconceived ideas. I never really thought that 'I know a certain amount about acting and I will now be taught 'X,Y and Z'. I felt that anything I did learn could only be beneficial to me and I would take all I could from the experience."
What was the course actually like?
It was hard work, it was real graft from day one and I liked that about the course. I liked the fact that you have a lot of physical training, I liked the fact that I felt that my voice developed over the years. A lot of emphasis is put on training your voice to support acting in various spaces and environments and to ensure you can communicate well. I enjoyed the third year the most - you get to practise all the theory you have learned and just act! You put all your effort into what a character is, how you study a character and how you can come into being a character from various angles or how you best think the character should be perceived. We did lots of different plays - one after another, and we got to experiment with everything we had learned and work with professional theatre directors from the industry.
We also got to perform in various venues in the city and the directors always tried to present us with new and challenging spaces to work in, which has really helped after leaving the School.
Do you find a difference between acting on stage and in front of a camera?
I personally don't believe that there is a lot of difference between acting for live or recorded performance. The principles are the same - you need to be able to create a character in the same way for theatre, a television role or film. The difference is that in a big performance space you have to bring the character out more and fill the space that you are in, whereas in front of the camera, the audience is right there in your face so you can be more subtle with it. During my training I felt that I got everything that I needed to be able to create a character from whatever is put in front of me, and work with the script and text to make sure that I make the best of what I've got.
What are your long-term goals as a working professional actor?
It's a tricky one is that! I have achieved some goals already, which I am really happy about - I have been in a play in the West Yorkshire Playhouse, which is a theatre that I have always wanted to work in. I have also done some TV and I am now in a regular television role, which again is absolutely fantastic to be doing.
I feel that it is difficult to say where I will be in five years' time: there are so many things that happen and opportunities that you may be presented with. There are some goals that I want to keep to myself but other ones would include: to be in a West End production and to do some more theatre and musical theatre. I want to push myself and stretch myself in lots of different ways. I would like to do a bit more drama in television - I just would like more of the same! I want to experience as much as I can and branch out into different areas and make the most of my training and experiences.