When you don’t know how to get there… Creative Access Theatre Masterclass @ The National Theatre

• 5/7/22
• Lyttleton upstairs
• Lisa Jonas (finance), Juliet Gilkes Romero (writer-in-residece) Ola Animashawun (dramaturg, associate and diversity strategy) and Sara Bakhaty (deputy director of marketing and sales)

Wanting to work in the theatre sector means working with rejection, whether you’re wanting to act, write, direct, market, programme or sell ice-cream at intervals. All places are desirable as people are fighting to protect the arts in the current socio-economic crisis. This rejection is hard to take when you want to learn in the industry more than anything, and your previous academic qualifications make you feel ready to take on the roles you apply for. But you're not ready; you need to have experience for entry-level positions that give you more experience for entry-level positions. It's a tricky paradox to navigate. The free work, volunteering and interning needed is a huge privilege that so many cannot access. Most of the time, it feels like nothing is enough.

Attending this panel at the National was a great opportunity, but having just faced rejection in a marketing job at a local theatre I know well, I felt intimidated. It hasn’t been easy, but coming out of uni with an aspiration for the arts on stage has meant funnelling incessant rejection and rife intimidation into a drive to fulfil these aspirations. I’m currently volunteering and shadowing in the marketing department I was rejected by, and it has made me ferociously determined to prove myself: my capability and my love for the sector. I left ‘free'; work, got on the train to Kings Cross, ready to be inspired from those in the jobs people like myself dream about.

I think for all theatre lovers, the National is a brutalist site of sanctuary on the bustling, skateboarding Southbank. Entering the cool, beige atrium will always stir a pang of awe- it’s where you want to be- even if it isn’t. I am immensely passionate about the power of regional theatre in the north, but it’s refreshing to dip your toe in the spring banks of the capital.

The panel honed in the importance of finding your narrative in the industry- curating your discipline. Working in regional, northern theatre means I know the impact of understanding the nuances of your community: they are your audience so you need to be able to assess the impact you’re having. It was reassuring to hear this from top dramaturgs and marketing seniors, not just my own mantras.

I was the one of the very few northern accents sounding out around the room which unfortunately, in ‘London situations’, triggers a feeling of inferiority. I sat at the back, armed with notebook and pen, awaiting the speakers’ arrival on stage. I’m not sure if I’m right on this, but Londoners my age, in this industry, are born with an air of confidence and a feeling of deserving to be wherever the best is, as they're used to being around it. I find this hard to relate to. Their arms shot up in the air without hesitation; they stood up and asked obvious questions as if they were philosophical watersheds: ‘How do you get an entry level position?’ ‘Apply.’  I sat quiet, thinking up a marketing question that would benefit the team in Doncaster, but I wasn’t picked after plucking up courage. I'm learning my lesson- act like Londoner, think northern.

The evening was inspiring and it was a timely blessing to be reminded that even the writer of At the Gates of Gaza (Juliet) has been rejected for positions: many positions. The advice from the coveted professionals was not watered down. They instructed us, the future of The National, apparently, to get tight with our finances as things were only set to get harder; we were told the importance of having second jobs that cradle your creativity. Rejection, inferiority, part-time work and lack of money seem the criteria for this career, so I’m already kind of qualified in some ways. 

Amongst spiel of MAs and winding career trajectories, the best advice I took from the panel was simply to not beat myself up if I’m not doing what I want all the time. It’s about keeping faith and belief in what you want to do when no one else wants you to do it. And to be responsible; if told you don’t have relevant experience, ask who has the experience that you need. If that person doesn’t exist, be them and make them.

I know I’m taking knocks at the moment, and every person graduating in such uncertain times is too. It’s hard to stay focused, as the rejection is distracting, but events like this are helpful stabilizers and make you feel on track to being confident, and feeling like you deserve your place somewhere in the sector. I’m already grateful for where I am; I work with wonderful people in a wonderful box office and this inspires me more than empty networking can. We were told to look for love in what you do, and who you do it with- I think that, in times as bleak as these, that is what drives your fight.