Drama Personal Statement Example 11

When I was younger, the last thing I ever thought I would want to do was study or work in drama and theatre. I was shy and introverted for most of my life, so the idea of standing in front of a group of people and willingly making myself vulnerable to them was terrifying.

This was until I decided not to concern myself with other people’s thoughts and simply perform to the best of my ability without holding back. From that point onward I fell in love with theatre both as an art form and as a way of freely expressing myself as creatively as possible.

I threw myself into the Drama Department at my school, acting in four different school plays, with the productions of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet being performed on the Mac stage in Belfast, I also helped to direct the annual Junior School devised plays.

I found that being so heavily involved in the department enabled my love for the subject to flourish, I grew as a person working with groups of like-minded people and being given such creative freedom that I discovered I enjoy collaborating on a shared piece, but that I also value leading the group towards a creative vision.

Later in the year I stepped into the role of Director for my AS Level Drama and Theatre Studies final performance where I organised the entire script and worked with my group to incorporate different ideas into a cohesive performance of a play that had never been performed at our school.

My investment in drama also led me to become more interested in Shakespeare, as the last number of school plays have all been Shakespearian interpretations.

Due to my engagement with his plays, I applied to the Villiers Park Residential on exploring Shakespeare where I acquired a much deeper and more thorough understanding of his work and the context in which they were written.

The course was set heavily around seminar-style discussions with small group tasks throughout and a group presentation at the end of the week on a topic from one of the lessons. It provided me with an idea of how a university course would be run for a humanity subject like English and confirmed that going to university is the path I want to take.

Similarly, my involvement with drama also pushed me towards film, a fast growing industry in Northern Ireland that I am passionate about, particularly cinematography and direction.

To obtain the most well-rounded and hands-on knowledge possible I applied to the British Film Institute’s Film Academy and, out of more than two hundred applicants, I was one of the twenty chosen to take part. The course included a number of masterclasses from industry professionals on topics ranging from directing to SFX makeup, and afterwards we split into two groups and wrote, produced, and edited a short film.

We were encouraged to try as many roles as possible during the creation of the film, and I focused mostly on pre-production and sound on the actual filming days. The end result of the film greatly impressed me as it had a professional standard that I didn’t expect with only two days of filming. This opened a new realm of possibility for a line of work that I would enjoy almost as deeply as theatre.

I want to be a part of this course because it would allow me to develop my skills and knowledge in the area I love, as well as giving me the opportunity to meet and work with other people who share my interests in theatre, acting, and directing.

Despite my lack of awareness of theatre for many years, the recent passion I have discovered for the discipline has shown me that there is nothing else I would ever want to do than to be involved in such a rich and diverse industry.