Jobs in the arts and entertainment industry are often difficult to get and highly competitive. A comedian, theatre director and principal ballet dancer reveal how they did it.
Standup comedian
Being a character comedian isn't everyone's idea of a dream job. In fact, for many of us, it would be more of a nightmare. However Maddy Anholt always knew she wanted to do comedy. "I have an observation book which I carry with me all the time, if someone does a funny look or walk for example I'll note it down," she says.
Getting a job in the entertainment industry is tough. It not only takes hard work and talent, it requires dogged persistence and a good dose of luck. "It's massively competitive," says the 27-year-old, from Devon.
Anholt is from a creative family – her parents are children's authors and illustrators, Laurence and Catherine Anholt, and her brother is a painter – but she is the first to go into comedy. She completed a degree in acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (whose alumni include Miranda Hart), but her first break came through an unusual route. She laughs: "I gatecrashed The Stage's New Year party about six or seven years ago. I ended up talking to Nicholas Parsons (TV and radio presenter, and host of BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute) and through him I met Susanna Jeffery from the Canal Cafe Theatre." Jeffrey asked Anholt whether she had a comedy show ready to go. She didn't but replied she did. "I spent two weeks locked in a room working on a script."
She performed her one-woman show Maddy's Many Mouths at the Canal Café Theatre in 2011, produced by Jeffery. And in 2013 she took it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she received enthusiastic reviews. This summer she'll be back at the Fringe with her show Diary of a Dating Addict.
Pursuing a career in comedy isn't easy. For a start, gigs don't generally pay well. "It depends what level you're at. I guess over 90% of comedians have a day job," says Anholt, who teaches drama alongside her comedy career. "For the last two years a lot of what I've been doing is unpaid or low paid." She says performing at the Edinburgh Fringe can be a stretch financially. "To go up as a performer you pay about £8,000. It's tough, but in comedy it's the place to get seen." However, this year it should be easier. Anholt has a partnership with My Single Friend, the online dating website. To earn a decent living as a comedian you need to be in TV, says Anholt, whose ambition is to go into sitcoms.
What's her advice for those starting out? "Research where the comedy clubs are in your local area, get to know the people who do those gigs. And keep working on new material."
Theatre director
As with standup, contacts can be crucial for a career in the theatre. But what if you don't have any? Justin Audibert graduated with a degree in history and politics from the University of Sheffield, where he'd been involved with the university theatre company, and then taught for a couple of years. What he really wanted to do was direct, but he didn't know the route in. "I thought you either had to be an actor who wanted to direct, or you had family who were involved in directing."
After doing some research he enrolled on an MFA course in theatre directing at Birkbeck College. He spent his second year on placement at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds as a resident assistant director. He worked hard and it paid off. The contacts he made at the theatre became instrumental in his career. "All of the people who worked there went on to give me other jobs," he says. "If you do a good job for people and work hard, they will push you forward."
This included Paul Hunter, a freelance director, who contacted Audibert in 2009 about an exciting opportunity. "He was directing a play for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and he put me forward for an interview with them." Getting into the RSC, however, was no easy feat. "I had six interviews with different directors. It was tough." One of the interviews was with Lucy Bailey, who was directing the play Julius Caesar. He ended up working on the show as an assistant director, and spent the next two and a half years assisting on productions.
Then, around a year ago, he got his big break. "I got a phone call from Greg Doran (artistic director at the RSC). He said next season they were doing the Jew of Malta and did I fancy directing it. It was the best phone call I've ever had." The play opened at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon this month.
The biggest myth about being a theatre director, says Audibert, is that you tell people what to do. "You assemble a team of people around you who are incredibly skilled in their field." The director suggests a vision for the play and the team offer their interpretations. "Your job is editing other people's creativity. You have your eye on the big picture." Initially, the job doesn't pay well. "The reality is, when you're starting out, you will need another skill. Lots of people work as PAs or fitness instructors. Don't get into massive debt."
Audibert, who grew up in Croydon and now lives in Hackney, is keen to encourage new aspiring directors. He's involved with JMK Trust, which provides emerging theatre directors with awards and opportunities, and the Young Vic, which is running a scheme for young directors.
His advice is to see as much theatre as possible to get a sense of what you like. He says he loves his career. "I bounce into work every morning, thinking I'm the luckiest guy ever."
Ballet dancer
The film Black Swan painted the world of professional ballet as cut-throat and highly pressured. But what's it like in real life? "There's a parody of New York ballet where people are trying to trip each other up," laughs Nehemiah Kish, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. It's not quite like that in reality, he says, though there is a level of competitiveness.
"Every company has its own dynamic. It's healthy to have competition, it pushes you to dance better. We all try to get as many performances as we can."
The Royal Ballet receives requests from dancers from all over the world and only a few are invited to an audition. It's recently launched the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers programme, where up to six dancers may be offered a one year apprentice contract with the company.
Kish, 32, who is from Caro, a small town north of Detroit, started dance lessons when he was six. He began with jazz and later took up tap dancing and ballet too. "I just liked the idea of moving around," he says. He also took part in dance programmes, and his teachers realised he was talented. "They said you need to go to a professional ballet school. Canada's National Ballet School was just across the border. My parents felt it was safer sending me to Toronto than New York City, and it was closer."
Kish was offered a full scholarship and says he couldn't have afforded to go otherwise. "I'm from a fairly working class rural background. My home town was supportive in fundraising for some of the basics I needed."
After graduating, he progressed through the ranks of the company, becoming a principal dancer. A couple of years ago he approached Dame Monica Mason, who was then artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London, to let her know he was interested if anything came up. She went to watch him in a performance with the Royal Danish Ballet, and he later joined the company.
"It's a special place to work," says Kish. "Sometimes you're exhausted and your body hurts but it rarely feels like work."
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