February 2007
To Train Or Not To Train
Thursday, February 01, 2007 by Fiona James

In this day of reality TV we are led to believe that it isn’t necessary to train, we just have to be talented to be successful; not a theory I subscribe to I hasten to add. Whilst TV reality shows are good entertainment that is all they are, good entertainment, and they mustn’t be allowed to influence the many talented young people that are out there into believing that there is an easy route to success, called Talent Road, for it just isn’t true, like there is no easy route to anything.

Years ago it was perfectly normal and acceptable for a singer, for example, to work their way through the Working Mens Clubs and the holiday camps, learning their craft as they went, in order to gain the necessary experience as a performer before achieving any modicum of success; and believe me there was no harder audience than that of a Working Mens Club! This was generally recognised as a performer’s apprenticeship.

It rarely happens now and we are frequently faced with young people who just, ‘want to be famous’. Why? Don’t they realise that there is a high price to pay for the state of fame and that without the training most wouldn’t know how to, or be able to, pay that price …. not with dignity anyway.

Being a member of ‘The Entertainment Club’ is an honour and not just a right which comes because a person can sing, dance and act. A lot of people can sing, dance and act, and quite well too, but that doesn’t give them the right to belong to our club! Members of this exclusive club should be able to practice their art with expertise, with control and dignity; they should be aware that they are there to entertain others and to relieve the pressures of the day others have endured and not to inflict their own problems upon the paying public. There is a lot to be said for that old show biz saying: ‘The show must go on’, though I often feel that in this day and age there is a proviso to the old gem and that is: ‘The show must go on, provided I feel well enough, am being paid enough, my dressing room is big enough or I don’t have a hang over etc etc’. No! The show must go on because the audience has paid to see it and the fact that the lead has just had a row with her boyfriend and fallen out with her mother is immaterial to all but her.

The only true route to success …..and believe me, recent years have taught me that fame has nothing to do with success ….. is through training and we are fortunate in this country to have a wealth of excellent colleges at which our young hopefuls can learn their craft. But it actually begins long before that stage is ever reached.

When a youngster expresses an interest in performing, then is the time for parents to take them along to acting, singing and dancing classes and not the time to trundle them off to various auditions as is so often the case. Performing is no different to sport, the training starts early; the success comes later. And yes I do believe it is good to take classes in all three disciplines, for an artist must have full understanding and control over all their body parts to be a successful performer.

But training is more than learning how to sing a song or recite some lines, it is about learning theatre etiquette; learning about how to behave within a theatre. Like all professions we have our own way of doing things, our own set of rules and a way to behave which, unless you are taught, you can never begin to appreciate; we even have our own slant on telling the time which is 5 minutes out on the normal telling of time!

Theatre is not an isolated art, it is a group profession and each member of that group depends upon the professionalism of other members to achieve success. So many young people who travel a different route to that of training lack theatre etiquette, assuming that their talent sets them aside ….. no above ….. others. They couldn’t be more wrong.

We are not born knowing how to dine at The Ritz, we learn through childhood and through frequent commands such as, ‘elbows off the table’, until good table manners become an intrinsic part of our nature; we then progress to whatever level of social competency suits. It is exactly the same with performing. We are not born wearing a pair of pointe shoes, spouting the lines of the great Bard and knowing that it is basic good manners to do exactly what is required by the director, however ridiculous it may seem at the time. We learn through good professional training and through accepting our lot as a member of the chorus or as being the 3rd Spear Carrier up stage left, and then we progress to whatever level our natural talent will allow.

Now so many young performers question the artistic reasons behind a direction in a way that they would never question why they must say thank you after being given something. Those who have traveled along the Training Road, however, are more likely to appreciate that when the Director says ‘Jump’ the only question should be ‘How high’ and not ‘Why?’ This is just one example of basic theatre etiquette, this and attending warm up sessions, silence back stage, staying where the director last placed you, even if it was over half an hour ago, until you are given clearance, on and on it goes together with theatre language …. an art in itself ….. These are the rules one can only learn during training. So Mrs Worthington do not put your daughter on the stage until she has been trained in the art, and not at all if you just want her to be famous.

Fiona is currently Head of Musical Theatre at one of the country’s leading vocational colleges where, amongst others, she has had the pleasure of teaching such stars as Victoria Beckham; and yes, she says, it was a pleasure and she won’t hear a word said against her!

There is an old saying: ‘Those who can do and those who can’t teach.’ This is not always a true saying, for there are some who have both done and taught, Fiona being one of them.

Along with her husband, she has written no fewer than eight musicals, all of which have been professionally produced, including one at the Dominion Theatre in the West End of London. In addition, she has written original plays as well as adaptations of classical literature; she has also toured the States with two of her musicals, worked in the film industry as a Drama Coach for an American film company and lectured on Musical Theatre at an American college for the performing arts. Yet, despite what some would class as a glamorous and exciting life, her heart is and always has been in teaching. So to combine the two greatest loves in her life, theatre and teaching, is to her a dream job.

Fiona, who has two children both of whom are professionals in the entertainment business, and four grandchildren, lives in the South of England with her husband, who is a musician.