claytoncast

The joys of mentoring are many, as I have found out over the last four or five years since my involvement in the Alan Bates award began. It's great to get a new perspective on the profession in 2016, one that I as an actor approaching 60 years of age would not have had, and indeed it's a lot of this information that is inspired me to write my recent tome "The Working Actor" which the Twitterati tell me is  Being received extremely well. Indeed doing a book signing  and a discussion courtesy of Samuel French a week or so ago has meant that I've had the chance to sit down with a couple more young people and find out exactly what they're up to what the world is like out there today. The guys I mentor to the Alan Bates are now working and doing well, and it's an unexpected joy to have to once again take to the road visit the repertory theatres of England to see them in action. A slow train to Stoke-on-Trent and a stay in a hotel  straight out

Last week was the week of the Bates, or the Alan Bates Award, to give it the full correct name. I've been involved with this for the past five years and every year the team at the Actors Centre have managed to up the stakes, the level and the profile of the event. this one has to have been the best yet and on Thursday last week, the building was positively buzzing. Finalists, three girls and three boys this year much to the relief of the gender police, arrive in the building early. It's the first chance they have had to meet and work with their duologue partner, and I get a quick chance to pop in and look at the work of each pair. I don;t direct, but I may just offer a few words of guidance. After all, I want them to look at their very best when they play the dialogue in front of the judges that afternoon. They are nervous, yet excited - experiencing for the first time probably just what it feels like to be waiting to interview for a job that you really want. O