The theatre training is second to none in Ireland and England. You meet people who haven't had theatre training - it is harder for people who worked in TV to go into theatre than the other way around.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In England, when we're at drama school, we spend a lot of time learning the craft from playwrights and stage actors, who are very well trained in the basics of acting because they need to get it right the first time - you can't have second or third takes when you're in front of a live audience, unlike in film.
I was lucky enough to get into drama school in London back in 2005, and I was there for three years, and in those three years, we did a lot of theater. A lot of classical training.
I started - well, in England it works a little bit differently. You have to do Fringe theatre, which is basically free theatre. You do it in pubs and small theaters and village halls across the country, and you work for a theatre company. You're part of a troupe.
Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London - there are so many places you can work, still. If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor, I think I would have got distracted.
When I left drama school, there were dozens of rep theatres you could apply to where you got a good training.
To make a career as an Irish actor, generally it's the case that you move to London. When you make that move, you do tend to stand out.
I believe that a large part of the training in the regional theaters is in imitation of the British style of acting. The British orientation is textual; they start from the language and work toward the character.
Acting is something you didn't do in Ireland.
My experiences in film and theatre in the States have been much more rigorous-in England there's an environment of, Let's try this.
In my day England, Scotland, Wales had 80 drama schools. There are none left. So there's no training, no discipline.