During my freshman year, this wonderful man named Reynolds Whalen came in and introduced us to the summer trip to London that would count as our internship, use our SPARK grant, and be extremely beneficial to our training as theatre students. Reynolds Whalen was the agent from the study abroad program that Naz partnered with to organize our trip. Many of my peers and I were pumped to go and receive training from professionals on the West End in addition to seeing the sights of London for a week’s time. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought these plans to a full stop. It felt like we wouldn’t even get the chance to see London, like the world would stay shut down for years. Fortunately, the vaccine and due diligence of mask-wearing had the world in an okay place by summer of 2022. Not completely open, not completely clear of infection, but okay. Reynolds and our staff were quick to make the arrangements to reinstate the program, and I’d never been more excited to travel across the sea to see such an iconic city.
Before arriving, we were given a pretty strict itinerary, but there was a lot to do in only ten days. There was a balance of training, sight-seeing, history, and free exploration in the schedule, planning each day almost by the hour. The professionals we had to train us were absolutely stunning, and the amount of free time we got to see the city and enjoy nightlife in London was incredible.
One of the talk-backs we did that stood out to me the most was with West End legend Gina Beck. She’s been on the stage with countless live performances and on the screen with a couple of movies as well. What set her apart from other talkbacks we had was that she worked in America for an extended period of time so she had an outlook on how the theatre business worked from London’s perspective and America’s perspective. As we talked more about the industry and how it treats its performers, it was made abundantly clear that performers are not treated well in terms of income and capabilities as a performer. The West End show tickets were usually £15-£45, some of them even more expensive based on the show and seats. Compared to Broadway’s prices, West End tickets are dirt cheap. Because of the low ticket prices, however, English actors don’t get paid nearly as much as American actors. The expensive ticket prices in the U.S. are to make sure performers can make a living wage from their job, even though English performers are doing the same exhausting ‘8 shows a week’ schedule that we do in the U.S. That knowledge gave me an insane amount of gratitude for the unions and organizations that were found to make performing a livable profession.
Some of the shows I saw on the West End were so physically and mentally intense that I couldn’t imagine having a day job to go to, then showing up at the theater almost every night to perform. It brought a whole new perspective of what passion, self-respect, and success means to me, and how lucky I am to work in a world where I get to pursue what I want with my peers and unions to back me up.
London was exhilarating in more ways than one. The extended history of theatre is right there in that city, and the people we got to work with were inspiring. Not only that, there were some cases of COVID in our group that were handled swiftly and confidently. Any fears about traveling out of the country were put to ease with Reynolds and our staff being very thorough with their plans, and I am extremely grateful and pleased with the experience. I also got to learn a little bit about myself too. My plans for the future are a lot more flexible now, and I feel more confident going into jobs where I need to negotiate my contracts for better wages. I hope I get to go back one day, whether it’s as a performer or as a tourist, or maybe both.