So... I promised you all Guildhall......and so I shall deliver.

This post will be a little different from my last two for one simple reason....I am still in the process of auditioning....GULP!

But I can at least tell you about the first two rounds and about the school.

One word.....Amazing.... Guildhall is the school of dreams with a record to prove it, having alumni like Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig, Michelle Dockery, Lily James (if you go 'who?' for that name.....you'll be knowing her name soon enough I assure you).

The newness of the names I have mentioned only goes to show and prove how well thought of the school is in this time and age.

It is also statistically the hardest school to get into so please all say a prayer for me.

My first round was at the old building (Guildhall has a new building....go if you can...its really nice)...in the basement. I was one of a group of 12 people in for the morning first round audition slot and to be honest it was lovely to chat to everyone etc., but one could feel the underlying tension in the air because, like I said, Guildhall is amazing and the thought of going there literally would make me feel as if I had won the lottery, no jokes.

Anyway, we were taken to a studio by two recent graduates and we were introduced to the two teachers who would make up our panel. They were very nice, chatted to us, tried to help us shed our nerves a bit, and then they warmed us up. I really enjoyed this because we were encouraged from the word go to have eye contact, to not have any inhibitions and really get into it. I felt like I was actually a student there.

After the warm-up, they told us what would happen. We would be taken to a waiting room from which we would go into the panel one by one. I was number 9 of 12  so.... I spent a lot of time walking around and practising/repractising speeches in the toilet.....

But whenever I was in the waiting room, there was always a fun conversation going on  I could join  or talk to the alumni about what they are doing now.

Oh! Three things that make the Guildhall experience a bit different to other drama schools. You know you have to have a modern and a classical speech for most drama schools? Guildhall tends to ask for a 3rd contrasting speech so I had to find some new tricks, quick. Also they ask for you to prepare an unaccompanied song. This wasn't as hard as I had just finished performing in a Sondheim revue so had a few song choices there thankfully.

Lastly, a bit like Mountview, Guildhall will tell you your results that same day in person, if you are happy to wait until everyone in your group has been seen. I have heard of Guildhall rounds where no-one was recalled, so this is the most daunting part of the process, that wait.

Anyway, it came to my turn. My alumni took me outside the studio and we waited for the person before me to come out. There is nothing more daunting, than wanting a school and waiting for your turn to prove you are worthy to go there. To me that 2 minute wait felt like an eternity and that is the moment I felt deeply nervous.

But once I went into the room, I felt better....I mean...I can only do what I do and I have to trust I have prepared.

So I did my first speech, which was the classical Emilia, then my second which was the Psycho Trudy. They didn't ask me for a third speech but instead chose to direct me on ...Emilia I think....I forget. To be honest , I didn't think much of my chances leaving that room as I felt as if they hadn't liked my Trudy delivery....call it a sixth sense (or the fact that the speech usually evokes laughter at specific points) but I just knew it didn't do me any favours in my Guildhall first round.

Oooh piece of advise.....if your speech is accented, don't do the accent in your Guildhall audition. They want you to do the speech from a place of honesty so strip all accents out and pretend you are yourself saying the speech. Sounds weird but....its the best advice I'd give anyone going for Guildhall.

I was thankful I was number 9 by the time I came out and was waiting for the results because, bad as waiting to go into the room is, it is ten.........times......worse......waiting for the round to be over and to hear the probable 'no' that you are expecting.

Once everyone had been seen, we waited about 10 minutes and then they came out. They thanked us for coming, explained that it wasn't about talent necessarily but also fit and then told us 3 people were being asked to second round recalls... and would you believe it?

I WAS ONE OF THE THREE!!

Phew!

Onto second round..................