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Graduate Profile: Actor/Writer Kat Pearce

16 April 2013

Filed Under:

Acting

Actor and writer Kat Pearce graduated in July 2012. During her time at RWCMD she discovered a talent for writing and, after taking part in a workshop at College with Shameless writer Paul Abbott, she was invited to join his writing studio in Manchester.

Shortly after graduating, Kat performed her one-woman show in Edinburgh and was a runner-up in the BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary competition. She recorded her first radio play and completed filming on a new BBC1 army drama Our Girl late last year and, in January, she appeared in Simon Stephens’ Port at the National Theatre.

We caught up with Kat when she popped in recently to work with second-year actors…

How has the training you received at RWCMD helped in your career so far?

As an actor training at RWCMD I was pushed and challenged in every play I was in, and by the end I was doing things I never thought I could, but funnily enough always using the things I was taught in the first term of the first year.  You get so many different directors with different methods and styles, so you have to adapt, but the core training in the first and second years makes that easy to do, because it’s already in your bones.

When you graduate and you get that first job, you’re not scared of it, it’s nothing you can’t do; when I got my first job at The National of course I was nervous, but when I got into the rehearsal room I felt like ‘Oh, I can do this’ and I still had that feeling all the way through till the end. And I kept thinking ‘Oh my god, Juliet Stevenson, Rory Kinnear, Fiona Shaw and Ben Wishaw have all been on this stage…’ and now I was up there too. And that was ok. I could do it.

The College really gives you the tools to do anything in a rehearsal room – whether you take them is a different matter.  But for most, the training sticks because the College really take care in who they choose during auditions.

The three years at RWCMD were three of the best years of my life. I miss it every day. It went too fast, but I feel like I got the most I could out of it. The College productions are some of the best productions I have ever seen, I talk about them whenever I’m asked in an audition ‘what’s the best thing you’ve seen?’ I don’t just say that because I’m proud if my training, I say it because it’s true.

Tell us about your writing?

At RWCMD they don’t train writers, it’s not a writing course, but then it’s not a singing course or a physical theatre course either: you get the chance to experience all of it. We’re trained to be as rounded as possible. They give you the opportunity to have a go, and if there’s a talent there, they encourage you. The staff went out of their way to encourage me and the other new writers on my course, reading my draughts, encouraging me to write speeches for others students, introducing me to people in the industry that could present more opportunities etc. I was sort of overwhelmed by the whole thing. I would never have pursued if it hadn’t been for the constant encouragement from the staff.

A workshop with Shameless writer Paul Abbott (left) and Head of Actor Training, Dave Bond

Shameless writer Paul Abbott with Dave Bond running acting workshops at RWCMD

The Paul Abbott scholarship allowed me the freedom out of term time to write. He supported me financially so I didn’t have to work during Christmas and summer, I could write instead. This was a massive help – I really believe the more you write (and read) the better you get. And I got a lot better thanks to that support. Also he has a studio in Manchester which I was allowed to use for free, loads of quiet rooms away from everything, surrounded by other creatives in the same situation, it was like a haven. Having Paul Abbott’s name attached to mine opened so many doors. He had an amazing talent, and he was so generous with it, everyone who was at that studio felt protected and cared for.

You have been helping second year students prepare original work for their End of Year Assessments – how has that been?

It very strange to be sat ‘on the other side’, and I was really nervous about it. It was tricky, because writing is something I’ve never been taught, I just tried and was good at, and over time got better at, so it was difficult to teach something I didn’t have a formula for. Everybody’s different, so the tutorials are so interesting. You think sometimes when you’re writing that everyone has exactly the same idea as you, but not one idea is similar. End of Year Assessments (EYAs) are like little windows into people’s head, which I find fascinating – that’s why I was more than happy to help out in any way I could. I LOVE EYA season and having gone to many workshops myself, I tried to make them as interesting as possible. No one wants to be bored. Like I’ve said before, it was a little strange coming back as a ‘tutor’, but I really did feel like coming home.

Tell us about some of your most recent professional experiences…

I recently appeared in BBC’s Our Girl with Lacey Turner, which was so much fun! All of the girls in the squad were recently graduated actresses so we had such a laugh – this was vital when we were running in the rain and crawling through mud! I’d never done any telly professionally before, just at College, plus I had quite a bit to do so I was a bit daunted by it all. But I just thought back to my training and remembered all the stuff they taught us about keeping calm and enjoying it, and after a few scenes, I really got on a roll with it. I was so over-excited being around a set and a crew, it was an amazing experience; I got to do a stunt and everything! For a first job I was well chuffed.

Everyone in my year at College will tell you that I’m in no way physically fit, but I was physically able enough to look like new recruit – to watch and copy the way others march and drill, to analyse the way kids in Stockport move and talk, this physical and vocal awareness is one of my most treasured skills I learned at College.

After Our Girl, I went straight into playing a fifteen year old in Port at the National Theatre. This takes a toll on your body and your voice, but whether it’s moving like a fifteen year old, or making sure everyone can hear the text through a really harsh accent, you find that the skills are already there. I was really daunted by the task, but not surprised when it came a lot easier than I thought it would.