Clare Marcie

Clare's advice for Theatre students is to be open to new opportunities, however unusual as you will gain diverse skills, versatility and adaptability.

In my first year I kept my options open and took courses in Philosophy, Film, Art History and Religious Studies. I always knew I wanted to study Theatre, and then English Literature felt like a perfect pairing.

A few of the courses in my final year ended up connecting thematically. I studied romantic literature during the same period that I was doing a Theatre course in which we mounted a production about the life of Mary Wollstonecraft (whose daughter Mary Shelley married romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley). It felt like kismet. I also loved how, particularly in third year, Theatre began to encompass explorations of other subjects I had been curious about, such as philosophy and politics. There was a lot of value in delving deep into theatre.

After graduating I felt pretty lost, as I had not given much thought to life after university. I was one of the many young people who wound up back home working various jobs while I figured out my next move. I did manage to develop a compass for myself through that time, which was that I wanted to work in spaces that supported and promoted storytelling. That meant working in bookstores, cinemas, and theatres, as well as teaching kids’ drama. All that work and time to think helped me clarify what I wanted, which then led to me auditioning for drama schools abroad and attending one in Scotland.

I'm now acting, writing, making theatre and working part time as an audio describer. I'm definitely grateful for my part-time role, as that has held me steady over the past year. The company I work for, an accessible media organisation, recently had a major boost from NZ on Air, so we're in an incredibly lucky position particularly given the global pandemic. Live performance obviously took a major hit in 2020, so that has been tricky for actors and theatre makers, but this year is feeling a lot more hopeful currently *knock on wood*.

I generally recommend not rushing straight from high school into tertiary education. I found that it was a bit full on not to have a break, and I don't see the need to rush if you're not feeling ready. I will say that the theatre programme at the university has a particularly wonderful group of people and Wellington is an awesome city to base yourself if you are curious about creating performance work. For students about to transition from study to work, my main piece of advice is - give yourself a break! You don't need to land some big, impressive gig straight of university. You have just completed a MAJOR milestone. Find a way to pay the bills, surround yourself with some good humans and take a breath. Then you can figure out what you want to do next.