The Graduate Showcase is one of the many things that distinguishes Drama School training from other forms of further education, but what exactly is a Graduate Showcase?
Welcome to our new series, which will take you behind the scenes at one of the UK’s leading drama schools. In this first blog, we wanted to peek behind the curtain of our recent Three Year Course Graduate Showcase to give you an idea of what showcase day is like.
What is a Graduate Showcase?
The Graduate Showcase takes place at the end of the Three Year and One Year Courses. It is an opportunity to present work to an invited audience of industry professionals. The umbrella term ‘industry’ includes professionals such as Agents, Casting Directors, Producers, Writers, and Directors.
There is no hard and fast formula for the shape of a showcase, but generally, each student presents a couple of short scenes, sometimes monologues and sometimes duologues. It is a chance to showcase the kind of work that you see yourself doing as a professional actor. It’s also a chance for you to meet some of the people who could be hiring you or supporting you through your career.
So, what does showcase day look like for a third-year actor? We’ve put together a timeline of what the day usually looks like so you can get a feel for what your own future might look like!
9 am: Arrive at Venue
You arrive at the venue for 9am. Travelling can be stressful, so you might choose to head down the night before. Either way, OSD reimburses you for your travel to the theatre.
9:30 am: Getting Comfortable
Once everyone has arrived, you begin with an orientation of the theatre space, including the backstage and front-of-house areas. You’ll find your dressing rooms before meeting back on stage for a company warm-up led by our Head of Voice, Gem Maddock.
This is a chance to warm up your voice and get a feel for the acoustics of the performance space. Adjusting from the intimacy of a rehearsal studio to the openness of a theatre auditorium can take some time, so it’s vital to have this time as a company. It’s incredible to have the ensemble of actors you’ve grown with over the last three years surrounding you as you take these first steps into your professional careers.
10 am: Q-2-Q Technical Run
Next up is a Q-2-Q run of the show. You’ll run the first few lines and the last few lines of each scene as a way to begin adjusting to the space and to work out the logistical flow of scenes. This is really where you start to find your confidence in the space and can start to take ownership over the day and your own performance.
Towards the end of your technical run you’ll have a couple of friendly faces in the room. Our Industry Liaison Officer, Sara Houghton, will pop in and have a chat with you before the audience starts arriving. Sara is an OSD-trained actor who has worked extensively on stage and screen projects such as A Mirror at the Almeida Theatre, Riviera for Sky TV, Holby City for the BBC and the 2005 feature film The Omen. Sara is there to be your advocate and to help you navigate the transition into professional life. Principal of OSD, Edward Hicks will also give you some final tips and encouragement before the first performance kicks off.
12:30 pm: First Show
While you’re doing your Q-2-Q run and hearing from Ed and Sara, the OSD team will be in the foyer getting things ready for the audience’s arrival. We’ll set up the graduate booklets and the programme for the showcase, and we’ll have the guestlist ready to meet and greet the invited audience. Just before 12:30 pm, we’ll let the audience make their way into the auditorium to get settled before you begin your first performance at 12:30 pm.
The Showcase usually has a run time of an hour; we try to keep this very tight as often industry attendees will have a few different showcases or performances to attend, so timings are crucial! Once the show is over, you are welcome to come to the front-of-house area to meet any industry members you invited and want to make contact with. OSD provides some refreshments between the two shows to encourage the audience to stay and mingle for as long as possible.
2:15 pm – 4 pm: Second Show and Schmooze
Your second performance starts at 2:15 pm and runs exactly as the first. Once the second show finishes at 3:15 pm you’ll be on a quick turnaround to get out of costume and tidy up the space, ready to vacate the backstage area by 4 pm.
In 2025, our showcase was held at Soho Theatre, which meant that the audience members mingled in the lovely bar area, giving the perfect opportunity for you to head on through to the bar and meet and greet with the people who could take you into the next phase of your career.
Next Steps
It’s so important to remember that the showcase’s main function isn’t to ‘get an agent’. The showcase is there to give you the opportunity to make contacts and begin relationships with people who can help you take the next step. While many students emerge from their final year having signed with an agent, those who don’t aren’t doomed to fail. Many incredibly successful alumni sign with an agent after they have graduated – Claire Foy was one such student! So, success doesn’t equate to signing with an agent after the showcase The showcase is instead a fantastic opportunity to make connections that can stand you in good stead once you graduate.
We hope you’ve enjoyed getting a little more insight into the Graduate Showcase, from how the day runs to what a Showcase actually is! If you’re thinking about applying to OSD, our applications for all our courses are open until the 22nd of May. Apply now to begin the next phase of your creative journey. Before you know it, you could be preparing for your own Graduate Showcase!
