Jobs in London?

Acting/london/jobs/living there... help?

• I'm 18. I need to live in London preferably by this coming year. I live in Sheffield and need to get accommodation and a job in London. Reason being; I applied to Drama Schools last year and did well but not well enough and am going to be applying again for the next bunch of auditions, and with the commute from Sheffield to London being incredibly expensive and tiresome, it would be substantially more easy to get to these auditions I will be attending. It's not only that but i will be wanting experience in London with acting work also. My main question, how on earth do you go about getting a job with either: - Accommodation provided - Good pay It needs to be a job I can get that will pay well enough for me to live there quite soon, but i'm stumped as to how to go about setting up a job AND accom, when i'm all the way up here. The kind of job i would want is either something in the Theatres such as bar work or front of house. Or if not that then a call center job. Any feedback is appreciated.

• Answer:

  For Front of House work, you need to leave your CV with the Front of House Manager of the theatre you are interested in. Try to find out their name (ring stage door, but if in London, you can ask at box office - don't ring box office to ask). Good pay and front of house in theatre do not usually go hand in hand. You are most likely to be on the minimum wage, but you get paid for the shifts worked (up to 8 shows per week in most theatres, although could be more if the theatre has kids shows on during the day and you are free to work). The average shift is 4 hours. You are very unlikely to get any professional acting work without having been to drama school, so earning money that way is unlikely. You might be better trying to get FOH work at you local theatre and joining an amateur group to keep up the acting skills. You could stay in one of the youth hostels in central London for a short time while auditioning or working out where is best to live.