Page 141 - Gonzaga at 60
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the Conor McPherson movie Saltwater before also deciding to focus on the law.
At the end of my undergraduate tenure I was awarded the President’s Award for
Excellence in Student Aciviies for my acing work and, much to my parents’ surprise given
the amount of ime I dedicated to drama, a bachelor’s degree in psychology. But the seed
planted during The Crucible had, over my years in UCD, overtaken my outlook and I was now
seriously considering becoming an actor. Considering how notoriously diicult acing is as a
career, it felt arrogant to presume that I could succeed at it. I needed airmaion. One of my
favourite actors, Barry McGovern had come to our producion of Waiing for Godot and assumed that I
was studying drama. When I told him that I was studying Psychology, he explained how to spin my degree Bill NIghy, Andrew Scott,
with casing directors, suggesing that I tell them that it helps me to get inside the mind of characters, class of 1995 and Julianne
Moore in David Hare’s
whether it was true or not. His presumpion about my acing ambiions galvanised my conidence and I The Vertical Hour on
began to give serious thought to audiioning for drama school. To ensure I was making a good decision, Broadway
I only audiioned for three of the top London drama schools, the kinds of places that accept a couple of
dozen students from about three thousand audiionees. Geing in was the airmaion I needed. Geing
a scholarship was even beter.
Three brilliant years of everything from Shakespeare to Stanislavski to clowning at the presigious
London Academy of Music and Dramaic Art lew by, and now I’m a classically trained actor trying to
scrounge the rent while slowly building a career in a discipline known for lucky breaks and broken
dreams. I am only one year out and already have a number of producions under my belt (from
pantomime to Shakespeare). In between these, to keep the wolves from the door, I teach drama classes
around London and have been invited back to LAMDA to work on their ilm course. To be a mentor to
others at such a well-regarded insituion has been a nice coup, and to have conirmaion of their belief
in my abiliies has inlated my conidence at this transiional ime.
The Gonzaga network has also been a excellent base of support and in one instance has directly
beneited my career. As Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Shane O’Brien garnered more laughs from the
audience than an Arthur Miller play really deserves. His git for comedy led him to write and perform
in a number of highly successful sketch groups, receiving rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. His
latest endeavour, the comedic rock band Dead Cat Bounce, has been capivaing audiences around
the world while winning huge criical acclaim and major awards. Reaping the beneits of our long
friendship, I supported one of Shane’s earlier comedy oufits H-BAM at the Temple Bar Music Centre
with a sketch troupe (featuring fellow Gonzaga alumni Jonathan Spollen and Barry Glynn) and made a
cameo appearance in Dead Cat Bounce’s recent online video for the BBC (a good credit for a ledgling
acing CV). I also have the beneit of Shane’s considerable wisdom when it comes to assessing my own
developing projects. Simon Ashe-Browne, Barry Glynn and Kevin O’Connor are all invaluable advisers
and potenial future collaborators.
A few months ago I has a heartening experience while atending Roaring Trade, a very strong
producion at the Soho Theatre that was one of the irst to deal directly with the inancial crisis. The
lead actor, almost unrecognisable with his wide-boy swagger and thick London accent, was Gonzaga
alumnus Andrew Scot whose successes include appearances in Band of Brothers and David Hare’s The
Verical Hour on Broadway with Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy. Knowing that this treacherous path to
success has been navigated by a fellow alumnus is reassuring. It’s far from easy in this business, but then
I always knew that. It’s nice to know that it’s not impossible.
Andrew Nolan
Class of 1995
the Conor McPherson movie Saltwater before also deciding to focus on the law.
At the end of my undergraduate tenure I was awarded the President’s Award for
Excellence in Student Aciviies for my acing work and, much to my parents’ surprise given
the amount of ime I dedicated to drama, a bachelor’s degree in psychology. But the seed
planted during The Crucible had, over my years in UCD, overtaken my outlook and I was now
seriously considering becoming an actor. Considering how notoriously diicult acing is as a
career, it felt arrogant to presume that I could succeed at it. I needed airmaion. One of my
favourite actors, Barry McGovern had come to our producion of Waiing for Godot and assumed that I
was studying drama. When I told him that I was studying Psychology, he explained how to spin my degree Bill NIghy, Andrew Scott,
with casing directors, suggesing that I tell them that it helps me to get inside the mind of characters, class of 1995 and Julianne
Moore in David Hare’s
whether it was true or not. His presumpion about my acing ambiions galvanised my conidence and I The Vertical Hour on
began to give serious thought to audiioning for drama school. To ensure I was making a good decision, Broadway
I only audiioned for three of the top London drama schools, the kinds of places that accept a couple of
dozen students from about three thousand audiionees. Geing in was the airmaion I needed. Geing
a scholarship was even beter.
Three brilliant years of everything from Shakespeare to Stanislavski to clowning at the presigious
London Academy of Music and Dramaic Art lew by, and now I’m a classically trained actor trying to
scrounge the rent while slowly building a career in a discipline known for lucky breaks and broken
dreams. I am only one year out and already have a number of producions under my belt (from
pantomime to Shakespeare). In between these, to keep the wolves from the door, I teach drama classes
around London and have been invited back to LAMDA to work on their ilm course. To be a mentor to
others at such a well-regarded insituion has been a nice coup, and to have conirmaion of their belief
in my abiliies has inlated my conidence at this transiional ime.
The Gonzaga network has also been a excellent base of support and in one instance has directly
beneited my career. As Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Shane O’Brien garnered more laughs from the
audience than an Arthur Miller play really deserves. His git for comedy led him to write and perform
in a number of highly successful sketch groups, receiving rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. His
latest endeavour, the comedic rock band Dead Cat Bounce, has been capivaing audiences around
the world while winning huge criical acclaim and major awards. Reaping the beneits of our long
friendship, I supported one of Shane’s earlier comedy oufits H-BAM at the Temple Bar Music Centre
with a sketch troupe (featuring fellow Gonzaga alumni Jonathan Spollen and Barry Glynn) and made a
cameo appearance in Dead Cat Bounce’s recent online video for the BBC (a good credit for a ledgling
acing CV). I also have the beneit of Shane’s considerable wisdom when it comes to assessing my own
developing projects. Simon Ashe-Browne, Barry Glynn and Kevin O’Connor are all invaluable advisers
and potenial future collaborators.
A few months ago I has a heartening experience while atending Roaring Trade, a very strong
producion at the Soho Theatre that was one of the irst to deal directly with the inancial crisis. The
lead actor, almost unrecognisable with his wide-boy swagger and thick London accent, was Gonzaga
alumnus Andrew Scot whose successes include appearances in Band of Brothers and David Hare’s The
Verical Hour on Broadway with Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy. Knowing that this treacherous path to
success has been navigated by a fellow alumnus is reassuring. It’s far from easy in this business, but then
I always knew that. It’s nice to know that it’s not impossible.
Andrew Nolan
Class of 1995
