By Claire Corrigan
The Downs native and actor Daniel Egerton recently returned from Birmingham after landing a role on British Medical Soap ‘Doctors’.
Daniel’s interest in acting was already evident in national school when he would look forward to yearly performance. “I was really into the Christmas play. It was the most exciting time each year and I loved it and sparked my interest. After that I started to do drama summer camps in the Arts Centre and then I spent about five years attending the Youth Academy.”
The youngster then began to get involved with performances by the Mullingar Student’ Players. “The first one I did was a play by Neil Simon called ‘Rumours’. It was a bit mad because I was a 14-year-old playing a 40-year-old in this really risqué comedy. It was great training and I’m still thankful for it today because if you treat kids like kids when it comes to that sort of thing, it doesn’t help progress the performance.”
Despite his passion lying in acting rather than musical theatre, Daniel auditioned for a part in the Players production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and a production of Les Misérables at his school St. Joesph’s, Rochfortbridge.
In 2013, Daniel sat his Leaving Certificate and applied to audition for a place at the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. “ In around April I went over to do the audition and didn’t think I would get it at all. I remember auditioning for that and when they brought us around the school all I could think was, ‘It’s too big, I’m not going to get in here. It’s too much.’ My plan was to do a year’s course somewhere else to kind of prepare for it but I ended up getting accepted.”
Daniel had to audition for three different courses on the one day- the Acting Course, The Musical Theatre Course and the Collaborate and Devised Theatre. “The acting audition went really bad. Then for the Musical Theatre audition I had to do a Shakespearean monologue from their set list and a contemporary monologue of their choice as well as an acapella song as well as a song with musical accompaniment.”
After receiving callback from the course for a second audition, Daniel received the email confirming he had secured a place. “I was over the moon but I knew it was going to be really expensive because I would have to move to London. I still dread going over sometimes because of how much it costs.”
Despite his time at the school. Daniel says that over the course of the three years, it became clear to him that his future lay in acting rather than musical theatre. “Singing had been my hobby but when it came to training at it, it kind of ruined the hobby for me. Acting was what I really always wanted to do and the musical theatre side of it came more as a side thought.”
Of all his class, Daniel is the first to secure a role on a major television programme. “I’m the first one to get any film or TV work which has been a really positive sign. A lot of my friends have been auditioning constantly every week for musical theatre jobs and immersive theatre jobs and haven’t really been offered that many auditions. I suppose I like to think the difference between me and them is they are auditioning a lot and not getting them but I may only be auditioning a few times but I’m getting it.”
However he said due to the similarities between him and the role he had little problem embracing the character. “The brief for this was so close to my casting that all I had to do was be in any way half-decent,” he laughed.
While Daniel is contractually obliged not to divulge much about his part in the long-running soap which will air in February, he was able to talk about the audition process.”There was a very quick turnover on it. My agent rang to say I had an audition in BBC Studios outside London and they sent me out the script for the entire episode to read over. I didn’t have to learn the script for which was good because you can forget about character sometimes when you are concentrating on memorising the script and end up going to the audition knowing all the words but not having anything behind it. We threw a few of the later scenes and that was it. I really thought that it was one of my worst auditions because I felt like I hadn’t really done anything.”
Daniel stayed in London for the weekend and contacted his agent the following Monday to find out if he had been successful and would have to stay in the city. “A few hours later he said they had given me an offer and I was really excited. Then they said they would pay for my flights and a hotel but that had all gone over my head because I had been planning in my head, ‘How am I going to afford a place to stay?” because it’s filmed in Birmingham and I don’t know anyone there.”
No one was happier to hear the news than his mother who the 21-year-old says has supported him at every turn in his burgeoning career. “She was very excited. She has definitely been my biggest support and does more than she should do. She acts like my personal assistant sometimes. She’s brilliant.”
Speaking about the roles he hopes to do in the future, Daniel says he wants to be challenged in his next venture. “I want film and TV roles where you have a bit of time to flesh it out a bit because with the show which did it was such a quick turnaround and we had to be done in a day. They’ll take the first take even though you know in your heart and soul, it maybe wasn’t your best. I just want something challenging that affords you room to breathe.”
