If you read my last post, you can see I foolishly thought I would find time to increase my writing. As it is, I have been so busy, my writing has been forced on to the back burner. With this in mind I thought the best piece to start this year’s writing would be a brief post about some of my antics and how one thing has led to another...
There's a book by Susan Jeffers called Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway. I've never read it and with my very long list of books I want to read, it's unlikely I ever will (well, not for a good few years at least). However, it sums up the mantra by which I have been trying to live my acting life over the last 12 months and I have to say it’s worked pretty well so far.
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| Instant Wit |
It began about a year ago with an audition for Instant Wit, the comedy improvisation group. I love comedy improvisation, but equally it terrifies me, especially when auditioning for a group of people who have been working together for years. It was as terrifying as I thought it would be, but they were lovely and although I didn't make it into the group, I did get recalled, which boosted my confidence, and meant I met some brilliant people that I'm still in contact with - I also laughed longer and harder in that rehearsal room than I have for ages!
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| Show of Strength Theatre Company |
A few months later, Sheila at Show of Strength approached me about performing in Trading Local, a brilliant initiative aimed at regenerating local shopping areas. Site-specific monologues, sourced and developed from local writers are performed in shops - not empty ones, trading ones - creating some very 'intimate' theatre!
The thought of performing with no boundary between audience and performance sounded exciting, but I could feel the fear in the pit of my stomach. Once again, because I could feel the fear I knew I had to do it.
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| Performing in Trading Local. Photograph Copyright Zuleika Henry |
It was an great experience for many reasons, with a lot of strange coincidences, that if you believe in fate, could easily be read as signs.
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| Serendip Poster |
One coincidence came in the form of Sam Randall, a playwright with a new play, called Serendip, about to be performed in Exeter. She approached me after one of my performances and asked if I would be interested in auditioning for her play if she could get me seen. I said ‘yes’ and to cut a long story short, within a few weeks I was rehearsing the roles of Gertie and Ten in Serendip at The Bike Shed Theatre.
Towards the end of the run an old friend, now a director, called me to ask if I was interested in auditioning for a production of a one-woman, Howard Barker piece, to be performed in an huge, freezing cold, empty warehouse on the Paintworks site in Bristol - with a proposition like that, how could I say ‘no’? Well, I thought about it, as the fear of doing a huge show in a short space of time with everything resting on my shoulders was great, but it was such an unusual opportunity, once again, I had to say ‘yes’.
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| Performing in 'Und' |
The play was Und and I got the role. What ensued one of the biggest acting challenges I have so far faced. Thankfully, the show was well received and soon the challenge will be even greater as we are taking the show to Edinburgh for the Festival.
I don’t know what the next 12 months have in store, but over the last year I know that by stepping out of my comfort zone, I have developed in many ways, so I hope the offers keep coming and even if I feel the fear, I continue to push myself and do it anyway.
