Last time I spoke to you all, I was preparing for a weekend long crew experience at the University of Bath Summer Ball. Although I didn't do much technical work, I spent a lot of time in the designing department. We had the privilege of Rizzle Kicks coming to perform for many "recently ex students" and students having a few drinks and a party to celebrate the end of a triumphant year. In my department, I worked with a designer who was working with the theme of Midsummer Night's Dream, which was because of a recent production at the university amphitheatre. Naturally, this meant I spent a great deal of the weekend painting papier mache trees, leaves and other midsummer features to decorate the stage where Rizzle Kicks performed. I never got to see the performance, and only went backstage to grab some kit, but from what I heard it was a great success. Most of my other duties were unrelated to performance, so let's move on.
As soon as I was out of the event, and caffeine starting to wear off sadly enough, we went into rehearsals for a performance of Death Inc at Bath Fringe. A new play directed by the playwright, Andy Massey, the script drew satire from the failures of technology that is rapidly replacing human labour in modern times, with a dark twist, after all the play is set in the afterlife. The director here was a lot more specific about the characters motives and nature, which helped me find a comfortable suit within my role. I guess this is the advantage of working with the playwright. He also gave us a lot more physical freedom in terms of blocking. Seeing as I spent most of my time on stage rolling a pebble around, I was given a lot more freedom; this I found daunting to begin with, however I grew to relish that freedom. The characterization also gave me a chance to work on my voice acting, which I have been hoping to improve for a while. We performed alongside a very different production called Ever Hopeful, written and directed by Maddie Winn. This tackled something that almost every actor faces, unless they're lucky enough to make a big break early on. The theatrical world takes dog eats dog to a whole new level, there's competition everywhere, and there reaches a point for many "Ever Hopeful"'s that maybe it makes more sense to look closer to home. The four characters are all a broad portrayal of this time in an actors life. We have Dom, who holds out and by the end of the show is looking to make it; then his best friend James, long ago James was also hopeful but since then he is now working in a bank, the dreams of being spotted long have passed. Next we have Cecily, a sweet girl eager to discover musical theatre, but there are only so many hurdles she can cross. Finally there is Meg, who's dream is a little more self destructive. Her desire to become an object of men's dreams drives her to more complicated and difficult scenarios. Whilst the premise is a strong one, the concept of dreams vs reality is somewhat lost in a love triangle and personal issues which gain significance in the play's story. How different would the play have been had the story been more loyal to the difficulties of performing? Only Maddie knows, and we can only speculate.
Alongside this, I made a brief debut in radio acting. Over a week I offered my voice to some cameo roles in another original radio show called Crowe. A mystery set in Bath. Broadcast is estimated to be in July on 1449 URB. Do keep an eye out if you are interested.
Fast forward two weeks, after my theatrical life got put on hold to move back in with my parents briefly before I begin my new job in September, I returned to my roots at an acting workshop this Wednesday in London. City Academy offered a two hour workshop on creating a character. I as an individual got to work with my directors hat back on. The workshop focused on emphasis to a characters motives, I also got to work alongside two incredibly talented performers to act out a scene from the play Cipher. In this scene, a suspected man is confronted by an undercover spy, she knows he's innocent and is out to prove them wrong, but she can't do it alone. Having no other knowledge of the play, I had to assume a lot about the characters bond. What I found useful was listening to the actors reading through. Following this workshop, I am tempted to investigate this play further. We then followed our experience with two shows on the West End, first a comedy entitled "The 39 Steps" and a darker piece called "Let The Right One In". These are what I will review in later posts. They were a great opportunity to recap what we learnt in the workshop, and were both incredibly enjoyable productions. But more on that in the next two posts.
My theatrical life is looking a bit bleak at the moment, although I am preparing for an audition to join an amateur dramatics company in Southampton when I move there in August. Next year I will be visiting many productions put on by my good friends back in Bath. So in truth, it'll never grow old. Until then, continue to be ever hopeful guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment