I had an interview last week, 3 and a half hours in total: a tour of part of the school, two 15 minute group discussions with students, a 45 minute IT test and an interview with three people. I got to know the other candidates (two internal) over the course of the morning, so we had fun, even if I did not get offered the position. It was only part time, so I am hoping to hear from a similar school which has a full time position and is nearer.
Rehearsals last week were interesting: we all seemed to fluff our lines on Thursday night and took forever to get through one scene, but perhaps you have to do this to get it right. On Sunday we went up to the wardrobe section and I tried on some outfits for Pattie. Turned out I had been wearing the bump upside down, and now that the kind wardrobe lady has helped me with it, it looked much better, with an added bit of padding too. It took some squeezing under a couple of dresses. The director asked us to look at the recent comedy series, The Kennedys, which is set in the 70s like Season's Greetings, and has a pregnant character. He asked me to look at how she walks, moves etc. I was watching an episode and recognised the actress but couldn't think where I'd seen her. When I looked online, guess which school she went to. Only the one where I'd had the interview.
Work-wise I am trying many avenues but not all of them lead where I want to go. Time is ticking on and I do want to get something soon. It can get very disheartening. Beggars can't be choosers, but then again I have good qualifications and experience and know perfectly well I am capable of a lot. If everything wasn't so expensive I would not be in this situation. Supporting yourself also makes things more expensive but don't for one minute think I'm hooking up with anyone just for their money. I keep having the weirdest, unpleasant dreams, mostly about being trapped, funnily enough.
I still have my articles to write for Wiltshire Life magazine about our font obsession. I had great fun making my sister a quiz all about the places we have been, including a photo montage at the end. Choosing the photos made me realise just how many places we have been to and how many marvellous things we have seen, adding in photo after photo of fonts and doors and creatures and designs. It was quite moving in fact. I fail to see how anyone could not be excited by some of it. But I understand that they're not... It's quite funny now that we only want to talk about these places and when I'm not talking about that I'm talking about the play. Turned into a right bore.
I don't care. I know what I like and what I can do. Still having fun doing logic puzzles and getting paid for them. Inspired by the Antiques Roadshow, my current one is on antique finds. Every week on that programme someone has found something valuable in their garden or in a skip. I saw a lovely little gravy boat in the charity shop yesterday, from a Staffordshire pottery. Things do shout quality, it's true.
Showing posts with label play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label play. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Friday, 16 October 2015
Treading the boards
Despite still being (technically) job-less, I am keeping busy and have explored different routes this week. In fact, a couple of people I was speaking to yesterday are self employed and clearly this is the way to go. So this week I have investigated ads online for writing and editing jobs and also puzzles. I submitted a logic puzzle for an online site and the man loved it and paid me actual money! I was quite excited because although it is quite tricky to figure out the clues for the puzzle, it wasn't impossibly hard. So best get on with a few more of those.
The rehearsals for the play are, quite frankly, keeping me buoyant, and I am so glad I decided to give it a go and even more grateful that I have been given a part. I feel it is coming along nicely, although the lead is a bit worried about the amount of lines she has to remember. I think it will all come; the director would not have cast her if he had any doubts. And he is very good as he gives helpful and constructive advice and direction. We all gel as a cast, in my opinion, which helps. Richard has been asking us to think about our characters' back stories, which really helps because you have some motivation for your actions and lines, and your lines begin to take on more meaning so it makes them easier to deliver. It is interesting that the more we rehearse and the more we find out about our characters, the more sense the play makes. The funny lines seem to be funnier and when we watch each other, we are all laughing at the same lines, every time. Which is really encouraging. Some parts are really quite amusing, which I did not pick up on at first. But some people deliver them so well, it is a joy to watch. The strange thing is that you can't see yourself acting, so it is hard to tell how I am doing and I feel that I have lots to improve on. But hopefully this will all come with practice. I watch the others and I learn something about the scene and the process each time, which I find quite exciting. And believe me I haven't been excited about much recently (except fonts and volcanoes).
The play is set in the 70s so that's a good excuse to watch Columbo and Life on Mars isn't it, to research the decade. I have got lots to do: learning my lines, practising sounding tipsy, bitchy and getting in a state. I realise that there is no room for inhibitions or feeling self conscious - and I can feel self conscious quite easily so it will be a real triumph if I can overcome this. For example, you don't usually go round touching people you don't know that well, do you. So if you are in a scene where you have to do this, it doesn't feel natural. My character has to tidy up the clothes, hair etc of her husband, and so I will have to get over that natural English reaction of "oh, excuse me, I'm just going to touch your arm now," because I'm his wife and I don't have to do that. But it is fun and it's a real adventure for me, who knows nothing about the theatre. What's for sure is that there is a real theatre community in Warminster so if I stay involved I will get to know a few people.
The rehearsals for the play are, quite frankly, keeping me buoyant, and I am so glad I decided to give it a go and even more grateful that I have been given a part. I feel it is coming along nicely, although the lead is a bit worried about the amount of lines she has to remember. I think it will all come; the director would not have cast her if he had any doubts. And he is very good as he gives helpful and constructive advice and direction. We all gel as a cast, in my opinion, which helps. Richard has been asking us to think about our characters' back stories, which really helps because you have some motivation for your actions and lines, and your lines begin to take on more meaning so it makes them easier to deliver. It is interesting that the more we rehearse and the more we find out about our characters, the more sense the play makes. The funny lines seem to be funnier and when we watch each other, we are all laughing at the same lines, every time. Which is really encouraging. Some parts are really quite amusing, which I did not pick up on at first. But some people deliver them so well, it is a joy to watch. The strange thing is that you can't see yourself acting, so it is hard to tell how I am doing and I feel that I have lots to improve on. But hopefully this will all come with practice. I watch the others and I learn something about the scene and the process each time, which I find quite exciting. And believe me I haven't been excited about much recently (except fonts and volcanoes).
The play is set in the 70s so that's a good excuse to watch Columbo and Life on Mars isn't it, to research the decade. I have got lots to do: learning my lines, practising sounding tipsy, bitchy and getting in a state. I realise that there is no room for inhibitions or feeling self conscious - and I can feel self conscious quite easily so it will be a real triumph if I can overcome this. For example, you don't usually go round touching people you don't know that well, do you. So if you are in a scene where you have to do this, it doesn't feel natural. My character has to tidy up the clothes, hair etc of her husband, and so I will have to get over that natural English reaction of "oh, excuse me, I'm just going to touch your arm now," because I'm his wife and I don't have to do that. But it is fun and it's a real adventure for me, who knows nothing about the theatre. What's for sure is that there is a real theatre community in Warminster so if I stay involved I will get to know a few people.
Friday, 25 September 2015
Treading the boards
Having always harboured a secret desire to be an actress, I have finally joined a theatre group in my local town. I went along to the auditions a couple of weeks back, not knowing what to expect. I explained that I'd never really done much acting before, apart from a dalliance with the camera a few years ago when we re-did "Dinner for One" and when I was at school, hundreds of years ago. I say when I was at school, as if I played the lead role in all of the school's weird productions. I didn't. All I can remember is Mr Grossman making us pretend to be motorbikes, and telling me I had a nice voice. But this remark has stuck with me.
I was a bit nervous at the auditions but everyone was friendly and they made me feel very welcome. We had to read out a bit of the play which is being put on at Christmas: Alan Ayckbourn's "Season's Greetings", a mixture of the usual seasonal arguments and wine-fuelled liaisons that do actually ring true. It's quite amusing in places. I only wanted a small role so read two of the smaller characters - except actually most of the characters have about the same amount to say really; there is one central woman around which everyone interacts. I realised that most of the women at the audition had performed before and were very good, so although I had enjoyed it, I could not imagine that I would be chosen for a part with that much talent in the room.
However, the director must have seen something worth taking a risk on, as he offered me the role of Pattie. A woman with three kids who is seven months pregnant! Naturally, I accepted the challenge.
We have a busy rehearsal schedule and I have been to two rehearsals. I am quickly realising there is so much to learn - not in terms of lines, although I do have many - but in terms of the theatre. The stage is bigger than I expected. It is as much about movement, where you are standing and where you are facing as how you say the lines. Saying the lines is not the same as reading them out of a book. I will have to learn to project my voice. How, for example, do you convincingly cry or get angry? Maybe it's not so easy. And I need to learn terms like "upstage" and "downstage", "business" and probably lots more. But I can clearly learn a lot from the others. The woman cast in the main role told me she hadn't done any more acting than I have when she joined a year ago, so she has clearly taken to it like a duck to water. And I see that the director will of course be guiding and advising the whole way through. So it doesn't feel quite as terrifying as it might do. In fact, it felt strangely right to be standing on the stage. But I can tell that it will be a journey of challenges and ups and downs, and that sometimes I will wonder what I am doing there. But all in all I think it should be good fun.
Everyone seems very nice and as we will be spending a whole lot of time together, I am glad because it will mean knowing local people. The nicest thing is having something else to focus on other than job hunting and I have found myself feeling a little more productive the next day as a result.
A predictable and probably often-to-be-repeated misunderstanding occurred last night, as I chatted with a woman who had missed the first rehearsal.
"I haven't done any acting before," I told her. "And I'm pregnant, so that will be weird!"
"Ooh," she said, glancing at my figure, "how far is it?"
"It's 7 months..." (She looks confused), "No, I'm pregnant in the play! Not in real life!"
Much hilarity. She thought I looked a bit thin...
I'm looking forward to having the baby bump put on (well, not actually because I imagine it is going to be very weird, having not been in that condition before) - But I might put the picture on Facebook and see how many people I can fool...
I was a bit nervous at the auditions but everyone was friendly and they made me feel very welcome. We had to read out a bit of the play which is being put on at Christmas: Alan Ayckbourn's "Season's Greetings", a mixture of the usual seasonal arguments and wine-fuelled liaisons that do actually ring true. It's quite amusing in places. I only wanted a small role so read two of the smaller characters - except actually most of the characters have about the same amount to say really; there is one central woman around which everyone interacts. I realised that most of the women at the audition had performed before and were very good, so although I had enjoyed it, I could not imagine that I would be chosen for a part with that much talent in the room.
However, the director must have seen something worth taking a risk on, as he offered me the role of Pattie. A woman with three kids who is seven months pregnant! Naturally, I accepted the challenge.
We have a busy rehearsal schedule and I have been to two rehearsals. I am quickly realising there is so much to learn - not in terms of lines, although I do have many - but in terms of the theatre. The stage is bigger than I expected. It is as much about movement, where you are standing and where you are facing as how you say the lines. Saying the lines is not the same as reading them out of a book. I will have to learn to project my voice. How, for example, do you convincingly cry or get angry? Maybe it's not so easy. And I need to learn terms like "upstage" and "downstage", "business" and probably lots more. But I can clearly learn a lot from the others. The woman cast in the main role told me she hadn't done any more acting than I have when she joined a year ago, so she has clearly taken to it like a duck to water. And I see that the director will of course be guiding and advising the whole way through. So it doesn't feel quite as terrifying as it might do. In fact, it felt strangely right to be standing on the stage. But I can tell that it will be a journey of challenges and ups and downs, and that sometimes I will wonder what I am doing there. But all in all I think it should be good fun.
Everyone seems very nice and as we will be spending a whole lot of time together, I am glad because it will mean knowing local people. The nicest thing is having something else to focus on other than job hunting and I have found myself feeling a little more productive the next day as a result.
A predictable and probably often-to-be-repeated misunderstanding occurred last night, as I chatted with a woman who had missed the first rehearsal.
"I haven't done any acting before," I told her. "And I'm pregnant, so that will be weird!"
"Ooh," she said, glancing at my figure, "how far is it?"
"It's 7 months..." (She looks confused), "No, I'm pregnant in the play! Not in real life!"
Much hilarity. She thought I looked a bit thin...
I'm looking forward to having the baby bump put on (well, not actually because I imagine it is going to be very weird, having not been in that condition before) - But I might put the picture on Facebook and see how many people I can fool...
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