The Extreme Staycation

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown The advert below came out this week and sent the internet into meltdown. At a time when us artistic folk are feeling a bit taken advantage of and undervalued, this was the cherry on top. The advert was ostensibly to encourage young people to think about applying for jobs in cyber but all it did was to underline the idea that jobs in the arts are frivolous and not "proper" jobs.  This came the week after we were advised by the government to consider re-training. Without the arts, we would all be poorer - culturally, emotionally and as a country, financially.  The arts are what has kept us all going during this unending pandemic and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar.  If you have watched TV, a film, listened to music, read a book, looked at any art - you've enjoyed the fruits of someone's labour, often many years of study and hard work. The arts should never be seen as "not a viable job". I w...

  Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown The temperature is still way above average and in London we are praying for some weather - be that wind, rain, something, some relief from the still, hot air. Last year on a day as similarly hot as today I did an improv gig with my group, The Trophy Room. It was in a room which they had tried to air-condition as much as was possible, but still involved everyone getting there by tube so the whole experience was...sticky. Amazingly, there was still a small, but dedicated audience! They weren't going to let a little heat get in the way of some comedy genius...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Love & Information - Part 3 The day after the night before. I had a good sleep which I haven't for the last few nights - all anxiety induced sleeplessness I'm sure. My performance anxieties were less to do with acting or line learning but all tech related - technology allowed us to rehearse together and then perform to friends and family all over the country (who may never have been able to see the show otherwise) but what if it failed?  Luckily, other than WhatsApp going down briefly, we made it. There are always post-show blues.  It's a bit like grief - you mourn for the friends and relationships you have created and for the work itself, the performance or the performing of something you've enjoyed. Reflecting on the experience, I'm so pleased we pursued the production and didn't abandon it and let Covid win.  THE SHOW MUST GO ON. Developing and then playing 11 characters over 2 hours was a grea...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Love & Information - Part 2 Performance Day! At 6:30pm the countdown timer started - we'd be going live to the world in 30 minutes!  And yes it really was the world, we had viewers all over the country and abroad. After a minor technical difficulty which was dealt with by producer and tech guru James with utter calm and professionalism, we were live, looking into our cameras and performing our socks off. I was in 11 scenes which meant 11 costume/hair/earring changes for me.  And although I changed my top half 11 times, my bottom half remained in my trackies and slippers which was quite a joy. In between scenes, I could use my own bathroom for make-up and hair alterations and bedroom for wardrobe.  I'd pop down to the kitchen to get my "champagne" for Wedding Video or to feed the cat. So there are definitely some advantages to performing from home. I've performed in lots of places - outdoors on grass...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Love & Information - part 1 Dress Rehearsal Day! Tonight was our final dress rehearsal for the one and only Zoom performance of Love & Information by Caryl Churchill. Had we not had the Covid-19 outbreak, it would have been the dress rehearsal as well, but in a theatre and with a cast who had all met each other in real life and stood within a 2 meter distance of one another. However, we didn't want to let a little thing like a global pandemic stop us, so we rehearsed weekly between 1-3 times, depending on the scenes and all learnt our lines as we would have done normally. The beauty of this particular play (50 short scenes) is that it really lends itself to being broadcast.  If you don't know the play, it's a bit like eavesdropping in on conversations between people - like you've just dropped into their bathroom, joined them while they are out for a walk or at a dinner party or in the playground.  Mos...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown In a week, I will be taking part in a play, performed via Zoom, live across the world! (potentially) It's been quite an experience rehearsing for a play, sitting at my computer, in my house, with the cat occassionally for company (I think she wants to be in it, she is a bit of a drama queen). I am looking forward to it and everyone has been working so hard - all the actors and our tech team - to make it the best we can. My biggest concern is anyone having tech difficulties as for example, my WiFi occassionally decides it just doesn't want to connect to the computer, so fingers crossed that won't happen!

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Learning Lines part 3 The people I am often most impressed with are actors in soap operas.  Soaps are filmed incredibly fast - probably only 2 takes and then they move on.  With a film, you might only finish a few minutes worth a week but soaps produce around 4-5 x 30 minute episodes a week! The actors have to know their lines and give an excellent performance - they have to be game ready all the time. In terms of learning lines then, their short term memory is probably very good.  They will be able to learn a few pages of script very fast which they then forget equally quickly. It's a completely different thing to learning, say Hamlet, which for the title role has 1569 lines (the most lines any single character has in a play) and has to be replicated night after night.  Actors who have played big roles like this will likely be able to recall huge swathes of text years later. There are lots of different me...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Learning Lines part 2 The way in which the industry works is that there is often a very tight turn around between being asked in for an audition and the audition itself. I've had commercials castings take place hours after a call from my agent! This can be tricky then when it comes to learning lines.  There are varying opinions about whether you should be off book for an audition - some casting directors and directors want it and some don't. The troubles arise when you have to learn something really fast.  If you go into an audition having tried to learn it, there is a chance that all you'll be thinking about are the lines rather than the performance.  Thorough preparation is of course key "Fail to prepare and prepare to fail" so goes the saying. I've lost count of the number times I've been running lines to myself on the tube and realise from some curious glances that I have clearly been making...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Learning Lines part 1 This is an occupational hazard for actors and one that people not in "the biz" often ask about - "How did you learn all those lines?" they marvel. And honestly sometimes I don't know. If something is well written, it is definitely easier to learn.  Believe it or not, Shakespeare is relatively easy to commit to memory for this very reason - it flows. The biggest thing I've ever had to learn was something I wrote myself.  In 2017 I took my solo show "Awake" to the Edinburgh and Sydney Fringe festivals.  It was 45 solid minutes of me talking.  That's a lot of lines.  And it was particuarly irritating when I got any lines wrong because I'd written them! If you'd like to read about my adventures, I wrote a couple of blogs about them:  Awake: Part 1 - The Road to Edinburgh   Awake: Part 2 - The North and the South