A weekend of reflection…

It’s a Monday afternoon, I’m sat outside in the sunshine, saturated in Factor 30 suncream and sipping a nice cold Pimm’s… bliss!

It’s times like this when I can’t help but think of the stresses my good friend Jacc is going through. It’s show week…

I met Jacc in September 2003. I was in my third(!) year of 6th Form at the all-girls secondary school I attended, and Jacc was finishing his A-Levels at our school. As we were both outsiders (my friends had all left to go to University), we struck up a friendship that has got better and better every time we see each other. In the few months of the school year that we had left, we came up with our grand plan. We would audition for drama schools, train in Performing Arts together, and take the theatrical world by storm! How things change…

Our first audition was up in Cumbria. It took forever to get there on the train, and we were separated at the audition due to applying for slightly different courses. The day, we both felt, was a success. Jacc was determined that this was the place he was destined to be, and refused to go to any more of his auditions! Fair enough. I was spectacularly rejected from Cumbria, but gutted as I was, I found my own little piece of dramatic heaven, and trained down in Bournemouth.

Our courses made us into amazing (obviously- haha!) performers, and on my return to Kettering at the end of the demanding three years, I was pretty sure I wanted to have a little break before plunging into the big wide world of acting. Plus, I was absolutely terrified! As soon as I got back, Jacc told me he had landed himself a job with a touring theatre company. As happy as I was for him, I was gutted we wouldn’t be able to hang out and catch up properly for another few months. So that very night, I started researching theatre companies, and sure enough, two weeks later, I too was touring the country with a portable set and show.

After Jacc’s tour had ended, I was also at the end of my third tour. I was looking forward to some more silliness and comparing touring stories when he then got a job as an entertainer in Majorca. Cue major envy from me… I ended up working in a hotel that summer! For reasons I won’t go into, Jacc didn’t finish the length of his contract, and came home. We had a few weeks of general messing around (as we do) and then it was me who left for another brand-spanking new tour.

By the time I got back that Christmas, Jacc had moved in with his lovely boyfriend Craig, and was about to become a teacher at a local secondary school. If there’s one thing I like in the world, it’s seeing my friends happy and doing well. From the teaching job, Jacc set up his own dance classes which have gone amazingly well, are constantly expanding, and in just over a year, we are now onto the fourth production show, as well as dancing in local events around the county.

Which brings me back to show week! Jacc has never asked me to be part of his shows; we have an understanding… He forces me to be in them, and wherever I am, I will make it back to Kettering and perform in that show, no matter what state I am in, or however badly rehearsed I am!

Usually, I’m home during show week. I don’t mind, but I normally end up practically abandoning my family, moving into Jacc’s, annoying Craig with my sewing machine, and listening repeatedly to the backing track of the solo that Jacc will be singing in the show! But that’s not the case this time. Instead, as I have told you, I’m sat in the sun, near Swindon, sipping my (now slightly warm) fruity summer beverage. And I feel quite guilty about it!

Despite doing everything I possibly could while I was back a couple of weeks ago, there are still things to be done, costumes to be made and panicking to be done. I’ve even been sworn to secrecy about an issue regarding a member of the cast…

I know everything will work out fine, because Jacc is a complete professional and won’t let anything or anyone get in his way of putting on a less-than-perfect performance. I just feel a bit naughty that I’m not there and it’s show week! *Just for the record, we do NOT joke about in show week!

Apart from all this, I can’t help thinking back to when we were 18(!), had our lives planned out, and our ambitions to take over the world seemed so close to becoming true. I don’t think life has planned out the way we thought it would go so far. I certainly didn’t think I’d be sat in Wiltshire, writing this fresh from dressing up as the Artful Dodger this morning but there we go! Okay, so I’m not doing what I imagined I’d be doing, and no, my dreams of acting in the West End haven’t come true yet, but I know that it’s going to take hard work and determination to get there, and sometimes you have to start where you don’t want to. I’m just grateful that I’ve managed to be almost constantly in professional acting work since I graduated, for my amazing friends who put up with me disappearing for weeks on end, and who are so ridiculously excited and happy to see me home, and the fact that I get paid to travel the UK, see so many beautiful places, and get drunk on Pimm’s on my afternoons off!

Jacc, congratulations again on putting together another fantastic show… See you Friday! Now where’s that rehearsal CD…?!?! x

Auditioning from home- who thought that was a good idea?!?

I can’t believe it’s got to Friday already… My week off has just flown by in a flurry of rehearsals, costume making, and making a fool out of myself using my digital camera!

So a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the amazing televisual spectacular that is ‘Neighbours’, were having open auditions for a British actress to go to Oz and have a 4-week guest role. I did a little scream and decided this was my time! All I would need to do was A. Download the script. B. Film it. C. Work out something to say as myself to present to camera to add on after the script reading. Easy, right?

At the time I discovered the competition, I was in Bristol, on a farm with very limited internet access, meaning I couldn’t access the script. One phone call to my dad later, an email pops into my inbox with the script. Thank you Daddy! :) I got very excited just seeing that it was a scene with Karl Kennedy! I put it to one side as I knew I didn’t have the appropriate technology in my suitcase for some hardcore filming, but it kept ticking away at the back of my mind that I needed to film it ASAP.

Cut to two weeks later and I’m back at home, going round all of my friends at rehearsals asking them to put on an Australian accent to see if they fit the criteria to be my Dr Karl! I manage to narrow it down to two people, Georgie and Craig. They are simply Bonza! I set to work learning the script, and planned to film myself explaining why I want to play the part on the Wednesday evening, and the actual script on the Thursday.

Before I know it, Wednesday is here and it’s time to film. I head over to my friend Jacc’s house and we clear a space along a blank wall for me to sit against. By this time, I’ve thought that I will try to be a little bit different in my approach and try to win them over with a poem! I sit down but then realise the poem is all I have. I have no idea how to introduce myself, how to actually get to the poem part! Jacc was quite helpful and came up with a few good lines but I still couldn’t do it! I don’t know whether it was because we know each other so well and I was just embarrassed in front of him, but I just kept laughing. I even persuaded him to put a pillow in front of his face so it seemed like he wasn’t there but nothing worked. After about twenty minutes of this, I finally managed to compose myself and was ready to be filmed, presenting my outstanding poem to the world. And then my camera’s battery ran out. Typical!

I drove home as fast as the speed limits would allow, trying to get home before darkness fell, threw the battery into its charging dock and tried to clear a space in my bedroom with a clear wall. This took some time as I hadn’t really unpacked from when I came back two weekends ago! Eventually I managed to clear a space, the battery was 75% charged and I was away. I must have recorded myself about twenty-five times repeating mostly the same words over and over, trying to keep it below one minute so my complete video didn’t go over the time limit.

After many many takes, and several interruptions from my mobile phone, I decided to call it a night at 10.30pm. Then came phase two. The hair dyeing! I’m not going to lie, of course I’ve been checking out the competition along the way and I noticed that nearly everyone on there was a blonde or a brunette. So I though I’d give red another go. I used to dye my hair red all the time in my teens and I’ve been wanting to do it again for ages but couldn’t due to working. So at 10.45pm, I jumped in the shower and set about becoming a redhead. Despite using 2 packets rather than the recommended one, and leaving it on for more than double the stated time, I sadly came out looking hardly any different at all! I looked a slightly darker brunette but that was it. I was gutted. Now I’d have to rely on my ‘talent’ alone! Great.

Thursday rolled around, and to be fair, my hair did look a bit better in daylight but I was still annoyed. I spent the day helping out different people with different jobs. As the day ticked away, I realised I didn’t have much time at all. Then disaster struck. I told(!) Craig that he was going to be my Karl, and Jacc would be my cameraman, but then they had to go out, and I had two separate catch-ups with friends that afternoon/evening! First stop was Pizza Hut, then it was onto a friend’s house for some ‘Glee’ watching!

I picked up my Pizza-eating friends and we ate and it was beautiful. I found out we had a spare 90 minutes between pizza munching and to when one of them had to be elsewhere so we raced back to my bedroom/set to film the script. At this point I would like to apologise a million times to them for making them sit through it so many times! We managed to do about 10 takes in half an hour and then it was time to move on. I then decided that I didn’t like the piece that I had filmed the previous evening and that I would do it again. Plus, they were all far too long and impossible to edit! So after chucking my lovely friends out, the camera came out again and I rambled on a bit more with my poem!

I probably had about fifteen more attempts at that, annoying my brother in the process (but he did say it was good when he watched it back, he’s good like that!), and that was that. I had places to go so the filming was over. I left my friend’s house at 11.30 and then decided it would be a good idea to edit it at stupid o’clock this morning. I watched the videos over and over again, and to be honest, I never want to see my own face ever again! I saw the light and left it alone until I woke up this morning with a clearer view on things, edited it together and as I type this, it’s being uploaded to YouTube!

Who knows how far I’ll get, it was certainly an experience! I think I’d like to stick to auditioning in front of real people in the future, but it’s all fun. And as they say, you’ve got to be in it to win it!

Finally, a massive thank you to Kurt and Caroline, love you lots. And a thank you and an apology to Jacc; Thank you for your help and I’m sorry I couldn’t stop laughing at your stupid face. Joz and Noz forever x x x

So I Thought I’d start a blog…

Who knows if anyone will decide to read this but I thought I’d give it a go…

Whenever I meet someone new, I always dread the inevitable question, “So what do you do?” Ugh! I feel absolutely ridiculous answering, and get terrified people will judge me. So very unwillingly I try to mumble the word ‘actress’.

It wouldn’t be so bad if people didn’t think it was impressive. and people can never leave it at just that one question… you get the “Ooh, what have you been in? Have I seen you in anything?” to which I have to reply “Not anything you’d have seen…” and then see disappointment cross their faces and watch them try to scurry away when I can’t tell them which episode of ‘The Bill’ or ‘Casualty’ I’ve been in.

The dedicated few who are polite enough to enquire further and find out that I tour around schools, running around like a loon shouting ridiculous phrases, seem to think that it’s an insanely glamorous lifestyle; travelling around different countries and seeing new places every day…

Now don’t get me wrong, I do love my job… It’s just nothing like you would expect. I returned home yesterday for a week off from my tour, but what a week it was!

Usually when you tour, you get put up in lovely cosy cottages attached to a farm… you might think that’s a bit bizarre but they can be really nice. Despite being literally in the middle of nowhere… I still don’t know why this is… Do the bosses think we’re going to go out and cause havoc in the local towns every night?!? Anyway, sometimes if you are very unlucky you will have a to stay in a one-night hotel on the side of the motorway (you know what I’m talking about!), or sometimes you will get a Bed and Breakfast. Which was my form of accommodation this week.

 

So we arrived up in Yorkshire at about 9pm Monday night, found the B&B, strolled up to it and knocked on the door. A woman answered, and we explained who we were. After looking slightly confused we were let in. We were asked to sign a piece of paper, filling in a few details, when my colleague casually enquired if the rooms had been paid for. (The bosses had been stuck in Palma due to volcanic ash clouds so it was a last-minute thing.) The woman practically snatched the form away from him because she was expecting us to cough up the cash. It turned out the company had been emailing the woman asking how to pay but she hadn’t replied. After a frantic call to the bosses (fearful we wouldn’t be allowed in without paying), she let us in. We would have to pay- but she didn’t take cheques or cards! (Hello- 2010!!)

After persuading her that we could bring her the cold hard cash the next evening on our return, she let us in and asked us about breakfast. Would we like cooked or continental? One cooked, one continental please. What time would we like it? Let’s see… we have to leave at 7am so would 6.30 be OK? Of course not. Cook wouldn’t be happy if she had to come in that early! Breakfast! Her job! What time of day does she think we want to eat?!?!  So she kindly(!) knocked of the £2 each for the breakfast, and left us out a flask of milk overnight so we could help ourselves to cereal. Tea and coffee equipment was also provided in the bedrooms. I don’t even drink tea or coffee!Thanks! But boy did I hit that cereal table!

After sorting the breakfast situation, we were taken upstairs to see the bedrooms “So you can fight it out to see which one you want.” Seriously, we’ve been travelling for hours in the van, all I want to do is watch ‘Glee’ and go to sleep! But no, we got a short guide to the rooms and then she played a little game with us. She literally turned into a completely different person. We’d seen angry landlady downstairs, arguing over a slice of toast, and now we had bizarre hyperactive game referee woman! Despite our insistence that I would take the smaller room, she was adamant that we should play her game! She put the keys in her hands and mixed them round and asked us to pick a hand. “No, it’s alright, I’ll take this room.” “Oh come on, play my game!” “No, really, I’ll take this room!” She finally relented and we got our bags in to settle down for the night.

 

And what a room I had! The best bit about it was the bed. Which was probably to be expected in a BED and breakfast! But that was the only positive about it. It was completely magnolia in colour, had a tiny dressing table which housed the aforementioned tea and coffee facilities, a bedside table with a big vase of fake flowers (so far, so good) a wicker chair that had definitely seen better days, a little bathroom to the side, and a television that I could only receive Channel 4 on. And even then, the reception was appalling!

Swiftly realising I wasn’t going to get my ‘Glee’ fix, I thought I’d just go to bed instead. Off I trotted to my bathroom, turned on the hot tap in the sink, and out came freezing cold water. Great. I had to boil the miniscule kettle to get hot water to wash my face! I took one look at the shower and decided that I probably wasn’t that dirty and could go without for one day!

Off we trotted downstairs for our hearty breakfast of Sugar Puffs the next morning, and I can honestly say I’ve never been so glad to be going to work! Thankfully the kids were really good in the morning and I had quite a nice day. The afternoon brought us to a special needs school, which I have no problem going to, it just required a lot more vocal volume, and then we had to wait for 45 minutes after we finished the show to be able to get anything out of the school due to minibuses blocking our route! Still, more time away from the B&B could only be a good thing. As soon as we arrived back ‘home’ that night, the landlady pounced on us, obviously looking for our cash! She tried to make it look like she was interested in our day but I could read her like a book! Still, once she got what she wanted, we didn’t see her again. I managed to amuse myself with a DVD and went to bed feeling very happy that we were leaving in the morning.

A full day again on Wednesday, one show of which brought the most comical answer from a child EVER! The show is literacy-based, and we tell the children some stories along the way. We were nearing the end of the show when I turned to the audience to ask “Do you know any more stories by Charles Dickens?” There was a very angelic-looking little boy sat right at the front and his hand went up quite slowly but it was the only hand I saw. “Do you know a story by Charles Dickens?” “The Italian Job.” “Erm, I’m not quite sure he wrote that one but well done for having a go!” Absolutely priceless! There were only about ten minutes left of the show but I was having to bite my tongue ridiculously hard to stop myself from laughing out loud in the poor boys face! I’ve heard some cracking answers on this tour but that one was the icing on the top! Brilliant!

Wednesday evening brought along a 3-hour drive up to Cumbria to our second Bed and Breakfast of the week. Again, a 2-night stay but what a difference! For pretty much the same price we had a lovely room each with a colour television with Freeview, Wifi, and breakfast when we wanted it! And there was no ordering it the night before, we could make up our minds when we got there. There was a residents lounge with comfy sofas, a big television and countless books. The one thing that was slightly awkward was having to use a communal bathroom; I found myself scuttling along the corridor wrapped in a towel a couple of times, trying to avoid seeing anyone! But it was amazing! And the town was so nice! Everyone was ridiculously friendly, it was (not literally) a million miles away from the previous nights. We had Thursday afternoon and Friday morning off too, which helped!

Thursday morning’s show was at another special needs school which meant a shorter show for us (don’t tell the boss!) and a smaller audience which was really nice. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to do battle with a 350-odd audience of wriggling shouting children! It turned out that one of my friends from a previous tour lived in the next town along so I was able to meet up with her for a bevvy or two in the local Wetherspoons! The sun was shining, Ihad good company and an afternoon off. This is what makes touring wonderful! I was able to relax in the evening with a nice bit of televisual entertainment- well, election coverage (I didn’t vote- didn’t sort out my postal vote in time) and had a nice chilled out time. I had to force myself to get up on Friday morning just because breakfast was only served until 8, but then I just went back to my room and had a nice little lie down for another hour before it was time to go.

Annoyingly we had a journey of almost 2 hours to get to the show, and got stuck behind every slow vehicle possible on all of the bumpy winding country roads. Even more annoyingly was the fact we had to travel further north when we were both going home that evening… added hours to our travel time. And when we finally reached the town, we couldn’t find the school! We were in Workington, which had had terrible flooding a few months ago due to the amount of snow, meaning the main bridge in the town had collapsed. Obviously my sat-nav was oblivious to the fact, and we had to ask the locals how to cross the river to where we needed to be. We managed to get across, but the school was nowhere to be found. The postcode we had led us to a field, and even the locals in the town told us the wrong road!

We arrived in plenty of time in the end, had a really good show… apart from one of our volunteers having an accident onstage with us. Cue Rob improvising while Natalie ran away to get some tissue to mop it up so I didn’t break my neck slipping on a school childs urine! Marvellous!

Then came the long journey home. Despite only having been home the previous weekend, and only having a 4-day week due to the Bank Holiday, I was so ready to go home. So we set off. 5 hours later, and pretty much the whole length of the M4 driven, I was back in my town and even managed to make it to the last half an hour of rehearsals for my next show! Everyone in the cast was suitably impressed with the fact I’d turned up in the company Transit van, and that I could actually drive one!

After all the excitement of the week I had a very good night’s sleep! So now I have a whole week off to relax and rehearse for my next show in… 3 weeks time! It just remains for me to say… Buy your tickets!! Starlight Dance present ‘Evolution’ -29th May at the Lighthouse Theatre, Kettering, 7.30pm. Be there!

 

Over and out for now x