To Suff'r, but, Not to Suffer...?
Since November, I've been busy, and I've neglected my little, 'blogette', but, then who's reading, anyway, right...?!
The work I can tell you about:
I did a pilot for students at Roehampton University, such a lovely group, and an enjoyable job. I played a mother with a heart condition who did not like the way a young fella was treating her daughter, argues with the daughter about it, and then dies of a heart attack. In a sense, she comes back to haunt the daughter about it.
What I really liked about this job (well, a few things, in actuality) was that although there was a very small script to learn, most of it was improvised. The main challenge here is keeping the same energy and similar argument (in this case) going for a few takes (I think we did about half a dozen or so, allowing for different angles, etc), and keeping in mind not to make it unnecessarily over-complicated for the editor. I got to play a ghostly figure in it too - I love that! Plans to do the full (short) film are imminent, I'm just waiting on dates, but that will be soon.
I then did an enjoyable Christmas job for Virgin Games, which was broadcast live on Facebook. Not much in the way of actin involved, to be honest, just mainly pretending to be a butcher, schlepping a variety of turkeys from one end of a studio to another, and carefully placing them on scales. A little bit of festive screen-filling in between, and that was that. I think it was about 90min of constantly doing this, which, for me, ended up being really tiring, but, I like to work, and I was working, so you just get on with it! I would love to work with them again, if it ever came up, although, as a wannabe vegan (that's another subject....!), maybe not with dead animals next time....! Very nice team at Virgin though, and I hope I did a good job for them!
After my last theatre experience, in August 2016, I had decided not to do theatre any more, as it was just too exhausting, but..... I do love the whole experience of doing a play, and in late December, saw a casting for this play, Suff'ring. I liked the sound of it, and, bonus, it was being performed at a place pretty easy for me to get to. Even the auditions were only up the d, so, I threw my hat into the ring. Luckily the audition went well, and I got a part in it! The play, a farce, centres around a play (also called, Suff'ring) that seeks to celebrate the centenary, this year, of women getting the vote in the UK, but, in the style of, The Play That Goes Wrong, this play goes very wrong - involving unplanned sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, as well as alcoholism, death, and all sorts - including the Vietnam War - huh....?! But it's well written, and they manage to educate the audience on the actual serious significance of suffrage, rather than make a mockery of it, whilst providing a lot of laughs within this (organised!) chaos.
Naughty of me, I should have posted here to push the show, but everything (including coming down with the flu, and a couple of previously arranged shoots) happened really quickly, and these guys kept me on my toes! The whole thing was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. No divas, no drama (of the bad kind), and a very talented cast. I'm not the gushy sort and never give a disingenuous compliment (I'd rather avoid it if it's negative, or a lie), but the guys behind StraightUp Productions - Will, Will, and Mark, are genuinely nice, funny, and energetic, and always seem to be doing something. I honestly think they will go far, and they deserve it, so I feel privileged to have had this experience with them, and hope there will be more to come! Please check them out (see links below), and discover them before they became too famous!
I have to note here once thing that happened during one of the shows. One of the cast needed some water from the bar during the interval, but, in period costume, did not want to (understandably) go out there, amongst the audience. As I was in modern day clothes (I played the playwright/director, Helena), and next to the door, I went for her. Mindful of remaining in character (and my character is very pissed off at this point), I stood at the bar, whispered for the person getting the water that I was in character, and not to take it personally, I got the drink and turned to re-enter the dressing room. However.... I was stopped by someone, who proceeded to tell me about how much he was enjoying the show, and how much he liked the Vietnam element, and how, for his generation, what a significant thing this was. In fact, he started by asking me if I actually did write the show. Of course, I'm Helena, this show was very important to me, and it was disappointing, to say the least, to see how it was going. He tried to reassure me, and I kept tryin to get away from him with this water by telling him that I needed to give notes to my cast. I don't know if he was not the full picnic, or if he was testing me, or a mixture of both, but test me it did! It was funny, though....!
So, in the pipeline now..... auditioning, as per usual, is about it, and I've been challenged to do a 5 minutes stand-up , which fills me with utter dread! There are a couple of filming projects coming up which don't yet have dates attached to them, and hopefully lots more to come!
https://straightupproductions.com/
https://www.facebook.com/straightupprods/
