Ever since we started second year of college, we knew we were going to devise a show and eventually, perform it in the Theatre for Christmas. But the first step we had to take and probably the most tricky one was coming up with a story, a plot that allowed us to devise an entire play. Still, it didn't take us long, as Michael came up with the idea of a world where Christmas didn't exist. And we all considered this was a good idea, as it offered us the possibility of developing an interesting plot. Then the developing process started.
   Some of the first thoughts/idea we had were; 'What if it was happening in the future?'; 'Why is there no Christmas?'; 'Maybe it should be banned.'; 'But who could ban it and how?'; 'Maybe we could have a bad Santa or even worse, a social hierarchy where the leader is prohibiting it.'; 'But we're in the future, what about a magic machine that could help him do that?'; 'Still, we need a plot.'; 'What about someone that was trying to save Christmas?'; 'Ooh, maybe it could be Santa! And the kids can help him. Yes!' These were, perhaps, the questions and ideas on which we built up the action. Some of the things we thought about in the first place, we kept them whilst some of them were taken out.


RESEARCH

   For this play, in particular, the research we had to carry out was vital, as we needed to recreate aspects from history, on which we've built the story. Doing our homework was necessary.
   As I was involved in the World War II and the scene was called ''No man's land'', I was instantly curious about what exactly it meant, what happened in that place and why. Everyone knew about it and I have to admit, I didn't, but once I went on the web I found out why it was so famous. It was a truly inspiring action to do, soldiers giving up war for one day, giving to each other chocolate and scotch and celebrating with a match of football. It felt like kindness and the spirit of Christmas triumphed over everything else and that is why this history event had to be included in our play.
   For the football match, we did like a choreography. Initially, when Rob asked me and Chloe to think of a choreography, I was planning a whole dance routine of abstract movements, but as a group, we decided to keep it simple and effective, so, firstly we established the order in which we're going to pass our imaginary ball. Then, we did the routine in slow motion, as the  music was accompanying us. It turned out better than we were expecting and I was amazed of how much impact some simple average moves can have when there is an order and discipline between the performers. We added emotion, both facially and physically and a narrative; it turned out the Germans won.
   As a street trader, I had to do research about the Victorian era and the modern one, too. I inspired myself from pictures I found on the web for clothes they used or use to wear, such as these below:



 Victorian Street Traders




Modern Street Traders

   For both scenes that are happening in the market, we used the traders and their customers for the background action, as the kids' conversation was the focus.
   I really enjoyed it, being a part of that, because we easily found a narrative and improvising with the other actors without using verbal language is a nice experience and a good exercise.



4 SHOWS

  Having a total of 4 performances has been a helpful new experience, because I could notice the slightly different quality of each one them.
  From my point of view, the best show was the very first one, because we didn't know what to expect, especially talking about the audience. Or even from ourselves; there were a lot of things that could go wrong, I think that's why we all stayed focused.
  I believe this is the first time when we had to spend so much time working with each other; 4 times performing in 2 days was totally an experience that introduced us to the feeling of being professional and making compromises, such as cancelling plans or other responsibilities in order to have the whole day free or such as waiting hours in between shows.
  Personally, this experience has also taught me the importance of doing a performance for its own sake, as the audience wasn't very numerous. I've learnt how important it is to give your best, even though there may be only a pair of eyes watching, for example, because it is about quality, not quantity. I agree, the point of theatre is to reach to as many people as possible, but if you don't know to appreciate one person watching you, you won't appreciate 100 either.


FIRST TIME IN A COMPANY OF 26

  The feeling of being connected by the same objective was present since the first day of devising till the last performance.
  There were moments where the lack of concentration affected our work, but as a group we gave each other the power to keep going.


DRESS AND TECHNICAL REHEARSAL

  The last 2 days when we had to make sure we went through all the things that we were 'confused' about were so important.
  We've done the whole performance pretending we had an audience just to get used to changing quickly our costumes and being in time on stage. It also helped me to know where I should leave my things in the backstage for the next scenes,such as my black hat or my soldier jacket, so it wouldn't be a problem for me if I had to change and run back on stage.
  In our dress and technical rehearsals I discovered mistakes that I didn't know we had, as we hadn't run the show properly before, such as how long will it take us to change for the last scene, when we had no one on the stage and also when and how to enter to also give Ben time to be ready.
  For the very beginning we didn't know that we were going to wait for so long on the stage, frozen, until the audience found the way to their seats, so in these rehearsals, practicing as if it was an official performance, it made it clear for all of us about how is it going to be.


SKILLS I'VE DEVELOPED

FOCUS - Perhaps the skill that helps me the most to ease my mind and connect with the character’s thoughts. I’ve learned that without discipline and without being ready to give all of you at the requested time, there will be no results, no improvement. Focus is a part of the discipline every actor has to have and it is mostly important when you are working with a bog group, where chaos can make an appearance at any point.   
GOOD RESPONSE TO OTHER ACTORS - Working on a play means I am working in a team, where we all are equal and important. A good connection between the actors both on stage and rehearsals is important for the audience, as every details is obvious on stage. If there’s no teamwork, the outcome might be disappointing and no audience expects that from a show. 
STAGE AWARENESS - My opinion is that the stage is like a home for the actors and it is a good thing if you keep that feeling of comfort to boost your confidence in moving around as you own the place, because you do own the place. For an hour or two or however long the play will last. SUBTEXT - Whenever I get a new character, without even realizing it, I am building up an image in my head. As an actor, what I always need to do is take that image, check if that’s the one I really want and add a story to it. And so the character becomes real. As I’ve observed, I am good at keeping that story in my head and go through it, while really embracing it. These thoughts give the character a purpose and reasons, which is why I consider having a strong subtext is the basic thing an actor should do. 

MY PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT THE SHOW

  I, personally, believe this show is the best so far, which is a good thing, meaning we are only going into one direction: the direction of progression.
  I am saying this mainly because this time we had the opportunity to play around with the characters. We could invent, we could build up, we could exaggerate  if it felt right, after all it was a pantomime.
We felt the freedom this play gave us, as we devised it and I think that helped us a lot in term of making it our own.


EVALUATE MYSELF

  Over these last 4 performances I could notice that I've applied the skills that I have been learning during this course. I was aware of the stage and the space around me, I was listening and reacting to my fellow actors, I spoke up, I took my time and kept my subtext.
  I am happy with the improvement process I've went through and even though there will always be place for the better, I am patient and I trust the process.

                   SKILLS AUDIT
                   STRENGTHS AND OWN DEVELOPMENT
     

        Looking back to my development and how much I’ve improved since I started to course, both artistically and personally, I am able to evaluate myself and be aware of the skills I’ve got at this point. Watching myself performing on videos, listening to my tutors’ feedback and constantly evaluating myself made me capable to know more about my abilities, about my strenghts and my weaknesses.

SKILLS

• FOCUS - Perhaps the skill that helps me the most to ease my mind and connect with the character’s thoughts. I’ve learned that without discipline and without being ready to give all of you at the requested time, there will be no results, no improvement. Focus is a part of the discipline every actor has to have and it is mostly important when you are working with a bog group, where chaos can make an appearance at any point.   

• SUBTEXT - Whenever I get a new character, without even realizing it, I am building up an image in my head. As an actor, what I always need to do is take that image, check if that’s the one I really want and add a story to it. And so the character becomes real. As I’ve observed, I am good at keeping that story in my head and go through it, while really embracing it. These thoughts give the character a purpose and reasons, which is why I consider having a strong subtext is the basic thing an actor should do. 

• GOOD RESPONSE TO OTHER ACTORS - Working on a play means I am working in a team, where we all are equal and important. A good connection between the actors both on stage and rehearsals is important for the audience, as every details is obvious on stage. If there’s no teamwork, the outcome might be disappointing and no audience expects that from a show. 

• STAGE AWARENESS - My opinion is that the stage is like a home for the actors and it is a good thing if you keep that feeling of comfort to boost your confidence in moving around as you own the place, because you do own the place. For an hour or two or however long the play will last. 

• THICK SKIN - When I first started the course I had no idea what ‘thick skin’ meant. But then, little by little I started to even use it and work on my mind. I was ready to get rid of the anxiety or fear of being judged while I am on stage, I was tired of being vulnerable, because that could be seen in my physicality as well. And now, on my second year, I can gladly confirm that I’ve destroyed a good 90% of it. The rest of 10% appears when I don’t know what I’m doing. 

           Looking back and reflecting towards what I’ve accomplished, I am really glad and proud, but I am aware there is an even harder way ahead. While being happy with what I’ve done, I’m getting ready for doing better. 

                               Monologues

      Filming my monologue at the Soho Centre has been a completely new experience for me; even though I knew I needed to get a showreel for my actor profile in the near future and  got used to the  idea of filming a monologue, it was quite an interesting and joyful experience. Being in front of the camera, in a dark room where I could only hear  myself made it easy to concentrate and focus on my thoughts and words.

   I have been knowing that we were going to film a monologue since the last summer, after Rob announced us that we need to find a contemporary and a classical monologue. I have had a hard time choosing the right one for me, as there are a lot of aspects to consider: the character's age, as close as possible to mine, a simple and clear objective and the contrast between the chosen speeches, as any person on the panel at an audition wants to evaluate the versatility and the capacity of an actor to embrace different and contrasting emotions.
   However, the contemorary speech I chose is ''The Blahs'' by Shirley King. It is a 4-minute-monologue. On the filming day, we had a warm up in the theatre, making sure our voice and physical condition were ready for our performance.
   I chose this monologue, because since the first time I read it, I could relate to it. Not exactly to suffering of cancer, but I found a way of replacing some thoughts with real thoughts from situation from real life. This is a thing I have learned last year and I find it useful, as you can adapt to the most, if not any text out there.
    Unfortunately, I had to change to modern monologue, as it was not from a published play and it was going over the 2 minutes usually asked for an audition.
   

     Then I chose my two classical monologues, as some of the drama schools are asking for two in the audition day: Viola, ‘Twelfth Night’ and Phoebe, ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare. Firstly, these two monologues have got clear objectives, this being one of the things that are helping me and that the evaluators are looking for. They are expressing simple and relatable feelings and emotions, but at the same time, there is an interesting plot behind the words. I approach my characters in a natural way, keeping in mind my objective.
      At Young Actors Theatre, having in audience David Schaal, I was focused on making use of the stage, embody the character and be spontaneous. One thing I wasn’t focused on was the tension that I need to build step by step, creating stakes, as David Schaal said. His feedback helped me and reassured me that I am on the good path. I wrote down the really useful things he shared with me and I was interested in his suggestion of having someone to bring me a real ring while rehearsing .

                                                            PROS AND CONS
                                                                  DRAMA SCHOOL

 Drama school is the next step I choose to take towards my acting career. Choosing the right drama school is as important as choosing to follow this path. This is why I've made a whole list of schools I want to apply to and the requirements I need to meet in order to be accepted.

    Choosing to go to a drama school has its pros and cons.

   PROS:

• Valuable degree in Performing Arts; as I've read and observed, the name of the drama school one attended is very important on the acting resume and it is assuring the casting directors about the strong training behind the actor.
• High level of training
• Opportunitties of creating new connections in the industry
• An almost sure way to get into the industry

    CONS:

• Drama schools don't prepare students for the business and marketing side of the acting.
• Very busy schedule; probably so busy that students aren't able to audition for acting jobs
• Expensive training

     After comparing these aspects, I decided to take the risk and ''ignore'' the cons, as my opinion is that if I work hard enough I can get over the little obstacles, such as not having enough time for myself or any other activity.
     I believe a drama  school could offer me the training I need and I am aware of how draining it could be. However, hard work and total dedication are the main things I have to focus on.
   
      Another pro aspect I would like to add, being a personal thought, is that a drama school can help in your personal development. Studying in such an environment, with dedicated and talented people can easily build your confidence and grow your self esteem.
   
       I have a list of 8 drama schools that I would like to apply to: Guildhall, RADA, LAMDA, Italia Conti, Royal Centre, Mountview, ALRA, Rose Bruford. All of them offer both traditional and modern approach towards drama and they are focused on offering the students the chance to get experience before the graduate. Also, they offer the opportunity of creating connections in the industry, because of the people that are collaborating or even working with/in the institution.
       One thing I found interesting was the fact that some of these school give the students the opportunity of performing in New York City for their last year performance. It is like they open the doors for you to new places, they are giving you the training and the chance. You just have to do your part.


        DRAMA SCHOOL or UNIVERSITY?

After an analyse of the cons of going to University, I was 100% sure that a Drama School would be my choice.

CONS - UNIVERSITY

• Poor acting training, both in theory and practical.
• The degrees are almost worthless.
• Little chances to make connections in the industry.
• They don't prepare on the business and marketing side of acting.
• Same cost of training as drama school.

      First of all, the fact that the acting training has a poor quality is simply telling you to not waste your time and do something more productive. Personally, I wouldn't choose university, even as a back up plan. A wrong way of approaching acting could ruin your experience and destroy your passion and drive to continue studying it. Why? Because it might give you the wrong impression, it might make you think that that is what acting is about. In fact, acting goes much deeper than that. It takes an intensive training and deep understanding to really get to act. If you are not doing that, then that's not acting. That is pretending. 

      Adding the fact that you don't get to  meet people in the  industry is a big obstacle. Connection are really important when it comes to Performing  Arts. They can bring you up and sometimes, bring you down, but they will keep there. Anyways, without connections, after graduating you would be just another aspiring actor looking for castings with a, basically, worthless degree. 

       The  last thing, but not least, the cost would be as much as for a drama school. I don't agree with that. After comparing the two of them, it is clearly that university doesn't rise to a drama school level, so I don't think  that it would be worth the money. Drama schools might be considered expensive as well, but there are ways of paying for it in a way that will not strongly affect you.

      

Acting CV