On Stage in 2015
It was a ‘different’ year, but the same empirical results came from it. I’m glad to say that, too. My expectations were, perhaps, slightly skewed by visions of large scale jobs that could appear, as well as being cast for two Plays right at the beginning of the year, that would keep up the ‘batting average’ that I have decided would be my Base-Line. Of course, neither of these happened, leaving me role hunting through a fog of depression and darkness for the first third of the year. Perhaps this sense of failure fuelled me to go further and/or better because, on the cusp of December, I have already completed the requisite four ‘broadcast’ jobs and three theatre parts that have become the minimum annual work that I have talked myself into as being a successful year.
For the two years prior to 2015, this “4 and 3” equation ended close to Winter, but this year, I finished last weekend on an unpaid film project (That’s additional, by the way), and added a web ad and V/O gig to that base line – all in nine months! Since I had a rainy afternoon to hand, and I felt it was time to publish another blog post, here’s ‘What I Did Last Summer’, and what I have learned.
In March, I passed the audition for The Old Man in “Fool for Love”. More struggles with the Southern states version of my North American accent, to some. Learning 3 and 4 minute monologues was a welcome back to previous year’s work, but added to that, this time, was remaining onstage for the entire production, remaining engaged, staying out of the way of the action, and using my props as part of my character while doing all of the above, were other firsts for me.
Because I felt that I had ‘fallen behind’ in my stage time, I was auditioning for everything during the spring, and was offered the role of Sir Oliver Surface in a modernized version of ‘The School for Scandal’ that went up one month after Fool for Love closed. Juggling two sets of rehearsal kept me busy, along with two different characters entirely. Using Three-line Character overviews, and reminding myself of them before every rehearsal and performance. Sir Charles was not only an Old School Englishman, he was a Shakespearean actor in this production, so completely ‘over the top’, But I also had to be believable in it, too.
I usually take a month off from theatre after a show wraps, because the time commitment involved in one production is enough to take me away from home for an extended period. Doing two shows back-to-back meant a five month commitment, so I was looking forward to a break in August. Ten days after “School” wrapped, though, I received a call from a colleague and friend looking to fill a role that the production had experienced problems filling. I agreed to read-through it at the next rehearsal – the walk through. I got it, so was into Howard Booth in the English Farce “Heatstroke” at a venue I had always wanted to work at.
The challenges faced in this production were, for me, the speed of delivery, comic timing, and the sheer mountain of similar one-line dialogue that makes Farce work. Additionally, the cast decided not to make this a regular, light-hearted farce, but rather to investigate our character’s emotional being, meaning the exaggerated reactions to a swiftly deteriorating became real, and the comedy came from that alone, rather than mugging for laughs, because you knew what gag line came next. Our Director noted at the end that we had all pulled that ‘trick’ off. As I had previously written, I also wanted to make my character dislikeable, so as to make his downfall all the funnier. In the end, I rather liked him, and faced how scared about life he really was – something we should all be facing on a much more daily basis.
Of course, the real highlight of the year – as always – was working with all of the talented professionals in cast, production, crew, and everything else that I got to work with over these three productions. I can only hope that next year delivers the same. I’m sure it will, because the connections I have made in all of the three years of my current re-incarnation have consistently blown me away, and made me glad that I was invited into thir orbits. To all of you, and to the future creatives I am to work with – thank you.
