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Welcome to my page! Thank you so much for reading! I'm in my twenties, and this is my little blog about my acting and working experiences! Please enjoy, follow and leave a comment if it interests you! Thanks again for reading!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Other actors

I recently saw a production of TWO in UCD which had stunning performances by two of the most talented actors I have had the pleasure to see perform. And this made me seriously contemplate my own abilities as an actor. I keep away from the negatives of 'she was so amazing.. Why can't I be like that!' or 'she's a better actress than I am'.... Now, she is. Way better. But that's not negative to me. Because I accept the fact that I am not as talented as others. And she really works hard. The play consists of a multitude of Characters performed by two actors. They each need to portray 6 characters, each with their own accents and personalities. So instead of getting bogged down in the negative 'she's better than me' I focus on how can I learn from her. She is honestly amazing and I draw inspiration from her performance. How can I improve? How can I learn from this? And it's simple. Just keep trying. I work hard and now I'm spurred on to work harder for my dreams and I hope one day I'll see her at the oscars! TWO currently runs in UCD dramsoc theatre from 7pm until Friday. Directed by Eoghan Carrick, starring Benji Waddell and Caitriona Ennis.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Motortown and Cuckoo...

So for the last week I have been involved in UCD Dramsoc's production of Simon Stephen's "Motortown". My character is Jade and actually I didn't find myself doing a lot of research for this role.

Jade is a 14 year old girl from London and she is going out with a grown man in his late 20's or early 30's. She left school and chose not to do high school (6th Form) and is now spending her days in Paul's flat and dreaming of one day going back to school.

Motortown is a play centered around an ex-soldier's return home after being in Basra. Although not all together sane before the war, Danny (the ex-soldier) is a man that returns to his him win Essex, damaged.

Jade and Danny first meet in Paul's flat when Danny looks to get a disused gun altered to fire live ammo. A Few days later Danny kidnaps Jade in the hopes that she will restore his faith and respect in Humanity. The scene doesn't end well, and He proceeds to torture her, burning her hand with a cigarette, hitting the sole of her foot with the end of his gun, placing the gun right by her mouth and then finishing it off by pouring petrol over her and shooting her.

The scene is intense and I am in floods of tears almost constantly throughout it. I can tell you it is no easy job crying every single night for 5 nights. And it's exhausting!! it's so tiring because honestly I am so emotionally and physically drained and have been like this for the whole week. However you just get through.

Now, my trick is, I am freezing cold on stage. I have a blood pack attached to my back and that adds more to lowering my body's temperature. I am actually shivering on stage and even while I sit at the side of the stage waiting for my scene my body is shaking all over. And I find this actually really helps frame my mind. Because the shivering helps my body focus on being cold and then in my scene the shivering turns to fear and this helps me cry each night.

At one point Danny asks Jade to take her jacket off and takes a picture of her on his camera phone. This also helps me cry because their is sever emotional significance in removing an item of clothing and being made vulnerable. So I focus on her vulnerability.

During rehearsals I never fully did the scene with all my emotional energy because honestly if you over do a scene the emotion on stage won't have that authentic effect. so that is also key, if your scene is extremely emotional or traumatizing then it's best to leave most of your emotional connection to it until the dress rehearsal or first night. Always give about 50% in rehearsal if you're supposed to be crying. I find this helps and if the director understands then thats an added bonus. If the director asks you to put full emotion in, then do it. He/she is the director after all.

Ok so there are my tips for crying on stage in some sort of traumatic scene, I find being cold to the point of shivering helps me a lot to prepare for a scene, also try and keep focus on why you are crying, what has brought you to this point. Why are you afraid? How did the unwritten scene before your scene play out? (e.g. in Motortown, the scene where Danny kidnaps Jade or forces her to go with him is unwritten, and so I think about how it would feel to be forced into a car with a much older man, a stranger and being brought somewhere you didn't even know existed)

If you loose focus waiting for your scene, concentrate on your breathing or press your thumb to your middle finger of each hand, because it helps you concentrate and bring your mind back to the present and the task at hand.

Now on to Cuckoo, my RTE Storyland competition entry.

I watched it the morning it came out, Monday 13th of Feb... and well... my verdict is.. I overact. but I would love the chance to learn how to bring it back  few notches. and I can only do this with the second episode so I need everyone's votes to get us through to the next round.

Basically the story is about a teenager, Niamh Keegan, who feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. and One day she see's a digitally enhanced photograph of what a missing child would look like today. It looks an awful lot like Niamh and this gives her reason to feel like she may actually have been kidnapped when she was younger by her current parents. ... Dun Dun Duuun!!

I know, whats with all the kidnapped characters? ... i dunno.. all I know is that we need your votes so...

HOW TO VOTE:

To vote, visit www.rte.ie/storyland and click on the ‘VOTE HERE’ icon. 
You will be taken directly to Facebook and asked to login to your own Facebook account. 
Once logged in, you will see a list of all 8 series. 
Click on ‘CUCKOO’ and your vote will be submitted. Simple!  Thank you so much! 

Please pass the word to all your friends! 





Thanks very much guys! give me the chance to improve!! xxx


Love ya!! 





Monday, February 13, 2012

RTE CUCKOO


It's here!! please please vote and spread the love! x


vote for me please!! VOTE CUCKOO!! http://www.rte.ie/drama/featured/storyland/cuckoo.html           Just click on vote now button and it'll bring you through your Facebook! thank you so much! x

Friday, February 10, 2012

RTE CUCKOO

it's out on monday people! but watch our new interview video here!!! exciting times! shit's about to go down!

http://www.rte.ie/drama/featured/storyland/cuckoo.html

Monday, February 6, 2012

dum dum dum...

audition tomorrow... oh goodness.. golly... hope i gets it! xx

Friday, February 3, 2012

RTE CUCKOO

Oh yes!! we have our little promo out so please watch it and like our group of FB!! Don't forget to vote from the 13th of Feb -19th of Feb!!!! YAY!

PROMO: http://www.rte.ie/drama/featured/storyland/cuckoo.html

FB: http://www.facebook.com/cuckoo.storyland?ref=ts

Thursday, February 2, 2012

well..

ok so nothing new! I had my first audition of 2012! yay! thank God! I didn't get the part but at least I had an audition! And I'm so excited to get back into it! Now, I know I've said that I'd make a youtube video blog, however.. I'm a little weary about putting myself on youtube just yet so I thought I'd just post more here and see can I get more followers or visits here first and help you guys out!

Um, anyways, the audition went well and I think the casting director liked me which is great! and honestly sometimes it's not all about getting the job and it's more about making and impression on the people who audition you, because you may not be what they're looking for in terms of the character but you may be great for a part in the future or in another project that they're working on!


So here's my tip for today: Don't go in thinking you're going to be amazing and get the part because you deserve it. Go in with a smile and a positive attitude and think, I should get this part because this is my interpretation of the character and hopefully you like it. In the end though I think meeting the people and the casting directors is such a valuable experience.

Other than that I don't have any comments. I can't wait for the oscars this year though!!!! I hope Rooney Mara gets Best Actress, I know Meryl Streep will probably get it but I think that's just because she impersonates Margaret Thatcher very well, but honestly I think the emotional and physical challenge Rooney went through deserves the Oscar more! But we will see!

Anywho...

Bye for now!!