All the world’s a stage etc

 

Well, I was thinking about what to write about for this piece as there’s so much great television that I haven’t really discussed on here. For instance, for a little ‘starter for ten’, there was the fantastic ‘One Day’ adaptation, as well as ‘The Other One’, which is brill and very underrated (both shows are on Netflix). ‘Big Boys’, ‘We are Lady Parts’ and ‘Derry Girls’ are some other awesome shows that I’ve not said much about on here. Also (for something with a less gender specific sounding title), I recently got into ‘Trying’ on Apple and absolutely love it. Ultimately, though, due to a few recent/potential life decisions, I decided to talk about something else that I haven’t really talked a lot about in blogland (or is it world?) and that’s my love of performing.

There are various reasons why I wanted to talk about that now, mainly because I’ve been thinking about the near future and courses that I can do on the way to hopefully doing an MSc in Dramatherapy. So, to cut a long(ish) story short, I’ve actually applied for an acting course and have all kinds of mixed feelings about it. I’m mostly excited and nervous as performing has been a big love of mine for as long as I can remember. I was technically going to dance class before I even started school as I had my first taste of dancing as a toddler (although most of it involved just generally running around rather than choreography, as I mentioned in this blog - https://heatherlovesmusicals.blogspot.com/2020/12/its-holly-jolly-panto-christmas-oh-yes.html).

While I 'trained' in ballroom, ballet and Irish dancing and even did exams (I’ve always quite liked tests, in a strange way), it became clear that I...wasn’t exactly going to make it as a prima ballerina, shall we say? I’m not really that much better now, tbh. Ballet especially wasn’t really a style that suited me, let’s leave it at that. 

However, I fell head over heels for performing when I joined the musical theatre group Song Shop aged six. I loved the way that you could tell stories and introduce characters through musical numbers and there was nothing like the feeling of being on stage.* Despite not exactly being that much of a triple threat, I always loved singing, acting and dancing. Although I think I knew, even as a young kid, that acting was the aspect that really captured my heart and connected with me. I was always struck by great acting (and writing) in films and TV shows and still take an interest in that now. I also took part in several drama workshops and summer schools over the years and studied it right through to Higher level at school.

Costumes are another aspect that always stood out to me with how they could say so much about a character and their role in the story. This probably goes back to when I used to love acting out fairytales as a kid and insisted on going through as many costume changes as possible. I also enjoyed making up stories with my dolls as a little girl.

Next time... (The title is also very apt for this next section of the blog)

While I have always, and continue to love performing, the nerves and fear didn't fully go away. I used to get so stressed about doing improv in workshops and the thought of forgetting lines kept me up at night. I think it’s because I cared so much (combined with my lack of confidence, more generally). It’s like with my grades, I tied my self-worth to it and so it felt like I couldn’t afford to make mistakes (as mentioned in this post - https://toitstuffsitcoms.blogspot.com/2022/06/self-worth-and-confidence-in-relation.html).

In fact, I’m pretty anxious now about the thought of what will happen with this acting course, especially as it’s been a while since I’ve really done anything like it. The stakes feel fairly high, more so than they should, perhaps. This is all really just to say that you’re not alone if you’re wanting to get back into something or go for something that you’ve always wanted to do (big love if it’s acting or something else creative but sending support whatever it is). You can achieve more than you think you can and it doesn’t have to pan out a certain way to be a ‘success’, it can be however and whenever is right for you. No judgement from me.

*We didn’t even really do productions/plays at schools as it was mainly concerts instead.