I have been concentrating my career search and therefore my inquiry on working within the field of teaching and facilitating workshops within the performing arts field. I have been very focused on how I can progress into working within inclusive theatre as it is something I am very passionate about.
However because of recent insight and experience I have got back to thinking about where this all originally came from - my dream to be a professional performer and love of live theatre. I often feel I have to push this aside as it does not feel like a practical career option - a huge part of me wants security and that does not come with being an actor. Because of past experience I see this is a struggle that I do not want to put myself through again. But deep down this is still what I would love to do and why can I not do it - really I am doing it, I will be playing the good fairy in pantomime this season and I really looking forward to it! I am quick to put this down in front of other actors as pantomime can have a negative stigma attached to it when really it is everything I want to do - this was highlighted this week when I went for a costume fitting and got very excited. It is primarily children's theatre, it reaches out to audiences that do not usually visit the theatre, we do shows where the whole audience is from local schools so they get to see a full scale live theatre production every year and I get to perform in a beautiful theatre! Also being reunited with London as a proud resident I am getting to go to a lot more theatre which has reignited my love for it in it's puriest form - I am not as jealous of the performers as I used to be (still a little bit)!
So these thoughts alongside reading others blogs and comments have made me realise that I do not need to block out what I trained hard to do and have a true passion for beacuse of fear, I need to embrace it!
By starting to create my SIG and explaining my interests to others I got a better understanding of what I wanted to explore:
How can live theatre and workshops be made more accessible to a wider audience of young people?
What can I offer and how can I market this in pursuing a career in young people's theatre?
How can I get involved in inclusive theatre on a practical and theoretical level?
I am a little worried by questions are a bit self indulgent and would not benefit others? What do you think?
Hollie x
hi hollie really enjoyed reading this blog, my comment isnt going to be very useful or probably help you develop further but i did just want to write and say it was so nice to see your enthusiasm and love for performing literally jump of the page.
ReplyDeleteits asif you have a fresh take on your profession again and was really nice to read! i don't think your questions are self indulgent as although they are all 'I' questions it is something you are highly passionate about and if you look at it in the larger sense its you putting yourself back out to the public,
look forward to reading more
steph.
Hi Hollie,
ReplyDeleteI think you have hit on something extremely important. Especially within the degree it is easy to not focus on the acting and what you really want to do. We think that in order to succeed in doing the degree and our profession we need to get realistic when I think it is the opposite. We have to embrace and focus on our passions and go for them, its ust they all become a bit broader and wider and thats the point I suppose. I think doing panto is brilliant I would love to try one , also I think childrens theatre can be amazing. I know its in Ireland and you may not be going there any time soon but there is a theatre called THE ARK, A CULTURAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN IN TEMPLE BAR ,DUBLIN, please look up their website , it si a haven for kids and it produces theatre of an extremely high standard. Might give you some more research. Your questions are not at all self indulgent, they are honest and brave. Also I did reply on my blog to your comments athat you left but I dont know if you get notified that I have replied? Did you? I just hit reply on my blog, Im not sure that I am using this properly. Let me know when you have a minute.
Cheers,
Pauline
Thank you for these comments Steph and Pauline!
ReplyDeleteIt is great to here that you do not think my questions are too self indulgent I think it is hard to find the balance between an inquiry that we are passionate about and one that will hopefully benefit others too. I am hoping there are others out there like me that it would help - the SIG community is helping me realise that there is actually.
Thank you for that theatre contact Pauline it is great to explore all companies no matter how far they are. Can you offer any advice on getting into work in a theatre like this? At The Ark did they cast through agents mostly? And regarding outreach workshops they might do from your experience do you think volunteering would be a good way to get into this?
Regarding comments I just click reply too - I didnt get a notification but I will take a look now!
Thank you again!
Hollie x