UPSTART! 2014

Hello there! You may be aware that I haven't blogged in just over a month, and for that I am not going to apologise, I am instead going to explain why! Two weeks ago I took part part in Upstart at the Nottingham Playhouse, which is a theatre based work experience! A few months ago I applied to take part in the work experience programme, I then had an audition and group workshop and much to my surprise I got in! I got a place on Upstart along with 11 other actors and two designers! The aim of the two weeks was to put together a performance of 'Twelfth Night' to be performed in the last three days of the second week, we did three performances outside at Nottingham Castle on the Wednesday and three performances in the Neville Studio of Nottingham Playhouse over the Thursday and Friday!

UPSTART 2014!

We spent the first day getting to know each other, as we were effectively working as a theatre company for the two weeks so we needed to be comfortable with each other! We also got to have a tour of the Playhouse, going backstage and looking at the props room, paint-shop and costume department and talking to some of the staff! It was incredible getting to see behind the scenes and gaining a better insight into theatre! We also looked over the plot and characters to made sure we were all familiar with the show we would be creating (I mean, you can't really make a show if you have no idea what it's about, can you?)! I think warm ups and drama games are one of the funnest parts of drama based things, they're so full of energy and get everyone working together! Although the warm ups we did throughout the week certainly required a hell of a lot of energy as there was a lot of running!

The second day was spent doing a read through and some people  performed a comedy routine they'd prepared the night before (I am hopeless at comedy so gave it a miss!) We had sketches previously done by Jack Whitehall and Rowan Atkinson which were absolutely hilarious! I'll link to the originals if you'd like to check them out because they are honestly brilliant! Nandos or Hell? We then got our roles, I played Maria who is, in the original text, Olivia's lady-in-waiting; however we modernized the play and went with a sort of Made In Chelsea theme, meaning I was Olivia's rather posh PA. Now unfortunately the MIC theme did mean that I had to sit and watch an episode of Made In Chelsea...I can see why people watch the show but how the heck have they managed to get 7 series commissioned?!

The rest of the first week was spent using the script to devise our short scenes and develop character, we were measured for costume and also had seminars with people working at the Playhouse! Now the aim for the work experience was to educate us all in other jobs available in theatre and to dissuade us all from wanting to go into the acting profession. To do this we spoke to Fiona Buffini the Associate Director, Giles Croft the Artistic Director, Stephanie Sirr the CEO, Derek the membership manager, Bea the Creative Producer in Diversity, Cat who works with Stage Management, costume and props and who also led the work experience for the designers in our team, and Allie Spencer, the Education Officer, who ran the work experience programme! Prepare yourselves for cheesy-ness, but it was honestly so inspiring listening to everyone tell us about their jobs and how they started and how they got to where they are today, it really opened everyone's eyes to the different layers behind theatre! Each person gave us an 'inspirational quote' which were simply brilliant, one included 'You don't have to pluck chickens forever' which I think says a lot about the two weeks!

We also, rather luckily, got to sit in (well stand in) on part of a design meeting for 'Time And The Conways' which is being put on at the theatre later in the year! It was incredible to see the model box for the set design and from listening to the concept for the piece I 100% recommend you go and see it if you're in Nottingham when it's on! This was honestly one of my favourite parts of the two weeks as it's amazing to see all of the creatives together seeing the idea for a show for the first time!

Actoring...

At the start of the second week we went up to the castle and planned our route and how the audience would move from scene to scene, this got a little bit tricky at one point, as a scene we had only planned indoors had to be sorted out on a bridge...we needed to work out where the audience needed to be to be able to see the actors and how best to access the bridge etc etc! On the Tuesday we had our dress rehearsal! This was so unbelievably useful in getting us all used to where we needed to be and where the audience would be and where props should be left! However one girl did drop out of the program which kind of threw a spanner in the works and our assistant director had to step in and take over the part...this effectively meant that by our first performance at 10 O'clock on the Wednesday morning we were still at dress rehearsal level, simply because rehearsals had got a bit more difficult! But we thought all would be okay as we weren't expecting a big audience at that time, maybe one or two people, however it then turned out that a primary school wanted to come and see us, putting us all under slightly more pressure! 

Despite the little hiccups we muddled through the first performance quite well and were all happy with how it had gone! We then had to set everything up for our next show at 12 and then again at 1:30 so the day was very hectic but so much fun! I've never done promenade theatre before and it's incredibly challenging to stay in character the entire time and ad-libbing Shakespeare (or rather trying to) is on a whole new level! There were a lot of 'for sooth's thrown around!
After a day of shows at Nottingham Castle we arrived at 9:30 on Thursday morning in the Neville studio and began reworking the entire show to fit in the space on an incredible floor cloth! Now Allie said that it usually takes about 3 days to rework a show like our into a studio space...we had THREE HOURS! So everything was done at lightening speed and there were so many things to remember! It was quite a stressful morning but it was totally worth it when we performed! We had two performances that day and we continued to tweak little bits after the first show to make it even more effective! On the Friday we had our final performance and although everyone was incredibly tired we all gave it loads of energy!
Performing in two styles of theatre was an amazing experience and the pressure we were working under made the rehearsals very true to the real life of an actor!
After we'd finished on the Friday we had to strike the set, which basically means sorting all of the props, set and costumes and taking them to the right departments and after we had cleared the studio we had a few bits of evaluation to do and then that was it! The work experience was over! 

Oh and just in case any of you UPSTART-ers are reading this (because you never know right?) I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to you all for making the two weeks so fantastic! 

I do hope this post wasn't too ramble-y...gosh it's quite hard to condense two weeks into one blog post! I know this post was quite different to usual but I wanted to share the experience!

It was honestly one of the BEST experiences of my life and I'm so glad I actually pushed myself to audition! The people there were all incredible and some of the nicest people I've met! I urge you guys to just go for things because you never know, you could end up having one of the best times ever!

And if you live in Nottingham and theatre is your thing (and if you're in years 10-12), check out Nottingham Playhouse and apply for the work experience, it's taught me so much and I've had so much fun! If you're not really into acting or designing and just want to see some great theatre then check out what's on because they're always showing new and exciting theatre!

I hope you're all having a really great week (I only have a day and half left at sixth form until we break up for summer! Hooray!)

Until next time, Cheerio!

xx