Monday 26 November 2012

Week two in Pantoland!

Hello All,

So I have now finished week two of Pantoland and I am enjoying a well deserved day off before the dreaded tech week starts tomorrow!

Where to begin....first of all I was so pleased with the response of last weeks blog. Its one thing doing our tasks on here but actually blogging was a bit of a novelty! So hopefully this weeks will prove a success too!

An excited part of this week was finding out who we were understudying. I am going to be understudying Cinderella but I have good faith she won't go off, but I guess you never know. Learning from experience (last year) I haven't started to learn her part yet as the script they are using now doesn't resemble to the one we got given on day one, so I am waiting for the stage manager to update them and give it to us next week. Rather than learn the wrong thing and make my job ten times harder!! Thankfully I am not understudying the Fairy, she is played by a Scottish comedian, Karen Dunbar. She is incredibly funny and witty and her jokes change every time we do it. I do not envy Lauren who has that job!

This year in our rehearsal space we have not had any mirrors. To a normal person this may not be an issue, but I have found it tricky learning the choreography with out one. The real challenge was when cleaning our dance numbers, as normally you can just look in a mirror to see what your doing wrong but this time we had to 'feel' it! At first we were all struggling with out them but now I am a pro! I think this experience will really help me in audition situations when you don't have a mirror to learn in. Normally I would have panicked but over the last two weeks I have plenty of practice so in future will be able to stay calm about the situation and just think about how I did it in rehearsals.

After a busy week instead of going out this weekend, I decided on putting my feet up and enjoying a glass of wine.


I also had to pack up digs number on in oder to move to our new luxurious apartment which has internet!

During our move we hit a slight problem. After packing up and carrying everything down about 4 flights of stairs we were ready to pack up the the car. Everything was going so well until we locked ourselves out! Baring in mind the front door never normally shuts properly and we put it on the latch just incase, it locked us out! We had to leave the keys in the flat for the landlord so didn't have them, and we were so close with only a few bags left to go in! As we are in Scotland it was raining too. Eventually after a lot of banging on the front door and shouting a kind young man appeared to rescue us! Note to self....even if you have to leave the keys in the flat do it last once everything is packed!


Our new place is amazing, world apart from our one bed studio!
One bed studio! 
Penthouse mansion! 






As you can see our other place would fit twice into our new living room, and the best bit is we both have our own rooms and beds!

I have been catching up on blogs today commenting away in order to complete task 3d and also see what everyone has been upto. I have put aside some time today to also get started on the essay so we will see how that goes!

I am in tech next week so will keep you posted with the progress of the show. We open on friday so should be a good week! I also have a new toy.........An ipad! So can blog on the go, even mid show if I fancy it!

Sunday 18 November 2012

Hi ho hi ho off to Panto we go!

Hello All,

It's that time of year where all us actors and dancers disappear off to pantoland. I have now been in Glasgow rehearsing for a week but my current digs have no internet hence why my blog has been rather quiet, so I am now spending my day off in Starbucks using their free wifi to catch up on everything I have been missing. Thankfully we are moving to new digs next week which not only has internet but its also a penthouse!! Cant wait!

It all started with an 8 hour road trip from London up to Glasgow. The first hurdle was trying to cram my life into two suitcases and then combining them with Dans  (a guy in my cast who drove up with me)  and trying to get them in his car! Luckily we had the help of my step dad and his dad and between them they managed to do it!







Rehearsals are going well so far but came as a shock to the system. By day three my body felt as though I had been pushed down a flight of stairs and should have been lying in a hospital bed! Not been thrown around to footloose!

As usual the costumes are always a funny part of
the week, having now seen them and especially the hats who knows how we will overcome the hurdle of dancing in those!




We finished the week with a stagger through of the show and then hit the town! We decided that you can't know your cast properly until you all go out and have a few drinks so it would have been rude not to. Ended up in at 3 this morning eating one of Glasgow's finest dishes, no it wasn't a battered mars bar but it was another fine delicacy called 'Chicken Pakora'. You can't beat it after a night out, so if you ever are up this way I would recommend it! All in all it was a successful night mainly because for once it wasn't raining.



There will be more to follow regarding pantoland in next weeks instalment! Better get out of Starbucks before I get dodgy looks for being here too long! Over and out! x

Thursday 8 November 2012

Task 3c Sources of Information

As you can see on my previous blog I started this task with a spider gram. I decided it was a good place to start and get all my ideas down. I then looked more closely at the sources I had listed and tried picking the 5 most important ones to me. After a lot of thought I came to the conclusion of, Friends in the Industry, Class, The Internet, My Personal Resources and The Theatre.

I personally feel that our friends in the industry are often one of the best sources of information we can have. Weather you give someone a quick call or catch up over a coffee there always seems to be some gossip about who's got what job or what auditions coming up next and if you have one or not, the later normally being the case! Our friends in the industry not only are great for information but also good for support. I realised this while reading and researching the reader, we all create part of a 'communities of practice.' So its not just about gaining information its also about being part of something and taking the values of that too. When using your friends as an information source you also have to look into another theory of the reader which is cooperation. You can't keep taking from them with out giving something back otherwise they may not want to help you. So next time someone is teaching you the audition routine as your in the next group make sure if they ever need help your there for them. There is only so many times you will do a friend a favour with out having it returned. I can remember in collage certain people would only want to talk to you if they wanted something, I just make a note to self in these cases and made sure I kept myself to myself. I am more than happy to help a friend in need and lend out my sheet music but after reading the reader and it altering my view point about cooperation, I feel that it is a strong part of this information source. One of my favourite things with friends is after an audition when you have your rejection coffee. Its a great way to reflect about what has happened, but not only do you learn from your experiences you can also learn from those of your friends! I could go on forever but to conclude value your friends, and its all about give and take!

Class is a brilliant way to get information, not only does it keep us in the loop but also keeps us fit! When your in pineapple there is always several sources to find out whats goings on. First of all there is the information boards which have castings on, information of new classes, 'mortal' jobs, and lots more. I do love a traditional notice board and especially in pineapple you always know its relevant and contains useful information. As well as that you are often doing class with other industry professionals so its a good way to make friends and find out whats going on in the world. Its also a good way to begin your network with other professionals, theres a fine line between being nosey and annoying and just being inquisitive, but if you always have something up your sleeve to offer in return you can't go too wrong. It all links back again to 'cooperation' and its another 'communities of practice'.

Web 2.0 and the internet in general is brilliant for our profession! It has so much to offer is and is a vehicle that offers us so many platforms. We can use it to network, advertise our talents on youtube, a website to show the world how amazing we are, source information about up and coming auditions (the stage, casting call pro, star now etc), research shows, blog, look at online magazines such as the stage, whats on stage, have our online Cv's on spotlight, the list is endless! Since starting this module my viewpoints on this subject has changed and I have come to realise we have so much at the tip of our fingers. We need to utilise these sources as much as possible. The internet is a phenomenon which can actually help us in our present and future career and we must use it to the best of our abilities to enable that to happen. We are fortunate enough to have this opportunity that others haven't so I feel we must take advantage of it.

I have a stash of personal resources in my bedroom, from monologues to sheet music I probably have something for every occasion and audition. These are valuable sources that have grown over years. They are the kind of resources that grow over time and are always added to, the kind that if you lost you wouldn't know how to get them back and where to find half the things you had. I think its important that when you hear a song or a monologue you feel would be suitable for you to ask whom ever has performed them and either ask to copy it there and then or if thats not appropriate to write it down to find at a later date. I also have contacts that I have made through working previously in the business which I'd say are type personal resource. I think its vital that you keep in touch with those you have worked for before and retain a good relationship with them as you never know when you will meet them again and in what kind of situation too. Personal resources are very valuable as if you loose them or if they are people loose in touch with them they are hard things to get back.

The Theatre. I have picked the theatre as my fifth source not only as its a great source of information it also reminds us about what we love and why we are pursuing this career. The other week I went to watch a friend in 9-5, before attending all I knew about it was that its based on Dolly Parton music, other than that I knew nothing. By the time it finished I knew the storyline, what kind of people would be cast in it, if I would be suited to the show, etc. Watching shows or plays are sometimes the best way to see if you would a) suit the show and perhaps be cast for it and b) find out about the music and understand the story line. Above all that it reminds us about our love for the theatre. More over when your pouring the pints or waiting tables you it helps you remember why your doing that. I think sometimes we get so lost in trying to get a 'proper job' you forget why you want it so badly. We did a great task the other day in campus session 2, when we wrote down one word to describe us. Then we got in pairs and swapped our note books, the other person then had to write down all the things they associated with that word. It was lovely to see what they had written as it remind us who we were and the values and qualities we posses. I find going to the Theatre also reinforces this and helps 're light my fire' and not only do I gain some great information I am also remind of my love for this industry.

I feel that all the above sources are vital to our professional practice, they also all link in with our reader.
Some of them involve cooperation, others affiliation among the other themes. This all just highlights to me the importance of Networking with in our industry and how it can help us. The theory's that we touch upon in the reader have made me more aware and reinforced the values and importance that being a networked professional gives us. I think we also need to remember there is so many resources available to us and we must not forget to use them. As at the end of the day it will only better us as a practitioner so why not use them to our advantage!

I also think that especially on this course one of our main sources of information are blogs. They are vital for us to learn from other peoples experiences and not just our own. Their opinions and views are also valuable as it enables us to see things from another aspect. I have enjoyed looking at other peoples blogs and have even taken to looking at blogs which aren't specific to our course, this is a blog from Daniella Gibb which provides a great insight about our life's at Christmas.

Christmas Countdown - Oh Yes it is!

As usual please leave your comments, and check our Daniella's blog!


Task 3b....Reader 2

Hello All,

Please find below a link on task 3b. This is my critical reflection on the reader.

A Critical Reflection on Reader 3, The Networked Professional

I'm loving the wikis, means you can keep editing till your hearts content! But I think this is now the final article.

Like usual please leave your comments below! The more the merrier!

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Sources of information

This is a spider gram showing my immediate thoughts when looking into my sources of information. My blog on task 3c will shortly follow, but this will give you an idea of where I started!