What I Keep In my Rehearsal Bag

Primal theatre/pantomime season is coming up and nothing makes someone panic like not having everything they need in their rehearsal bag. Today I will be going over everything which I find essential to bring to rehearsal

Stationary:

·         Two different coloured highlights. Why two I hear you ask? Well I always highlight my lines in one colour and stage directions in another as it makes things a little clearer to me.

·         A pen for stage directions and notes as you may well forget them once you get home.

·         Little page tabs are also severely underrated. I just find them really useful for when you need to find your page

·         Obviously an essential but if you forget your script then you are truly lost in a rehearsal.

·         A necessity is also water and a snack. You can’t concentrate if you are performing on an empty stomach. You don’t want to feel sluggish either though so keep it light with fruit and cereal bars. Also always eat breakfast.

·         Spare money in case you need lunch or go out for coffee after.

·         Because no one like smelling or looking terrible after a rehearsal having a mini deodorant can make you feel a little fresher and more confident.

·         I personally have short hair but have a long fringe (emo alert) so I have a teeny hairbrush and some bobby pins always with me.

 So that’s what I personally carry those things with me. I keep it simple and its completely different from my actual show bag. I try to keep it to the rule that if I lost in the theatre, I wouldn’t be too upset.

I’ll probably do another post on my show bag but until my next post I’ll see you around

IT Chapter 2 Review

I saw the film on the 7^th of September 2019 and honestly wasn’t that impressed. All rights and images belong to Warner Bros Studios.

THIS REVIEW ALSO CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

My favourite aspect of the film was the characters’ lives after Derry. Even though they left their old lives behind and their memories got hazy, aspects remain the same. One of the scariest scenes in the entire film took place in the Bev portion of this. It was a terrifying scene depicting sexual and emotional abuse like what her father subjected her to. Eddie also let his mother infiltrate his life when he chose a controlling wife 10 times his metric body weight.

However, I must say ironically the ending was disappointing. In my opinion “making him feel small” was kind of a cop out. I thought they should’ve stuck with the tribal theme and had the battle of wills be similar to what Ben and Bev experienced when they all got split up in the sewer. It was just ironic because Billy ridiculed his directors for making him write a crappy happy ending whereas I think this was a kind of crappy ending.

SPEAKING OF BEN AND BEVERLY OH MY GOD THEY WERE THE BEST! I was sad in the first IT when Ben did all the graft and Billy just took all the credit. Ben had worked so hard physically and career wise to achieve all he wanted but still saw himself as the fat kid. Bev and Ben were what each other needed and I’m glad they ended up together.

Richie’s homosexuality really added to the plot I feel. His scene with Pennywise at the axe man statue was one of my favourites. You can see just how violated Richie felt when he found out Pennywise had found out what he fought so hard to suppress which is why I think he made so “your mom” jokes.

However why tf was Bower in this film. In my opinion he added literally nothing to the plot and was just there because the fans like him. I think it could’ve all been done by the Hockstetter corpse making it far more frightening.

Anyway, it was overall a good film so I would give it a 6 out of 10.

Comment down below your opinions and I’ll see you around

                                

' The Lion King' 2019 Film Review

This film was awesome! Oh, my days my expectations were set way lower than what this film deserved. I have a lot to say on the Jon Favreau remake of the classic film.

My main concern going into this film was the live action animation portion of this film. I thought that it was going to be very hard to see any emotion because well have you ever really seen a wart hog smile? Yeah, me neither. However, the animators did an excellent job portraying that without making the characters too cartoonish.

The animation also brought a new level of realism and really enhanced certain scenes. For example, one scene which really surprised me was the elephant graveyard. I remember it being so literal in the film and being almost comical with that huge elephant skull in the background. With the live action however, you got an impression of a barren wasteland which has been stripped due to the hyenas over hunting of animals which affected the eco system making it uninhabitable.

I did however find myself missing the huge over the top song sequences. Whilst I found their version of the classic song, I found myself really missing the obnoxious animal tower and the interaction that Zazu had with the monkeys. I also thought a lot of us were a tad disappointed the lack on Timon in a grass skirt however Pumba as a platter was equally hysterical.

On the topic of Pumba and Timon, I really enjoyed what the creators did with their home. As much as I would’ve loved to see more interaction between Pumba and Timon I liked how we saw Simba grow due to those around him. For example, one part which I found pivotal in the plot was his encounter with the gazelle in the jungle. In this seen we see some of Simba’s naivety fade as he realises, he is part of something much bigger. Yes, Simba doesn’t want to hurt the gazelle but his king has evolved to be their natural predator whereas the gazelle was raised to fear lions. Its an important lesson in how evolution plays a key role in (cue the music) THE CIIRRRCCLLLEEE OF LIFFFEEE.

The end fight scene was epic but so was the twist. I was honestly very surprised they would give scar such a gruesome demise by being eaten by the hyenas who he had both provided for and stabbed in the back. It really gave Scar his own meaning of the circle of life as he suffered the fate of other animals which he discarded in his mission to be on top. There was also a certain irony that he let the hyenas eat before the lionesses because in the end it wasn’t the lions who finished him off but the Hyenas.

In the end I found the true villains of the movie to be the hyenas. With their lack of morals and them representing greed and just being all round vicious it was hard not to see it that way.

Overall this film was beautifully done but it could never replace the original.

See ya around

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Preliminary Audition Experience

I auditioned for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in February on site at the Conservatoire itself along side 8 others at my timeslot at 2 o’clock. There was a tour of the conservatoire at 1 but I went to the open day, so it wasn’t necessary for me (still handy though). Oh, and I was auditioning for the 3-year BA Acting programme.

DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a guide to the exact experience you would have if you audition. This is just my reflection and the audition process may alter my year to year. This post is also not affiliated with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Anyway, with all that out of the way let’s get into it!

Something useful to now, especially if you live near the conservatoire is that at the open day there was a discount code for audition prices (which is awesome because auditions can be pricey). However, if you can’t make it to the open day but still want to know about the audition process then there’s an informative video on their website which also goes into detail about call-backs and what happens after. Oh, by the way if it seems like I know more about the process for this drama schools than the others it’s because this was my conservatoire of choice. With regards to prior to the audition one thing which was essential to do which I kind of messed up on was having plenty of time to fill out the form with plenty of time to spare as they ask for it a week before your audition. Luckily, I was still able to audition having handed the form in late after filling out the form the night before in my boyfriend’s guest bedroom after writing drafts for it on the flight over.

One aspect which I really enjoyed was that we got 20 minutes before the actual audition with other auditionees as well as a past student. The socialising really helped with breaking the ice as we went into a group workshop. During the workshop we had pair work, improv and team exercises so the professors could see how we worked in a group before seeing how we worked on our own. There was also a question time with the professors.

As to the audition process, one thing which I loved was the redirection of one of our monologues (either classical or modern) which allowed them to see how you adapted to changes and if you found it easy to make changes. I struggled slightly in the interview after though because whilst they asked some standard questions, they also asked me a couple which threw me off guard. For example, I’M Irish so they asked me what Irish actor inspired me the most which threw me off slightly as to be honest I had never thought about that. I’d say to expect the unexpected which is cringey I know.

Overall, I enjoyed the day but left feeling that I hadn’t done myself justice due to not being as prepared for the questions in the interview. That’s why its always good to think about what out of the box questions any interviewer could ask you.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and learn from my mistakes

See ya around

RADA- Preliminary Audition Experience

I auditioned for RADA on the 12^th February 2019. I was auditioning for the BA Honours Acting programme and the Foundation in Acting course. The audition was for both courses. I auditioned at the Lab in Dublin.

 Now my experience was a little bit different because I auditioned in Dublin as opposed to London. Selecting this option meant that I had to submit my form by an earlier date as unlike the London auditions which closed in February and not January. There were also only 3 dates in Dublin where as in London there were 6 months of auditions so keep in mind that if you live in the UK and can’t get to an audition near you, London will have plenty of slots. RADA also travels to New York and Los Angeles in case there any Americans reading.

One thing I feel is important to note is the audition form itself. There is a form you need to fill out which contains all your basic details as well as certain questions such as “Why do you want to be an actor?”. The form can only be posted so allocate yourself a deadline where you have time to post it and know it will get there comfortably in the time limit and to have it done well. Also, I found it useful to read over my form the night before so that if they asked me about questions on the form that my answers would match up.

There was no warmup on the day and all the auditions were running ahead of schedule which is why you should always arrive early. There was also a basic form on the day where you had to list your monologues and all that jazz. This procedure left me a tad disappointed as I like to warm up or ask students questions, but I understand that would be rather difficult as they only had two room in the building.

One thing which I liked was the interview after the two monologues (you may be asked for a third). They were mainly pretty standard questions such as “Tell us about the last play you saw?” but it really helped you to not dwell on your previous performance. However, it wasn’t as stiff and formal as other ones I had been to such as the RCS.  They unfortunately didn’t offer feedback but that was stated on the website as they had such a high volume of applicants.

Overall my RADA audition was a pleasant experience and I did really love how they let people audition in places other than RADA itself. Overall, I had a pretty good experience and found myself happy walking out of the gallery.

 Thank you for reading and see ya around

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Preliminary Audition Experience

I auditioned for the RBC in February 2019 and overall had an awesome experience at the preliminary audition. I auditioned at the conservatoire and the audition cost £75 which you pay before hand on the UCAS website. This was a single audition for the BA Honours Acting programme.

QUICK DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be used as a guide or a rundown of the exact experience you would experience. It is simply a recount of my experience on the day which one might use to have a vague idea of what to expect.Keep in mind as years go on the process may change

Anyway now that's out of the way lets get into it !

One thing which I found really helpful was the warm up before hand.The audition before this was for a Post Leaving Cert course where we just sat in a corridor waiting for your slot. However at the RBC there were 12 people in my time slot(which isn't mentioned so keep that in mind that you probably won't be seen straight away. Not only were we properly warmed up but we were warmed up by a current student on the course.This was a real help as we were able to ask questions about the course from a students perspective.Everyone was also given 5 minutes on their own before they went in. This was so everyone had a chance to practise in silence and calm down before going in.

Another thing which was really awesome was the live feedback. Often times you have to go searching for feedback and it'll take a while. However what was handy about the RBC audition process was that you received immediate and professional feedback. I also had four other auditions after the RBC one so I could apply the feedback and corrections for my other auditions.

Overall it was a good experience but I would advise people to not make plans for an hour from your audition time due to not knowing what the running order for your group is. Overall I really enjoyed the warm up and the live feedback.

Welcome!

My main goal for starting this blog was to share my opinions on different areas of the film and theatre industry. I was also inspired to start after auditioning for acting school for the first time and wanting to both reflect on my experiences and also share them so others aren't completely blind when going in themselves. Something to note is that I did audition for courses in Ireland and Britain so don't take what I say to be gospel.
I also absolutely love films and spend a little too much time in my local cinema and figured why not review some films while I'm already here. I figured it might help people to have a second opinion to help them dwindle down the ever growing options of the film industry.
Finally I love theatre itself and love going to see local productions and falling into a new world, I just finished my Leaving Cert and honestly escapism is what is keeping me going at this point. So whether its for one sentence or a couple of posts I hope you like what you read and stick around for more.
See ya around