That's it, I'm an actor!

I suppose most of my friends already consider me an actor, having done walk-on work on telly and am-dram, but now I finally feel justified in using that title for myself without qualifying it with some term like "aspiring" or "in training".  And all this because I have taken part in my first ever professional stage play

I've have been in training for stage work at The Houldsworth for more than a year, I think, albeit in a sporadic manner as the classes have changed shape, type and teacher.  Now I'm part of The Houldsworth Academy, enjoying more advanced training, and hoping that I can sweet-talk our boss, Sally Lawton into putting me on the books for her agency, Strawberry Management.

It was also The Houldsworth that gave me the chance to consider myself professional.
Some years ago the lovely people at Whitefield AODS allowed me to audition for The Importance of Being Earnest, the role being Dr Chasuble, despite the fact that I couldn't take part due to a clash with the World Naked Bike Ride.  It was good practise.
This time it was The Houldsworth's turn to stage the show, so I auditioned for the same part and got it!  I flatter myself that I got the part because I was the best, but it's entirely possible I was the only one who applied.  Frankly, I don't care.  I got the part and that's what matters.

We rehearsed for slightly more than a week.  No, that's not a typo.  We really did have a week to rehearse and it was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had, especially when I consider that I also had two parties and a busking gig between the last rehearsal and the beginning of the show.

The other actors amazed me from the first moment.  Their ability to play with their roles in such a relaxed and creative manner was an education in itself.  I had to be pushed.
Sally suggested that I play Chasuble as jolly and exceptionally camp.  I wasn't sure about it at first, but as it's a good idea to trust your director I gave it a go.  So I watched YouTube clips of the campest, gayest characters I could find and came up with a weird conglomeration of John Inman and Graham Norton.  It worked beautifully.
Another strange idea was to reset the play in 1990s Manchester high society.  It was also a stroke of genius because it allowed us to play with the script and to avoid expensive sets and costumes - important considerations for an unfunded fringe theatre.
I surprised myself with how I managed to learn my lines in such a short space of time.  The amount the main characters had to learn was ten times as much and most of them combined it with jobs or university courses.  It's all but impossible to describe how impressed I am.

So now I feel extremely chuffed and proud of myself.  I have successfully auditioned for a role in a play and played that role in a real theatre on a real stage in front of a real audience.  I didn't "corpse" onstage (although I came extremely close) and I'm being paid for it.
I'm not being paid much.  In fact, I don't know how much but it won't be a lot.  Profit-share doesn't pay very well but I don't care.  If I get paid, that makes me a professional, as far as I'm concerned.

And that means I'm an Actor!
Love and thespianism,
Seán

I'm in a Writey Mood

For some, as yet unfathomed, reason I'm in the mood to write something on this long-neglected blog.  I don't even feel hampered by the fact that I've no idea what to write about.
"Forgive me Weblog, for I have sinned.  It has been 16 months since my last post"

Having a weblog is an odd thing.  Some people have blogs with a purpose.  They write about food, comics, television, LARPing, occult adventures or their pets.  Others use their blog as a kind of diary, to let off steam or empty their heads every so often.

I started this blog in November 2007.  Gosh, that's more than five years ago.
The intention was to write down my opinions on whatever I could think of that interested me or struck me as important.  Looking back I've written about quite a lot of things.  54 posts, in fact, if you count this one.  As far as subjects go sexuality seems to have been a biggie, as does religion, nudity, polyamory, music, disability issues and Jesus being a Pagan.  Then it all rather slowed down.
I think I ran out of steam because once I've said something I don't really like repeating myself.  There are some writers, for instance, who will bring out a series of books which are essentially all the same, just rewritten versions of each other.  I can't seem to do that.  It feels like cheating.

Surprisingly I didn't post about my book coming out, which was seriously remiss of me.  It took a long time to write and deserved more publicity.  The launch party (at Treadwell's book shop in London on 7th Sept 2012) was also something I'll remember for long, long time.  Well, the parts that weren't obliterated by red wine, anyway.

I think perhaps that Facebook has had a hand in my writing less here too.  I can't possibly deny the usefulness of Facebook.  I've met some amazing people on there, found my publisher, used it to advertise my own events and become involved in things I wouldn't even have known about.  I still spend way too much time on there, because it's so easy and I find it easier to react to other people's statements than to come up with my own.
Funnily enough, though, the first thing I'll do when I finish writing will be to link to this on Facebook in the hope that my friends will read it.  Hmmm, ironic!

There are new things I want to write about and alterations I want to make.  I could definitely update the links down the side of the page.  There are probably quite a few now defunct, and some new ones I want to add.
I definitely want to write about my experiences in learning to speak Welsh with SaySomethingInWelsh.com, but not until I've finished the full course which probably won't be until sometime in July or August at present rates.
I have considered writing about the present political situation especially where benefit cuts are concerned, but there are people who do a far better job already.  I'd certainly like to write about my experiences with acting, the 5:2 'diet' and in the poly community,  I just haven't decided what yet.

Perhaps a little discipline is what's needed.  Maybe I should force myself to write something every Wednesday, no matter how banal.  More drastically, perhaps I should dump this blog and start another from scratch so I can't refer people to previous posts and have to rethink everything.  Okay, perhaps not.

Decisions, decisions.  But there's time to decide.  I doubt anybody's life is hanging in the balance waiting for my blog to cure cancer.  Meanwhile I think I'll add a totally gratuitous picture of some naked people in Star Trek body paint.  Because I can!

Love and literacy,
Seán xxx