Rhinoceros

Hello everyone, I know I haven’t blogged in a while but I have been SUPER busy with rehearsals for Rhinoceros J But I’m back now!

I know I always talk about the play I was directing but this will be the last one as the show is now finished L After a seven-month rigorous rehearsal period, I can now lay back, put my feet up and relax. The show concluded on June 4^th at Greenwich Theatre, and what a show it was! I am so proud of my nine cast members and nine members of the crew, they all did amazingly well in their own ways! Here is a picture of me, the crew and our supervisors.

As you can see we were quite a large bunch, as a director I can tell you first-hand how hard it is to try and control and calm down a bunch of hyper-active students! They were a pleasure to work with but what a lively bunch they were J

Both shows went amazingly well! The final night was such a treat for me because I felt that it went the best it could have ever gone and for me to sit back and watch the masterpiece being created was such a joy. It was quite emotional watching my baby come alive (the show) after all the hard work myself, the cast and the crew put in to make this show a success.

I know this is a very short blog, I just wanted to share with everyone how proud I am of all the people involved with the show.

Speak soon J

Bathway Theatre Festival and No More Coursework

Hello everyone, welcome back, in case you haven’t noticed most of my blogs are about my Drama course or about the fact that University is coming to an end. This blog is going to be no different.

Firstly, I wanna talk about the fact that I have officially finished all written work for third year! It was a struggle but I finally got there.

I had a 3000 word research project, 3000 word log book, 2000 word research essay and 4000 word placement report all due in within the same week! You don’t know stress until all your work is due in at the same time! But it’s all over now so no more coursework ever for me! But now that all the written work is done I now have my end of year show to focus on.

My show is the 4^th and last play within the Bathway Theatre Festival, so far I have seen Love and Information by Caryl Churchill and Road by Jim Cartwright. Next week is Red Noses by Peter Barnes and then the Festival concludes with the play I am directing, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco.

I know I have mentioned it lots before but tickets are now on sale at www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk and it would be brilliant if you could all come see it in support of myself, my wonderful bunch of third year actors, the amazing first year technical crew and the University of Greenwich’s Drama department.

I am very excited for the show and we have 400 seats per night to sell, which is worrying, but I’m staying optimistic about it.

That’s all for now. Speak soon J

Here Comes the Sun

Hey folks,

So for this blog I chose the title “Here Comes the Sun” for a few reasons. Firstly, it is one of my all-time favourite songs from The Beatles and secondly the sun has come out a lot lately, although it’s still breezy from time to time the sun is definitely on its way. J

So this blog is basically going to be all about how much I love the sun and things I like to get up to when the sun is shining down. The sun is one of my favourite things EVER because it rarely is hot in this country so when it does come I do tend to get really excited like a kid at Christmas.

This year I think it is going to get very hot, I don’t know why I think that, I just do. So if the sun keeps up it’s good work this summer then there are lots I plan to do. Firstly, I plan to go and visit my friend for her birthday in Surrey, we’ve done it for the past two years and it’s fun as we just chill in the garden and have a barbeque and play a bit of badminton… Then the sun goes down and the party animal in me comes out J As I said it’s for her birthday and birthday’s aren’t complete without a party. Below is a picture from me and my the birthday girl two summers ago when she had planned to have a fancy dress birthday party and as I am notoriously rubbish at dressing up, I simply found a witch hat, a black wig and a cloak in her house and pretty soon after that the Witch King was invented. 

I honestly could not tell you what I was thinking… All I can say is that it was a night to remember. Also this summer I want to go to London Zoo as I’ve never been and also spend a lot of time either at a beach or at a park. All whilst working full time for clearing 2014… Gonna be a hectic summer… But a fun one!!!

Speak Soon folks J

Last Week of My University Experience!

Hello everyone :)

Today I’m going to talk about my last EVER standard week at University of Greenwich!  I know a lot of my blogs lately have been regarding the end of Uni and what the future holds, it’s just because it’s a big thing on my mind at the moment and it’s kind of life changing.

So it’s going to be quite a long week, it kicks off with my exam on Monday, which is for my course Other Stages. Last term we did an Avant Garde piece so it was really weird and strange and this term we are doing an African Theatre performance equipped with African drumming and African dancing, which I am looking forward to A LOT.

Then Tuesday I’ve got Rhinoceros rehearsals which is going to be a long day, but a fun day none-the-less. Wednesday is my only day off so like all days off I will be doing coursework (YAAAAY!!!) :( Then on Thursday it is back to our Rhinoceros rehearsals, which I'm so excited about because we are doing a full run through of the show, I understand it’s going to be very basic but at least we have something to work with.

Friday will be completed with a lecture/seminar for Contemporary British Theatre which is in the same room as our first ever lecture was in first year. So it is like we are going full circle, which is nice :)

So yeah, that is a brief account of my final week of University :) Speak soon :)

Future Career!

Hello, hope you’re all well J

Today I thought I’d talk about my future career and what I plan to do once my degree is complete.

Well first I would like to start with saying that right now I am very unsure on what to do but here are my options that I would like to go into. Firstly, I would love to try my hand at film and TV acting… but mainly I just want to be in Eastenders J The reason for me wanting to do a bit of work in TV and film just comes from my enjoyment of watching a good film that makes you feel about five different emotions within the space of half an hour. I just think it would be so fun to be a part of a TV series or a film.

Another thing I would like to go into would be more of a backseat of the acting world, and that is Directing and Stage Managering. In my first year I did an assignment called Making Theatre in which I stage managed for a third year production of Fear and Misery of the Third Reich by Bertolt Brecht and this was my favourite course so far at University because I enjoyed it sooooooo much. Also, this year I am directing a production of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, so I have had my fair share of experience within both of these fields and I have really enjoyed them. Therefore I would love to experience more of this at a more professional level.

My ultimate goal in life is to run my own theatre company, I have been involved with various theatre companies before such as Second to None Productions, where I was lucky enough to perform in the musical Rent which is actually my favourite musical of all time. I have also been involved in Royal Road Productions where we did a modern musical version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a humanised version of The Jungle Book and a production of The Little Mermaid which was all fun and gave me the opportunity to co-direct with the Founder and Director of the theatre company. The reason I would like to run my own theatre company is just because I enjoy theatre so much but more importantly I enjoy bringing out the best in people and watching their confidence grow as rehearsals go on and to think that my support has helped them grow as a performer and a person would be a brilliant feeling.

So that’s it really, TV/film acting, directing, stage managering and running my own theatre company is what I aim to try my hand at in the future. It’s going to be hard work but I plan to put my all into it and hopefully make something of my life. Speak soon J

Drama Productions & Graduation

Hello again J I can’t believe that we’re now in March, it seems like just yesterday I was opening my Christmas presents. It seems as I’m getting older the years are flying by me L

Anyway, I thought I’d talk a bit about Drama Production as I haven’t really mentioned it in a while, so just a quick recap, I’m directing Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros as part of my degree, which is very exciting! Luckily, my group was picked to perform at Greenwich Theatre, just near our campus, which is an amazing opportunity for myself, the nine members of cast and the nine members of crew that will all be hitting the stage come June 3^rd & 4^th. Here is a picture of the auditorium in Greenwich Theatre:

As you can see, it’s rather large, which basically means A LOT of tickets to sell, 400 per night to be exact. Every year one of the third year shows gets picked for Greenwich Theatre and it never sells out, this year I want to put a stop to that and my job as well as the actors and crew is to sell 800 tickets, which makes me feel a bit sick when I say it like that! But I like a challenge and this should be quite an exciting challenge J

Another thing, I’m quite nervous about is the upcoming Graduation! I’m the sort of person who hates goodbyes and I don’t respond well to change, I've just received an email about the Yearbook which makes me very sad! Don’t get me wrong Graduation Day is going to be AMAZING! But very sad, very, very sad! Especially as once I finish University I need to become a responsible adult and the worse thing is, I’m only realising this now! Booooo! Oh well, at least my career path will be underway J

Until next time J

P.S. Have a nice pancake day!

The Luxury of Living in London

Hello again J

Hope you have all been well and enjoying this very cold winter we are having L Anyways, I thought I would just talk about what I consider the biggest luxury for a drama student living in London… Theatre is everywhere! Only recently have I decided to abuse this little fact, as I am in my final year, so I may have gone on a spending spree and bought a few tickets to see some new and classic shows that are out there in London.

As you can probably guess, I have been to see Les Miserables, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Mamma Mia! Well, I can tell you that all three shows were amazing! I loved every second of each and they were so well put together, when you think about seeing a show your main thought are the performers within the show but in a show like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I was so amazed with the setting created on the stage, it was literally like the film! Every scene had a new setting and it was amazing!

So I was a bit naughty and may have bought more tickets. In the next few months I will be going to see Wicked! (For the third time) Blithe Spirit, I Can’t Sing, Sarah Millican, and the X Factor Tour Live! So the next few months are going to be the best ever!

Also recently I have had a birthday, which means I’m one year older. Most people get sadder as they get older and more worried about age, I get excited. One more year means one more year of experience and one year older to being an old man sitting in his armchair without a care in the world. So now that I am 22 and I am officially three years away from hitting a quarter of a century, I celebrated as all students know how… A nice drink and some food from Weatherspoons :D

That’s all from me for now

Speak soon :D