An Actor Prepares - Part 1

It's April, 2020.

And the working world has gone to shit.

People who normally commute are working from make shift home offices, trying as best they can to keep some kind of income coming in. People are still going out to work (if they are classed as essential or keyworkers) because they can't work from home and need to keep the rest of us alive. Those who already work from home are still going strong, but now have new obstacles to content with - kids, partners, (insert the new things that annoy you here, I'm not one of you, I have no idea!)

And then there's people like me.

The people who fall into more than one or ALL of these categories.

Usually you will find me running around serving in a bar and restaurant in Central London. I also act, sing, dance, audition, and teach as a freelancer.

Being 'employed' by someone (or as we Creative Types refer to it - having a 'Day Job') pays the bills and keeps me safe and warm. The freelance stuff keeps my toes in the artistic pool, actually earns me money using the degree I hold and, ultimately, lets me enjoy life!

Both these means of income have their obvious advantages, but at this precise moment in time - it's complicated.

Now, I am one of the lucky ones - my Day Job fits around the freelance work that I do. However, like most 'non-essential' businesses, the pub has closed for the forseeable and all the staff have been 'furloughed' (which means I still have a wee drop of money from the Gov coming in during this isolation period). My creative work, on the other hand, has taken a drastic hit. You can't teach Drama to an empty gym hall or Singing to a bunch of keyboards alone in a music classroom, or audition to an invisible panel, can you?

So, making do with the situation at hand - I've had to learn how to work online.

There are lots of apps out there that allow teachers to keep their classes going on a virtual basis which, for my creative mind, is an absolute godsend! I'm still learning with every class I lead - it's not perfect, but it will have to do for now. Actually, it really is a win-win for everyone involved: it breaks up the daily monotony for parents and it keeps me motivated to churn out something that is fun, virtually interactive and beneficial for learning development. It has its flaws, as everything always does, but making do with what we have during this wild ride we are riding is better than having no output at all. So. it's a yes from me!

The Acting World has moved online too. Face-to-face auditions are now non existent, instead asking for 'Self Tapes' or 'Voice Clips' to be recorded and uploaded for casting directors to view from their isolation induced work-from-home offices (if they didn't already work from home.) Again, massive benefits for all involved here - Casting folk can 'meet' more people via recorded video than they could slot into a daily face-to-face audition schedule and we can do as many takes as we like and upload the best of them. The downside is not all Actors are tech wizards (I fall into the not tech savvy category) so we have to adapt: I now know how to squish videos together to make an audition tape! It might not be sleek or polished like those who have all the skillz or know all the secrets, but at least they can see me and hear me!

I'm also using my 'free time' doing online dance classes and learning new songs and monologues for auditions. Well that's something we should be doing all the time, but that's a topic for another post...

I will get better, I will practice, I might even sign up to one of these online tutorials for my Mac to learn some of the secrets! I'll look for more online teaching opportunities, I will fill my time with learning and creative-ness.

But I will also binge watch Netflix and chill.

Best of both worlds.

Stay Safe.

❤️