INTRODUCTION
At the start of the course, I labelled myself as a musician and had little experience in acting despite a passion for it. However, over the last two years I have become a more balanced actor musician and have started to marry the two disciplines together – finding ways to bring my acting into my music and vice versa. Over the course of this year, my enthusiasm for music has stayed strong, starting to develop into an interest in Musical Direction. Additionally, after discovering shows such as ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and ‘The Clockmaker’s Daughter’, I’ve increasingly wanted to explore being in actor musician musicals strongly influenced by folk music.
Throughout my first year, I frequently received feedback that I made safe choices. In my second year I wanted to make bolder choices, not overthinking what I was doing or worrying about getting things wrong. I wanted to find opportunities to play with new styles of acting away from naturalism, which we’d focused on in first year. I also recognised that I wasn’t a strong advocate for myself. I didn’t ask questions when I needed to clarify feedback or push myself to volunteer. This is something I set out to improve in second year, to get the most out of my training.
INDUSTRY RESEARCH
BIOGRAPHY
Figure 1
When creating my biography (Figure 1), I looked at the Spotlight biographies of third year actor musicians for inspiration. Everyone mentioned where they’d trained, where they were based and described themselves in a more selling way than I’d expected with adjectives such as ‘lively’, ‘passionate’ and ‘energetic’. The aim seemed to be to give a brief yet holistic overview, highlighting all of the aspects of the industry they are interested in. For example, Daisy Dalby mentioned her experience as a solo musician and Sophie Howard described herself as a dancer. In my own biography I wanted to take a similar approach, showing myself to be passionate about music, dance and theatre. I decided to write it in third person as it felt more formal than first person and acted as a professional boundary between myself and any casting directors or agents who may read it.
HEADSHOTS AND CV
Figure 2
Figure 3
When researching headshots (Figure 2), I first looked at graduates’ Spotlights to see who’s headshots I liked and which companies took them. I also looked at the social media and websites of Yellowbelly, Akta and Lumiosa. I liked headshots against a coloured background as these stood out more, with the colours providing good contrast for blondes vs neutral backgrounds such as black or white. I also thought wearing a distinct outfit in a strong colour helped them be eye catching. It was beneficial to have a range of expressions in headshots showcasing the variety of characters an actor could play.
I found that Akta achieved these points best thus being the company who’s style I liked the most. My favourite graduate headshots belonged to Daisy Dalby (Figure 5) and Scarlett Bennett (Figure 4), who both worked with Akta. The variety in their headshots demonstrated their versatility as actors. I think this would suit me as I like to think I am a versatile actor, having recently played roles that range from being authoritative and manipulative to comedic and larger than life.
After my headshot research, I have considered wearing blue in my headshots as it’s a colour that I think represents me effectively and makes me stand out in photos. I can then recreate the image and identity in my headshots in an audition room. As blue is a colour I associate with myself and appears welcoming and professional, I decided to keep it consistent in the design of my CV (Figure 3), linking it to my headshot. Therefore, I will be more memorable to casting directors and agents. In creating my CV, I decided to include an ‘about me’ section that acted as a mini biography to avoid the CV being purely a page of facts without a sense of personality. I grouped together my ‘experience’ and ‘skills’ sections as they strongly correlate and form a clear section for a casting director or agent to see what I can do.
Figure 4, Figure 5
THEATRES AND AGENTS
Figure 6
This year I developed an interest in accessible and political theatre and have researched theatre companies developing new work focusing on diversity, inclusivity and our current society (Figure 6). I researched companies in London and Leeds as this is where I’m based. I found more political and innovative theatre companies in Leeds, although there were also companies in London that resonated with me. I compiled my findings in a table including a link to the company’s website and contact details, noting what appealed to me and what current productions they are putting on. I signed up to the mailing lists to establish a connection with the company and ensure I keep up to date with new projects and future opportunities.
Although I found the prospect of researching agents daunting, I started by looking through graduate Spotlights to see who they were represented by and took note of what stood out to me about those agencies (Figure 6). I was pleasantly surprised by how many London based agencies had taken on Leeds Conservatoire students, as I thought agents may not travel to see the third year showcase. I favoured agencies that made specific mention of communication and individuality as this implied an environment where I would be comfortable to bring up concerns about my work. ‘Roberts and Williamson Associates’ had a dedicated Actor Musician section on their website which appealed to me compared to ‘LCA Talent Management’ which seemingly had a much larger focus on TV and film. I was apprehensive about agencies such as ‘Tidal Talent’ and ‘Articulate Agency’ as they had a considerable emphasis on child actors.
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Figure 7
I have recently become interested in pursuing Musical Direction as part of my career. Whilst I have led ensembles in the past and taken on some Musical Direction roles this year, I don’t have all the skills I would need for this in the professional industry. Therefore, I decided to research Masters Musical Direction courses in the UK (Figure 7). The courses that I liked had an emphasis on cross course collaboration, which would play to my strengths as a practical learner, working with others to adapt and solve problems. I discovered that all the Universities required applicants to be a skilled pianist. Although I play piano, I am not as strong a player as I’d need to be, especially in accompaniment and sight-reading. During third year, I’d like to develop as a pianist so that Musical Direction can be an option for me.
KEY MOMENTS
PANTO
In November, we took part in a two week project in which we rehearsed and performed the first act of the City Varieties ‘Rock and Roll Panto’. This year the panto was ‘Aladdin’ and after an initial read through, I was cast as Princess Peach Blossom. Over the two weeks we had to learn a script and songs as well as devise stings for throughout the show. This was the first time we’d had to learn such a large amount of material in such a short amount of time. Whilst I have had experience in sight reading sheet music before, I still found this project a challenge as we were working with instruments we were less familiar with. My progress on clarinet and bass improved massively over the project and by the end I felt confident sight reading and memorising music on both.
When we went to observe the City Varieties rehearsals, they had a specific rehearsal focusing on the musical numbers. From this, it was clear that as part of actor musicianship I’ll need to read music efficiently to get through material as quickly as possible in limited rehearsal time. The panto project developed my sight reading skills and going forward I will continue to include sight reading as part of my practice for all my instruments. Being a strong sight reader will equip me to confidently pick up music quickly in a professional environment.
THE MOORS
In December, we worked on a performance of ‘The Moors’ by Jen Silverman. I was cast as Marjory which originally seemed daunting and very outside my comfort zone. However, this character pushed me to be bolder and take more risks in my acting choices. This project was set up to give us the experience of a professional rehearsal process working with an external director. Our first few rehearsals included a table read, a discussion of the text and uniting the script so we all had a cohesive sense of the narrative and meaning of the play. In subsequent rehearsals, we did our own preparation and research until our call time to work with our director. With the director, we’d workshop the scene and play with different blocking, intentions and delivery of lines. This was different to past rehearsal experiences as collaborating with the director gave me more freedom and responsibility to make my own acting choices, compared to a teaching environment where we would be working on a specific technique.
Having more independence over my process wasn’t as easy as I expected as I had to find the motivation to explore my character to the same depth as I would when working in class. Nevertheless, I found I still had a genuine interest in the world of the play and bringing my character to life with an authentic performance. My engagement through the project showed me that this working style suits me. I discovered a reliable acting process that helped me to unlock bolder choices, and I intend to follow this process in future projects.
Figure 8
STARTING A COMPANY
In Artistic Development, we had workshops led by Ruth Cooper-Rowan called ‘Making Work’. These workshops talked us through how we would create our own theatre company and the logistics of doing so. During these sessions we worked in groups to create an idea for a new theatre company (Figure 8). My group’s company focussed on creating accessible and interactive actor musician theatre in outdoor environments. We discussed that in the current cost of living crisis, theatre audiences are becoming a smaller and more specific demographic of people who have the time and money to attend the theatre. We also talked about how large, dark, quiet theatre spaces are less accessible to those who are neurodivergent or have learning difficulties. Therefore, we pitched a show that was outdoors, interactive and included music so the audience felt immersed in the experience. Developing this idea in the workshops inspired me and I would like to explore projects similar to this throughout my career. Making theatre accessible and inclusive is important to me as it is an opportunity to bring communities together. This is a topic that I am becoming increasingly passionate about and want to continue to advocate for.
SHAKESPEARE
In our Shakespeare block I studied a duologue from Macbeth where I played Lady Macbeth and my scene partner played Macbeth. I haven’t previously studied Shakespeare from an acting perspective so was apprehensive at first about studying classical text. However, this module stretched my thinking and gave me the opportunity to deconstruct and really understand Shakespearian language. We focussed on how the text itself can influence acting choices. This approach differed to what we had done before and I found that taking the time to carefully consider why Shakespeare had chosen certain words, sounds and rhythms established a deeper connection to my character. For example, Shakespeare’s choice of words for Lady Macbeth in my duologue included a lot of ‘W’ sounds as well as wide mouth vowels. I interpreted this to mean that Lady Macbeth is a strong, dominant character who is not afraid to take up space.
Analysing the text in this much detail was extremely valuable and I have since brought this practice forward when working with more contemporary texts. In doing so, I have felt a lot more connected to my character’s intentions and have been able to use the meaning of the words to reflect my actions and objectives more effectively. After this module, I’ve been fascinated by Shakespeare’s use of language to aid his storytelling. Working on similar classical and Shakespearian texts is something I’d be interested in doing in the future – potentially in a way that links to making Shakespeare more accessible, since this is something I’m keen to explore.
ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE
In Music we created and led a 10 minute set of original music, linked by a narrative or theme. I based mine upon the story of ‘Dido and Aneas’ from the ‘Odessey’. I took direct quotes from the text to create a script for the narrator which linked three pieces of music together. Despite having led music ensembles before, this was my first experience of leading my own work and teaching people music mostly by ear (Figure 9). One challenge I faced during this project was trying to communicate my ideas as everyone learnt and understood music differently. To overcome this, I made sure I was always open to questions and had prepared multiple methods of teaching people, hoping that one of these would work for someone or we could find a way to meet in the middle. These included written notation, teaching by ear, demonstrating on our instruments, and providing a structure with freedom to improvise.
I was aware that I was unfamiliar with many of the instruments I was creating parts for so made sure that I was open to feedback and ideas – if someone knew a way to develop a part or make it more accessible for their instruments then I would welcome that. I found the challenges and responsibility of leading a room invigorating.
Additionally, after spending time working with and talking to the Masters Musical Direction students I realise that I enjoy working collaboratively with people to bring a piece of music to life. I would like to explore being a Musical Director as part of my career as I have a growing passion for teaching people and finding new ways to communicate music.
Figure 9
BEACH BUS
Over the past two years, myself and 5 others from my course have been part of a band called ‘BEACH BUS’ (Figure 10). We started out at the end of first year when we performed in ‘Moldog’s Cabaret’ and have since played multiple gigs and are working towards hosting our own cabaret event. We wanted to create a unique band in which we use our actor musician training to swap instruments between songs, meaning we can utilise a wide range of instrumentation as well as perform a variety of genres that suit different voice types. Gigging with a band has been a very new experience for me this year and there was much more to organise than I expected. Promoting our band and our gigs is similar to promoting a brand – we have tried to keep a strong presence on our social media as well as picking consistent colours and themes across all of our promotional activity.
When rehearsing for gigs there is a lot more freedom than in other rehearsal rooms I’ve been in. Rehearsing with BEACH BUS has helped me to understand that not everything you try has to make the finished product as we often try parts or harmonies that completely change by the time of the gig.
There is a lot of networking involved in gigging and we’ve got most of our gigs through word of mouth and supporting our friends so far. Our aim is to expand our network to establish new connections and opportunities. Gigging with a band is something I have had a lot of fun doing this year and I’d like for it to continue be part of my career to supplement work in theatre.
Figure 10
SUMMATIVE STATEMENT
This year I’ve learnt that I lean towards working in theatre over screen and have a strong interest in actor musician musicals. However, I’ve also realised that I don’t want to limit my career to one route. Musical Direction is something I am keen to explore – using my skills as an actor musician off stage as well as on. As this is something I don’t have lots of experience in, I am considering a Masters in Musical Direction.
Additionally, I have discovered that I am interested in finding ways to make theatre accessible and inclusive. I’m passionate about making theatre something everyone can enjoy, using it to bring together a diverse community. Incorporating this into my work is something I’d love to do, making sure what I do contributes to our society.
I have found it difficult to pinpoint my casting type as I’ve been cast in contrasting roles over the past two years. I’m keen develop this variety as a strength and present myself as a versatile performer across my headshots, biography and CV. As well as presenting myself as an adaptable actor, this will show my openness to work in any discipline. I’m aiming to create a flexible brand for myself that can suit different parts of my career.
This year I aimed to become a stronger advocate for myself. During rehearsals I made sure to communicate concerns and questions to my Directors and in doing so, found it notably easier to respond to feedback. Furthermore, I’ve worked significantly on making bolder choices. Particularly in the Shakespeare and comedy blocks, I threw myself into the work playing with new approaches that didn’t necessarily align with the naturalistic techniques we’d learnt in first year. This allowed me to explore infinitely more choices and taught me to trust my instincts rather than picking the safest, obvious choice.
A goal for third year is to continue breaking away from my comfort zone of naturalism and try more styles of acting. Working with styles that I was unfamiliar with this year allowed me to grow in my acting, unlocking new techniques that I can then apply back to naturalism. Continuing this will help me become a well-rounded and versatile actor.
I also want to continue to find opportunities to explore Musical Direction, for example by contributing ideas to the music for third year productions. Aside from this, I’d like to find opportunities for Musical Direction outside of my course such as creating and teaching harmonies for my band.
Arguably my biggest goal for third year is to find as many opportunities for networking as I can, creating a large web of people who I can contact about future projects. I have started this work by signing up to the mailing lists of theatre companies I was interested in. Moreover, my band is keeping in contact with venues and other bands we’ve performed with. Keeping this up through third year is something that will be vital for me when finding projects and jobs after graduating.
