Going into the start of my first year of training, I was quite intimidated and scared of moving into a new city and meeting new people. I had never shown any performance work outside of my village in Fermanagh (apart from auditions into schools) so sharing with a class of peers unfamiliar to me seemed very daunting. However, freshers week was a great way to dive in and get used to all these changes. I went to different events and parties which gave me a chance to get to know people before the ensemble weeks. Speaking of, the ensemble weeks were such a great way to get our group more connected and I never felt any fear or anxiety in the group which helped ease all nerves I had. It allowed us all to present ideas to each other without being shut down and spotlight each others talent moving forward. It also zoomed in on the teamwork element of the course rather than the personal discoveries, showing us how we work as a group so that in the later weeks, we would be able to focus more on ourselves as individual performers.
Artistic Development:
These sessions have really stood out for the reason of finding out what works best for me. Throughout the year, I have been shown how to reflect and create in many different ways, some working more than others. My highlight would be the usage of the ‘4 P’s’ ( Pow, Pin, Prep, Present) as I find it a great and easy way to get a general awareness of what my strengths are and what things I need to develop further [FIG 1]. I use it more as a performance reflection rather than a week’s reflection as the bullet point inspired format of it works for a quick review of any performance I have done in the year [FIG 2]. Going forward, It provides a jumping off point for the more detailed reflections as the core ideas have already been set which really helps me as I struggle to start writing without a stimulus. Also, knowing I support this reflection model meant I was able to search for similar ones to test out other reflective methods. I found one on Pinterest which I wish to try in some of my second year training as I feel it uses the basis of the 4 p’s yet expands their technique for an even better outcome [SEE BIBLIOGRAPHY]. Something to note for myself is that whenever something is not working for me, I tend to drop it and lose focus very fast without sticking to it, for example our visiting artist workshop with Jamal Gerald. We did an exercise of writing a letter to someone you are inspired by and writing about something you’re passionate about, to then merge the two together to create some inspiration for writing. I ended up with Charli XCX and Irish history which anyone can imagine did not go too well together [FIG 3]. When I started to realise this technique was not for me, I found myself struggling to contribute well to the lesson. While it is useful to know what does not suit me, artistic development has taught me through experience that it is much better to just go with it rather than giving up because you never know what can be created even when I don’t believe it is working for me.
Movement:
When I put movement, voice and acting together, movement always feels like my weakest aspect. I am not an extremely confident mover by any means as I struggle with flexibility and shaping my body whether it’s dancing, moving or being a meerkat. All of these flaws can be developed and trained, however entering a class of people where it feels they all have more dance and movement experience than me felt quite scary. Throughout the year I do believe I did let go of any fear or worry in any movement classes but that was through a slow, drawn out process of accepting the only way of me getting better is by accepting what needs developed in a more professional sense rather than beating myself up for not feeling that I am ‘as good as the rest of the class’. Going into year two, I wish to continue to grow in confidence when I’m in movement classes because I have noticed change only really happens when you throw yourself into it.
Movement Technique:
Eilon’s classes are not my personal favourite due to the content however he makes them very zen and chill whilst also being educational and this is a type of teaching I have found to give me good results. My focus in these lessons is always at the top of my ability due to his ability to merge a calm, casual vibe with a more serious dive into movement and this balance is something I noted throughout the year for myself. We worked on viewpoints for the majority of these sessions and it has been so helpful. I now use viewpoints (SSTEMS) in everything I do no matter the class and have found it great when merging the other aspects of theatre and drama. In particular, shape of movement is something I hold very close to my process now as it really helps me understand the character I am embodying and also I believe it is an amazing way to allow the audience in. In further research, Jon Whitmore’s book ‘Directing Postmodern Theatre’ highlighted the idea of different levels of shape which is something for me to keep in mind when moving forward with my shape based process style. He stated, ‘Some order of priority needs to be established for literally every moment in the performance’, which I think will help develop my shaping to the next stage of my training, being able to quickly place levels of priority to every decision rather than making bold choices just to make a character different from myself. Another defining exercise was flocking, copying the movements/gestures of whoever is at the front of the group, changing with whatever direction the group is facing. Flocking was a great way for me to test out so many different movement styles whether it was robotic and snappy or soft and floaty [VID]. Although flocking was good for development, it was also a great way to get out of my own head which is something I struggle with when in movement classes. The exercise allows a balance of leadership and teamwork, almost like sheep and a shepherd.
This stopped any worries about doing something wrong as I was able to test out some movements and then the role of leader would be taken away before any secondary thinking in my own head creeped in. I noticed for myself that I work best in movement when there’s no particular spotlight placed on me and that I am happy to do the work, provided that I am within an ensemble. This is something I wish to develop for next year’s devised movement because the ensemble aspect is so important since we are working as a team but I am not always going to have this group to fall back on when I leave my studies. In order to do that I think it would be really good for me to take the learnings from Eilon’s lesson and place them in different environments to help get out of my head, for example actively thinking about character movement choices just as much as vocal technique in Jo’s lessons. Going to see some of the third year shows was also a really good way to reflect on my year one movement training, being able to see what the final goal is and have something to aim towards. Out of the shows that I had the pleasure to see, I saw ‘Let The Right One In’ held in the Leeds Heritage Theatre on the 10th of April 2025 which was a really noteworthy production for me. The movement heavy approach to the show allowed the actors to really present their movement skills in full effect, in particular seeing the different ways of remaining an embodied character when climbing up elaborate sets. I noted my fascination and how impressed I was to help carry new ways to overcome obstacles in Eilon’s class whilst still staying in character for example my current physical obstacle of having no flexibility in my hamstrings. This helped provide a way for me to remain within the moment and not be affected whilst keeping a mental note of something I need to be working on. I think it’s really cool that I learnt all that just from watching others in my course!
Dance and Choreography:
Before my first Donald class, I was really nervous about how dance and choreography would go for me, fairly confident that this was going to be a class I hated. I am very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoy the class, even if I’m aware some people in the class are much better at it than myself. I have a background in fitness, playing rugby since I was 6 years old and it was really good to note how fun fitness can be when placed in a dance setting, it is now something I wish to take up outside of class to develop my skill level even further after this year. Our speakeasy assessment was a really important lesson for me in dance, teaching me how important muscle-memory and rehearsals are [VID 1]. I was struggling to remember the moves of the piece every week and I could not figure them out fast enough to remain on beat so I started doing practices once a day in my kitchen to remind myself of the dance and force it to be second nature. I also noted in this time how well I work in groups as we planned a couple of off timetable rehearsals which helped me so much with learning the dance. This acknowledgement of how much time dance requires began after watching a 24 vlog from the YouTube channel ‘HannahMartinRG’ titled ‘24 Hours with a Professional Ballet Dancer: Behind the scenes’. Although ballet and speakeasy are different styles and there is a clear skill difference between me and the ballet dancer, seeing the level of commitment and time it took for her to memorise and perfect her choreography reminded me that I will need lots of time since I’m not used to learning dance moves.
Although that is not a physical factor of the dance training, it was really interesting for me to realise how much was needed for the assessment and helped me process how long and committed it takes to be a performer. I will carry this level of commitment into the second year, excited for the challenge. Another discovery I made in Donald’s class is my cardio levels. This came into my mind in particular when myself and Ruben had to learn and perform a duet together to The Prodigy’s song ‘Firestarter’ [VID 2]. Stamina is such an important part of dance and after running the sequence a few times with Ruben in the class, I was completely exhausted. It was causing me to lose control of the dance and when we had to perform it to the class, it looked acceptable but not as good as me and Ruben knew we could have done it. Since this was highlighted in the lesson, I plan to create a fitness/exercise schedule over the Summer break because I want to be fit and adaptable for anything as an actor, never having to worry that my energy is going to drop off due to a lack of cardio. I am rather pleased I was able to note this in my first year however as it gives me time to develop my fitness throughout my training to ensure my standard of work does not drop.
Voice :
I had never really thought about voice before Jo’s lessons, it always felt like something that just happens which now seems like such a silly thing to say. I’ve really enjoyed her lessons across the year and they are some of the most helpful classes out of my whole timetable in terms of developing technique. Making a warm-up at the start of the year was beneficial for me and it is one I will keep for a long time [FIG 5]. When making my warm-up, I recounted feedback that Jo would always give me, to do jaw exercises because I hold my jaw constantly and that I need to do tongue twisters because sometimes I fall over my own words. Both of these statements are very true and I am now aware of them when acting, rolling down my jaw and reciting tongue twisters have really helped. My mouth still has room for development though and moving on into second year, I aim to not have to think about them when I am performing so that I have full focus on the performance rather than making sure I am not holding my jaw. Jo has said to me that my jaw will naturally loosen over time and that it is a constant work in progress so I am currently trusting in that and I will just continue to do my warm-up until I spot a noticeable difference. One of the other highlights of my year in voice was performing the modern sonnets with Chris Penney [FIG 6]. I chose Jari Bradley’s ‘Boihood’ which was a poem that really stuck with me because of the detailed descriptions it provided yet it left me with confusion. Bradley writes that “The sonnet here is an ode to the ‘in-betweenness’ of my childhood concerning gender and the body” so I tried to give the poem a curious and confused feel to it. Chris really helped me develop that by working with my breath control, working through the sonnet with me and choosing the key moments for an awkward, almost misplaced breath to make me seem more confused when reciting the poem. I merged this with some work we were doing with Jo at the time, using a ‘splat’ technique when breathing to grab a quick, unnoticeable inhale when speaking through a long sentence. I believe that I got the awkward vibe across quite well when I showed it to the class and was decently impressed with myself.
This was such a good thing for me to do with Chris because it taught me a new way to convey what the writer is trying to say, especially when I had never really worked with poetry before. I have taken this breath work into other classes which I think makes it even more useful. I use it in screen acting frequently as the camera can really pick up subtle changes in breath more than a theatre audience can.
Accents:
Accents is one of the classes I still feel I need to work on moving into second year but that’s not to say this year was a waste. I have always struggled with any accent outside of American in any shows I have done in the past and I continued to struggle this year in Jess’s lessons. We focused on RP, Yorkshire and Scottish accents but the one I found the most useful was actually learning my own which sounds weird. We had to teach an accent to the class so I chose my Fermanagh accent, making a 5 minute PowerPoint on it to give the class some visuals [FIG 7]. To do this, I actually had to think about the way I say words, specifically how I use vowels. This was really beneficial because it gave me a jumping off point for other voice lessons, being aware of how to make my vowels more clear without ‘losing my accent’ which was something I felt was beginning to happen when I tried re-shaping my ‘a’ and ‘o’ vowels [FIG 8]. Besides helping me in voice technique, teaching the class my accent was also a great opportunity to learn how to teach myself other accents which I think is the next step. Being able to digest what worked and clicked with the class when trying to teach accents meant I could use that for myself in future, the hook lines seemed to be the most beneficial exercise as the repetition helped sink it into their brains. When I was learning from other people’s presentations, It was the hooklines that definitely stuck with me as well but that might just be because repetition is always the way I like to learn. When we begin working on our American accents in the beginning of second year, I am going to make a presentation as if I am teaching it to someone to see if it pushes my development further since it is definitely something I need to work on, accents is one of my least developed aspects of acting.
1 On Lessons:
I only had 8 of these sessions and they still managed to be so useful, especially for my voice assessment. I chose to work on my narrative piece in these sessions, a segment from Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ featuring the voices of a narrator, Miss Honey and Miss Trunchbull. I chose this book after reading that, ‘The magic lies in the creativity and versatility required to develop unique character voices’ in voice acting from the Paul Schmidt Voiceover website. I saw an opportunity to experiment and personally enjoyed the idea of having the freedom to go big since the source material is from a children’s book. In my 1 on 1’s with Lily, she taught me the fundamentals of voice placement, learning where each character should rest in my mouth so that there are clear differences and the switch between them becomes easier.
We played with the idea of taking the character voices to the highest extreme, before cutting them down to fit a good balance of energy and comedy whilst still being able to believe these are real people and not just silly voices. This sparked my knowledge of voice placement and I have been practising at it since, doing minor changes in acting classes to my voice for example making it more nasally in my research for performance assessment. It makes the character so much more understood from my point of view and allows me to continue finding any character I am portraying. Personally, I find it so useful to decide the differences the character has to my actual voice and body so I am amazed that I never really thought about voice placement in very much detail. In my assessment feedback, Jo noted that my breath was not ‘connected’ when using ‘high vocal energy’ which was valid feedback but frustrating since I had worked with breath a lot with Chris [FIG 9]. I am aware that voice technique is a lifelong development but I’d like to imagine at this point I know what to do with my breath yet I find it tricky to maintain so many voice elements when performing and keep on top of them all. I recognise this is also because of my upper body, Jo wrote that my shoulders were tense which did not help my breath release so moving forward I need to remember to stay released and relaxed when performing without tensing up, maybe adding more shoulder releases in my warm-up will help maintain my breath control.
Voice has really shown me the levels there are to acting. It was daunting at first and hard to get a hold of but now I know all the fundamentals to continue to develop my voice and become a better actor. It is by far the most technical aspect of the course which comes with a need for repetition and practice for real development moving forward but I am growing to love the exercises/techniques it takes to get better. I need to remember that voice is just as physical as movement because I often lose awareness of that, as previously mentioned, my shoulders need to loosen to prevent any tension in my voice which is evidently occurring in my lessons/assignments. I am aware that my voice training still has lots of room for that growth, especially with learning accents and being able to control my own accent without losing it to the vocal technique. My personal viewpoint on acting has changed, I used to place movement at a much higher value than voice but it is great to be proven wrong and develop my instrument.
Acting Technique:
Acting in first year has been amazing, my highlights were making my character with Tom and the Uta Hagan work we did with Alex. When making our characters, I chose the name ‘Paddy’ and gave him the backstory of being a rockstar’s son. When we did long improvisations in class, I found great use in drawing pictures that I thought Paddy would do as it started to open up the darker elements of his character and it was a great way to stay focused in his mind and develop him [FIG 10]. I used this in Alex’s improv classes later on in the year when being ‘John’ from ‘Till The Stars Come Down’ [FIG 11]. Drawing as your character really helps me have a stimulus to jump off of when I move into talking to other characters in the improvisations, matching my mood to whatever I have just drawn which is a really fun and creative way for me personally to get into the characters head. I was reading Jared Leto (although I disagree with his methods) talking about how he “wants to know what his character’s favourite food is, when was the last time he took a shower” and I related to it, I really want to build my character into the real world. Understanding that this works for me, I want to develop it further by making shopping lists for my character, choosing outfits for them or making playlists for them, anything to connect closer to their personal lives and make them feel more real to help my acting feel grounded and layered. Working on Uta Hagan techniques with Alex was really tricky when we first started. When I tried to do my first endowment for the class, pretending to burn my mouth on coffee that was too hot, I really did not feel confident at all that I was doing a good job. I realised where I was going wrong after reading about endowment further, Hagan stating, “You can either endow them physically or psychologically” which revealed to me I was only focusing on the physical, even if that is where the emphasis lies. Taking it to the next step by thinking about what happens after you burn your mouth and carrying through really helped develop my endowment skills. Looking out to the fourth side was also a really useful skill to add to my arsenal, even though I was already doing it subconsciously. I remember Myles in our class speaking about it, claiming he always did it because ‘it’s just what actors do’ which I related with. Being able to have a reason to look out just makes the scene more layered and believable and it also benefits the actor because you are in the moment and allowing the audience in. In saying this, I was overusing the fourth side at the beginning because this discovery felt like I had found an ‘acting cheat code’ but it only really works when it is used with care I discovered. Moving into second year, I am going to continue practising Uta Hagen’s techniques because I feel like I have found a great way to make acting more real and it has made me more confident when acting. The ability to use the fourth side and endow objects just places me into the scene more, being able to pull from real life experiences and locations to create a richer sense of character for the audience.
Sight Reading:
I consider Matt’s lessons as the one I have developed the most in from September until now. Before moving to England, I could never sight read scripts, I would struggle to make choices and in a more practical sense, I would struggle to read and perform at the same time. I learnt to just make a bold choice going in, with no real motive behind doing so and see if it works and it has benefited me so much. Making a character choice before going into the plays just settles the nerves of not knowing what is going to happen and allows you to just have fun with the script. In particular, when we did Simon Stephen’s ‘Punk Rock’, I decided to play Chadwick as a blank, emotionless guy and it allowed me to react naturally to my scene partners whilst also speaking confidently without trying to find meaning behind every line like I normally would. However, I still struggle with getting my eyes off the page and balancing my attention between the script and whoever is in front of me/around me. I still find it hard to find my place if I look up from my script for too long and I use the script as a safety net to not really expand to the audience. Moving forward into second year, anytime we are giving a cold read I am going to force myself to take bigger pauses to digest dialogue so that I can confidently put my script done for longer periods of time as I am aware this is how many auditions will be and I want to have as much time for the casting crew to see my face rather than seeing a script in front of my head.
Acting for Screen:
Screen acting with Phillip has been a challenge for me for multiple reasons. At the start of the year, as a reflective note I struggled to watch any footage back after shooting in the class, I never met it with genuine criticism and more just of a ‘well that was bad’ attitude. Throughout the year I slowly grew better at it simply by doing it often but it still is hard for me to watch back and reflect on myself with a genuine eye. To fix this, I just need to continue to watch myself back because it is so important as an actor to be able to judge yourself honestly. Another issue with screen acting I had was overacting [VID 1]. Having a box to act within is more restricting than I imagined and instead of focusing on what the camera can pick up naturally I believe that I did too much [VID 2]. It was quite a quick fix thanks to Philip explaining how to do the same action but in a film setting, facial expressions being so precise and small which I really enjoy because it allows more time to emotionally connect to the text rather than worrying about theatrical factors. I have lots of room for development in this class but I really want to master screen acting because I feel like I do some of my best work in that class now and really enjoy the medium.
Conclusion:
Overall, my year has been amazing. To focus on strengths, teachers have given me the feedback that I am not afraid to make bold choices which I am proud of because I know that stems from sight reading class however once I make the choice I have been told by my acting teachers in specific to commit more to them which is simply a confidence issue. Taking the feedback on board, at the end of this year and moving forward into my second I have fixed my confidence issue by remembering I should not be looking for the final product/the perfect take when I am developing skills. In terms of my body, my shoulders and spine have been pointed out numerous times for making me hold breath. In my movement assessment my spine was pointed out for not being aligned with my back which is taking me on a process of more stretching and alignment exercises to fix the issue. I aim to go into second year without this issue so that it doesn’t prevent me from developing. Vocally, similarly the main points of feedback were breath and tension in the body that prevents flow. Due to my breath work with Chris, I now know how to practice and will continue to develop my breath control so that I can use it to portray characters more accurately and stop any unneeded tension in my performances. All the feedback about my tension is surrounding my shoulders because I always hold them very high up so becoming more aware of that through the exercises and fixes will teach me how to move them from where I naturally hold them for prolonged periods of time. In terms of genres, I was told by Alex to commit to more dramatic work as much as I dip into comedy which is definitely something I want to experiment with in second year, almost everything I do has a slice of comedy in it no matter what text I have which comes more from a safety blanket than it does an artistic choice. It will be great for me to expand the range of characters I can play accurately. This year has really been a great opportunity to see where I am with skills training, I now have all the tools and knowledge to carry myself into second year knowing where my strengths and weaknesses lie. Alongside that, it has given me a realistic realisation of how much work goes into what I do and it has made me more motivated than ever moving into second year.
Bibliography:
Figure 3. Outcome space of self-reflection. Depiction of a sampling of… (Pinterest)
Whitmore, Jon (1994) Directing Postmodern Theatre University of Michigan Press
24 Hours with a Professional Ballet Dancer: Behind the Scenes
Boihood by Jari Bradley – Poems | Academy of American Poets
Paul Schmidt – Male Voice Actors | Male Voice Overs
Uta Hagen, Respect for Acting: Endowment by Mysterious Marshmallows on Prezi
