Introduction

With third year just around the corner, considering my image when I enter the industry has become extremely important. During my second year of training, I have spent time consuming a lot of theatre and media, distinguishing what interests me as an actor and the work I endeavour to be part of, and how I have the best opportunity to open those doors for myself.

During this Artistic Development module and through industry research, I have been able to look at myself as an actor through a more professional lens, learning the best ways to market myself and create professional relationships. This portfolio demonstrates my discoveries and reflections throughout second year revealing what I need to work on in third year, and how I will take my relevant industry research into my final year at Leeds Conservatoire, making the best possible marketing choices for myself.

Summative Statement

My second year of training has been both extremely rewarding and challenging. In my first project of the year, I played Emily Webb in Our Town, which was a huge opportunity for me, but became a bit of a burden. I put a massive amount of pressure on myself to feel fully connected to the sombre nature of the piece at all times, and I felt this trickle into how I was feeling day to day, outside of the rehearsal room. I was using substitution, attaching real life people and emotions to the characters in the play who I interacted with, although this was working for me, it did not feel healthy or sustainable. One way I combatted this was having a routine outside of the rehearsal room, frequently going to the gym, getting early nights and allowing myself to take my mind completely away from the piece when I was not working. Going forward it is important that I maintain looking after myself both mentally and physically when outside of the rehearsal room, as it enables me to come into the room as the best version of myself, therefore allowing me to make strong choices and be fully in the work. In the rehearsal process, our director asked us to choose a piece of music that represented our characters, and this was very useful for me, as I could draw the same level of emotion from the music, rather than real life memories, and I felt safe and comfortable when doing so. In my feedback, I was encouraged to go even further with the emotional moments of the piece, so in the third year I need to work on identifying what methods are safe for me to use to create this emotion, whilst looking after my own well-being.

From the age of six I have been in musical theatre training and I always thought that I would be training and pursuing a career in MT, until I worked with British Youth Music Theatre in 2022. I was cast in their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was a musical version of the play, and I headed into the process wanting to play a feminine character, such as Titania, where I could showcase my soprano voice and play my old “soft and feminine” casting type. To my surprise, I was cast as Nick Bottom, which was the complete opposite of my casting type at the time, and I felt like I was really thrown into the deep end, as I had never been in a Shakespearian play before and I had also never played a comedic role before. Under Victoria Gartner’s direction, I fell in love with Shakespeare, the colourful language he used particularly spoke to me, and I felt like as an actor I had an easier job as his writing did most of the work for me and allowed me to make bolder acting choices. From that day, Victoria told me that I must pursue acting, rather than MT, as she felt like I really ” was born to do Shakespeare,” I was also lucky enough to work alongside Victoria again in BYMT’s production of Romeo and Juliet. I entered this audition process, pitching myself the play the role of the nurse, a similar casting type to Bottom, and yet again, to my shock I was cast as Romeo, which required me to find the emotional depth and complexity of the character, and also forced me to find my way playing a very stereotypically “male” character for the first time. Working with Victoria proved to me that I was a lot more versatile than I thought, as I was able to find the truth in both a comedic character and a tragic one. A life goal of mine is to work for the RSC, and to be part of a production in Shakespeare’s Globe and I am privileged to have the wonderful industry connection of Victoria, who has asked me, on numerous occasions, to be part of her theatre company’s work, where I have had opportunities to work alongside her, and professional actors in her series of ” Bard in the Bookshop” Shakespeare productions in London, which has allowed me to accumulate a plethora of experience when it comes to working with Shakespeare’s texts . In the future I intend to utilise my connection with her, to create opportunities for myself, as Victoria has a wonderful reputation in the industry and she knows me to be both a reliable and talented new actor, who she can recommend.

When entering my Shakespeare assessment at Leeds Conservatoire I felt extremely comfortable, as I felt like this was my forte, even more so when I was cast as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, as I had just worked on the same play with Victoria in London, where I played the role of Sebastian. Looking back, I approached this role with a preconception of exactly who Malvolio was, which was a hinderance, as throughout the process Esther reminded me that I needed to create my own version of the character, and that she didn’t want me to play the Malvolio that we all know. This was a massive hurdle for me, as I had my blinders on, In my head I had such a strong sense of who Malvolio was, that I found it challenging to create my own version of the character. Creating my own setting of the piece, alongside my scene partner, really aided me in this process, as well as reminding myself that my version of Malvolio was a female, which added an extra layer for me to work with. The unrequited love that Malvolio experiences is usually seen as comedic, due to the nature of the scheme set up by Fabian, Toby and Andrew, however I decided to lean into the more vulnerable side, where my version of Malvolio had everything to lose, as she intended on pursuing a same sex relationship with Olivia, which would’ve been frowned upon in the dystopian setting of our piece. Through rehearsals, the note I was continuously given was to show more vulnerability, and I really struggled to find exactly what Esther was looking for. Luckily, on the day I was able to tap into this vulnerability, as I put myself in the right mindset and reminded myself that this is what I want to do when I graduate, and I achieved the result I was hoping for, but in the future I need to be able to tap into this any time I am asked to. I have recognised that I constantly put a ton of pressure on myself to give a “perfect” performance, which hinders me in the rehearsal room when it comes to making bold choices, as I am scared that the choices I may offer are the wrong ones. Going forward it is important that I remind myself that it is okay and actually encouraged to play in the rehearsal room and to make choices that may not work. The only way the discover if your choice works is to try it, and I need to become more fearless when it comes to making offers, as it could lead to something I never would’ve discovered if I just kept doing the same old thing in the rehearsal room.

Industry Research

Headshots

Throughout the years I have worked with many different photographers for headshots, some giving me wonderful results and others taught me what I wanted to avoid for next time. As an Irish born actor working in England , my identity is extremely important to me and I must acknowledge that it is my unique selling point, and makes me an actor unlike many agents would have on their books, so I knew from the get go that I wanted my headshots to communicate a Celtic feeling. I researched into some of my favourite Irish actors, Ciaran Hinds, Richard McFerran, and had a look at who they went to for their headshots, and I reached out to Papertrees.

Actor’s CV

As I am currently represented by a talent agency, I had a pre-existing actor’s CV on my spotlight, but through my industry research I was able to amend it and make it more professional, as well as converting it to a PDF document which I could attach in future emails to casting directors and agents. My current CV on Spotlight is extensive, highlighting all of the experience I have had from the start of my career ( Appendix 3) and although it is great to demonstrate the amount of projects I have been a part of, I needed to make this more concise, only including my most recent highlights, so that it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for a casting director.

In my new actor’s CV ( Appendix 4) I have listed my 6 most recent projects, not only do the roles I’ve played in these projects highlight my versatility as an actor, but it also showcases my interest for Shakespeare, as half of those credits are Shakespearian plays. This felt really important for me to include, because in the future I know that I want to be performing in Shakespeare’s plays, and this demonstrates to an agent or casting director that I clearly have a passion for this type of work, as well as clearly being accomplished when it comes to tackling his work. I have also opted to put my agency, and their website on my CV, rather than my personal contact details, as this is a more professional choice. I have also chosen to put my name in a bold and large font, as well as including a large image of the headshot which best demonstrates my casting type so that my identity as a performer really pops off the page, there is no mistaking that this CV is Tait Brennan’s!

Appendix 4

Bio

I find writing about myself extremely difficult, so the task of putting my actor’s bio together was initially very daunting for me. Fortunately, there are some great examples of bio’s from the performers in the year above me. After reading a number of theses bio’s I came to the conclusion that I wanted to write my bio in the third person, ultimately because I feel like this this gives the impression of a different party talking about my character, which I think makes the bio sound more credible. As my casting type is more on the strong side, rather than soft and feminine, I chose to describe myself as dynamic, which I feel like is an accurate description of my acting style, as I am engaging and bold when I perform. I believe that it is important to highlight the work I have been a part of in my bio, as it tells a casting agent what my strong suits are as an actor, and it also informs them that I am far from a beginner when it comes to working in a professional capacity. I chose to highlight the work I have done with National Theatre Connections, as this has a strong reputation in the industry for being a launch pad for emerging new actors, as well as the work I have done with Victoria Gartner, as this is the kind of work I hope to continue to be cast in in the future. In the end, I think the final result of my bio (Appendix 5) communicates the type of person I am, as well as the type of actor I am effectively, whilst also highlighting my previous work and experience to potential agents and casting directors.

Appendix 5

Agents & Solar System

When looking for potential agents, I decided to look at up and coming actors who’s careers have recently inspired me. Last year I watched The Brightening Air at the Old Vic and I was blown away by Rosie Sheehy’s performance. This new Irish play is exactly the type of work I anticipate being cast in in the future, as a native Irish actor, and the role of Billie, which Rosie Sheehy portrayed, was very much in my casting bracket. Therefore, a good direction for me to look in for representation was through Rosie’s social media, and usefully she has a link in her Instagram bio leading directly to her representation, Joshua Woodford for Hamilton Hodell. Through further research, I was delighted to discover that Joshua Woodford also represents Seamus Dillane, a recent graduate from the RCS who I watched perform in Richard II at The Bridge. Both Rosie and Seamus career’s have included with the exact sort of work I want to do, Shakespeare, and contemporary Irish plays, and Joshua Woodford has connections to this kind of work, so I decided to put his name on the spreadsheet for invitations ( appendix 6 ) for my third year showcase, as I would be interested in being represented by him.

As previously mentioned, I already have a great industry connection with Victoria Gartner, and I hope to nurture this in every way I can, therefore I also added her name to the Industry invitations spreadsheet. As well as being the Artistic Director of Will & Co, Victoria has also served as the associate director for Lucy Bailey’s productions of Agatha Christie’s classics, And Then There Were None, and Murder on The Orient Express. I was lucky enough to meet Lucy Bailey at a Bard in the Bookshop event in London, as well as having the opportunity to act alongside cast members of Bailey’s productions on Victoria’s project. Victoria has only worked with me on Shakespearian plays, so I would like her to see me perform in a contemporary extract in my showcase, showing her that I am versatile and a name worth mentioning when asked about new exciting actors!

Conclusion

My second year of actor training at Leeds Conservatoire has been extremely informative and eye opening for me when it comes to thinking about my professional career after graduating. I’ve been able to identify problems I have faced throughout the year, reflect on them, and come up with solutions that are both safe and work well for me. I now have a better grasp of what my identity as a performer is, what work I am interested in and how to pitch myself for this type of work. I have learned that its okay to be wrong, to make choices that don’t work as well as others, and to stop putting so much pressure on myself, moving into my next projects I endeavour to be a more playful and fearless actor in the rehearsal room! Having a really strong sense in the type of work I endeavour to do, has helped me understand my casting type, and why I want to tell the stories of these characters and I truly believe these discoveries will help me put the best version of myself forward when it comes to auditioning and meeting agents and casting directors.

Bibliography

Leeds Conservatoire. (2026). 2026: BA Acting. [online] Available at https://www.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/about-us/graduates/our-performing-arts-graduates/2026-graduates/

Instagram.com. (2026). Papertrees. [@papertrees_headshots] Available at https://www.instagram.com/papertrees_headshots/

Edwards, C M. (2026). Profile. [online] Spotlight.com Available at https://www.instagram.com/papertrees_headshots/

Gartner, V . Director [online] Available at https://www.victoriagartner.com/about

Instagram.com. (2026). Rosie Sheehy. [@rosiealicesheehy] Available at https://www.instagram.com/rosiealicesheehy/

Sheehy, R (2026). Profile [online] Available at https://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/talent/rosie-sheehy/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn4nKGPawyqr3BmkCur55AyFQ7Gaa4VGpcURC05EYGM_CkyJOMJI_vjZqOhmQ_aem_pt76roYZcJIJ2CgxsDKEJA

Dillane, S (2026) Profile [online] Available at https://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/talent/seamus-dillane/

Woodford, J. Agent. [online] Available at https://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/talent/agent/joshua-woodford/