Hello, everybody, and welcome to my blog, Memoirs of a Misfit. Why that particular title? I'll get to that...
I suppose I'm what you would call between jobs at the moment, and having worked in an office environment for the last 12 years, I've decided to move in the direction I've wanted to go since I left College: to be an Actor!
OK, before you start questioning my ambitions, I can tell you I know exactly how hard this is going to be and I thought (god knows why!) that I would share the journey with you all, and hope to be able to show other aspiring thespians that it is possible to get out there and get noticed. Not that that has quite happened for me yet...still...
I've been acting on an amateur and semi-professional basis for 20 years, ever since I took an accredited course at College called "How to put on a Play". I had already done quite a lot of 'radio' with a friend of mine from High School, so I thought I'd give treading the boards a go. We performed The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley to packed houses for 5 nights, and I was absolutely hooked from the first night. So hooked in fact, I went on to do three more productions at College during my A-level period when I was taking Theatre Studies. Bitten by the bug? Absolutely.
Crunch time came for me when I attended a one-day masterclass run by the late actor Brian Hall (Terry the chef from Fawlty Towers) and one thing in particular stuck with me. The day was drawing to a close, and he took us all into his confidence by giving us some sage advice:
"We don't need actors," he said, "We need writers. There are too many actors in this business."
Of course, when I heard those words I was thunderstruck. My bubble had well and truly been burst. He's in the business, I thought, and he's saying that? I promptly resolved that I would get a 'proper job' and would not even attempt to forge a career. No problem. No regrets. At the time...
Every year since that moment, I have done at least one production a year, on stage or video, and I have appeared at the Arundel Festival Fringe three times (this August will be my fourth). To say my roles have been varied is an understatement, particularly as I have grown older and more mature, and I've had a whale of a time. But if there's one thing that those years have taught me, it's that I've wanted it to be more than just a hobby.
So, I'm going to plunge headfirst into the world of the jobbing actor, filling time with the odd am dram production here and there, and I will be sharing my experiences on this blog, past and present - my time at College, the productions I've appeared in, the productions I've seen, the people I've worked with (some names may be changed to protect the innocent), and the ones that have encouraged me over the years.
Oh, yes, back to the question at the beginning of this post - why Memoirs of a Misfit? Because if I was ever to do an autobiography, that would be it's title. Consider this a trial run. Hopefully, you will find it all insightful, entertaining, funny, heartbreaking, fulfilling, and sad all in equal measure, just like any good piece of theatre.
EXIT STAGE RIGHT.
