Fortunately I was able to book myself into an audition slot and sling together a 1 minute monologue to audition with. The audition process was as painless as performing in front of a judgement panel of 3 complete strangers and having to run scenes with another complete stranger can be (utterly terrifying) but I got through it. The next day I got a call from the director offering me a small speaking role with a handful of lines. I was ecstatic.
My part was to be the handsome young toy boy of a middle aged upper class woman who is actively refusing to acknowledge the fact that she is indeed getting older. It required me to develop a Cockney accent which was a fun challenge to have, and to create a believable young man who is exceptionally working class and somewhat out of his depth amongst the glamorous company he keeps despite his romantic partner keeping him immaculately dressed. To be frank, it was a glorious amount of fun.
Shortly after the casting being announced for this show which I'll refer to from now on by its title "After The Dance" (Terrence Rattigan for anyone unfamiliar) I got a job working mostly early mornings (4am starts) which became a challenge in terms of tiredness levels and having time to sleep but more on that in a later post.
The production run for the show was set for mid-September with my scenes rehearsing twice a week until the weeks before opening night where for obvious reasons the schedule got a little more involved.
For my first foray into theatre since high school and my first ever show in the realm of amateur theatre as an adult, this was a phenomenal play to be a part of.
I had a lot of fun putting together my small part and making noticeable improvements throughout the rehearsal period but I also learned a hell of a lot about acting from the amazingly talented people that were a part of it all and made a few friends along the way.
Our director entered our performance into a Wellington - wide theatre award and we ended up winning in several categories (my scene partner won best actress without even being one of the two female lead roles!) and gaining honourable mention accolades in several others which was nice because the awards were announced a couple of months after we closed so it gave us all a lovely nostalgic feeling to read through the judges comments about the show.
A lot of the people that were involved in the show have had numerous previous involvements with the different theatre troupes in Wellington so when it came to production time, I felt like there'd be a few nights where I'd be the only one to not know anyone in the audience. When it came down to the production run though, I had a few friends come out to see the show and several out of town family members travelled to Wellington to see it (thanks Marshy, Darshy, grandma and grandad) so there were only one or two lonely nights for me.
I have a lot of moments in my life where I can't believe what stupidly good luck I've had to end me up in particular situations and having the opportunity to act in Stagecraft's rendition of After The Dance is one of them. If anyone from the cast or crew of After The Dance happens to be reading this, know that I am grateful to each and every one of you for making this such an amazing first real theatre experience for me, and that I miss all of you and hope you're having fun with whatever shows you've all been involved with since.
I know that as soon as I'm back in Wellington again (writing this post from Vancouver, B.C. right now) I'll be looking out for audition notices and jumping straight back into theatre life. As much fun as Canada is I'm gutted to be missing out on being a part of Stagecraft's production of History Boys, it's going to be an epic show!
My next post here will be about my other theatre engagement in 2015/ early 2016, SUMMER STAR TREK!
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