I'm totally winging this. It's my first time blogging for about six years, but I'm back anyway (admittedly, though, after getting some professional motivation, which I appreciate). I'm 27 now, I live in Central Queensland, Australia, which is nice, and I'm a proud nutcase. I have Asperger's syndrome, and with that last remark I don't mean to tar everybody on the autism spectrum with the same brush; I'm just being self-effacing. I've publicised that quite a lot since coming out about it (with all due respect to the LGBTQ community, coming out can be a thing for us also), but I have many other facets and keen interests which I hope to cover here.
In 2012 I completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degree at Central Queensland University, and that really was the best thing I have ever done, as tough as it was. Not just for how much more I learned about many subjects I love and life and the greater world, but because I forged so many very close friendships there, and falling in with so many unashamedly crazy arts types helped me accept my own differences. But this is now. I've since undertaken various forms of employment, of course to get by, and now I'm back on the job hunt (for the record, however, my last work ended on mutually good terms), but there is very little work here in my preferred fields, and with my degree I find I'm usually over- or underqualified for other work. I'm not quite sure what I'm currently doing overall with my life, if I'm truly honest. But I have a solid support network to count on, and I CAN tell you about something new I've recently undertaken, to my great enjoyment: amateur theatre.
I'm a member of the Little Theatre groups in both Rockhampton and Yeppoon, and after attending their shows actively for several years, two good friends and fellow members kept egging me on to audition for a role in a production. I always really thought I'd get incredible stage fright but earlier this year I finally gave in, and was cast first in Richard the Third's Revenge (a contemporary sequel to Shakespeare's Richard III) as a very grumpy theatre auditioner. Then, following several weeks of rehearsals, it was showtime and I swear to God, every time I walked out on that stage I felt genuinely comfortable! I never expected that for a second. The play was a hit and I had real fun (although it must be said: the character's grumpiness didn't require that much acting from me) all four performances. It was one of four short plays being staged together as a festival, and I also played a cameraman in a dramatic play, We Wait; that role was basically leftover after a few weeks and it was just two lines, so I was talked into doing it.
Then last month, Yeppoon Little Theatre produced a new shorts festival for Anzac Day, Spirit of the Anzacs. For this I played a fictionalization of the Unknown Soldier in a play called Too Ambitious. I was opposite the powers behind the Gallipoli campaign who were all either praising it or lamenting it for how it impacted their careers, and meanwhile I'm basically like "Uh, hello! A hundred and twenty thousand casualties there were!" The opening night went okay, except for two of my co-stars forgetting their lines briefly (during that part I was standing there struggling to think of how to save the moment), but we all still went out there gave it a real shot. Thankfully, however, the Saturday matinee performance went flawlessly. That time as I was doing my final angry monologue, I even noticed a camera flash from the front row in what appeared to be my direction! But if they were taking a shot of all of us, that's still flattering.
And now, just this week I've been cast in two roles in the same play (but different scenes, obviously) in the next short play festival. I would describe the play and roles here and now, but I don't want to spoil anything. Stay tuned - for the play and for more about my absurd life!
No comments:
Post a Comment