What inspires you, where do you get creative ideas? Books! How academic and boring is that? But it is true, I spent my childhood getting lost in fantastical written worlds and then discovering theatre meant that I could see those worlds on the stage. I have an imaginative mind which often results in daydreaming rather than working. However, it does mean that when I read a play I often get a good set of initial ideas of how it might be put on stage. Music can be very inspirational, classical music can create strong visual images which can be transferred into directing. I also find research incredibly helpful, it doesn’ t even have to be about the play or the playwright, it could be just a tangent that you briefly thought of, but by pursuing it you can come to some really original conclusions. On this project I have researched performance art and installation art to try and get some ideas as to how I can present the scenario. I have found Marina Ambramovic extremely interesting as she sees her body as a medium, and surely that is exactly what an actor is? An actor can be another medium to create art? This could inspire work with my actors, to concentrate on voice work or to experiment with use of space.
A degree is obviously all about learning and developing, what have been some of your successes and learning curves? I came to my degree late, having changed my career choice from Bioscience to Performing Arts – random huh? So I went back to college to do a Performing Arts BTEC and part time A-Level in English. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but it was an eye opener into the competitiveness of the business and a realisation that I didn’ t want to pursue acting as a career. To succeed in acting takes a lot of determination, skill and a dab of luck and I really didn’ t want it enough to face battling my way up the ranks. So I widened my gaze to find an aspect I did want enough to fight for a career in, and developed a keen interest in dramaturgy. So I knew when I came to Manchester Metropolitan that I wanted to discover more about this, and it is part of the reason I chose this particular course knowing that I would have a chance to do a unit dedicated to it. Directing has been an unexpected joy though it terrified me at first. It still does a little, thinking about having your ideas scrutinised by others and desperately hoping that your audience will enjoy what you have put so much work into. I think one of the lessons I have learnt in directing is that it is a bad idea to let the actors make all the decisions for you. In one of our first projects I was one of two actors and was being directed by another peer. Myself and the other actor where having a great time, taking a piece of high naturalism and brutalising it with melodrama. It was a great laugh but it wasn’ t true to the text and the Director was too unsure to rein us in. Unfortunately the final product wasn’ t great; that was a learning curve I have to say! Of course we have all got much more confident since then and can now be much braver in our decisions. That is one thing I have learnt this term, to be less tentative in my choices. To experiment and try the scene every which way to get the most out of a piece of text and just to enjoy myself!
44writer’ s block