When the phone's not ringing and the fish aren't biting I have found myself seeking solace in the one place in which I am always guaranteed work...my imagination. So much so in fact, that after last week's blog of financial misery, a rather fortunate series of events became the catalyst for my over active imagination to genuinely wonder if my luck was changing...
I may be building up these happy occurrences to sound as exciting as
phenomenal job offers and castings galore, but when I reveal all that
actually happened, you might understand just how much imagined solace
has been sought of late...
The following is fact, rather than invention by the way...
On my way home yesterday, after another dreary shift, a twenty pound note flew on the breeze and landed quite literally at my feet on my doorstep. Result! Then I reached into my old winter jacket pocket for my keys and pulled out a fortune cookie message I'd obviously kept in a hopeful dreamy daze which read "You will always be successful in your chosen career." I almost expected to open my front door and find Rupert Goold in my living room with a contract offer and wheelbarrow full of chocolate for me...
Now of course I'm not saying that I live in my own head full-time but part-time escapes seem a healthy retreat when so much time and effort is spent frantically chasing the dream. This week, for example, I wrote away for a theatres 09 season and as I sealed the envelope, my mind was racing with preparation for rehearsals and plans for my after show party outfit. Obviously this is a (slight) exaggeration but these visions can't always just be seen as wishful thinking. After all, if we didn't feel we could do the job there would be no point pursuing all these aspirations so obsessively.
The best way I can think to describe it might be 'realistic dreaming' if such a contradiction can exist. If an actor is all dreams and no action then they're clearly asking for trouble. However if you're fighting the battle I think it's positive to do some 'realistic dreaming' and ultimately to remember not to take yourself too seriously.
This afternoon I saw Dougie Blaxland's, 'That Moment' at The King's Head, a play about a struggling, out of work actress previously mentioned by fellow blogger, April. Whilst I was laughing at the characters' predicaments, I realised I was laughing at myself and then I laughed a bit harder. As I cackled away at my own misfortunes, I felt the shoulder tension I was plagued by in every rehearsal note session for three years give a little as I forgot about living in my own head and enjoyed someone else's trials, tribulations and daydreams.
My mum keeps telling me I'll look back on these hard times one day and laugh. I told her I wouldn't look back as they would be forcibly erased from my memory, but perhaps the best medicine would be to have a little laugh at it all a bit more and when I'm struggling to find the funny side there's always the escape of my make-believe career...
The following is fact, rather than invention by the way...
On my way home yesterday, after another dreary shift, a twenty pound note flew on the breeze and landed quite literally at my feet on my doorstep. Result! Then I reached into my old winter jacket pocket for my keys and pulled out a fortune cookie message I'd obviously kept in a hopeful dreamy daze which read "You will always be successful in your chosen career." I almost expected to open my front door and find Rupert Goold in my living room with a contract offer and wheelbarrow full of chocolate for me...
Now of course I'm not saying that I live in my own head full-time but part-time escapes seem a healthy retreat when so much time and effort is spent frantically chasing the dream. This week, for example, I wrote away for a theatres 09 season and as I sealed the envelope, my mind was racing with preparation for rehearsals and plans for my after show party outfit. Obviously this is a (slight) exaggeration but these visions can't always just be seen as wishful thinking. After all, if we didn't feel we could do the job there would be no point pursuing all these aspirations so obsessively.
The best way I can think to describe it might be 'realistic dreaming' if such a contradiction can exist. If an actor is all dreams and no action then they're clearly asking for trouble. However if you're fighting the battle I think it's positive to do some 'realistic dreaming' and ultimately to remember not to take yourself too seriously.
This afternoon I saw Dougie Blaxland's, 'That Moment' at The King's Head, a play about a struggling, out of work actress previously mentioned by fellow blogger, April. Whilst I was laughing at the characters' predicaments, I realised I was laughing at myself and then I laughed a bit harder. As I cackled away at my own misfortunes, I felt the shoulder tension I was plagued by in every rehearsal note session for three years give a little as I forgot about living in my own head and enjoyed someone else's trials, tribulations and daydreams.
My mum keeps telling me I'll look back on these hard times one day and laugh. I told her I wouldn't look back as they would be forcibly erased from my memory, but perhaps the best medicine would be to have a little laugh at it all a bit more and when I'm struggling to find the funny side there's always the escape of my make-believe career...
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