Overdue Apologies!

Good Evening Sydney and Good Afternoon London!

So, this post is to offer my apologies for the severe lack of activity happening on the blog of late. Let me offer up my excuses! In the last month or so I've happened to become employed - what?! I know, the fact that my time in Sydney isn't a complete holiday was a shock to my system too! So I've begun teaching at two schools as a Speech & Drama teacher and bits and bobs on the side; and while it is wonderful, there is so much preparation to be done, and as aforementioned, my mind and body have been in holiday mode, so it's a bit of a jolt! But once I have settled in I will be plaguing you all more frequently once again.

Huge grovelling apologies in particular for those waiting on the interview with the OVNV's brilliant Alex Ferris. I've transcribed and written, but am in the process of cutting down the article from 5000 words to around 2, 500 - I'm finding this an extremely difficult task because everything Alex has said is important, wise, wonderful, funny and offers real heart and insight; he's not made it easy for me! So please, bear with me; he was so generous with his time, is such a gentleman and does such a fantastic job that I want to try my best to do his article justice.

I have two peace offerings:

The first - a brilliant article from James Rhodes that featured in The Guardian in April - I've been meaning to post it up for a while! Do yourself a favour and have a read!http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/apr/26/james-rhodes-blog-find-what-you-love

And secondly a hilarious clip on 'How to be a good actor' from Extras with Sir Ian Mckellen and Ricky Gervais. http://www.wimp.com/goodactor/

That's it from me for now! Sydneysiders, enjoy your Sunday evening, and Londoners - I hope it's a lovely sunny day in London! (As it was in Sydney! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Thank you all!

Fi

Interview with Alex Ferris!

Hi all!

I’m very excited to announce Theatre Stop’s next victim/interviewee is Mr Alexander Ferris – Head of Community at Old Vic NewVoices.

This guy - *pretty inspirational.  

Let me, in brief (I say in brief now, because I’m going to give you a longer spiel when the interview goes up. This is the teaser so to speak.) tell you why I’m of this opinion. This will most likely embarrass him, but, here we go. The OVNV does incredible things for emerging theatre practitioners and it has a few components - two of these are Education and Community.  The Education department work with schools giving workshops, inviting them to shows, training and advice while the Community reaches out to people of all ages and backgrounds, running workshops and professional quality productions that anyone can participate in as cast or crew. It’s theatre with a purpose, and demonstrates how theatre can affect lives in a very real and positive way. To do this kind of role, you have to be in it for the love of it, pretty selfless, dedicated, and I imagine, very organised. So, as overseer of these two sections, he must be a pretty decent – and busy - gent. As well as this, Alex directs the projects, as he did with the musical Epidemic, OVNV’s  2012 Community  production. It was staged down in the Old Vic tunnels and had a 120 member strong company. That’s no mean feat. And on top of this – he’s really nice.

So, not as brief as I’d hoped (honestly, is anyone surprised?) but hopefully I’ve communicated why you should be rearing to read his interview when it appears shortly so you can hear more about Alex and OVNV. Inspiring, dedicated, talented, interesting and genuinely kind – Alex Ferris is the kind of guy you want to bump into on the street, work with in the theatre, and who you want to have as an interviewee on Theatre Stop.

*Pretty big understatement.

Have a great day everyone!

Fi 

Old Vic New Voices

And a very early Good Morning to Sydney and Good Afternoon to London!

Image credit: www.theatresonline.com

The Old Vic New Voices (OVNV) is an incredible and unique scheme that is about encouraging emerging talent, this generation of theatre makers and those to come. I don't think there is anything quite like it. (Although if there is, and I'm just shrouded in ignorance, please let me know!)

The investment the Old Vic has put into OVNV is impressive, and they in turn have deeply invested in all those they endeavour to develop by offering practical and financial support, resources, training from professionals and some off-the-wall brilliant opportunities.

Go on, head over to Your Stop and have a look - truly, you only stand to gain by getting involved with the OVNV - in several lovely ways!

And now, please excuse the short post (everyone is actually breathing a sigh of relief) but I feel it's mostly covered under Your Stop and I'd quite like you just to head straight on over there instead of me rattling on here.

Now, to bed. Good Night/Morning/Afternoon to you all - I hope it's a lovely one!

Fi

Interview with James Meryk

Good afternoon Sydney! Good morning London!

Always excited to have interviews up on the blog, and I know that I say how talented and lovely each interviewee is, but you know what - it's because they genuinely are. It's not my fault. They have been lovely, sincere, inspirational, interesting, talented and encouraging thus far, and you know what, the next few are too. And they are exactly the sort of folk Theatre Stop like to speak to. And when you think about it, the sort of people you hope you will meet and work with in this industry. So I apologise for the gross overuse of 'lovely' and other positive adjectives, it will continue. (Other synonym suggestions are welcome.)

Now this prefaces the new interview with James Meryk.

Obviously he is lovely and talented. Aside from being an excellent person, he's also a recent graduate of London Studio Centre and he's currently touring this sunburnt country with Action To The Word's acclaimed stage adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novella A Clockwork Orange*. Which had a sell-out run in London's West End. Pretty good first gig. So go on, head over to the Interviews section and have a read!

*A Clockwork Orange is playing in Sydney until the 5th May. For more about the show, reasons to see it (One of these reasons is Mr James Meryk, of course) and general excitement about it all, have a look at the Shows & Reviews section.

Good Morning Sydney and Good Afternoon London!

Very excited to announce that an interview with the talented and lovely Matthew Barrow is up!

The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, Sweet Charity at the Royal Theatre Haymarket, the first UK tours of Miss Saigon and Mary Poppins for Cameron Mackintosh, and the European tour of Fame. That's just listing a few so that you get the idea. Matthew Barrow has done some Musical Theatre stuff. Did I mention that he's currently in Merrily We Roll Along which had a sold out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, nabbed the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical and is so abso-bloody-lutely brilliant that it's transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre, opening 23rd April? Well he is. So, on top of being a  talented triple threat, he was also generous in giving us his time in between finishing the run of 'Merrily' at the Chocolate Factory to the transfer at the Harold Pinter. Don't hate him.

Each interview is a pleasure, unique and exciting and Matthew's interview is a wonderful read - and this is all down to him, and sadly not to any interviewing skills on my part! It's interesting, engaging, funny and he has real insight and wisdom to share with us all - so what are you waiting for - hop over to Interviews and have a read!

Fi X

Good Morning from Sydney!

Hello all!! (Or should I say 'G'day!'?! You non-Aussies love that! Actually, we love it too, really)

This morning, the view from home. Sunshine! Sorry, couldn't resist.

Hope everyone is well! Firstly, apologies for the lull in blogging! I've just arrived in Sydney and will be spending some months here - and the last couple of weeks in London have been incredibly busy with cramming as many interviews (for Theatre Stop), shows (for me), spending time with my London family and friends, and packing. Oh, the packing. Apparently you need to be rather organised when moving out and over to another country for a while - who knew it would take so long?! Thank goodness for lovely friends who are far more efficient packers. And very calm. And bring you chocolate when you're stressed about packing. Anyway, I'm digressing severely.

So, Theatre Stop will continue while I'm in Sydney! I've a nice little backlog of interviews that took place before leaving London, so will have plenty to work on! The only real differences will be that Theatre Stop will cover things on the Sydney theatre front as well as London. In terms of reviewing shows in London, that may be slightly more difficult as I won't be there to see them - believe me, it hurts! - but I think it's a stellar chance for you lot to send in reviews of shows you loved (and perhaps unfortunately, loved less) to share with us all.

So, more exciting things coming up - but next off the bat will be an interview with the lovely and talented Matthew Barrow. Matthew is currently in rehearsal for Merrily We Roll Along* which had a sell out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory and because it's so abso-bloody-lutely brilliant was transferred to the West End and will be opening at the Harold Pinter Theatre (formerly Comedy Theatre) on April 23rd. More about Mr Barrow in the very near future!

So, thank you for your patience and support!

Happy reading!

Fi X

*Obviously I adore this production, if you haven't head me raving about it already, just you wait. Will be doing a feature on the blog soon. But if you're in London, go, watch, laugh, cry and enjoy! It's truly remarkable on all fronts and deserves all the resounding praise that's been heaped upon it.

Hi all!

A shout out I'm delighted to be shouting about:

Students and Graduates interested in honing your Acting Through Song techniques, please head over to Your Stop and check out the Kate Golledge Workshops.

Can't recommend it highly enough! Go, thank me later. (Yes, I'm that sure you'll enjoy it that I'm being insufferably smug. But technically you'll be thanking Barney, Kate and your fellow workshoppers).

Fiona x

Good morning folks!

The wait is over! The first interview with Kate Golledge is up!

I'd like to say a few things about the interview before you head on over to read it. Firstly, sorry for the delay in getting it up on the blog! Secondly, the interview was a fantastic experience and I couldn't have wished for a more encouraging, enthusiastic and inspiring interviewee. So thank you, Kate Golledge for being the first victim/interviewee for Theatre Stop! Thank you also lovely men folk James Meryk, Sami Lamine and Oscar the cat who make special guest appearances.

Now we had a good old chat for quite some time and all of the things Kate had to say were gold so I've decided to do the interview in two parts. The first interview is in article form and part two will have a look at the day in the life of a director during a full time show, Kate's mentors, her Genius List, and more excellent advice! It most likely be in transcript/Q & A form as there was a lot of banter between the group of us and I think the humour and exchange will be translated better in that form.

I really hope you do enjoy it, I had a great time doing it! So please head on over to the Interview section and have a read of the Kate Golledge Interview: Part One !

Fiona x

This popped up on my Facebook news feed, and I felt the need to share - some wise words, and a whole lot of common sense from a young fella named Callam Rodya.  A straight-talking and engaging read, and one that applies to all performing arts! Go on, have a look, don't just take my word for it...!
 
 http://callamrodya.com/2013/03/17/things-i-wish-i-had-been-told-in-theatre-school/

Interview news: Presenting Kate Golledge!

Good afternoon Ladies and Gents,

Very excited to announce that Kate Golledge – Theatre Director, all-round lovely lady and cake baker extraordinaire - will be the first interviewee of Theatre Stop!

 Based in London, Kate has worked across the Theatre circuit – from Sweethearts  at the award winning Finborough Theatre* and the Young Vic to the West End, as resident director of Sweet Charity (Menier Chocolate Factory** & Theatre Royal Haymarket) and The Wizard of Oz (LondonPalladium) and crossed the ocean with Fantastic Mr Fox (Singapore RepertoryTheatre) – and that’s just naming a few. Kate also directs for drama schools such as Mountview  Academy of TheatreArts, Arts Educational Schools and Trinity College of Music.

On top of all this, she's fabulous.  

So, watch this space and be ready for a whole lotta wisdom - and probably a few giggles - from this lady!

*I couldn't mention the Finborough Theatre without also stating how brilliant it is. One of   my favourite theatres in London, this teeny-tiny space consistently produces exceptional work that is as rich as it is diverse. It’s one of the gems in London, housing around 50 seats and performances sell out very fast, so if you’ve never seen a production there, get going. You won’t regret it. If you don’t believe me, read what the press have said about them here.

**The same goes for the Menier Chocolate Factory (not actual chocolate factory, but still as exciting!) another one of London’s theatre treasures. The building holds a theatre, rehearsal space, restaurant and bar, and as well as having a cosy yet cool interior, put on extraordinary productions – in particular musicals. Menier does in fact host Merrily We Roll Along which holds the title of  favourite musical production for me – it was in every way remarkable and as I feel a ramble coming on, I may just have to dedicate a post to it. Again, you should check out the more eloquent summaries of others about the Menier.
 

Welcome to Theatre Stop

Lovers of Theatre and Musical Theatre, those vaguely interested, and  friends I've coerced into reading this - welcome to Theatre Stop!

Huzzah!

So what is this Theatre Stop business? Well!

Theatre Stop is for those who have a love (or even an interest, which perhaps we can cultivate into love!) of all things Theatre and Musical Theatre related. A place to stop in for motivation, inspiration, information - a stagey newsletter as it were - featuring tips, reviews of shows, what’s going on in the theatre realm, interviews with those working in the industry (established and emerging) – performers, directors, musical directors et cetera – to those who are striving to work in the industry. Everyone knows that it’s an incredibly tough (for so many reasons), bonkers but brilliantly rewarding industry and for those who wish to work in it, or are working in it – who better to inspire - and keep us inspired- than each other. So if you're having one of those days where you’re reaching for the chocolate/cake/gin/ rather large bottle of wine, throwing up your hands in theatrical despair and wondering if it’s all worth it, you can look to a place of shared experiences and realise, it is indeed worth it.

This is a new adventure, so please bear with me - dodgy interview skills, questionable writing and the obvious tendency to ramble – because the people I hope to speak to will be worthy of being listened to. The life of the blog depends on the contribution of others, so please know that your participation and time is hugely appreciated. If yourself, or someone you know, would like to share with us -  if there’s a show you think is so wonderful that absolutely everyone has to see, if there’s a visionary group doing great theatrical things, a great theatre space with a brilliant story behind it, a wonderful workshop you’ve attended and want to encourage others to check out – I would very much like to hear from you, so please do get it touch. This is how Theatre Stop will work, and how we’ll keep each other inspired. 

Sincerely hoping that you enjoy Theatre Stop and have made it to the end of the post - congratulations and thank you!

Fiona 

P.S. It is evident in the current aesthetics of the blog that my computer competency ranges from minimal to none, but I solemnly promise you this - stick with me, it will get prettier.