Unit 23 - Developing voice for the actor (all blogs)

Wednesday 8^th March

Today we were focusing on looking at the different techniques, exercises and activities we can carry out to warm up our bodies ready for voice production.

Firstly we looked at warming the muscles up. We started by standing on one foot, circling our foot from the ankle, then from the knee and then from the hip. Then, repeat on the other leg. We also patted our muscles gently so that the blood could flow to them faster. We started at the feet and gently patted up the legs, to the stomach and up to the shoulders. We then went down each arm and lastly finished by patting the face. This should then create a tingly feeling around the body because the blood is now flowing faster to these parts of the body.

Next we carried out some stretches. The first one that we did was a side stretch. This is when we lean to one side and bring the arm up above the head. We then carried out another stretch where we leaned forward to create a table top with our backs. To make the stretch harder, we placed our arms out in front of us so that they are parallel to the ground.

We then moved onto the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. This is when we breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 6 and breathe out for 12. If I was running a warmup with a group who have never done this exercise before, I would only get them to breathe out for 8 counts because it is easier.

The last part of the warmup is to carry out diction and travelling exercises. We ran through the diction exercises which we normally carry like such as ‘pah, tah, kah’ and a few tongue twisters. Once we have had good practice of these exercises, we can then start to apply these to our performance material. 

Wednesday 15^th March

To start off the lesson we had a warmup which was led by Mikey. Firstly we had a full body shake just to get the muscles a bit warm and loose. We then went on to do the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. For this we breathed in for 4, held for 6 and breathed out for 12. This was then followed by the extension of this exercise which is the abdominal press. This is when we breathe in for 4 counts but these are individual breaths instead of one long breath. We then hold for 6 and then breathe out for 12 where for 8 of these counts we breathe out for 8 separate breaths and then for the last 4 counts we breathe out in one longer breath. The final exercise which we carried out was the tongue twisters and diction exercises. We firstly started with ‘pah, tah, kah’ carrying on with ‘mah, nah, lah’ and ‘thah, vah, zah’. We then went onto some tongue twisters.

For the rest of the lesson I concentrated on learning and practicing my duologue. I will be performing this duologue at the end of the year with Angel. This duologue is called ‘Split down the middle’ and was written by David Campton. I am already familiar with this duologue as I have had the script for quite a while. I have now started to add some more expression to my lines as I do not have to concentrate on reading the script. At the start of the duologue, my line is ‘HOOT, HOOT, HOOT’. For this, I lean over the boat, put my hand to my mouth and sound desperate when I am calling for help.

My target for the next lecture is to earn some more of the lines of the duologue and to start to add more expression into my lines. 

Tuesday 31^st January

Today we went to Brecon in Wales to visit Theatr Brycheiniog. We were going to Brecon to visit the theatre and to perform some pieces that we had prepared to perform in front of a professional practitioner. This enabled me to gain a new skill as I have not performed in front of a professional practitioner before.

When we arrived at the theatre, we were greeted by the theatre development manager Martin Green who we were going to be working with all day. He gave us a talk about the theatre, what his job role is and what we would be doing throughout the day. Once we had finished the talk, we went for a tour around the theatre. I found this quite interesting as I have performed in theatres before and tours of a few too. After the tour we headed into the performance studio where we would be performing our poems and monologues. Before performing my poem I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. I managed to stay calm and remember all of the corrections and feedback that I had been given about my poem throughout the past few performing arts sessions. Here is a link to the video of me performing my poem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMTO8Fcw2CE

After my poem, I was given some feedback from Martin which is also shown in the video. I felt like I performed the poem well because of the feedback that I was given from Martin. The main thing that I was focusing on whilst performing was the pace and when I was given feedback, Martin said that I did this very well.

Here is a link to the group having a discussion with Martin after we had all performed our monologues and poems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5Q5R6HhSQ

In the video he gives us some useful tips as an actor who is going in for any audition.

Voice production

Through understanding the process of voice production techniques, I am able to connect with the exercises that are involved in learning these techniques. The process of voice production is actually quite simple and goes as follows:

When humans breathe normally, they do something called clavicular breathing (shallow breathing). Intercostal diaphragmatic breathing is a different way of breathing which you can learn by carry out regular practice.

Intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise – when we inhale normally, the lungs fill with air and the ribs don’t expand. However, when we carry out the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise, the lungs are filled deeper with air and the ribs expand. We call this rib swinging. The diaphragm, which causes us to breathe, pulls down as we inhale and then pushes up as we exhale. The diaphragm can be likened to a mushroom as it has a domed top and a stalk underneath. Essentially the diaphragm contracts and releases with inhalation and exhalation.

As the air passes up from the lungs through trachea, it enters the larynx (voice box or vocal folds/cords) where the timbre i.e. tone of the voice is shaped. When the vocal cords are loose, it creates a low sound and when the vocal cords are tight, this produces a high sound. It then passes into the mouth where the sound is shaped. The sound is shaped in the mouth by the articulators which are the tongue, teeth, lips, hard and soft palate. The sound is shaped by one of the articulators which stops the sound. For example, when we produce a ‘t’ sound, the tongue and the hard palate are used because the tongue touches the hard palate to make the sound by stopping it. Resonators are also important during voice production. These make sure that the sound is being carried. Examples of resonators are the cheek bones, nasal cavity, forehead and chest. 

Wednesday 5^th April

Today I led a voice warmup for a group of students in the learning and leisure performing arts group. The warmup that I carried out with the students consisted of a general body warmup, breathing exercises and then some tongue twisters. Here is a link to a video of me leading the warmup for the other students:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg5QQ0Y3Ssw

Overall I think that the warmup went well because the students said that they all felt warm after the warmup. Also, I remembered to warmup all of the different parts of the body. The feedback that I got from the students was that they enjoyed it because there were exercises in this warmup that they had never done before and it was nice to try something different. 

Unit 3 - Community arts project

What is a community arts project?

The main aim of a community arts project is to bring together lots of different members of a community together through the form of art. The different people within the community can come from very diverse backgrounds but they all share a love for art. Another aim of community arts project is to entertain an audience. Lots of people in the community come together to watch the project being performed or displayed within the community. As well as bringing the wider community together, it also brings the organisations involved in the project together. This then enables them to have closer working relationships for the future where they can work on other possible community projects which could then work on bringing in other organisations to form more strong working relationships. This process then just keeps repeating. Community projects can be used in communities which are quite diverse. They have the main aim to bring all the people there together as they may not speak to each other but they all share the love of art. A community project also aims to educate the audience. This requires the process of making sure that the audience understands the them of the project and what it is all about. The project within the community can also inform. This involves telling the audience about certain issues/situations/scenarios of which the whole project is based around. The project was to be well thought out in order to do this so can take a very long time to develop the full project.

I have used the internet to help me research community arts. It enables me to understand what a community arts project is and how a project brings the community together. Here are some links which I think are useful to understanding what a community arts project is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_arts

http://inspireart.org/en/resources/communityart/

By using the internet I was able to find many examples of amazing community arts projects that have been created and presented across the world. Here is the link to the website showing 'The 25 most amazing community art projects':

http://www.socialworkdegreeguide.com/25-most-amazing-community-arts-projects/

As you can see on the list there a many great community arts projects that have been presented within communities with the aim to bring the whole community together. One of the projects that caught my eye was ‘The Incredible Edible Park’. The park was created in a town in California as there was a great need for nutritious food within the area. The park is sustained by members of the community. This therefore brings together diverse people from the community coming together to show their love for art as they are making sure the park looks nice and is in great condition. It also educates younger members of the community as they help to maintain the look of the park and the growth of the crops within it. Since the parks creation in 1999, there has been a massive increase in the involvement and enjoyment between diverse members of the community.  

Unit 1 - Skills development in performing arts (development plan)

Voice production techniques

During lectures I have been introduced to a few voice production exercises such as the intercostal diaphragmatic exercise. At the start of the term I was really struggling to carry out the exercise but now that I have had lots of practice, I am now able to carry this out at a moderate level of difficulty.

Target - Next term I will be focusing on extending the breathing technique so I can hold long notes for longer and improve phrasing in spoken word passages. I will also need to continue practicing the diction exercises as I still find ‘thah, vah, zah’ a challenge.

Expression in performing arts

I am working towards developing a character in my duologue ‘Split Down the Middle’. I have applied diction techniques in my poem ‘Blessing’. Learning correct breathing techniques has impacted on my ability to deliver a song.

Target – I need to continue practicing intercostal diaphragmatic breathing to improve the quality of my delivery both in song and in spoken word.

Clarity of delivery in all areas of acting, singing and dance

On a Thursday we have been mostly concentrating on singing skills. We have been able to record 2 songs in the studio. When I first started the performing arts course I was a very shy singer and sang very quietly. Now that we have recorded in the studio twice, I am more confident with singing in front of my peers. Whilst in the studio it was made clear to me that despite having a microphone which amplified my singing voice, I would still need to project in order to produce a vocal performance.

Within performing arts lessons I have been learning and practicing some diction exercises. When I first started learning my poem, my diction wasn’t very good but now that I have been practicing these, they have really helped the delivery of the poem.

Target – I need to continue working on projection. This will enable me to communicate a performance more successfully.

Applying dynamics

Working within an ensemble to produce group songs has really developed my listening skills. This is key to understanding how to make a performance dynamic and maintain the interest of an audience.

Target – I need to ensure that I memorise performance materials as early on in the process as possible. This will then free me up to be able to listen to my peers in ensemble work and also to creatively express solo pieces.

Communicating performance work

I have not taken part in any college performances but I did take part in the Tapathon which was really well received. In my second experience in the recording studio, the professional engineer commented on my clear diction. He said as a result of my singing performance it brought all of the other vocal parts together and gave the overall sound clarity.

Target – I must try to maintain confidence and not feel inhibited when working with new creative opportunities.

Teamwork

I am tolerant, open to new ideas and enjoy working with others to produce believable performance work. Positive teamwork, listening to my peers is key to producing good improvised drama.

Target – My lecturer was fed back to me and has commented on my strong teamwork throughout the past term. I will continue to contribute to all elements of performing arts as I enjoy feeling that I am part of something and that I have a voice within it.

Dance techniques

Within dance lectures on a Wednesday morning, we have been learning about Alexander technique. I have never done this style of supported movement before so this was a new skill that I have learnt. I feel this would be of use to a totally blind person as it really addresses posture, gait and the way that we move our bodies. Also, it helps with the way that we sit and lie down and the way that we move from these positions.

Target – Next term I am going to lead a Learning and Leisure performing arts session. I am going to use some of the Alexander technique as part of this session, in order to support some of the less able students.

Drama techniques

I have commented on my physical theatre work in a previous blog. We have mainly been focusing on developing improvisation skills as these impact on a lot of performance work as they encourage spontaneity and responsiveness.

Target – An ongoing target for me is to work at being less inhibited in unfamiliar areas of performing arts.

Life skills (punctuality, attendance and engagement)

I aim to turn up to all of my performing arts lectures on time, if not early. I come appropriately dressed for the lessons in clothing that I am able to move well in. I bring all relevant materials to my lectures.

Target – Maintain this level of engagement throughout the academic year.

Responsibility for own learning

I carry out independent research outside of lessons which I then put into my blogs. I write blogs frequently and try to keep as up to date as possible.

I have also carried out independent learning for my diction exercises, poem and duologue. I practiced ‘pah, tah, kah’ firstly to memorise it and then I was able to say it faster and faster. This then helps my diction and this is already showing within the delivery of my poem. I practiced my poem and duologue to memorise the lines and then I am able to add expressing and meaning into the words.

Target – My lecturer has commented on the amount of work that I produce outside of the lecture. I am a methodical worker who sets aside time in the evening and at weekends to carry out coursework. This is evidenced in my blog. I will continue to work at this level for the remainder of this academic year.

Communication

This term I needed to identify a space where I could practice tap dancing with a peer. I approached the manager of thePoint4 sports centre and secured a room with a sprung floor for this purpose. I had to explain to the manager and negotiate a time for the space.

As I have a visual impairment, I had to ask the teacher at the Tapathon if I could move to a place where I was able to see the choreography more clearly. I feel I am proactive, I plan ahead and I have the confidence to speak to people even if I don’t know them.

Target – There are still certain situations where I might feel intimidated for instance having to telephone people to request information. I need to work on preparing what I am going to say beforehand and think about strategies which would help with this process. 

Wednesday 28^th September

The aim of this lecture was to familiarise ourselves with our poems. 

To start the session, we did a short warm up including some vocal exercises. The first exercise was to make sure that the muscles in our face were fully warmed up. We stretched our lips out and our cheeks back and said an ‘ee’ sound and then pushed our lips out and together making an ‘oo’ sound. We kept repeating this gradually getting faster each time. I found this exercise quite difficult once we started to pick up speed but as we practice this more often, it should become easier. 

After the warmup, we looked at our poems which we had selected in the previous lecture on Monday. Our lecturer, Cara recorded our first attempt of sight reading our poems. Here is a link to my first attempt of sight reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpfAadkm01E

Once I had finished reading my poem, our lecturer gave us some feedback. The first piece of feedback which she gave me was that my reading was stilted. However, for people with a visual impairment like myself, sight reading is difficult as we can read no more than 2 words at a time which causes the reading to be stilted. The main piece of feedback that I was given was a target to try and start learning the poem as soon as possible. When I was reading the poem from the sheet, my words were unclear as there was no projection due to the paper being in front of the paper and my shoulders were hunched. However, once I learn the poem, these two issues should not be a problem. Another piece of feedback was that the diction in some places was quite poor. This is an area in which I will need to improve on. Another piece of advice was that I need to be careful when reading the lines and to make sure that if a sentence carries onto the next line, it should still flow. The last piece of advice that I was given was that throughout the poem, I tended to stay within the same tonal range. This meant that I did not put much expression into the reading of the poem. Over time I will develop all of these so that it makes the poem sound more exciting. 

To finish off the session we set ourselves a target for the next session. My target was to learn the first 4 lines of my poem.

Monday 10^th October

The aim of this lecture was to review our starting parts for some elements and to concentrate on learning our poems. 

To start the lesson, we started with the warmup. For this, we started by carrying out the intercostal diaphragmatic exercise. For this exercise we breathed in for 4, held for 6 and breathed out for 12. Here is a link to a video of me carrying out the exercise and also some comments from my lecturer Cara:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoZHkip1IQM

I carried out this exercise quite well as I did not move my shoulders. However, there was not much movement in the diaphragm so this is an area which I will focus and improve on. We then moved onto the diction and travelling exercises that we have had a brief look at in previous lessons. Firstly we looked at “pah, tah, kah”. Although I only just know the exercise without the piece of paper, I am unable to say the exercise with some speed. This will come over time as I keep practicing it over and over again. Here is a link to a video of me carrying out the “pah, tah, kah” exercise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEdLODNKNqs

Once we had finished the warmup we moved onto looking at our poems. Between last week’s session on Monday and today, I have looked at the beginning of my poem a few times but I have not had time to learn it.

Our target from last week was to start to learn the first part of our poem and to learn the “pah, tah, kah” exercise. This means that I have partly achieved my target because although I did not learn the start to my poem, I did learn the travelling exercise. Due to me only partly meeting my target, the duration of time that I had to complete this target has been extended and I now have until the 17^th of October to learn the first part of my poem.

Monday 28^th November

The aim of todays lesson was to start to look at a duologue that we will be learning and developing over the next few weeks. We will be looking at sight-reading skills and starting to look at our characters too.

The duologue that our lecturer, Cara has selected for us is called ‘Split down the middle’ and was written by David Campton. It is about a couple who have been out on a day trip on a boat. It’s starting to get dark and foggy and they’re stranded out at sea wondering what to do. The duologue involves 2 characters, Josie and Fran. I am playing the part of Fran and Angel is playing the part of Josie. 

We first of all read through the duologue as our assigned characters. Once we had read this through once, we read it through again but this time we swapped the characters around. This meant that we were able to gain a better understanding of our character as we were responding to the character that we are actually going to be playing. We then read through it one last time, this time reading as our characters again. Here is a link to a video of our initial duologue which is being sight-read:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyuhGx_IvmI&t=24s

We were able to read this duologue through a number of times because our sight-reading skills are quite good even though we have a visually impairment. A duologue is a lot easier to sight-read as there is less to say at one time. For example, if you are reading a monologue, then it is just you speaking and therefore you have to read a lot of text without stopping whereas a duologue you have short breaks in-between lines when the other person is speaking. 

At the end of the lesson, Cara set us a target. This target is to learn the first 2 pages of the duologue which works out to about 10 lines each. We will assess this on Monday 5^th December. 

Unit 2 - Professional practice in performing arts

Factors affecting jobs in the performing arts industry

The following report will highlight and discuss issues surrounding employment and opportunities within the Creative Industries. I have carried out research into gender, politics, class, ethnicity and age related discrimination. I have been shocked by my findings.

Older women are disappearing from TV due to combination of ageism and sexism, warns Harriet Harman

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/older-women-are-disappearing-from-tv-due-to-combination-of-ageism-and-sexism-warns-harriet-harman-8618313.html

In this article written by Catherine Wylie, it tells us how much older women are affected within the performing arts industry due to ageism and sexism. Harriet Harman who is a labour MP, works as part of a committee known as the Older Women's Commission. This committee is run by the labour party and it helps to gain equality for women over the age of 50. It especially tries to working with the women nowadays as the roles and health of older women has grown significantly. Research within this committee has shown that when women who are working within the performing arts industry especially, and reach the age of 50, their “days become numbered”. A study conducted by the committee showed that although the majority of the population in the UK of over 50’s is women at 53.1%, the majority of the TV presented which are aged 50 and over is mostly men at 82%. This leaves only 18% are women. More research saw that only 7% of people involved with working in TV on and off screen, are women. Harriet also said that these figures which have come from many major broadcasters, show that ageism and sexism do not hit men in the same way as they do to women.

Miriam O’Reilly raised some questions about why there aren’t many women in the business over the age of 50. She started to question this after she won an employment tribunal against the BBC. Was this due to people not employing women over 50 or women leaving the business when they get to this age. She had interviews with several broadcasters and from this she said “they are committed to the fair representation of older women” however, this does not match the figures that have been conducted from the research.

James McAvoy: Dominance of Rich-Kid Actors in the U.K. Is "Damaging for Society"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-mcavoy-dominance-rich-kid-772139

In this news story conducted by Hollywood Reporter, it expresses James’ opinion on rich children within the performing arts industry. However, he clearer states that he does not have anything against actors who went to drama school, but he believes that there should be less successful actors coming from drama schools. He thinks this because it does not represent how Britain is today. He is worried that people from all social classes are not getting the same opportunities. Within the performing arts industry it is advertised as if you have to be elite to become a successful actor normally meaning that you must go to drama school however, this is not always the case.

A debate was set up with the British acting circle where Julie Walter who played Mamma Mial in Billy Elliot expressed her opinion about how aspiring actors within the working class sector were not able to afford drama school. This has been proven to the decrease their chance if being able to become a successful actor.

Arts Emergency

http://arts-emergency.org/

Arts emergency is an organisation that helps young people get into university courses within the arts such as drama, music, theatre, politics, humanities, etc. However, due to the high rising costs of university courses and degrees, many young people opt out of university and don’t even consider it purely because they are unable to afford it. This leads them to forcefully apply for a job but because they have no higher education qualifications, they are unable to find a job because the arts community is very competitive. Therefore the organisation’s main aim is to help disadvantaged young people so they can have the same chance at getting into university than anyone else. They believe that although these young people and their families may not be able to afford a university course, there are certainly ways around it and this should not stop the young person having a potential career in the arts industry.

All of the young people that are part of Arts Emergency are aged between 16 and 19 years old all of which are in further education. Arts emergency have several schemes which aim to help disadvantaged young people who are least likely to be able to pay for their education but will benefit from it the most. The main scheme in which the organisation runs is their mentoring scheme. Each individual is given a mentor which they are then able to talk to about their options, research into higher education courses and set reachable targets. The programme only lasts for a year but when they ‘graduate’, they still offer support if they need it. Another scheme that is run by Arts Emergency is networking. This enables young disadvantaged people to connect and talk about their aspirations. The volunteers who run the project have all come from TV, theatre, music, etc. so have a great understanding of what is needed to get into university or higher education courses. These volunteers also visit colleges to give talks and workshops about keeping your options open for higher education in the arts sector. These workshops aim to educate, inspire and inform people that they are able to aim high. The also work with young people and their families to educate them about the opportunities that there are in higher education. Young people that come from a poorer background may have parents who have no experience of the performing arts industry. This means that the parents of the young person may be very against the idea of their child going to university to study a course in the arts when they don’t know what it will entail. Arts Emergency therefore work with the parents, alongside the young person, to educate them that arts courses are extremely beneficial especially for their child who may be disadvantaged.

One of the main factors that effects employment in the performing arts industry is the amount of funding cuts and the high rising prices of university degrees and higher education courses. Arts emergency is an organisation that aims to reduce the effect that the high rising university costs will have on potential young people aspiring to go to university to study a course in the arts. Nowadays, to get into the performing arts industry, it is quite likely that you need a qualification at degree level but if young people are not able to access this, then there is a limited chance that they will be able to pursue a career in drama, music or dance.

Letitia Wright interview

The interview can be found here (11:30): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w5y0l

Letitia’s first main role in a production was in a film called ‘The Urban Hymn’. The film is set in 2011 in the time at which riots broke out in Britain. The film is based around 2 girls and their very strong friendship and support for each other.

She started acting when she was about 15 years old in secondary school. Once she had finished secondary school, she watched a lot of films during the summer holidays. Watching all of these films taught her that she needed to be persistent with her future career. She knew that she definitely wanted to go into the performing arts industry so she produced some basic headshots and sent these to several agents looking for work. Although Letitia was a very talented actor and started to think more seriously about her career, her mum wasn’t sure on the career choices that she was making. This is because Letitia’s mum had come from an educational background and acting wasn’t in her culture. This meant that she had to give her daughter a chance and trust her because at first she did not want her daughter going into the performing arts industry.

When Letitia got her first interest from an agent, she was asked to recite a monologue. Instead of looking for a monologue and learning it, she created a monologue herself and performed it in front of the agent. Both the agent and her mum were gobsmacked and the agent decided to sign her later that day.

When she was 17, she went for an audition where, on the advert it was specified for a young white female actor. However, Letitia made the executive decision to go to the audition even though she was black because she just wanted to show people her talent. The people running the auditions said they wanted to give her a chance of playing the role so gave her the job. Letitia also mentioned about how she believes that there should be more ethnicities and diversity involved in the performing arts industry.

She lastly went on to talk about the many projects that she has been involved with lately including a second serious of a show called ‘Humans’.

In conclusion, Letitia’s journey into the acting industry was not as straight forward as many other individuals. Letitia had many factors in which she had to overcome before going into the performing arts industry. Such factors are that her mum did not want her to go into acting because it’s not in her culture as she had come from a very educational background and she was in an ethnic minority. Another major factor that she had to overcome was that she did not go to drama school meaning that she had no major acting experience. Unlike most aspiring actors who were the same age as Letitia at the time, Letitia had no nepotistic advantages meaning that she had no connections within the industry to give her a leg up.

Andrew Lloyd Webber warns of diversity crisis in British theatre

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/dec/01/andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-diversity-crisis-british-theatre

A report that was conducted by Andrew Lloyd Webber recently expresses his opinion on the topic of black actors within theatre.

The report mainly focuses on how the theatre industry will start to suffer if the amount of black actors does increase soon. In his report he used the term “hideously white” in regards to the amount of white actors that there currently are in the performing arts industry. He made a point of saying that it is not only the lack of black actors, but also the lack of black people who are part of the backstage crew and technical team. Andrew Lloyd Webber went on to say “I passionately believe that the stage needs to reflect the diversity of the UK population or it risks becoming sidelined.” There needs to be more black people involved in the Creative industry.

Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that if there isn’t a change to this situation now, then it can have massive effects on how the industry runs in the future. There will gradually become less and less black actors applying for drama school because they feel like they are in a minority. Less black people enrolling intro drama school means that there will be less appearing within productions. This can also have an effect on the audience. Black people play an important part in the audience numbers and the less people there is in the audience of a production, the less money that is made.

I believe that there needs to be a change within the performing arts industry in regards to the equality for black and white people. Black actors are currently in a minority and white actors are the majority. Directors need to start accepting black actors even if the character has been specified to be played by a white actor. This will then mean that the audiences for performances will remain constant and theatre will carry on as normal.

Theatres under threat from £3.3bn funding cuts

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2015/theatres-threat-3-3bn-funding-cuts/

Local authorities are being forced to cut their funding due to funding cuts from the Government. This has led to an estimated cut of £3.3 billion funding from local theatres. According to the Local Government Association, the funding situation is not going to get much better in years to come either as it will continue to decline. The funding cuts may lead theatres across the UK to be under serious threat as the cuts decrease. Some local authorities across the UK have stopped their funding for the arts already such as Westminster County Council.

There are arguments that funding for the arts should be, in fact increased rather than decreased. A statement from a recent interview with David Brownlee said that there should be at least one theatre company in every local area that is funded by the local authority. The local theatre is a place where the work created by and within the community can be presented and the local people can come and see what has been achieved. If the theatre has cuts and isn’t able to run, the projects created by the local community will be no longer and the local people will not be able to get involved in the arts.

Charlotte Jones who is the chief executive of the Independent Theatre Council stated that local theatres that are supporting by the local authority are helped hugely by the funding. She said that not many people realise how much these theatres are being supported with the funding and if this gets cut, the theatres will begin to suffer.

Darren Henley who is the chief executive of Arts Council England said that a strong connection between the local authority and the theatre is absolutely key.

In conclusion, from the research that I have carried out throughout this term, I have found that there are many different factors that affect employment within the performing arts industry such as ageism, sexism, funding cuts and ethnicity. I am shocked at the research that I have found. I believe that there needs to be more diversity within the creative industry. At the moment, the majority of actors within theatres are male middle-class white actors who are middle-aged. This needs to be minimized so that female actors, older and younger actors and actors from other ethnicities have the same chance as getting a role in theatre as everyone else. There needs to be an equal spread of actors from different backgrounds being selected for jobs in theatre. The funding for local theatres should not be cut as this can have massive effects on a local community as it can cause for the theatre to shut down as the theatre is unable to put on any productions. 

Freelance report

Factors of a freelance working - practitioners and contracts

Magnetic Diaries

On Friday 7^th October, a theatre company called “Reaction Theatre Makers” came into to college to perform their show called “The Magnetic Diaries”. The show was open to the college staff, students and the general public. This was a one woman show and she was present on stage throughout the whole show. I had never seen a one woman show before so I was very excited to see a new type of theatre. The show was about a woman suffering from depression that had traveled to London for treatment and is receiving letters from her husband. Throughout the play, we hear these letters from her husband spoken aloud. We also hear from the woman’s son and doctors. Overall I really enjoyed the show, however at first I did not understand it because the play was all written in poetry. However, as the play went on, more things happened and I started to understand what was going on.

Before the show started we had a questions and answers session with the actor, Vey and the director, Tiffany where we asked them questions about their experiences within the performing arts industry. Whilst talking to them we found out that there were many different factors of working in freelance careers. The first feature that you must have for a freelance worker is that you must be flexible in the work in which you look for. This means that it is very difficult to stick to one specific job role within the performing arts industry. As Tiffany mentioned during the interview, throughout her career she has worked in many different areas of the industry with many different people such as working with children with learning difficulties and directing several different performances. This shows us that as a freelance worker you must take the opportunities that are given to you or that you find yourself. As Tiffany mentioned in the session, there are many different platforms in which jobs can be advertising. Tiffany uses a website called Casting Call Pro which is a website that you are able to advertise jobs within the industry. Here is a link to the website: http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk

Tiffany is able to advertise jobs on the website and then receives applications from many actors. The only problem that Tiffany has is that when she advertises that she has a new job available, she will receive hundreds of applications for the one job. This then leads to the next feature of a freelance worker, that you have to be able to sell yourself well in an application. If you are unable to sell yourself then it will be impossible for you to be able to find work. Your application and profile must stand out from the rest so you are shortlisted and then possibly selected. This means that this is a key feature as it is essential that you have a good application because if you do not, you will not find work and will therefore not be successful.

Another feature that a freelance worker must have is that you must always be looking into the future for jobs and opportunities. Working in freelance in the performing arts industry means that you are unsure of when your next job may appear and it might take you a while to find a job. This means that you could be out of work for a significant amount of time which means you will not have any income. As we heard from Vey in the questions and answers session, to sustain her career she works with her husband building environmentally friendly houses. She works here 2 days a week which then helps her with her income. It especially helps her when she is a lean period (a period of time which she may not be working within the industry) and therefore is gaining no money because she is not found any work within theatre.

Another feature of a freelance worker within the performing arts industry is that you must be highly motivated. As a freelance actor, you may have to attend lots of auditions where you may not necessarily get selected for the job. This means that you have got to have the energy to go to many auditions at which you may only have a very small chance of getting the job. Also, you must be prepared for any sort of audition that you go to. This also links back to keeping your options open to other job roles within the performing arts industry and this shows that this is a major feature within the world of freelance careers.

Another factor of working within the performing arts industry as a freelance worker is that you must be passionate about what you want to do and set yourself achievable targets. Tiffany studied BA honours in drama and theatre arts at Goldsmiths University. Since then, she has always worked within this industry. She is very passionate about the work that she has done in the past and the work that she is doing today. On the other hand, Vey did not study any sort of drama course at university; instead she studied graphic design. She got into acting through an adult acting class at the courtyard theatre in Hereford. She got noticed by the teacher and her career started from there. This tells us that to be a successful actor you do not have to go to drama school. I would like to go to university but I would like to study a course which will hopefully get me into teaching. However, if I change my mind when I am older and want to go into acting, Vey has demonstrated to us that this is definitely achievable. 

Freelance musician

This morning we had a Q&A session with our performing arts teacher Cara Tivey who, before she starting working at the college, was a professional musician.

Did you go to university/ If so, what course did you study?

Cara went to drama school because the courses that she wanted to study were not available to her within universities. She studied at BSSTDA (Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Arts) and although she went down the drama route, she realised that this wasn’t the route for her. This is when she decided that she would be better suited within the music industry. To start off her career as a musician, she played with many different artists around Birmingham. Most of this work was unpaid because the aim of it was to get her name out there. She made it clear that this is a key aspect for a freelancer because you have to be prepared to carry out work even if you don’t get paid for it and hope that your name will then get heard within the industry.

What happened when you stopped freelance?

Towards the end of her career as a freelance musician, Cara was doing a lot of touring and although she enjoyed touring, she had 2 young children and a husband at home and most of the time when she was away, she had to organise supervision for the children. This became progressively harder so she made the decision to start and look for a job within the local area. She came across a job vacancy here at The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC).

What was the first ‘professional’ piece you performed?

After getting her name heard around Birmingham, Cara started to get paid for local gigs in social clubs. In these social clubs she played for a band. This then enabled her to start work with bigger bands for about a year which included touring to other countries.

The first big band that Cara played for was ‘The Fine Young Cannibals’ and this was her first experience of working within television. Cara happened to hear about this job of working with a band through being at the right place at the right time and this was that a band needed a keyboard player. She applied for the audition and was given the job. Cara said that freelancers have to be prepared for an audition and these can be varied. Talking from experience, Cara said that the people running the auditions can ask you to prepare a piece before the audition or memorise a piece within the audition. She made it clear that freelancers must be prepared for any time of audition if they want to get into a job.

Cara told us that she got quite nervous before auditions as she did not know what to expect. She was offered money by the band but didn’t know what to expect as this was her first professional paid job. She earned £100 a day and she was lucky as she didn’t have to negotiate with her band. However, another quality of a freelancer is that you have to be able to do this negotiate with your manager as they may not be paying you an adequate salary.

Something that Cara learnt from her freelance career was how to behave when working with the band. This is a key quality as freelancers need to have an understanding of where they stand with the people that they are working with. Cara learnt that freelancers shouldn’t talk about their personal life when work with a band. The same advice could be applied to an actor who is being employed by a production company. You have to know your place and find out what your boundaries are when working with the company.

Another quality of someone working within freelance is that you have to be flexible as things can change very quickly. For example you can start very early one day and then not start until the afternoon on other days. You also have to be prepared to learn material very quickly and finding what works for you. This is key as a freelancers’ job can change very quickly.

How did you generate work?

There will be periods of time where you will not be working and it’s important that you budget throughout your career. Cara made this clear as it can be tough during the periods of time when you are not working. She said that you need to be able to budget accordingly otherwise there may become a time where you are struggling for money.

Cara mostly looked within a magazine ‘Melody Maker’ which included jobs within the creative industry. The first job that she found that she was interested in was looking for a 3 piece. She decided to apply for the job with her soon to be husband and friend. They then carried out an audition for which they had to learn a song prior to the audition and had to play some of their own music. One strategy of generating work is when you see a job, apply for it, attend the audition and then hopefully get the job. However, Cara also informed us that you could get an agent but these are very hard to come by and there aren’t many pop music agents nowadays. Cara did have an agent for a while but ended up finding her own work.

When playing for a band ‘Everything but the girl’, she got noticed by another singer and gave them her phone number. She wasn’t expecting to hear from the singer but they did get in contact after a while.

When her contract ran out with the band ‘Everything but the girl’, she had 6 months of unemployment. However she did work with smaller bands during this time but nothing really big that was getting her name heard.

When she toured around the world, she had 2 children and got married. Then, once she had finished touring, she decided to take a year out. After her break Cara answered another advert in the magazine and got shortlisted.

Throughout her time Cara has worked a lot with TV but not so much in recording material. However she has toured serval times with different bands to places such as Japan, Europe and the UK.

Running your business - the financial ins and outs

Register with the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) - this is so they know that you are self-employed. Once a year you will have to submit your completed tax return and then the HMRC will calculate how much tax you owe for that year. As a self-employed person you are also responsible for paying your own Class 2 national insurance contribution. If you earn less than £12000 per year you probably won’t pay any tax. It is important that you keep all of your receipts and a record of your outgoings (payments that you make) as these will be offset against your tax.

Using social media to market yourself

There are lots of different social media platforms for performers and artists to use as networking tools. I have carried out research into the following:

LinkedIn – a professional social networking site which enables people to connect with companies with the aim of finding a job. Once your connection request has been accepted your profile becomes visible to your ‘friends’.

Facebook – this social media platform enables people to connect with other people as ‘friends’. It also allows people to like pages that have been set up by companies/businesses and this keeps them up to date with any information sent out by the page that they have liked.

Twitter – this allows people to ‘follow’ others. It is short and snappy as you are only allowed 140 characters per tweet. It also allows you to connect directly with big companies and artists and you know about these because they have a blue tick next to their name meaning ‘verified’.

SoundCloud – this is a website where by musicians and artists can publicise their music. People are able to follow each other and the more followers you have, the more popular you become. You are also able to like and comment directly on the pieces of music to give the artist feedback on what they have produced. Although you are not able to sell your music on SoundCloud, you are able to advertise it so that people can then go out and buy your music. 

Dinos Aristidou

We spoke to Dinos Aristidou from UCAN productions a few questions about his career as a freelance theatre maker, education consultant and workshop leader. 

Did you go to university? If so, what course did you study?

I went to York University to study English and Related Literature. At that age I wanted to be an actor but everyone said it was too uncertain and that it was better to get a degree. I just chose the subject I loved best and at University I discovered playwriting and directing.

What made you decide to become a theatremaker and educator?

It was always a passion. Ever since I was a child I liked to live in imaginary worlds in my own head or in books. When I discovered theatre I realised I could make a career of this. I also wanted to share my passion with others and give them the keys and tools that would enable them to also become creators of or citizens of the imaginary- That’s why I was drawn to education; so that others might also have the possibility to cross the threshold into the world of the imagination

What was the first ‘professional’ i.e paid for piece you ever performed/directed?

For my writing it was as writer in residence at The Chester Gateway in 2000 where I was hired to write their millennium production, as a director it was for ‘ Ziggurat’ for the Manchester Commonwealth games. As a performer it was just after I graduated with a Theatre in Education company called Shoestring that toured schools with productions. That inspired to become a teacher which I did for 11 years before going into the professional world of theatre.

Is there a particular genre/style you prefer working in?

I’m interested in collaboration, creating with communities and young people and I used to be drawn to the epic, working with large groups but now I’ve also become interested in immersive and intimate theatre. I’m interested in the themes of memory, identity and our search for home. Also interested in creating theatre based on people’s experience.

What sort of work do you get?

I looked through ‘The Stage’ newspaper that had all the theatre related jobs in it, also ‘The Guardian’. More recently I’m subscribed to organisations and online newsletters that advertise opportunities such as ‘The Writer’s Compass’

Do you network with other directors/actors?

I’m involved with lots of organisations and so have become part of a network of artists and artist educators. I find networking quite challenging even though I enjoy meeting people. It feels different when it’s professional.

How do you generate work?

I work with some organisations regularly and have close relationships with them that I’ve built up over the years. Creating good relationships and being a good collaborator and good to work with is really key in the work I do. I also try to keep my work current so I’m always reading, learning, going to the theatre, trying to keep abreast of new innovations and movements in theatre and in education. I also apply for positions that look interesting.

Would you contact a producer or a director with a script idea?

Yes but these are usually people who I’ve worked with before and who know my work.

How does research help you with your job?

All of my theatre work involves research. I’m always researching, reading, going to the theatre, talking to people. You have to make sure your work is relevant, current and also underpinned by theory. Theory is simply the discoveries other people have made and I’m always appreciative of their insights. Research is a useful way to make sure your work is informed. I’m also very curious and research satisfies some of my curiosity. I’m currently writer-in-residence at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton and my work involves researching the history of the building and the theatre so research is a key skill in my work.

How do you manage during lean periods?

I try to work as far as possible a year in advance- so I’ve been very lucky in that I haven’t really had any lean periods. I’m willing to try my hand at different things and happy to work in a variety of fields so there’s always a lot of work- touch wood!!! Being self- employed is always slightly scary because you do worry about the work drying up. I think its worth having a mixed portfolio rather than depending on one source of income.

So currently here is my list of jobs from now until June to give you a flavour of the variety of contracts and work that a freelancer may do:

·      Lead artist on RSVP project UCAN

·      Workshop delivery at your college

·      Lead artist on ‘Art of Kindness’ project UCAN

·      Running workshops for teachers on the art of reflection

·      Writer in residence 2017 at Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

·      Running young writer’s programme at Theatre Royal Brighton

·      Curriculum consultant for the International Baccalaureate

·      Running 4 week online teacher training for theatre teachers

·      Artistic Director for a youth theatre festival in Atlanta, USA on civil rights in collaboration with Civil Rights Museum in March

·      Guest artist in residence at Academy in Shanghai, China in April to create a new intimate and immersive piece of theatre

·      Running theatre teacher workshops in Singapore in April 

Action plan for a sustainable freelance career

·      Flexibility – people working in the freelance industry must be flexible because they may need to maintain a few different projects/jobs at one time. Also, it is very hard to continuously look for the same job role. This means that you need to be flexible with the job roles that you look for and apply for. They may also be asked to work different hours for each day of the week which could range from a few hours to a full day’s work.

·      Budgeting – this is very important because there will be periods of time at which the freelancer is not working and is therefore not earning any income. You need to be able to save money during the time at which you have incoming salary so that you will then have money when you are in lean periods.

·      Prepared to work without getting paid – everyone has to start somewhere and for most freelancers within theatre, they have to carry out unpaid work to get their name heard within the industry. Once they have their name out there they can start applying for jobs.

·      Presenting yourself well – as a freelancer you must be able to stand out from the crowd either in the world of work or in auditions. It may be quite difficult for you to find a job because you are not able to present yourself well and stand out from the crowd.

·      Must always be looking ahead – although it is great when a freelance worker finds a job, they don’t know how long it will last for and if they do, it is not going to last forever. This means that the worker always needs to be looking for new jobs in which they can apply for to take on after they have finished their current job.

·      Motivation – there needs to be high levels of motivation to become a successful and to remain as a successful freelancer. There may be quite a few occasions where you will go for an audition and not get the part or even shortlisted. However, you then need to put this aside and attend more auditions.

·      Resilience and self-belief – freelancers have to be thick skinned because they may attend many auditions before they get offered anything.

·      Practicalities and finance – a freelancer must make a regular class 2 national insurance payment. This will provide security for them in the future. You also need to keep your receipts for things like transport, hotels. postage and any other purchases that are business related. If you are a performer, you can claim for cosmetics, toiletries and clothing. Once a year, you need to submit a record of your income and outgoings to the HMRC (tax department). This is called a tax return.

·      CPD – this is continuous professional development. This is about maintaining a professional skill level. You may attend classes, carry out regular voice/movement warmups, research new audition materials and look at relevant sites on the internet. Also, you need to maintain a current CV.

·      Research – keep on top of new employment opportunities by looking at The Stage online and any other online journals where jobs are advertised.