Look How Far We've Come

Life is a funny thing - we want it to last forever, and yet we seem to count away the days like there's no tomorrow. Setting goals. Setting dates. Setting alarms... the list could go on!

As an actor, the key to being ambitious seems to be in setting ourselves "landmarks" or "goals" to reach every few months or so. This goal-setting technique is certainly useful; it can help actors become more proactive and encouraged. However, the flip side is the element of time. If you put a time limit on your goals - that can be counter-productive.

I have found myself worrying about my age or the time of year, and whether or not these are correlating with where I want to be? The fact is - ages and dates are mere figures, symbolising nothing significant to an actor's life. What if you don't get on the TV by the time your 25? What if your next employment isn't til Christmas 2019? What if the world ends before you find out about that casting you've been put "on hold" for? So what!

I find, as creatives, we give ourselves so much of a hard time about what we want to achieve -  that we sadistically forget what we have achieved already. It's important to keep track of where you are going and the little (or big) achievements you have gathered along the way. This does not mean sharing throwbacks of production shots on social media every. other. day. (The odd one never hurt anybody's ego, though...) However, it does mean refreshing over your CV. Appreciate the memories and experiences you have learnt from various classes, workshops, jobs you have done. Utilise those skills you have picked up whilst being a jobbing actor - and channel them into your auditions etc.

I'm gonna do a bit of free advertising now (but it is relevant). I recently started Acting UP! screen acting classes at The Union Theatre. Not only are they amazing value, but they have helped with my confidence building. Picking up a script and doing something new at weekly classes has made self-tapes and filming in my professional life easier. Maybe easier isn't the word - it's more so that my confidence has increased, helping me to make the decisions I need to make for acting.

I have also been enjoying the rehearsal room rehearsing for a new play set in Northern Ireland "Good Gracious, Good Friday" - as part of Theatre N16's "N16 Presents" (a new writing night). It's so lovely to be part of something that I am passionate about - the writing is fantastic, rich and relatable, as well as being fecking hilarious. (Tickets on sale here) https://lineupnow/com/event/n16-presents-1
This was an unexpected project that popped up to my delight - which ticked off no "date of achievement" in my diary, but rather has added unexpected (but valuable) experience to my life as an actor.

Constant grafting as an actor is a daily chore. I have flipped this around and see it as a fun lifestyle that I live. I have grafted and worked hard and will continue to do so, but it (mostly) doesn't feel like a chore. It's important to have the confidence to be assured that the efforts you have put in won't go to waste. And sometimes, letting it be, can pay off.

I am a divil for saying "I can't wait for this..." or "only so many days until that" - quite literally wishing my life away. What I think I have learnt (and what I will probably continue to struggle to do) is to: Live for the now (à la Meisner) - rather than setting myself time limits.

"Look how far we've come, my baby." Shania Twain knows

Using this as a metaphor - as, 20 years down the line, I have come a long way from being a crying Noddy, scared of their own sister. And I have the hindsight to see that she was not, in fact, Sly the Goblin, but merely dressed up as him.