My feature as guest blogger as posted on 'Southend Scoop'
Graduating and Global Enhnacers
Lockdown has been challenging for me in many ways! Not only did I have to put on my final show ONLINE, I am also comprehending graduating into a global
crisis. It has been a truly unique process; never thought that, in my three years at drama school, I would be live streaming an online countdown for my final show of training in my childhood bedroom. The show I devised with 13 others, (from 4 different countries!) was called, ‘Global Enhancers’, a multi-platform, digital, immersive live show. Our main intention was to highlight how people in vulnerable situations, like isolation, can be exploited through their search for escapism, whilst exploring the internet’s captivating illusions and pyramid schemes.Aside from technical mishaps and starting our project like headless chickens, our class produced three wonderfully different digital live performances, and watching my classmate’s creativity flourish has been overwhelmingly rewarding. The support received online from creatives has been immense during this dauting period of time, and I am feeling very grateful for all of the opportunities that have been made for Acting students graduating at this time. Knowing that there is a vast support network out there, waiting for things to be created, is comforting.
Music and Muddling Through
As well as this, I have also been busy with my music work! I am a keen singer-songwriter (EP on the way…) and have loved taking this time to finally fine tune and explore my own music, aside from my degree. I have had the wonderful experience of getting involved with On Hope: A Digital Song Cycle, a trilogy of new musical theatre songs, live streamed by The Other Palace, as well as getting involved with lots of Facebook Live Streams. I have also been running music theory lessons over Zoom! Having to write my 6 months to 5 year plan for a final project at school, really left me contemplating whether theatre as we once knew it, will be the theatre of the future. The fear of the unknown is real, but if lockdown has taught me anything, it is the acceptance of a current situation, questioning how to get the most from it and how to find it’s positive attributes, even though some days they may be hard to count. However, what does comfort me, is that this is new for everyone in the creative world. It does not matter that I am yet to turn 21, I have already had the experience of creating a well received, online digital performance that many are just beginning to explore. During lockdown, I think it is really important not to force creativity, as this can often leave you feeling more frustrated and overwhelmed than before you started, but instead allowing yourself the time to do all those things that you never finished, to write down all the new ideas that you never had a chance to, and most importantly, to re-tune with your creativity. As artists, we are often pushed to make things or do things in a certain way, but during lockdown I have loved having the time to what I want to do, how and when I want to do it.
Comments