05/02/24 - 09/02/24 incl. Snowdrop performance!

Week 49 of Milly's acting journey 

Monday was our first full week back at college since being with Zest for two weeks and it was straight into Connections rehearsals for those involved. Since I'm not, I took Monday as a time to catch up on any outstanding work like blogger that had to be done and used my time wisely. Before I left to do so, Kelly talked to us Year 2's about any updates with University, where I made sure to tell her about my Arden audition happening the following week. I felt really confident in my Shakespeare, which is part of the audition alongside a screen test using a given script that I was in the process of learning. My Monday may not have been the most productive in a practical sense but it allowed me to get lots done with the written side of the course, which I was very thankful about. 

On Tuesday, we dedicated our afternoon normally spent with Tom and Kelly doing uni preparation, to do rehearsals for Alan's show on Friday called 'Snowdrop'. When I knew I could be an extra in his show, I straight away knew this was something I wanted to be apart of as I knew how much it meant to Alan. Hes always been someone who supports other people and tries to get to everyone's performances outside of college, and with this script being one of the winners at the National Theatre New Views writing competition, it would be so silly not to get involved and help out someone who helps all of us out. We spent a lot of time going over ensemble scenes that include all of those helping out as extras, so that our time would be used well. Everyone's characters are made from their own ideas and with the people that Alan saw on his journey. For example, my character is an older sister looking after my younger brother who is played by Adam, and our story line is that we had to leave our parents and meet them later down the line at our Aunties house in England. Since I love Adam like a brother, it wasn't hard to feel protective of him and want to look out for him. We both gave it our all and even without lines, tried to show clearly the care and sibling love we have for one another. Rehearsals lasted around an hour and we were then allowed to leave to allow Aiden and Tom time to do their scenes with Alan. I made sure to catch up on my blog and go over my audition piece for my Arden audition. 

On Tuesday night, the cast list for Sophia and Elliott's directed piece 'STUFF' was released, and I was lucky to get the role of Stace which I had auditioned for during our time at Zest one lunch break. I immediately was drawn to Stace for her kindness yet clumsiness in the words she says, and it's not a character I've taken on just yet. I'm able to act with Millie as she is playing my cousin Dani, so I'm very excited to act with her again since Little Women. Wednesday was spent reading through the STUFF script and getting a feel for what we all sound like together. I really enjoyed doing this, and I can't wait to get started on getting it on it's feet properly. 

Thursday and Friday were spent at the Arc doing rehearsals for Alan's show, with the show being on Friday night. With us only being extras, it meant sitting and waiting in the wings for our cues but I loved getting to watch the scenes because it gave me a clear understanding of the entirety of the show, and it was so heartwarming to watch. Our ensemble scenes all take place at the beginning of the show where we go from being at the train station to on the train, to then a stop for drinks and warm soup, to then lying on the floor for sleep to then pretending to be tourists or workers in London. Our London scene characters needed to be vastly different from our beginning characters, in which me and Adam were crazy tourists who plan to go and see every landmark possible. There's a moment where we pretend to take a picture with the 'Big Ben' behind us to act like we're really excited to be seeing it. A lot of our rehearsal time was spent letting the tech team get the lighting and sound set to the right place and time, so there was multiple teams where we were lying on the floor for a lot longer than necessary because the lighting needed to be adjusted. The costume was very simple, it consisted of wrapping up and getting nice and warm to pretend and highlight how cold it really was instead. I wore my black puffer coat, hat, scarf and gloves and once we got to London, I took it all off to be left in my grey long sleeved top and jeans, and used my phone for pictures with 'landmarks'. The performance on Friday night was just beautiful. I sat in the wings so that I could watch it all and I made sure to take pictures for Alan from the side. Every single person in the cast came onto stage at the end to take a bow, and I could someone in the audience waving a a large Ukrainian flag and I suddenly remember getting very emotional. This is a story that needed to be spotlighted and shared and I'm so grateful I was able to have a small part in it.