The final review from last weeks gallivanting is here!
This one is from the performance at 'Nowt Part Of' and is by Manchester Mule!
I can't believe it, 5 out of 5! That's not to be sniffed at is it?
Have a read...
http://manchestermule.com/article/theatre-review-confessions-of-a-waitress
Showing posts with label confessions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confessions. Show all posts
17 July 2013
12 July 2013
Buxton Fringe Review
The latest review of Confessions of a Waitress is up on The Buxton Fringe Festival site!
Take a look! I'm so pleased, I'm fining it difficult not to come across like I am bragging at the moment, but I honestly can not express how much I have loved this week and how lucky I feel!
4 rave reviews so far! Hopefully another by the end of the week!
http://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2013the.html#56
Take a look! I'm so pleased, I'm fining it difficult not to come across like I am bragging at the moment, but I honestly can not express how much I have loved this week and how lucky I feel!
4 rave reviews so far! Hopefully another by the end of the week!
http://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2013the.html#56
11 July 2013
Shhhhh, listen...click.
I would not describe myself as a confident person.
I am very self aware. I know what I can be good at, I know when I'm being moody, I know when I'm not any good. But even with that self awareness, self doubt creeps in on a fairly regular basis.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about loosing my excitement for doing the thing I love, and with that my confidence.
I imagine my confidence to be an ill fitting peg in hole in my brain. It had always just bin jammed in willy nilly, and wobbled a little. To those who know me it will come as no surprise that I may have one or two screws loose.
Can you hear that rattling?
Well when I had THAT experience, and I hit my threshold for just what I could take, that peg became well and truly dislodged. It fell out of place completely. Tentatively I have been trying different screw drivers and hammers trying to get it back in place.
Clink, roll, shit, where's that bloody peg gone?
I'm not going to lie, before heading to Buxton Fringe Festival this past weekend I was terrified, the heart burn was back in the morning and there was a rather distressing dream involving a train, a derailment and a lot of drowning goats.
I hadn't heard from the venue, I hadn't had any ticket inquiries, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do.
Luckily on the Sunday I had the fabulous Hannah Ellis with me (I've told you about her, she is wise and writes over at oopsimavegan.com) to keep me sane and grounded and push me to go and just leaflet.
Then there was the relief of getting to the venue and everyone being lovely and helpful and supportive. And to find that 7 tickets had already been prebooked.
Not only that but the sun was shining and Buxton is beautiful.
There it is!
Slowly I found my feet and leaflet patter, then the performance came around and it all went well. A full house, and though I returned home with a feeling that my reviewer hadn't enjoyed it, I felt relieved, one down one to go.
The Monday came around and I braced myself for a much harder day on all fronts. And boy did I have to brace myself as I entered the Pavilion to find my review.
Deep breath... BUT it was another good'un! Chuffed, spring in step I headed out to leaflet. I was on my own Monday and it was definitely quieter. I couldn't rest on my laurels and in the back of my mind I found it hard to believe I could generate an audience for 6pm on a Monday evening. So by 4pm I was beginning to feel nervous once more, headed to my venue to set everything up totally convinced it would all be coming back down at 6.05pm.
So convinced that nobody would turn up at 5.50pm I was sat making sure things were tidy and easy to pack when 15 people turned up!
I was shocked but most of all I was over the moon, I could feel myself grinning. I was so happy I was going to get to perform. And when I did, I just enjoyed it. And so did they.
After the show I held my first ever 'chat with the artist' I didn't shake once, like I usually do when public speaking, I was just honest. Talking about the work I love to do.
And after all of that? They asked for autographs.
Shhhh, listen...click...
That peg is finally back in it's correct place, and this time (for now) it is definitely a better fit x
I am very self aware. I know what I can be good at, I know when I'm being moody, I know when I'm not any good. But even with that self awareness, self doubt creeps in on a fairly regular basis.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about loosing my excitement for doing the thing I love, and with that my confidence.
I imagine my confidence to be an ill fitting peg in hole in my brain. It had always just bin jammed in willy nilly, and wobbled a little. To those who know me it will come as no surprise that I may have one or two screws loose.
Can you hear that rattling?
Well when I had THAT experience, and I hit my threshold for just what I could take, that peg became well and truly dislodged. It fell out of place completely. Tentatively I have been trying different screw drivers and hammers trying to get it back in place.
Clink, roll, shit, where's that bloody peg gone?
I'm not going to lie, before heading to Buxton Fringe Festival this past weekend I was terrified, the heart burn was back in the morning and there was a rather distressing dream involving a train, a derailment and a lot of drowning goats.
I hadn't heard from the venue, I hadn't had any ticket inquiries, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do.
Luckily on the Sunday I had the fabulous Hannah Ellis with me (I've told you about her, she is wise and writes over at oopsimavegan.com) to keep me sane and grounded and push me to go and just leaflet.
Then there was the relief of getting to the venue and everyone being lovely and helpful and supportive. And to find that 7 tickets had already been prebooked.
Not only that but the sun was shining and Buxton is beautiful.
There it is!
Slowly I found my feet and leaflet patter, then the performance came around and it all went well. A full house, and though I returned home with a feeling that my reviewer hadn't enjoyed it, I felt relieved, one down one to go.
The Monday came around and I braced myself for a much harder day on all fronts. And boy did I have to brace myself as I entered the Pavilion to find my review.
Deep breath... BUT it was another good'un! Chuffed, spring in step I headed out to leaflet. I was on my own Monday and it was definitely quieter. I couldn't rest on my laurels and in the back of my mind I found it hard to believe I could generate an audience for 6pm on a Monday evening. So by 4pm I was beginning to feel nervous once more, headed to my venue to set everything up totally convinced it would all be coming back down at 6.05pm.
So convinced that nobody would turn up at 5.50pm I was sat making sure things were tidy and easy to pack when 15 people turned up!
I was shocked but most of all I was over the moon, I could feel myself grinning. I was so happy I was going to get to perform. And when I did, I just enjoyed it. And so did they.
After the show I held my first ever 'chat with the artist' I didn't shake once, like I usually do when public speaking, I was just honest. Talking about the work I love to do.
And after all of that? They asked for autographs.
Shhhh, listen...click...
That peg is finally back in it's correct place, and this time (for now) it is definitely a better fit x
27 June 2013
Leafletssss...
My first ever leaflets have arrived! LOOK!
I know you are probably sick of seeing that image of my face over, and over, and over again!
Also, think I may have overdone it on the shouty review stars but that is what they are for I guess!
So these leaflets are for Buxton Fringe and Nowt Part Of, and the plan is to go around to local restaurants and bars and chat to the staff, I know there is a HIDEOUS statistic that says fr every 200 leaflets you an expect one ticket, so I'm hoping that this might be a little more effective than that!
x
26 June 2013
LOST: Excitement and a Mobile Phone
For the full back ground knowledge on this next post read this and this.
For the past two months I have been struggling with two events and their consequences. I have been trying to ignore it, I couldn't put my finger on what the feeling was, and I presumed it would go away. But I'm pretty sure that the only way I can find what it is that I've lost is to really talk this through...
The first thing that happened was, a personal thing, something which made me rethink basically EVERYTHING in my life. I felt I had lost control on every string which tied me together. It was ages since I had performed, I hadn't applied for any new festivals, filled out any proposals, I was just waiting in limbo. At the same time, I became very aware of how much weight I have put on, that I had been single for a year, that my social life centered around a handful of people, places and things.
Basically, this was not the adventure I had first planned when I moved to Manchester, nor was it the reimagined Mancunian life I had hoped to return to after Christmas.
I started getting panicky, but I took a few deep breaths and began to take back control. I started dieting, looking for new opportunities, socializing more, and basically refocusing my energy.
A lot of that energy was pinned on going down to London to perform. It was a big achievement for me, it was something to get excited about, to remind myself of. Something that was going to mark the end of this weird anxious period.
Well going down to London did not go how I had planned. In the first post I wrote about this whole experience I avoided focusing on the negatives and instead looked at it as a learning curve. But if I am being honest, I'm still not quite there yet.
If I'm honest, how badly I feel London went, how stressful it was, how much it did not live up to my expectations, how much it wasn't the solution I thought it would be has stuck with me.
And while in my personal life all is swell, as a performer, I have lost something.
I've lost that excitement of going on stage. Of getting up there and doing my thing. I don't see performing as a happy place at the moment, because I don't want to expect too much, after all that is the best way to avoid disappointment isn't it?
Instead of the butterflies and adrenalin that I normally use to fuel my performance, before going out recently, I've felt anxious. I've been focusing on emergency routes, fall back plans. Predicting how things could go wrong.
Now that might sound like a very sensible thing to do on the one hand, and of course it is. But not when that is getting in the way of excitement.
As a performer I run on energy, it is what makes my work make sense. I normally have a nervous energy that is charming, and infectious, recently I've had that type of nervous energy that makes people uncomfortable.
Or at least that is how I feel my performances have been recently. Of course, I am my own biggest critic, and others have reassured me that I have nothing to be embarrassed about.
So this is my conclusion. I have lost my excitement, I don't run on adrenalin, I don't reach a high. I just feel flat, even if to an audience my performance doesn't.
I'm now turning my metaphorical house upside down looking for it, I'm looking under and through old reviews, I'm moving boxes of old pictures, filing away bad experiences, and it is coming back. Now that I know what I'm looking for the search is basically over.
Even admitting this all outloud, I can feel butterflies, or at least hear them, I'm obviously getting closer.
Unfortunately the same can not be said for my mobile phone.
x
For the past two months I have been struggling with two events and their consequences. I have been trying to ignore it, I couldn't put my finger on what the feeling was, and I presumed it would go away. But I'm pretty sure that the only way I can find what it is that I've lost is to really talk this through...
The first thing that happened was, a personal thing, something which made me rethink basically EVERYTHING in my life. I felt I had lost control on every string which tied me together. It was ages since I had performed, I hadn't applied for any new festivals, filled out any proposals, I was just waiting in limbo. At the same time, I became very aware of how much weight I have put on, that I had been single for a year, that my social life centered around a handful of people, places and things.
Basically, this was not the adventure I had first planned when I moved to Manchester, nor was it the reimagined Mancunian life I had hoped to return to after Christmas.
I started getting panicky, but I took a few deep breaths and began to take back control. I started dieting, looking for new opportunities, socializing more, and basically refocusing my energy.
A lot of that energy was pinned on going down to London to perform. It was a big achievement for me, it was something to get excited about, to remind myself of. Something that was going to mark the end of this weird anxious period.
Well going down to London did not go how I had planned. In the first post I wrote about this whole experience I avoided focusing on the negatives and instead looked at it as a learning curve. But if I am being honest, I'm still not quite there yet.
If I'm honest, how badly I feel London went, how stressful it was, how much it did not live up to my expectations, how much it wasn't the solution I thought it would be has stuck with me.
And while in my personal life all is swell, as a performer, I have lost something.
I've lost that excitement of going on stage. Of getting up there and doing my thing. I don't see performing as a happy place at the moment, because I don't want to expect too much, after all that is the best way to avoid disappointment isn't it?
Instead of the butterflies and adrenalin that I normally use to fuel my performance, before going out recently, I've felt anxious. I've been focusing on emergency routes, fall back plans. Predicting how things could go wrong.
Now that might sound like a very sensible thing to do on the one hand, and of course it is. But not when that is getting in the way of excitement.
As a performer I run on energy, it is what makes my work make sense. I normally have a nervous energy that is charming, and infectious, recently I've had that type of nervous energy that makes people uncomfortable.
Or at least that is how I feel my performances have been recently. Of course, I am my own biggest critic, and others have reassured me that I have nothing to be embarrassed about.
So this is my conclusion. I have lost my excitement, I don't run on adrenalin, I don't reach a high. I just feel flat, even if to an audience my performance doesn't.
I'm now turning my metaphorical house upside down looking for it, I'm looking under and through old reviews, I'm moving boxes of old pictures, filing away bad experiences, and it is coming back. Now that I know what I'm looking for the search is basically over.
Even admitting this all outloud, I can feel butterflies, or at least hear them, I'm obviously getting closer.
Unfortunately the same can not be said for my mobile phone.
x
25 June 2013
Just a quick one...
All a bit crazy at the moment, but hopefully will get to write properly in the next couple of days!
In the mean time I am performing back in Manchester as part of Nowt Part of Festival on July 10th at The Black Lion in Salford! So if you are free come along and join the event here! https://www.facebook.com/events/134522863413157/?fref=ts
And I'm not the only Lancaster graduate performing! The delectable and delightful Josh Coates and Jon Coleman also have shows! ?Take a look at theirs here...
https://www.facebook.com/events/552882914754403/?ref=3
In the mean time for all the latest up to date news from Nowt Part Of follow them on twitter
@NowtPartOf
Speak soon x
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