Sunday 1 April 2012

A Is For...Acting

I am taking part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Twenty six posts over the course of the month of April all corresponding to a different letter of the alphabet. Here's the first post I have written for it and naturally enough it concerns the letter A.

A is for...Acting:

I am an actor.

I make that sound like a confession, or an introduction you might hear at Actor's Anonymous, and I don't mean to.

My father was in the Royal Air Force and before I knew what an actor was or did, I was going to follow in his footsteps and join up. We lived on RAF bases, I went to RAF schools and practically everyone I knew was involved in the RAF somehow, so I had no idea their was a life outside the Royal Air Force. When I was about seven years old, we returned from two years based in Germany and I attended non-forces school that did a school play every Christmas. I was very quickly hooked. I loved it. I became aware of actors for the first time. The people that did this for a living fascinated me. I read TV and film credits voraciously and would be able to quote tranches of certain actors CVs whenever I saw them on screen. I began recognising actor's voices in cartoons and the revelation that a few actors could voice a cast of thousands was magical to me.

I knew that I wanted to be an actor, but there was still a veil over the profession. I had no idea how one became an actor and the only references on TV were in Making Of [Insert Film Name] style documentaries/promotional material, that implied that actors were to be found in armchairs and full make-up waiting to be interviewed and that all actors worked constantly.

Sadly, that isn't the case. This is an exaggeration, but:


I've certainly never had more fun in a cold and drafty church hall than when I've been rehearsing a play. When you hear an audience react positively, it's intoxicating. It may very well be an addiction, but it's not one that I'm willing to seek treatment for. Maybe those periods of unemployment work like going cold turkey. It's unpredictable and unreliable, but when you are working there's no job like it...

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm loving the start of the challenge! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see a 'Follow Blog by Email' link anywhere, and I'd very much like to follow it.

Kittie Howard said...

Great start, Dave. I love how you're doing what you want to do, what is right for you.

Dave said...

Claudia, thank you, I've added a Follow By Email thingy. Thanks.

Kittie, thanks. That's the plan, how successful it is, we'll see...

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Wonderful post for the beginning of the challenge. I wish you all the luck with what you want to do.
Also good luxk with the challenge.

Yvonne. www.welcometomyworldofpoetry.blogspot.com

Dave said...

Thank you Yvonne, good luck to you too.

Sheila Siler said...

I think acting seems like so much fun, always thought I'd like to be the stuffy old librarian character actress . .. good luck with the challenge!

David Macaulay said...

Nice post Dave - my first post in last year's challenge was about the air cadets as I also considered joining the RAF

David

http://britsintheus23.blogspot.com/

Dave said...

Sheila and David, thank you both .

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Aw Dave, I wish I could give it a go.

SueH said...

Hi, Dave!

Are you into just acting or do you have a musical side to you?

I'm a theatre-aholic and love to visit the West End musicals when funds allow, but thankfully we live near several of the larger regional theatres and can mostly pick things up when they tour and we have a small local theatre which we support on a regular basis.

The OH and I must have done something right as our offspring are theatre-savvy too (especially our daughter!) - although they've never 'trodden the boards, themselves!

I really have a lot of admiration for people who follow their dream and I wish you all success.

Will be keeping tabs to see what you get up to - never know, we might turn up in one of your audiences! ;-)

SueH I refuse to go quietly!

Pa Ul said...

Interesting A

Here is mine
http://pa-ul.blogspot.com/2012/03/z-artists.html

Unknown said...

Ha! I love your pictures - they tell the whole story, don't they? It would be good to do a series for a writer. Good luck with the A-Z

Dave said...

Gillian, I'm sure you could.

Sue H, I did a few musicals at school, but I haven't really kept up the singing since. I'd give it a go though.

Theatre-aholism is a condition I hope they never cure, especially at a local level. I'm glad to hear it's hereditary.

Thank you Sue.

Anonymous Pa Ul, thanks.

Susan Roebuck, I can't claim to have made it myself, but it's more accurate than I'd like to admit. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

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