Well, you are disobeying what I said so that’s good or these words would just lie here unvisited. There’s something a bit quirky in creative people. They tend to think in different and unusual ways.
And that’s what I want to talk about this week. Over the years I have met many young people, and sometimes their parents, who have decided they want to work as a performer. Sometimes they have their head in the clouds, deluded even and sometimes they have a very clear idea of how hard they must work and what they need to do. I have trained many who have made it, many from Theatretrain.
One thing I have spotted over the years is that young people often have no idea about how you do the job of performing. Isn’t it obvious you might think? Don’t they just rehearse, learn the lines, songs, and dances and that’s that?
“When it comes down to it there are three essential parts that are required. There is the performer, the artist, and the self.”
Sadly, no it’s not as easy as that. When it comes down to it there are three essential parts that are required. There is the performer, the artist, and the self. All three of those aspects need to be inside most would-be performers. We all start from the same place. We are born into this world, and we try to make sense of it as we go along. A performer’s job is to represent some of that world to an audience. To do that they need to work on themselves, on their bodies, their voice, their mind, and their attitude. That’s a lot to think about.
That is hard to do because a lot of people’s experience is about repeating moves or words the same each time. So how do you make each moment live?
I wrote the book “100 Days developing the performer’s mindset” so that young people and adults can have a complete sense of how it works. Each of the 100 days gives a new challenge that the reader does in their own time, on their own. It opens their thinking about who they are and how they perform. One important part of it is the concept of NOW. Something that really excites an audience – the sense that this is happening right now. That is hard to do because a lot of people’s experience is about repeating moves or words the same each time. So how do you make each moment live?
Read this book each day and by the end of it you will know whether this is the career for you. You will either be even more excited by how creative it is and how you can use your life to help you, or you will realise that it requires more than you can give.
So, if you know a young person who wants to be a performer, get them this book. It will give them food for thought so when they start preparing for an audition, they’ll be in an entirely different place to those who haven’t read it.
Oh, and there are only 5 weeks until Christmas. Only saying!
For over 30 years Kevin Dowsett has been at the forefront of theatre training for young people. When Theatretrain started in 1992 it was his firm belief that the classes in acting, singing and dancing should be of exceptional quality with a view of really getting to the bottom of what it is to be a performer. If your child would like to experience top-quality part-time theatre classes, then Theatretrain is the place to do it. For further information on Theatretrain, visit www.theatretrain.co.uk
