Drama Studio London (DSL)
In August 2004 I began my training at Drama Studio London (DSL), and spent the next year learning as much as I could from the school’s knowledgeable and inspiring tutors. It was a practical training, which focused not only on acting for the stage, but also for TV, commercials and radio, as well as storytelling, role-play and drama for business. Classes included the core subjects of voice, movement, singing, dance, improvisation and text analysis, as well as stage combat, theatre history, stagecraft, accents, physical theatre, period movement, audition technique, and character. Some memorable roles during the year were:
Shakespeare
Working with the excellent director Chris Pickles on Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ was a great experience. I played a giggly child-like Hero for Acts 1 and 2, before handing the role over to a fellow student (in true drama school style!) Acts 3, 4 and 5 saw me return as Margaret, the feisty, flirty waiting-gentlewoman, who I played with a thick Yorkshire accent. I loved the contrast between these two very different roles, and it was so refreshing to perform comedy; up until that point all of my roles had been terribly serious!
Restoration Comedy
Another comic role I really enjoyed playing was Margery Pinchwife in Restoration Comedy ‘The Country Wife’, directed by Jack Edwards. We were well-drilled on our physicality by Jack, who is somewhat of a period movement guru, and performed a traditional court masque at the play’s opening. The costumes were beautiful, although unluckily I had a quick change from full Restoration dress complete with corset and bustle into a boy’s shirt, tunic and breeches in literally one minute! I had good helpers though and managed it in the end! Another of my enduring memories of the Restoration plays was just how surprisingly good all the men looked in their heavy white makeup, wigs and frilly costumes. Very dashing!
Chekhov
We studied the main plays of Chekhov in detail at DSL, but when it came to performance, my group’s director and school principal Peter Craze chose to stage a lesser known play called ‘Wild Honey’. It is a version by Michael Frayn of one of Chekhov’s early manuscripts, known usually as ‘Platonov’ after its main character. I played Platonov’s long-suffering wife Sasha, who serves as a sad and poignant counterpoint role to other more frivolous and comic characters in the cast. It is one of those plays which can make you laugh one moment and cry the next. The difficulty for me was standing backstage listening to raucous laughter, knowing I had to go onstage and break down in tears in a moment. I had to try and ignore the laughter, telling myself ‘think sad thoughts, think sad thoughts!!’
Other roles
Life at DSL wasn’t all about speaking verse and performing in long frocks though; we also had our sillier moments. I had great fun playing Beauty in a local schools tour of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and also performed a trio in the school concert from the show ‘A My Name is Alice’, in which three nervous ladies visit a male strip club for the first time, and quickly forget their shyness! Also, our Christmas cabaret was fabulous fun, when I performed a flamenco duet with my good friend Amber and an energetic group Bollywood dance. I must have lost about half a stone in the space of a week from rehearsing those dance numbers!!
The last performance of the year at DSL’s Grange Court Theatre was my final show ‘The Bright and Bold Design’ by Peter Whelan. I played the main role of the young artist Jessie Frost, and was directed once again by school principal Peter Craze. Read more about this performance
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