Since my last post on March 6th, the world changed. Here’s where I am now.
I’ll start with how grateful I am that I am sitting here in my new 2020 home on a very quiet street in South East London. I have a nonessential job which means I don’t come across that many people or take public transport every day. I have a nonessential job – I know people who lost theirs. I have a body I can do yoga poses with (please read my cousin Nora’s story), I have my microphone and an awesome closet I can sit and do my voiceover auditions in. I can still buy my vegan cheese and my audiobooks (currently Stephen Fry reading Mythos). I can watch vintage Kristen Stewart movies (check her out in Welcome to the Rileys and The Cake Eaters, wow), and Outrivals’ workouts. I can also follow career advice by Jodie Bentley. It’s the apocalypse with internet.
Stay fit, that’s what they recommend. Take a walk, work out at home, use your brain. What does this mean for actors, filmmakers, theatre makers? How do we stay fit? How do we stay fit for the day when casting starts up again and they will be hungry for new faces, new energy, when it will be such a joy to just sit across from a fellow actor, look deeply into their eyes, and film that - that’s a scene right there.
This idea of staying fit is not very different from what was before. The goal as an actor between roles is to stay ready, physically and mentally, for when the next opportunity comes. What we are missing now is physical contact, but what we can do today is dig deeper: take these extra hours in the day and ask, why am I an actor in the first place? What is this new learned speech really saying, how can I truly make it mine? Who is the true me that casting will see the next time I’m in the room with them? Ah, the room! The time we have is not just for doing, but also for reflecting, going deeper into ourselves. A day spent being bored, questioning and noticing new things is not a day lost. It also belongs to the actor’s life.
Until very recently, the whole “all you need is love” philosophy seemed cliché. But as Eckhart Tolle will say, the present moment is all you will ever have. The only thing that is sure is that you’re going to breathe in in a split second. Whether we’ll be isolated for another month or another year is uncertain, so all you can do is work with what you have now, nurture the loving feelings around you and remain at ease. One breath at a time.
Hey, I’m not saying I do this all the time! But I realise now that that’s all there is. I am okay, and that’s all there is.
I will finish by posting two short films I created and some behind the scenes photos to show how beautifully busy our film sets were. We’ll be back soon!
Un Dimanche (French, 5 minutes) (dir. me)
Der Gugelhupf (German, 5 minutes) (dir. me and Hannah Rogers)
Thanks for reading and by the way, did you notice my new website design and pictures?
Wherever you are, sending much Love!