I’m not a Doctor

Today’s blog post comes to you directly from an Artist’s Date. And a bloody full week, if I’m honest.

I had a great conversation with my agent, Bianca on Monday night about my mind-set and how I’ve always felt that my choice of career has been a very fickle one, which is very grounded in society as being very self-centred and unworthy. And I think it’s always affected my level of dedication to my work. Because if I don’t think what I’m doing is important, why would I give it 100%? I’m not going to be vulnerable and open and giving to something that I think has no value. I mean, I’m not a doctor am I? Or a lawyer. Or an aid worker.

I’m an actor.

But fuck me, if I haven’t had a great change of heart since working through The Artists Way. Through a lot of soul searching and work, I’ve had an interesting epiphany: everyone on the planet has the capacity and a need to create and we all express it in different ways. Some create ways to cure the sick, some create ways to protect the innocent, some create ways to feed the hungry. And me? I create ways to reflect human behaviour so that we can hold a mirror to society and say “this is how these people live”. And it’s not bloody frivolous. It gives people persepctive. It gives them escapism. It gives them ideas, understanding and empathy. So, go ahead –  try and tell me that that’s not worthy of my passion and dedication?

This sh*t is necessary… who knew?

Back at the beginning of 2012 was when I started this little wee blog and it was all about furthering myself and my skills and giving myself the best possible opportunity to work in an industry that I love. YEAH! And wow, has being in Sydney changed my perspective. Here in Sydney, people work so hard. Like, SO hard. I thought I was taking my career seriously when I lived in Adelaide, but I had no idea. In Sydney, I work on every facet of my performing skills, from voice to movement to monologues and scene analysis, I see every piece of theatre I can (and for free wherever possible…) and now I’ve started a journey which I feel is furthering me more… much more than all of that combined. I, for the first time ever, am working on myself.

I have started a process of delving back into my past and working out what it is that has held me back from actually achieving all I know I can. Because I have walls. So many darn walls that I put up to stop people getting in. And I know I’ve blogged about this before, so I’ve been aware that I protect myself, but what I didn’t realise was that it was affecting my whole world – the eye contact with people that I’ve always found so excruciating, my aloof persona, my continual negative feelings that people dislike me. EVERYTHING. It’s sparked an exploration of mammoth proportions. Who am I? Is the title of this exploration. Because I think that after protecting myself for more than twenty years, I’m not really sure anymore. The person that I show to people is entirely at odds with the person that I feel inside, so when I’m acting, I’m still holding those walls up. It would probably be ok to be guarded and protected if I were an accountant. Or a PA. Or a tradie. But I want to perform in theatre and film that reflects real human behaviour without any of my stupid internal hang-ups. So this shit is necessary. Who knew?

I actually feel like serious change is afoot. And it is. I feel so different, and I’m so happy with the changes. Because even though I feel different, I also feel comfortable in myself. So – I’m currently working my way through The Artist’s Way, and it’s just a series of little exercises that you can do to unblock your creativity, working through things in your past, little essays to read, taking yourself on artist dates and writing three stream of consciousness pages every morning. I feel the difference and I’m only two weeks in. I’ll keep you posted.

Qapla!

What is this blog about again… oh yes! Acting and stuff in Sydney right?

Sorry, blog, I know it’s been a while… but I want you back…

Today is Monday 25th March and really, I feel like the year is just beginning for me. The last three months have been such a rollercoaster that it actually feels a bit like I fell asleep and dreamed them and have just woken up, feeling somewhat groggy and a tad hungover, and it’s taken me the last couple of weeks to wake up.

BUT NOW I’M AWAKE. So awake and ready for the year to start here. Which is kinda interesting because Larry Moss has just come to town and it was on his arrival last year that I began my blog the first time around. Morning, Larry.

At the beginning of this year I took a course ran by my lovely agents Rebekah and Bianca at RBM and I’m definitely more inspired. Blurgh… kinda beginning to hate that word because people throw it around all the time…. “I’m soooooo inspired right now…” and then they continue on as though that millisecond of inspiration had never happened. But still, I’m inspired. I’m currently making my way through a book called ‘The Magic’ which, if you haven’t seen it before, is all about how to live a more inspired and successful existance, mostly by being grateful and thankful for the things we currently have in our lives, rather than feeling down in the dumps about the things we don’t have. It’s about attracting things and people that will have a positive influence rather than a negative one. It’s about exuding a quality that attracts others and makes them want to work with you/befriend you… whatever you want you. It’s a 28 day schedule of things you can do to make your life more successful and fulfilling. And it sounds a bit wanky. And it is. But I really like it, because I feel better in myself and happier with who I am, the journey I’m taking, and the future ahead. And yes, in the first two weeks that I was doing it, I auditioned twice and got roles twice. Coincidence…? Maybe. But does it hurt? No. I’m going to keep it up.

The Magic by Rhonda Byrne

 

So at the moment, I’m acting. Qapla! I’m working on two shows – a new part game, part theatre, part tour thingo with the Sydney Interactive Theatre Company, where audience members stroll through Surry Hills trying to work out a murder investigation and encounter actors on the way for a promenade style performance, which all ends in dinner… Sounds pretty sweet to me. And the second is a show for the Sydney Fringe Festival called ‘Toast’ in which I play a woman known as Catherine who has lost her dog. TIP- If you do an audition for a role where the person you’re playing has lost their dog, be so into it that you run offstage looking for Darcey the Dog. It worked for me 🙂

Toast

And today I have an audition for a Gaviscon commercial. And I actually have heartburn. Coincidence? Maybe. But does it hurt…? Yes. Kinda… Owwww, heartburn…

Smashingly Proactive

So, it’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog post… and that’s mostly because… well… not much has been happening. Well, it probably has, but I’ve been a tad lazy with sharing it all. Over the two weeks, I’ve seen some plays –

– Miss Julie at Darlingurst Theatre

– Private Lives at Belvoir St. Theatre

– Death of a Salesman at Belvoir St. Theatre

 

Been to some gigs –

– Mumford and Sons

– Fat Freddy’s Drop

 

I completed two workshops with Short and Sweet – one audition masterclass and one producers masterclass, attended a few Impulse practices, and a few voice classes… and what else..?

OH YEAH! I found an agent! Finally! So I met with the lovely ladies from Rebekah Biasi Management today and had a great chat. They were really lovely and liked my work and I really enjoyed their outlook. They like proactive actors and were really happy to see that I’m out there making my own work… oh and speaking of making my own work, it’s now less than 100 days till the opening of the Adelaide Fringe Festival and my company ThreeApplesHigh are ramping up for rehearsals and also launching our Pozible campaign to raise money for it. Exciting! We’re doing a show called Smashed by flippin’ excellent Melbourne writer, Lally Katz and we’ve just launched the blog for the shows process, which you can indeed check out at threeappleshigh.wordpress.com or you can pop along to out website which is threeappleshigh.org. So if you don’t see much going on over here, it’s probably because it’s all going on over there!

good days and bad days

So, we all have our good days and our bad days, right?

Today, I think would be classed as a bad one. I mean nothing bad has really happened as such. I just feel a bit down on myself and life in general. Don’t panic! Things will be all good tomorrow, I expect… but for now… blurgh.

So, to cheer myself up, I have compiled a list of some of my favourite play reviews from shows I’ve done over the last few years – A Doll’s House at Holden Street, Low Level Panic with Sahil and the gang at Arcade Lane, Othello with Independent, and my fave, fave, fave, The K of D at The Stables.

Just a reminder that yes, times is hard right now… but it’s worth it when what you do is appreciated and enjoyed.

Here they are…

 

The K of D / 2012

The K of D – Small Girl Theatre / Adelaide Fringe Festival 2012

There are 17 characters in The K of D and yet this seductive piece of theatre featured only a single performer. Kate Englefield’s impressive range of accents and ability to switch instantaneously between so many (17!) different physicalities (from teenage girls to menacing rednecks) meant that the audience could easily comprehend which character was on stage when … Incandescently performed, produced, funded, and with sound design all by Ms. Englefield, this proved to be a one-woman show in nearly every conceivable sense, and a thrilling theatrical experience.

Tom Drahos / Fringe Benefits

 

Kate Englefield, wide-eyed and eager, captures attention from the outset and holds her audience and she brings to life a story of rural small-town life, playing a dozen characters, male and female, young and old … Englefield achieves distinct personas for each and switches between them with ease, even in rapid-fire dialogue … This is a lovely piece of theatre, imaginatively brought to life and beautifully performed by Englefield.

Tony Busch / Adelaide Theatre Guide

 

Kate Englefield gives a brilliant tour de force as not only the girl narrator whose name we never know (or do we?), but all the remainder thirteen characters – male and female, young and old – who are well written and vital to the story.

Englefield is vivacious, fearful, joyous, terrifying and totally captivating for the entire hour and a half duration. Expressions, emotions, gestures and dialects are all spot-on. She switches characters in a blink of an eye, but never loses or confuses the audience …This is an actor’s story to tell and Ms. Englefield is THE actor to tell it.

Brian Godfrey / Theatre People

Othello / 2011

Othello Independent Theatre Company 2011

Kate Englefield powerfully portrays the despair of a young woman completely unable to understand the madness of what is happening to her idyllic life.

Stephen Horne / InDaily

Kate Englefield was the perfect Desdemona. Sweet, innocent, just bubbling over with love and loyalty – which made her demise ever more heartbreaking. Bravo!

David Grybowski / DB Magazine

 

Kate Englefield played Desdemona with authenticity and sensitivity. It is a role that in the wrong hands can be cloying and superficial. Englefield was credible throughout, and clearly showed her character’s confusion, puzzlement and sense of betrayal.

Dave Smith / TASA Online

 

Kate Englefield delivers a wonderful performance as the loving wife of Othello; strong and yet helpless in meeting her fate.
Kathryn Noble / Glam Adelaide

Low Level Panic 2011

Low Level Panic Half a Star Theatre / Adelaide Fringe Festival 2011

Set in a cleverly designed bathroom, with running water, the audience can be excused for feeling like a voyeur. The play starts of very strong with Jo (Maryann Boettcher) exploring the sexual power she could cast over men if she were just a few inches taller, while taking a bath. Later Jo explores a repetitive sexual fantasy which never reaches a conclusion. Mary (Kate Englefield), a victim of sexual assault is faced with the exploitation of the female body at every turn. Celia (Alicia Case) a controlling clean freak appears to be quite successful in her way with the boys.

The play starts of strong and contains two powerful solo acts by Englefield. Even though it seems to disengage the audience in times it is a great Fringe production.

Nicole Russo / Stage Whispers

 

Maryann Boettcher, Kate Englefield and Alicia Case are terrific as the three young women grappling with questions of identity, sexuality and society.

Louise Nunn / Adelaide Advertiser

 

As a young female obsessed with her body, Ms Boettcher is the only true comic relief in the unfolding drama and handles the role with skill and ease; with Ms Englefield equally skilled and excellent as the manic depressed rape victim. Both of these actors are on stage for the majority of the play and maintain the intensity and passion required without faltering.

Brian Godfrey / Adelaide Theatre Guide

 

Kate Englefield is particularly brilliant in her role as Mary.

Emmica Schlobohm / Fringe Benefits

A Doll’s House / 2009
TA Media

A Doll’s House Holden Street Theatres 2009

Kate Englefield gave a stellar performance as Nora Helmer, capturing both her flighty, captivating nature and her inner turmoil in a way which kept the audience lingering on her every word

Emma Arbon / Independent Weekly

Kate Englefield was a dynamic, intense and watchable Nora and expressed Nora’s rising anxiety like a cat on a hot tin roof

David Grybowski / DB Magazine

 

 

take a gamble on me

I have so many things to say, I don’t know where to start.

I said I was going to do things every day that worked towards my career. And the problem is, that I’ve been doing that… but not been keeping up with my blog. Naughty Kate. So, I’ll try to remember as much as I can…

First – plays I’ve seen –

1. This is Baby Doll by Factotum Theatre – so excellent. It was dark, dingy and dirty… and it was hot… or it felt hot – I don’t know which. But set on that cotton mill upstairs at the TAP Gallery it felt HOT. The tension was unbearable and the persistent ticking clock had me on edge throughout. The acting was beautiful – I felt very voyeuristic – like I was in the middle of the action and I was really taken on a journey. The only thing I could say, is that I wanted more. I felt like it needed a whole other act… I wanted closure. But maybe that was the point – wanting closure, but it never coming.

2. Between Two Waves @ Griffin Theatre – again, really amazing. Another incredible Griffin piece that made me applaud the effect of live theatre on an audience. A stunningly written piece, flitting back and forth through time, making me constantly ask questions as to how it all tied together. The transitions between scenes were effortless and inspired and the set was phenomenal. It was mostly quite plain and simple, and merely accessorised with quilts, Christmas decorations, laptops, etc… but then the ceiling literally dropped and water came flooding down… fark! It was a release for the audience and really made you feel for the lead character. Again, I enjoyed the acting – the energy was infectious and the connections between them were so truthful and real. Nice. I bought the script.

Second – classes I’ve done

1. Impulse Meisner drop-in – Excellent – really teaching me the true meaning of how to be free and accepting of whatever comes up in the repetition. Take it on and go with it…

2. Gabrielle Rogers voice class – I get really pumped on this class. It just feels like play and anything goes. I’d recommend this to any actor… 12:15pm – 1:30pm at Camperdown Stanmore Community Centre, cnr. Salisbury Rd & Cardigan St, Stanmore, just $15 per session and if you do 7 classes, you get your 8th free – yeah, loyalty card!

3. Dominic Stone audition masterclass – this was great for giving me a few new ways to think about auditioning and reaffirming a few bits I’d forgotten. The main things I took away were that your monologue should be a 2 minute piece of theatre on it’s own. It should go through a story arc and take the auditioner on a journey. Dominic also inspired me to think more about my physicality. For me, it always seems to be a bit of an afterthought, and I think it shows. This is kinda weird, because when I did The K of D earlier this year, physicality is where I started. I took each character of the 17 and first worked out how they walked, followed by working out how they spoke, which I did because I needed to be really definite about the differences between the characters, so the audience didn’t get confused. But I need this to be a priority with all roles, all characters.

Thirdly – Fringe and the dastardly admin side of being an actor

1. Our Adelaide Fringe show Smashed is now locked in! Smashed is an amazing play written by Melbourne playwright Lally Katz and we’re really lucky to be able to present the SA premiere. We’re doing eight shows over two weeks of the fringe at the Arts Space, Higher Ground and it will be performed by myself as Ruby and Mandahla Rose as Hazel with direction by the most excellent Victoria Beal. There will be a blog dedicated to the process of this production and we will also be launching a Pozible campaign for it in the next couple of weeks too, so look out for it – there’ll be some awesome rewards!

Smashed – Adelaide Fringe 2013

2. Finding an agent… this is something that I’m finding really bloody tough in this town. I’ve contacted so many people now, and even the amazing Nick and Carina from Adelaide Artists Agency have been helping by introducing me to agents and providing referrals… to no response. Or responses telling us that the books are closed. Aren’t they always? I know I’m not the only one with this issue, but it’s getting tiresome now… surely someone’s willing to take a gamble on me?

Anyway, that’ll do for now… chat soon!

 

 

 

the career comes first. no question

It has been a big week…

The most significant change to my life this week is that I QUIT MY JOB! My decision to do this began when I wrote the blogpost a few weeks ago entitled ‘How does one both eat and act?’ lamenting the lack of time I am able to dedicate to my career and how I was somewhat reluctant(!) to make telemarketing my meaningful career choice.  So, I thought on it and decided to bite the bullet. To be proactive in my life and not reactive. It would have been so much easier to continue on as I was… but if you don’t change your current situation, how can you expect to change your future?

So, this week has been excellent. Apart from the impending doom that is being completely penniless…

Firstly, Mandahla Rose and I have registered our Adelaide Fringe Show for 2013! Excellent! So it’s been an endless round of contacting venues, pulling together the creative team, writing witty words about the show and setting up various social media accounts to start promoting it. This is the company’s second show and next years is gonna be a good’un – starting with a bit of a re-brand and a new name. We are now ThreeApplesHigh – a reference to the height of the smurfs… and apt as the entire creative team are quite little 🙂

Smurfs are three apples high…

Secondly I have been prepping my audition piece for my forthcoming audition in Melbourne. I have picked a beautifully written piece from The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz and have been working pretty hard to get it perfect. I started off the week by really trying to nail the truth of the piece – As the character has been told by her lover than he no longer loves her, I have been exploring loss and imagining life without the one person that brings meaning. I also had a private coaching session with a director/acting coach that was completely invaluable. We worked on the character and imagination to bring truth to the characters that are spoken about but not seen, timing and verbs, the use of time, the journey of the piece, energy, and connecting with the audience. We talked about a good many other things too, but they’re the main things off the top of my head. I wonder now, how I previously got by without that added input to my work.

Next thing! I started a couple of new classes this week, that I’m loving… the first is a Meisner repetition group, with the Scott Williams Impulse group. This is so that we are able to get together and have a play with with all those new concepts we were introduced to a few weeks ago in our two-day equity course. My main reaction to the Scott Williams style of the Meisner technique is that it is so freeing. And yes, it is taking a little while for us to shake off the shackles that are stopping us from opening up… but we’re getting there.

The second new class that I’ve joined is a voice class with Gabrielle Rogers in a wee community hall. This class was set up in reaction to the Larry Moss Masterclass a couple of months ago, and is just drop-in, come along when you can type of affair. Perfect! I took along my audition piece too, and so did some voice work on that in preparation for next week.

And I know at some point I will have to start the search for another job, so that I can do mundane things like pay the bills and eat food… but this time, the career comes first. No question.

preparation… not just a means to an end

I read something during the week that got me to thinking about dedication and how much preparation you have to do to be truly ready for an audition. Obviously it’s very different for everyone, but I read something (and I can’t remember where) that resonates and makes me want to work that little bit harder. The writer of this article/blog post/book said that the audition starts as soon as you get your sides… ok, so that means that the audition ISN’T just just what you present on the day…? Nope. The audition is also a measure of the work that you are willing to do to be a part of their team, in their film, play or whatever. If you put the work in, you will reap the rewards…

So, think about an audition like that. An audition starts as soon as you get the sides or if you are choosing your own monologue, it’s as soon as you decide on a piece. The preparation is part of your audition, not just a means to an end.

get inspired and change your landscape…

This weekend was a jam-packed one – including seeing Avatar for the fourth time at the movies – this time in glorious IMAX, eating a lot of excellent food, seeing A Picasso at Ensemble Theatre and finally, the pinacle of the long weekend – seeing the amazing Jason Silva at the Opera House in a talk called ‘WE ARE THE GODS NOW’ for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Awaiting Jason Silva’s arrival to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas…

As always, with this talk I found inspiration. Jason is a self-proclaimed optimist, and boy, is he. He is a maker of short form films, which he calls shots of philosophical espresso – so called for their concentrate of ideas and inspirations that are just in awe of the world in which we live, and he truly left the audience filled with an overwhelming sense of being a huge part of the planet… the galaxy… the universe, and it’s evolution and our power to make our ideas and inspirations a reality. The power of us. We are the Gods now.

Look at the world… forever and always we have made our ideas a reality. It used to be only natural, organic shifts that altered our physical landscape, but then someone had an idea to build something… so now we have houses, skyscrapers, harbours, pavements, parks, sculptures… WE now change our world. Not just nature. We ARE nature.

Nothing that we do or create is unnatural… if it exists then it is natural. Everything we do or create is the truth that we manifest. If we have an idea about something we have the power to make it so.

How inspiring for an actor? If we have an idea about something we have the power to make it so. If we use our imagination, and we care enough to make it so, there is nothing stopping us. Our imaginations have created the world, so they certainly can create that relationship, that connection, that need to push, probe and interrogate. What is inside our hearts and minds can make our outside and our truth. What we think or feel or imagine inside is the truth that we create for ourselves in our lives.

So in acting, we use our imagination to create the world and then we make it the truth that we live out. The relationships we develop are all based on how we feel about the other person, place, animal or thing – they all start from within and the truth of that situation is what plays out.

And it’s not only understanding that we can imagine something and can then act it out. It’s so much more than that… and so much less.

What it is, is knowing that acting is nothing more than doing what we always do – imagining what can be and making it so… the same as the first person who thought, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be better if we all lived in homes made of bricks and mortar?!” or “what if we all had a GPS in our pocket?” or “wouldn’t it be amazing if someone could go to the moon?” Those people had an idea that changed our mental and physical landscape, and so too can you.

So… have an idea… get inspired… and change your landscape.

honesty, playfulness, precision and peculiarities

I have a rather large audition coming up in a couple of weeks, for which I have to prepare a monologue, so it got me to thinking.

What is it that gets you the job? As I’ve said bef0re, I feel that auditions are not acting. They are a display of the potential offering that you can bring to the company or piece of theatre… ultimately, what is their need, and how can you fulfill it?

So, the audition that I have is a general audition for a professional theatre company meaning that, I imagine, they are looking for people who they can see as part of their company for their upcoming season, and not for one specific role. So, how does one prepare for this? It’s not like I can go in there with an apt outfit on and the right accent for the piece… I have no information on these things and no idea what parts would potentially suit me. So what are they looking for in an actor? Someone they like? Someone who’s an amazing actor? Someone who has a resume as long as your arm?
And then I read an article from the Sydney Morning Herald called ‘New drama playing in the wings’ and just tucked away at the end of the article was a statement by Matthew Lutton, an associate artist from Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. He said that rather than training;

”What was more important was the honesty, playfulness, precision and peculiarities they displayed in the audition,”

I like this. For me this hits the nail on the head of what I need to present at this audition and what I need to think about for my monologue. Honesty – the ability to perform any character with honesty and truthfulness. Playfulness – the ability to try anything, to not be afraid to play with new ideas, make bold choices and to appear to be a great person to work with. Precision – the ability to create strong and beautifully nuanced characters, with focus and attention on the smallest detail. Peculiarities – the ability to be you, only you and no one else but you, bringing something new and interesting to the table every time.

Honesty. Playfulness. Precision. Peculiarities.