Falling Behind and Falling Asleep…

Do you know how long it’s been since I blogged?

WordPress has logged me out. It’s been that long since I posted something, that I had to actually log back in this time. What’s going on there?

In fact, it’s been that long, that I haven’t blogged since I was 18! (Admittedly, I’ve only been 19 for a week today, but I couldn’t resist using that joke).

So… surprise surprise, I’m ill again. I’m seriously considering giving up on my body; it’s doing its best to give up on me. More tests await me – a blood test next week to find out if I could be coeliac, and it’ll apparently take a few weeks for the results to come back, but at least it’s another thing crossed off the list. I’m more interested in how long it’ll take to hit a vein – last time, it took five jabs before it actually went in. I’d like it to be less this time, but I’m not holding my breath.

The play is going well so far! We’ve had fair sized audiences, and good feedback. There’s two shows left now – tomorrow and Monday – so hopefully they’ll go just as well if not better. I’ll be honest, it’s the first time I’ve kind of thought “I’m looking forward to it being over”. It’s been a stressful one, but it’s not enough to put me off acting, or the theatre group – I love them too much to just disappear!

I think the hot weather has got us all feeling bothered; which may contribute to us wanting the play to be over. Those dressing rooms are HOT, and have you tried wearing pancake when you’re sweating buckets and it’s 30 celcius outside? Goooood grief, it’s been incredible, but we need a rain shower to freshen everything up! I’m lucky; I live on the coast – we’ve been spending a lot of time in the sea – but I feel sorry for those further inland.

On the writing front; was doing Camp NaNoWriMo but I think I’ve fallen too far behind; I’m still writing though!

Me And My Hectic Life!

I apologise for the lack of updates recently, my life appears to have exploded. That or someone’s replaced the old Maddy who sat in her room writing all day with one who actually has loads of stuff to do and doesn’t seem to get a moment’s peace to just sit down and blog. I think it’s the first one, my life has been feeling very ‘splodey lately.

Glyndwr Uni is currently hosting Ffresh Festival, the Welsh student film festival, and it seems to be going really well. I’ve been doing a couple of hours of volunteering on the registration desk yesterday, and I’m doing the same this afternoon – in 45 minutes, to be precise – as well as helping to judge the best actor award (not just me – there’s three of us doing it), so it means going to watch all the showcases (the one we saw this morning was very good!) and then making a decision.

As well as that, directorial performances are next week and I’m in two, so rehearsals are still ongoing. I’ll be honest, I’m looking forwards to getting them over and done with now. Having to schedule in rehearsals every week around everything else is mad. I’ll be glad of a break!

Going to see Train on Saturday and honestly, I can’t wait! I’m so worried that something will go wrong – we’ll lose the tickets or they’ll cancel last minute – because I’ve wanted to see Train for ages, they’re my favourite band and I love their music so much. I think my Mom’s still convinced that she’s coming with us, and honestly if I knew she liked Train when I was buying the tickets I would’ve gotten her one too, but she didn’t decide she liked them until around the day after tickets sold out. Next time, I promise!

So, lots has been happening in the world – I know I said I wouldn’t post too much on current affairs but it’s been a big couple of weeks – since I’ve been AWOL.

Oscar Pistorious and the shambles that has been his bail hearing – how it’s going to be a fair trial now with all the mistakes that have been made is beyond me, but I’m hoping it is all just a big mistake and he really mistook her for a burglar.

The human incarnation of a Chucky Doll calling the-woman-formerly-known-as-Kate-Middleton “plastic” and basically having a go at her because she’s pretty – what else would have sparked such a vicious and personal rant? It’s fine to have an opinion, sure, but there was some definite bitterness going on there – which made me giggle really; it’s been good for the Twitter lulz.

Bedroom taxes and workfare schemes galore; political cock-ups I’m not even going to delve into because I could spend all day ranting about Ian Duncan Smith; but I’ll spare you that one.

Still, the story that’s caught my eye isn’t a miserable one, or one filled with anger and bitterness. It’s one of hope; one that’s really affected me in a way I didn’t think it would. I’m referring, of course, to the announcement of Mars One (at least, it’s the first I’ve heard of it) – the plan to start a colony on Mars. I’m thrilled, because it’s a step towards the universe I’m writing about – Christopher Maine’s universe, of course – becoming a reality, and I never thought we’d even taken one step towards it during my lifetime. I really hope it becomes a reality and isn’t another of those far-fetched schemes, doomed to failure, because the hope the news has filled me with is surprising.

So that’s just a little update from me, to warn you that it may be a while until you hear from me again. I’m still alive, still plodding along (or rather, running at everything head-first and hoping it doesn’t hurt too much) – I’m just a busy bee!

“Les Miserables” – Film Review (*Spoilers*)

Let’s set the scene. I haven’t seen the stage show of Les Mis, but I’ve seen the 10th Anniversary and 25th Anniversary concert DVDs, as well as loads of videos on YouTube, which doesn’t equate to actually seeing it, but I had a pretty good idea of the plot and knew all of the songs very well before I went to see the film. 

I heard a lot of criticism – the amount was dwarfed by the amount of good reviews, but there was still a fair bit – of the film before I went to see it, and it got me nervous. I’d been excited for the film since it was announced at the end of the 25th Anniversary concert, and I followed all the news eagerly – casting and filming and everything about it – and I really, really hoped they’d get it right. When I saw that people weren’t impressed, my heart sank. 

The main issue people seemed to have was with the singing – so many were saying “It’ll never compare to Colm Wilkinson/Alfie Boe/Lea Salonga”, and I think they were forgetting that we are talking about the same show, but two very different mediums. In musical theatre, the voice is key, and people pay a lot of money to hear incredible voices and see incredible acting. With the film, that isn’t what I was expecting. I wanted astronomically good acting, and singing that was true to the emotions of the film, rather than – as Anne Hathaway put it, “going for the pretty version”. If I was to go and see “Les Miserables” and someone sang “Bring Him Home” in the way Hugh Jackman sang it, I’d possibly be disappointed – but if I went to see it in a film and it was sang the way Alfie Boe sang it in the Anniversary concert, I’d be equally disappointed, because in the concert it was powerful and beautiful but wouldn’t have suited the film (more on the singing later). 

Casting… would have been perfect, were it not for Russell Crowe. I mean, I don’t doubt that the man is a good actor, or at least he has his moments, but he was dire as Javert. He was the only thing letting that film down in my opinion, and I think there were plenty of other people who could have done a better job. His acting was… meh, at best, and his singing was completely devoid of any emotion. People are meant to be left crying after Javert’s Suicide, and yet behind us in the cinema a couple of people giggled when his body hit the weir with quite a thwack, because he just sang it… blandly. No emotion in it at all. The same went for “Stars”, that’s one of my favourite songs in Les Mis, and I was left completely underwhelmed by it. His singing voice isn’t fantastic, but the least he could have done was to put emotion in there – Javert is a cold, calculating character, but he isn’t a robot; he has emotions, and yet his character just had no effect on me the whole way through. 

Anne Hathaway stole the show as Fantine, she really did. She made such an impact in the short screen time she had, “I Dreamed A Dream” left me in tears because it was so beautiful. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t incredibly sang, but by god, it was emotional and powerful, and there was something so beautiful in the emotions she conveyed that I’d be willing to say it is the best rendition I’ve ever heard. I set a lot of store by emotions in songs, and she just blew me away. 

Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne as Cosette and Marius were great – I’ve never been huge fans of the two characters, because they both seem a little drippy – Eponine is my favourite female character, and Enjolras is so much more kick-ass than Marius, so they tend to be my favourite characters – but they were portrayed very well. Amanda Seyfried has one hell of a warble, which suited Cosette perfectly, and although at first I was a little iffy about Eddie Redmayne’s singing, “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” had me in tears again (I cried a lot during the film, get used to it now!), because he conveyed that emotion perfectly. 

Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen… where to begin? They were incredible. Hilarious as usual, perfect as the Thenardiers, assisted by excellent costuming. “Master Of The House” was brilliant, and Baron-Cohen’s lines – calling Cosette, “Courgette” was a particular favourite of mine, and delivered perfectly – served as the comic relief we needed in the midst of all the darkness of the film (it’s a pretty grisly film in places, Gavroche’s death was quite heart-breaking!). 

Samantha Barks as Eponine… wow, wow, wow! I am so glad Taylor Swift didn’t get the part, because it wouldn’t have worked. She wouldn’t have been able to carry it off, I’m sure of it. Considering she was unknown outside of Britain – and even in Britain, she was only really known by those who followed her progress after “I’d Do Anything” (her rendition of Defying Gravity on that show made me a fan!) – she lived up to the pressure heaped on her, and then some! “On My Own” was incredible, as expected, and her acting skills really came into play during “A Heart Full Of Love” and “A Little Fall Of Rain” (the latter had me in floods of tears, that song affected me more than most of them!). 

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean was fantastic, a great choice. Singing was fantastic in that the emotion was always there, even if people have been complaining about his less-than-perfect vocals, but again I think that’s due to their unrealistic expectations more than anything else. 

Going back to the singing, I think that having them sing it live rather than dubbing in pretty versions over the acting was a genius move, and I’m so glad they did it. People have complained that it detracted from the film, but it absolutely didn’t, in my opinion. It added to it, bringing a level of emotion that you wouldn’t have gotten with dubbed voices. Again, the only singing I had an issue with was Russell Crowe’s, because it sounded like it had been dubbed and was completely devoid of emotion! 

Everything about the film was just utterly incredible, I don’t think it left anyone with dry eyes in the cinema – I shed many tears, and even my other half – who I don’t think I’ve ever seen cry at film or television before – was reduced to tears; I think either by “Bring Him Home” or “Empty Chairs At Empty Tables”, or the end (or all three, I know they all got me big time!). An astounding, incredible piece of cinema and I would recommend it to anyone, whether you’re a fan of the musical or not. 

Olivier Awards 2012 – My Predictions

First of all I need to point out that I haven’t seen any of these shows nominated here (with the exception of “Wicked”), but I’m going on what I’ve heard, reviews I’ve read and music I’ve listened to (I’m heavily biased in favour of Matilda because it seems absolutely AMAZING!). So, these are my predictions for some of the categories of the Olivier Awards on the 15th April (some of them I can’t possibly comment on, because I’ve heard nothing about any of the nominees. 

Best Actress In A Musical – The Matildas. These four girls, from videos I’ve seen and songs I’ve heard, are incredibly talented. That, combined with their age, makes them my choice for this category. 

Best Actor In A Musical – Bertie Carvel. This one’s going to be tough in my opinion, between Carvel and Nigel Lindsay, who has been playing Shrek in Shrek The Musical, because both are such demanding roles and also big character roles, but from what I have read and heard, Carvel will edge it in my opinion. 

Best Performance In A Supporting Role In A Musical – Nigel Harman. Again, another one that will be a serious contest between Shrek and Matilda, which I think could be a recurring theme! As amazing as I’ve heard Paul Kaye is as Mr Wormwood (and I don’t doubt it considering his character as Vince in “Mongrels”), I think Shrek will edge it in this category because of the things I’ve heard about Harman’s performance. 

Best New Musical – Matilda. If Matilda doesn’t win this category, I will be both surprised and angry. From everything I’ve seen, it has everything that a long-lasting, fan favourite musical needs – amazing music courtesy of the fantastic Tim Minchin, amazing staging and choreography and a storyline based on a book that pretty much every child in Britain – prior to the time when reading suddenly became something that children can’t seem to do anymore – has read. 

Best Musical Revival – The Wizard of Oz. This one will be another tough one – if I was judging, I’d have a struggle between Singin’ In The Rain, which is an old favourite of a classic, and The Wizard Of Oz, which has been so well publicised thanks to “Over The Rainbow”, and has an amazing cast. If I was a judge and such biased judging techniques were allowed, based on its immense popularity thanks to Over The Rainbow, it’s amazing leading lady (Danielle Hope’s voice is phenomenal) and the fact that I know Russell Grant and he’s a fabulous person, I’ll have to say The Wizard of Oz!

Best Theatre Choreographer – Peter Darling. I’ve seen a video of the scene for “When I Grow Up” in Matilda, with the swings, and the insane dancing for “Revolting Children” – that is some mad choreography and I will be very surprised if Darling doesn’t win, although the choreographer for Singin’ In The Rain would provide some competition. 

BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award – Les Miserables. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Wicked, it is and always will be one of my favourite musicals, and when I saw it, it made me cry – twice! But I think that Les Miserables has been running for so long, and there’s no denying it is an astounding musical and I also consider that one of my favourites and an absolute must-see for me, it has such a massive following that I think it will definitely win. If either of the other two (Jersey Boys and Billy Elliot) win, I’ll be quite annoyed because I think Wicked and Les Mis are both so much more deserving of the award, but at the end of the day it is the audience award so the majority will have their say. 

 

That’s all the ones I really feel I can call properly at the moment. Of course, the judges could have absolutely contrasting views to me and I could be proved entirely wrong on all of them, but I’d really like to see Matilda sweep the board completely or as close as possible, especially in the Best New Musical, Best Actor and Best Actress categories, because from what I’ve seen of it, it looks amazing. 

I shall be watching or listening to the awards ceremony to see if I’m right or wrong!

Theatre Review – “Avenue Q”, Rhyl Pavillion Theatre

Last night my mom and I were lucky enough to get front row seats for Avenue Q’s UK tour in the Rhyl Pavillion Theatre. I’ve known of Avenue Q for a while – I had the soundtrack for my birthday one year – but I’ve wanted to see it for a couple of years now, and it’s finally come on a tour which comes close enough and isn’t too expensive for us to go and see it! We went to the 5:30pm performance and although there was a fairly good crowd there, it was by no means packed. Our seats were almost exactly in the centre of the front row, absolutely brilliant seats, and because of the theatre’s layout, there was no craning our necks.

To be honest, I don’t think either of us knew exactly what to expect. We both knew that it was foul-mouthed puppets – Mom’s been telling everyone the past few days about how we were off to go and watch Muppet Porn, including my Nan – but I don’t think either of us realized quite how good it is. It’s like a social comment – they, uh, “tackle” issues such as racism (by concluding that everyone is a little bit racist and we should all just admit it), and education (exactly what do you do with a BA in English?) – with lots of comedy, amazing music (sung by an amazing cast who not only have to, like most musical theatre performers; act, sing and dance – they have to do it all whilst operating puppets. Some actually operate two or even three – and they do it all brilliantly) and just a dash of that essential puppet sex which makes Avenue Q what it is.

It’s not recommended for children under 12, and unless she’s got a great sense of humour, it’s not one I’d suggest taking your granny to for a “nice day out to see a show” – that said, there were some women “of an age” in the theatre last night, and they didn’t seem to be complaining as they left! – but if you want to laugh until you cry, maybe shed a tear at “Fine, Fine Line” (an amazing performance by Katharine Moraz, who has a stunning voice), and end up naming your new sat-nav “Lavinia Thistletwat-nav”… or maybe that’s just us?, book tickets to see this musical! You will not be disappointed, and, if you’re anything like us, the second you step out of that theatre you’ll be wishing you could get back in and watch it again. It’s one of those musicals you can just watch again and again and again – and you’ll almost certainly be spouting quotes and singing the songs for days afterwards!

My Future

So, as you may have guessed, this is a blog post all about… er… my future! And the uncertainty that no doubt lies ahead, joy of joys.

I’ve always been quite envious of the people who have a firm idea – or even any idea at all that doesn’t change almost daily – of what they want to do when they’re older, finished school/college/university/whatever. I know that it sometimes makes it harder and makes the disappointment worse if you’ve been planning for something your whole life, and then suddenly one bad exam session or one bad piece of coursework, even, and you’re screwed. I think that might be why I was never really drawn towards the idea of Oxford/Cambridge/medicine courses… one mistake and you’ve got no chance. There’s also the fact that I’d never be good enough at the sciences to be a doctor… although, if I’d tried harder at school and got better GCSE grades (I didn’t do badly by any stretch of the imagination, but Oxford usually demand something ridiculous like 7A*s and I got 1 A* so that was the end of that idea), I might have applied to an Oxbridge University, and potentially gotten an offer.

So I never really had this amazingly firm idea of what I wanted to do until I was about fourteen. Before that, I’d gone through all the options – fireman (I used to want to be Fireman Sam), teacher, doctor, nurse, princess, all the usual careers that little girls tend to want. Then, when I was nine, I got an interest for history and I wanted to be a historian for a while. When I realized that I’m good at English, I decided that I wanted to be a journalist. Then I joined the youth and community theatre groups that have made my life so enjoyable the past few years – it’s where I’ve discovered a passion for acting and also where I met the man I’m madly in love with.

Acting had never really seemed like a career choice. I liked it when we did drama in school, and in Year Eight I was in the school musical and had quite a lot of fun playing one of the bad guy’s “minion” type characters, but it had never been something that I’d considered doing for real. I always used to love dressing up, playing imagination games like in the little toy house at school, playing Mums and Dads – but that’s a bit different to performing onstage in a theatre – but that’s what I ended up doing. I was in a production of A Christmas Carol, which was great, and then the next year, when we did a pantomime at Christmas, I was given the role of principal girl – the girl the hero falls in love with, and I absolutely loved it! The rush I got from acting and singing onstage, not in a chorus but actually on my own, was immense – it was pure adrenaline to me. It was around that time I started properly singing too – actually practicing and finding songs I was good at rather than just bopping around my bedroom with Pop Princesses 2 in the CD player and a hairbrush in my hand. I entered competitions including Park Resorts’ Karaoke Championships – I got through to the park finals, which was brilliant because we got a free holiday and I got to sing onstage (“Mamma Mia” and “Let It Be”, if you were wondering. Don’t worry – I still sing Beatles, but not so much ABBA these days!).

It just kept getting better and better – the next year, I played Little Red Riding Hood in the pantomime of the same name, and although that was a stressful year, I loved the performances. The best part is that I get on really well with the members of the theatre group, which is why I’m going to miss them so much if I go to university this year. In between pantomimes, I performed in revues with the youth theatre – acting, singing and dancing, sometimes on my own and sometimes in a group, but no matter what it was, I always loved it. And like I said, I met the man I love at theatre – the adult’s group were doing a serious play, and I was in a bit of a crappy relationship at the time, and that’s when our friendship became stronger – we’d known each other for a while, but then we did Aladdin for pantomime and got even closer and I love the fact that the first time I held hands with him was backstage during the pantomime. If nothing else, I owe the theatre group a lot for introducing me to him – although I know I owe them for a lot more, for everything they’ve done to me.

In short, I love acting. I love that my confidence has skyrocketed since I started acting, that I’ve made new friends from it, it’s something that I always look forwards to and it’s encouraged me to try new things, to step out of my comfort zone and to improve my skills (although I can sing and act, my dancing leaves a lot to be desired) but I’m getting there!

So, you can probably see where this is going – I decided I wanted to be an actress. Not just any actress – a musical theatre actress. I wanted to perform numerous shows every week in the West End, singing and acting my heart out and ending to rapturous applause. I figured it would be easy – after all, all you have to do is act and sing, right?

Last year, a lot of things combined to help me change my mind (unfortunately too late, because I’d already submitted my UCAS application to study drama, which wasn’t even the subject I particularly wanted to do, I just figured there was no way I’d get into an Acting course so I may as well try for Drama instead). I did “BLISS!”, a 60s musical directed by Russell Grant at Theatr Harlech, and being in that – having lots of lines to learn as well as solos in songs and dancing (I was one of the main cast) was exhilarating and I met so many new friends and learned so much – but it was also exhausting, and I was introduced to just a smidgen of how tough I imagine being a professional actress must be.

I helped with the props and stuff for the pantomime this year (Sleeping Beauty – I played the prince) and it made me realize just a bit of how much work goes into these shows that, as an actor I’ve just taken for granted the past few years and assumed that it comes from nowhere or something. It hasn’t made me resent acting – but I’ve realized just how easy it is, as an actor, to not appreciate the people backstage, the tech crew and the propmakers and wardrobe, and I think that if I was to become a professional actress, there’s every chance I’d turn into a person who people wouldn’t want to be around.

I like acting as a hobby, but if I had to study it every day for three years, I think I’d grow to resent it, and I wouldn’t want to do it again, as a career or as a hobby, and that would be a shame because I do love performing. So, I cancelled my UCAS application and decided that I wanted to be a children’s nurse. Or a midwife. But if that doesn’t work I’ll do creative writing. Or I’ll become a journalist. Or maybe I’ll just do drama….

These next few months could be fun.