Five Years and Counting
Five years ago today, my life changed.
This is far from hyperbole. It began with a chance invitation to a party, and those people who know me in the present day will know where it currently is. And hopefully, it’ll keep on going.
18th December, 2006. Nigel and I were invited to a party by our friends Carl and Phil. Cat, our estimable hostess, had worked on a film with them, and had told them to invite some friends along to a Christmas bash. It was there that I discovered that most of the guests were members of Washington Theatre Group. I’d done a fair amount of theatre in my youth, but after going to university and discovering beer, I’d mostly forgotten about it. The members present were a delightful bunch, so I thought I’d pop along, with Nigel in tow.
The first night turned out to be a dress rehearsal for their panto, Cinderella. Despite having dabbled with theatre before, I couldn’t help but think that I’d never be able to do what they were doing. None more so than Peter and Neil playing the ugly sisters. The very thought of it – I’d just look silly! And it’d only be a year before I was playing a dame myself.
Confidence comes a lot more easily than we’d often think. My first role with the group was in Blue Remembered Hills, where I began the play running around pretending to be a Spitfire, like you do. Massively nervous the frist time the wanted me to rehearse that – and it showed. Cue, however, Pamela, Angela and Nigel giving me a hand by running around like Spitfires themselves. Not an image that escapes one’s recollection too easily – and it worked. By the first night, I’d got Spitfire imitation down to a T – though flapping wings was perhaps stretching the imagination a little.
That show lasted two nights, which was a damned shame. But it had been a massive boost to my confidence, so much so that by the time of the re-auditioning for the dame in Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, just a few months after, I was quite happy to put myself up for that part.
By the end of that show, I could count theatre as my main hobby. Since then, I have had numerous other roles with the group. Not only that, but it gave me the impetus to audition for a part with the Royalty Theatre, with whom I’ve now done six shows – the highlight being Macbeth, partly because it’s Shakespeare, partly because it was watched by a personal Hero of mine – Sir Ian McKellen. Membership of that theatre has also led me to doing a single professional performance (ok, the pay was only £30, put it’s still pay).
All the while, I’ve continued to perform with WTG, and in February this led to me being cast in a student film – which was an excellent experience, and an eye-opener into the film-making process.
In the programme for Cinderella, Cat made a comment on the group (and this has always stayed with me) along the lines that the group had given her the confidence to feel that she could do anything. This could easily sound like pure rhetoric, but after five years I can say that it’s quite true. These days, I’m more than happy to take on challenges that previously I would have thought entirely beyond me, such as learning to play the baritone ukulele or writing a novel (which I did – and I’ll have to do a blog on that one, soon).
So yes, it isn’t exaggerating to say that the Washington Theatre Group has been life-changing. I certainly hope that it continues to be so.
