My Theatre

Amateur dramatics is the activity that takes up most of my free time. I presently work with two groups – the Washington Theatre Group and the Royalty Theatre. I have been a member of the former since February 2007, and the latter since August 2008.

My interest in theatre, from a participative perspective, came in secondary school. A teacher by the name of Mr. Evans at Nunthorpe Comprehensive, Middlesbrough, had quite a talent for teaching the subject and fostering inetrest in it. As such, I chose it as a GCSE option (though I’d had to move school shortly before Year 10). This led me to join the school’s Drama group as well as a local youth theatre club, the Community Entertainment Collective, based at Jarrow community centre.

I left that group when I was about 17-and-a-half, being of that age when wine, women and song were more distracting. However, after meeting members of the WTG at a party in late 2006, I decided to give it a go again. I was cast in a play called Blue Remembered Hills at my first attempt. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have done a number of plays with the WTG and RT companies – one of the highlights being Macbeth at the Royalty – where a certain Sir Ian McKellen was watching (I may just have mentioned that a few million times in blog posts). I have done a student film, Rid of You, and have a single professional show to my name (but hey, Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, so I reckon I’m on a par with him. Except I have twice his ears).

I have also turned my hand to directing, and hope to do so again in the future.