Q. What is your background in the arts?
My family are very musical, and my mum would always encourage me and my friends to dress up and create shows whenever we could. I was the child who would always go into school in a full costume on world book day (mother’s fault entirely). Whenever I could, I would always express myself through music and acting. I was a very dramatic and energetic child.
Q. When did your love for performing arts begin?
My mum enrolled me in Broadway Theatre Company summer camp where we rehearsed and devised Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was about 7. All I really remember is getting to paint huge chocolate bars on the wall of the building. From then on I started classes with Broadway Theatre Company and participated in all the school holiday camps that were available from then on right through my school years until I moved to London.
Q. Are there any specific people, societies, annual events on the island that have been particularly instrumental when it came to inspiring you to pursue this as a career?
Broadway Theatre Company run by Carrie Hunt was the best stepping stone I could have asked for to lead me to where I am today. Because of that I enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts where I completed the LAMDA Programme up to Grade 8, The Young Actor of Mann, The Guild, The One Act Play Festival and many in-house productions that Carrie and Regina Kaniewski, Broadway Theatre Musical director, created themselves. Also a couple of times as a company we had the opportunity to perform in the All Winners festival in Woking which was a great experience.
I also got the chance to work with the lovely Sonya Quayle on a music video she was creating, and this gave me my first experience in a ‘film’ type environment.
When I got older I did a few productions with the Rushen Players down south, where I met and worked closely with Director Susie Beswick on a two hand play - ‘Last Train to Nibroc’ which we had the chance to work on and perform twice, once before I left for drama school and again in my first year. I also worked, before that, with director Adrienne Sanderson on a play we performed at the Erin Arts Centre.
The Isle of Man, over the years before joining drama school, gave me the tools as a performer to grow.
Q. What is your proudest achievement in the arts to date?
Drama School has given me a lot to feel proud and grateful for but I think the proudest memory I have is that at the beginning of second year a classmate of mine, Aoife Beaumont, mentioned she was writing a play. I along with six of the other girls in my class mentioned we would be interested in helping her develop it - we then spent the next 9 months, 3 nights a week, workshopping and creating a short one-act play that was about seven women waking up in a sort of limbo. They quickly realised that they had all been involved in some sort of crime/moral dilemma during their time alive. Each woman had to tell their story and at the end everyone had to vote for 2 people to ‘go on’ to whatever came next. After Aoife created the foundations of the script and characters, as a group we would workshop and then she would edit. After nine months, and a lot of fund -raising we performed “The Fields of Asphodel” to two sold-out nights at the Camden Fringe Festival in London. I think this is one of my proudest moments because as a group we weren’t told to create the piece; we did it because of our love for the story and a real desire to tell it and bring Aoife’s creation to life. We made it happen with very little help from anyone else so it was exciting and empowering.
Q. In what ways has growing up involved in the island’s local performing arts scene set you up for PPA?
Being in the Island’s local Arts scene firstly helped be form a passion and love for what I do. It definitely helped me form a discipline that is expected from you when you attend drama school. It also, gave me the foundations of techniques and practices I was able to further develop during my time studying for my degree in Drama. Having the opportunity to perform from a young age on the stages of the Gaiety, Villa Marina and Erin Arts Centre and have such beautiful spaces available was a privilege and one of the big benefits of living on the Isle of Man.
Q. What challenges did you face at PPA and how did you overcome them?
I think the main challenge I faced was it quickly shifted from a hobby-type mentality to a full professional mentality. I mostly overcame that because it made me fall in love with my art that much more, that I knew I would potentially be able to do this as a career for the rest of my life. I know from experience that others can really struggle with that shift in dynamic. I think another challenge that comes with drama school is not believing you are good or talented enough to ‘make it’, but I just had to have the mentality that I had made it that far and I was there to learn and push myself. I wanted to at least give it a chance, and I am so glad I stuck to it. One other challenge is that there are many very big personalities at drama school and you have to make sure you both keep true to yourself but also find other things to do other than drama school, because it very quickly can become a very close-knit bubble - which is great some of the time, but you need to be able to have your own down time as well.
Q. What advice do you have for someone looking to pursue a career in performing arts?
I suppose this question is hard because the acting world is just like any other competitive industry, you have to work hard and keep working hard, nothing is handed to you. The creative arts are going through a very tough time at the moment with venues threatened with closure and a lot of productions cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
I think my main bit of advice would be, especially in this industry, to learn to love and accept yourself. Approach everything and everyone with kindness, openness, warmth and generosity. Do not be afraid to fail and take every bit of criticism with: a) a pinch of salt,
and b) a chance to improve.
Although hard, try not to take anything too personally - It’s a very hard, competitive and often brutal industry, but the rewards should always outweigh the pressures and demands if you stay committed. The most important thing is to never do anything that will contribute to you falling out of love with your art, always do something because you believe in it and you want to. Not because you feel pressure to do so. IT SHOULD BE FUN.
Q. What’s next for you?
I am lucky enough to be leaving drama school with a fantastic agent Ryan Full from North Artist Management, a first class degree and the third year acting award. I think with everything going on in the world at the moment, it’s very sad, as the world of theatre and film have come to a halt and it’s hard to know what it’s going to be like on the other side of this pandemic. So for now I’m keeping myself busy with online acting classes and online play readings with the hope that our beloved industry will go back to normal very soon.
