There Are No Tricks In Plain And Simple Faith

Julius Caesar (1599) Act 4 Sc 2

Week 3

Hello friends!

For those new to my substack I’m an actor, voice artist, author of About a Girl, founder of Transcend Australia, proud mum, very loud supporter of Trans Rights and LGBTIQ+ communities and currently in London studying acting Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) for two months. This is not a class by class sharing of my time at RADA, but more of reflection of what has been impactful during the week for me. To train and work in London has been a dream of mine since I was a young woman, and now at only a few weeks away from 58 years, I’m here: learning, pushing myself, being challenged, being inspired, reconnecting with the joy, and flow of performing, and let's be honest, the nerves and self doubts.

I have a lot of good years left in me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow myself to be boxed in by outside perceptions or be consigned to the sidelines of life. My life has had many chapters, some of them not so great, others beautiful beyond words, and I’m not done yet. I’m taking all of myself with me. This is not a reinvention, it’s building on everything I am already ....and spoiler alert…..that is what today’s missive is all about.

Week 3 at RADA has shown me my weaknesses as well as my strengths. It has been the best and hardest week of the course so far, mainly because I’ve had to learn to get out of my own way. My strengths? Well lets see shall we?

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This week, the entire cohort presented our sonnets to the full complement of staff on our course (around 15) and my Shakespeare Workshop group performed Hamlet’s speech.. O that this too too solid flesh….. to one another.

Both experiences brought a sense of achievement as well as being a little humbling, and I found myself at the end of the week in a tutorial with one of my favourite teachers, getting a bit teary, her gentle wisdom and almost magical ability to see into me quite disarming me, and that was the point. Maybe, I was ripe …..