The Director's Diary

All actors need to hear this. The top DOs and DON'Ts from the auditioning process.

Here Alex lays out top tips to stand out and what mistakes to avoid when applying for roles.

Rhiannon White, co-founder and co-director at Common Wealth. Common Wealth are an Arts Council NPO who make socially charged, activist and site-based work. Interestingly they work out of two cities, Cardiff and Bradford.

Rhiannon fronts the Welsh side of the company and here we learn about her journey from her estate, to squatting in Bristol to setting up this exciting company.

Questions include;

-What was your childhood like?
-Your first experience of theatre?
-Squatting in Bristol….what is the journey there?
Does your hustle come down to class?
-Was there a moment that you can remember a certain code in the industry?
-What do Common Wealth do really well?
-What is your rehearsal period like?
-How do you work across two cities?
-What is the most difficult thing?

TW: We do speak briefly about domestic abuse.

Jess Sweet runs CLAY (Centre for Live Art Yorkshire). CLAY is an ambitious, lively and welcoming live art venue in Leeds.

In this chapter Jess speaks about what it was like to quit her job, her relationship and leave her accommodation to then go on to build something. This chapter has multiple take-aways including;

- How to trust your instincts when others doubt you?
- How to choose the right people to work with?
- How to make a company agile and still be able to grow it?
- How can a board make all the difference to a company?
- How can you engage with new audiences and make them feel welcome?

Paul Smith has helped build Middle Child into one of the industry-leading companies in the UK. For years Middle Child have been recognised for their exciting, dynamic performance style. But 6 months into their journey, Paul admits they nearly stopped everything.
Luckily they didn't and lucky for us Paul is here to talk about his experiences with us.
Why didn't they quit? Why didn't they get 'proper jobs'? It's all in this chapter. This feels like one of the most important chapters to date for this reason. We all get to that moment of quitting, this industry is HARD. Some do quit. But what makes others continue...?

This week we speak to Nathan Geering, co-artistic director of Theatre Deli, Chief Exec of Rationale Arts, Accessibility innovator, TED X speaker, Published author, award-winning film maker.

This chapter sheds light on what we can all do to make our art more accessible and why it is important. Nathan gives us practical steps to follow towards where our industry should be.

Towards the end, Nathan speaks honestly about mindset. This is often not spoken about at all in my experience. What does it take to be successful? How can we become the authentic version of ourselves?