Category: The Essentials
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Performing on Stage in Germany
Work permits, contracts and travel advice for performers preparing to work on stage in Hamburg, Germany. As a British stage and screen actor, my work has taken me to many exciting places around the world. Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to travel to Germany for the first time to perform as the…
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Tips on How to Choose Your Monologue
Stage director Natalie Abrahami and Spotlight Prize performers share their top tips for choosing a great monologue that’s right for you. Whether you’re choosing a monologue for a showcase, an audition, or even our very own ‘Into the Spotlight’ monologue competition, the search for a piece that perfectly shows off your acting skills can be daunting. There…
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Confidence in Auditions
Top tips to help actors approach auditions and self-tapes with confidence. I’ve done a lot of auditions. I’ve been acting professionally for 30 years, performed on stage and screen in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and ran a theatre company in Melbourne for six years. I’ve worked across multiple genres: drama, comedy, musical theatre, Shakespeare, sitcom,…
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What You Need to Know About Making a Short Film
Tips for producing and funding a short film, and how to apply to short film festivals. Creating your own work is an important part of finding your way in the industry today. With the UK film and television industry now one of the fastest growing industries in the UK, and recent statistics showing that high-end TV…
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How to Edit your Self-Tapes and Showreels
Learn how to edit and export your self-tapes and showreels with our handy step-by-step guide. With the rise in popularity of self-tapes and showreels, it’s more important than ever to know how to edit a video. Video editing can sound complicated, and you may think it would be expensive to get the right software, but this doesn’t have…
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6 Reasons Why Actors Should Give Commercial Work a Chance
How commercial work can be beneficial for your acting career, and why you should give it a go I made my prime-time television debut last month, and my notifications feed has been non-stop ever since. It seems that every Facebook friend, distant relative, and old school pal is burning to ask me the same question: “Are you…
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Tips for Planning Your Edinburgh Fringe Show
What to keep in mind when you’re planning to bring a show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Taking a show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe isn’t something to be done on a whim. It takes months of preparation and planning to make sure everything runs smoothly, and even then, there’s plenty that can be forgotten or overlooked.…
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Accessibility at the Edinburgh Fringe
Top tips for making an inclusive, accessible Edinburgh Festival Fringe show and how to communicate your access needs as a performer. Making theatre accessible and inclusive is vital, but it isn’t always easy – especially when it comes to putting on a show in a historic city like Edinburgh when old, often inaccessible buildings become…
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Promoting Your Show at the Edinburgh Fringe
Tips for marketing and promoting your Edinburgh Festival Fringe show. After all the hard work of funding, budgeting, and bringing your show to the Edinburgh Fringe, you’re finally ready for an audience. You have tickets to sell, seats to fill, and interviews to give, but none of this comes without marketing and promoting your show. It’s important to…
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8 Top Tips for Bonding with a New Cast
Industry advice for getting on with your fellow company members and creating lasting bonds Meeting new people in any context can be daunting. Unlike most professions, actors’ careers involve hundreds of first days at the proverbial office. Our job requires working closely – sometimes intimately – with colleagues we’ve only known for a few weeks. In…