Good Will Acting | Megan's Head

Featured Actor 2

On December 11, 2010

In Cape Town, me on stage, theatre stuff

Larissa Hughes plays Marlene in Good Will Acting. I first saw her in Antony and Cleopatra as one of the handmaidens, and her hair was completely shaved off! The next time I saw her was when she auditioned for my industrial theatre project and I was so impressed with her audition and her choice of piece that I knew I was going to use her that moment. Ironically, months later she told me that she had left the audition with the feeling that she had nailed it.

Larissa is a most natural, versatile and talented actor. She is dynamic, energetic and totally old-school when it comes to performance. She thinks about things. She tries stuff out. She is constantly growing and working and asking questions. As if that weren’t enough, she is an unbelievable singer, harmoniser and can do the moves too.

Without Larissa and her writing contributions, her input, her ideas, her challenges and most importantly her spiritual dancing moves, we would not have had a Good Will Acting. I love this powerhouse performer.

Featured Actor 1

By megan

On December 10, 2010

In Cape Town, me on stage, theatre stuff

I really don’t think the extraordinary cast of Good Will Acting is getting enough attention, and I’m going to try and do my bit to fix that. For the next four days I am going to write a ‘feature’ on each one of them, totally from my point of view, because this is my blog, and I can!

Today we will be featuring the only man in the cast; Anele Situlweni. Anele walked into his audition for the industrial theatre job I was casting for with an earnest intensity that was undercut only by his natural charm and easygoing ‘vibe’. He had a combination of skills and attributes that made him the perfect choice for the job. Young, cute, warm, friendly and super talented. He played a relatively low status character in the industrial theatre job; someone who needed to appeal to the target audience and someone who they could relate to. He managed this with flying colours.

When we decided that Anele would play Ras the Rasta in Good Will Acting he took instantly to the idea, and he had tons to offer. In fact, he wrote reams of stuff that was totally brilliant and really hard to not put in when we were editing; there is probably enough really funny and original Ras stuff to do a one man show about him.

I find it so funny that Anele’s performance of a Rasta is so good that people think he is really like that, and that he is actually a Rasta in real life! The nicest thing about working with Anele is that he is a very generous performer. And he is properly hilarious. Next year he is going to be working with Siyasanga, based at Artscape and I really think everyone needs to ‘keep an eye on this guy’ as Tabatha would say. He is going to be going places and I am delighted that I got a chance to play with him.

Blog blog

By megan

On December 9, 2010

In Cape Town, deeply personal, me on stage, theatre stuff

It’s so weird; if I haven’t written for more than a day or two I get pangs of guilt. They are funny pangs; directionless, vague, unsettling and even a bit irritating. And they build up, each day that goes by. I woke up this morning needing to break the cycle and the only thing on my mind is Good Will Acting.

I suppose it’s always like that with work that one has created one’s own very self. That, and the fact that our first real week of performance started last night and bookings are heartbreakingly slow. I know that there are all sorts of reasons why; school hasn’t come out yet and people are still crazy at work with end of year functions, blah blah blah, so we’ve put together first week packages of two for ones, and by the end of yesterday’s working day we had 24 bookings last night. (Huge sigh of relief).

The audience was made up of beautiful, loyal and supportive friends, total strangers, and Nicholas’s mother. It is so important to me that my friends (especially my theatre friends) like my work, and they absolutely did! Yeeha for that! And then there is Nicholas’s mother. She is what is known in laughter yoga circles as a laughter blaster. This means that someone’s laugh sets everyone else off, and she does. She guffaws. And she did so last night! It must be said that Nicholas and Edward came to the opening on Saturday and then again last night with their parents, because they thought the show was funny! And Sebastian, who is about ten gave it an 81/2 out of ten. I sat in the lighting box and giggled to the sounds of my friends cackling and bleating with laughter!

The hard slog of building an audience is far from over. Please try and make it if you are around. It really is such a beautiful space, in a beautiful place; Kalk Bay is magnificent right now.

Tough day at the office, then happiness

By megan

On December 4, 2010

In Cape Town, deeply personal, theatre stuff

I cannot lie; making theatre, especially when you have no budget, is really, really hard. When you are the director you feel responsible for each person involved since people are working on spec and others are doing you huge, huge favours.

The truth is that we had to cancel our first preview of Good Will Acting on Thursday night because we had no audience. Last night, our second preview had a robust but tiny audience. Because I am doing the sound and lights for the show (I always end upÂ doing sound and lights even though I am terrible at it!) I am the moegoe who hangs about, waiting for an audience to come! It is not a good thing to do. In Kalk Bay you can see so many people doing stuff. Holiday makers are coming off the beach, young girls walk along the street window shopping, people are at restaurants and cafes. I wanted to drag everyone I saw up the stairs of the theatre and force them to watch the show. Very frustrating.

But by the time the show ended last night and the twelve people in the audience were in raptures, I knew that it was going to be worth it. They loved it. Big time. And I loved them. Tonight is the official opening night. I so hope that word starts spreading.

Angel Update

By megan

On December 2, 2010

In Cape Town, inspiration, me on stage, theatre stuff

I need to add Jon Keevy to the angel list after he rigged, focused, designed, plotted and taught me the lighting for Good Will Acting yesterday. He has transformed the space, the show and the ambience, and he guffawed a couple of times during the run through.

Jon Keevy is one of my favourite TheatreSports players, theatre makers and all round talented clever guy theatrically. Thank you Jon.

Real, proper Angels

By megan

On November 30, 2010

In Cape Town, deeply personal, inspiration, me on stage, theatre stuff

So, it goes without saying that putting on a show that has a budget of pretty much zero is challenging in the extreme. How anything gets done is by pretty much by begging for favours and freebies and having to compromise, be grateful and get on with it.

And sometimes, the universe throws an angel or two your way. For Good Will Acting they have come in the form of Trevor du Buisson and Helen Cooper. Trevor made music for the show. He composed, created and recorded bespoke music as well as made magical backing tracks. And then Helen made costumes and props. We got most of them yesterday. She has transformed us and our show into a minor spectacle of the most charming proportions; with almost nothing except her brilliant ideas. And I cannot begin to tell you how hard it has been for her because we keep changing our minds! I am not going to spoil it for those of you who will come, but I will go as far as to say watch out for the sheep, the pillows, the shepherds, the choir, the token white, the angels. Helen has been a god send.

So this is just a short note of thanks to Trev, Helen, Simon, Christine (for publicity beyond what we could have asked for); the people who have allowed us to live this dream.

Megan's Head

A place where Megan gets off her head.

Tag: Good Will Acting (Page 2 of 3)

Featured Actor 2

Featured Actor 1

Blog blog

Tough day at the office, then happiness

Angel Update

Real, proper Angels

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