Buzzing with the brilliance!

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I’ve been thinking a lot about role models this week…those people you come across in your life that give you a signpost of where to direct yourself and inspiration to keep developing to reach your full potential.  I’m aware that my life is richer because it contains so many people I admire…not in a comparative way but in an aspirational way.  On the flip side I work with lots of people who haven’t identified people they can model themselves on and see how hard it is for them to imagine improving their lot in life without a picture of what that might look like…I spent an afternoon of working with primary children this week trying to redress just such an imbalance…

Identifying role models is an interesting business – as I said I have a number…all of whom have something about them that I aspire to be better at…they include practitioners in my field such as writers, directors, facilitators but also leaders, teachers, young people, parents, friends…lots of brilliant people who between them allow me to see myself as a continual work in progress where the possibility of being even more is a consistent option and goal…

On Friday night I had the privilege to see Sweeney Todd at the West Yorkshire Playhouse…it’s the first time I had watched the show and so although I had a general idea about it I wasn’t certain exactly what to expect.  What I got was a theatrical treat…the design and direction were creatively brilliant and served the story admirably…the score and script were as intelligent and engaging as you would expect from a Sondheim musical…but what blew me away entirely was the acting.  Now one would think that great acting in a professional piece of theatre is a given but not so…it is a rare thing for me to walk away from an evening spent watching a production entirely satisfied with the performances.  I did last night.  Every character was beautifully crafted…every role brought to life with bravery, truth and integrity.  The qualities that I constantly encourage my youth theatre actors to strive towards were on display for the entirety of the performance.  I was utterly captivated as each actor lived each moment of their story regardless of how ugly, passionate, distorted, cruel and chaotic it was with absolute openness.  Voices, faces, bodies were entirely absorbed in the task and the result was breathtaking.

I left the theatre inspired and enriched…literally buzzing with the brilliance of it…so if you have any aspirations to be an actor go and see it…make the time.  You have until the 26th of October to see it in Leeds and if you miss that it’s at Manchester Royal Exchange from the 13th to the 30th of November.  Go and be signposted to where to direct yourself as a performer and get a picture of how that might be achieved, go and be entertained…go to be inspired and enriched and leave buzzing with the brilliance of it…

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