A Young Performers Guide to Keeping Creative
A Young Performers Guide to Keeping Creative
Verity Naughton's young performer's guide to keeping creative through COVID-19.
With classes closing and uncertainty about when they will begin again, Verity Naughton took to Twitter to share her ideas about how young performers can keep creative. With her kind permission, we've published her list to help inspire Spotlight members.
- Read a play. Jump on video chat with your friends, take a role each and read away. Not only will you escape to a new world but you'll have social interaction too.
- Learn a new skill. Is there something you've been wanting to do for a while but haven't got round to? Whether it's learning a new language, accent, or how to juggle or do keepy-uppies, now is a good time to check out all those online tutorials and add new skills to your profile.
- Keep active. Many of you will be missing your dance classes so why not learn a routine from your favourite musical, or better yet, create your own! Not only will you stay fit and healthy, but you may uncover your hidden choreographer!
- Update your profile. Use this time to make sure everything is up-to-date on your profile. Have you got credits to add? Mastered a new accent? Has your appearance changed? Review your profile and edit your profile where required.
- Keep a TV journal. Most of us may find ourselves flicking through our on-demand services more than usual so why not keep a journal of what you've watched? If you've seen something you've loved, make notes about who wrote it, which actors you liked and why and if you particularly liked the direction, sound or lighting. This will keep you thinking about the production as a whole and help develop your taste and knowledge about this wonderful industry. Don't forget to share your recommendations too!
- Update your portfolio. Have you been performing the same monologue or song at every audition? If so then why not do some research to choose new monologue material and use the time you would've spent in Drama class to learn them.
- Perfect your self-tape. Self-taping is becoming popular, particularly in these tricky times. There are lots of self-tape advice and video tutorials available so take some time to read the guidance and practice. You'll be a pro before you know it and the idea of self-tapes being daunting will be a distant memory.
- Get writing. Think about the last show or programme you watched and become a critic for the day and write your thoughts down. Or if you see yourself as more of a Tom Stoppard then why not get started on writing your own play.
- DIY design. You might not remember Art Attack but your parents will! Grab some bits from around the house, get crafty and create your own set. Take your favourite musical and put it on in a completely different setting - who wouldn't want to see Matilda performed on a beach rather than a school?
Verity Naughton is a Casting Director specialising in child and young persons casting for Theatre, TV and Film. Find out more about VJN Casting.
Image by Tamarcus Brown via Unsplash.
