What casting directors want?

casting-call-image-3Starting out in acting is full of challenges. There are so many things you need to do. Find the right acting class. Find the right audition material. Find the best headshots. Stay in shape mentally, emotionally and physically. So what about the actual auditions? Actors often spend so much time juggling everything else, they often forget to focus on what they actually bring into the room. My advice is to develop really good meditation muscles. It will not only help your concentration, focus and well-being in general, it’ll keep you sane and in tip-top shape once you get cast and have to spend long energy-sapping hours on those hectic TV and film sets. Here’s an interesting post about what you should do once you get into the audition room with a casting director. All valid points. I would say that point 20 and 21 are most important. That’s what it is about after all. Highlighting your talent and your artistry. Remember, there is nobody else in the whole wide world who can do it like you can do it. Now, put the time in, breathe and go get ’em!

Take a look at our Testimonials

img_4446.jpgBeginners Acting for Adults, Beginners’ Creative Writing and Beginners’ Drawing. Why do people Act The Maggot? What do they think about their experience? Take a look at some more testimonials.

“It was a brilliant experience for me. Somedays I felt very tired going to class and came skipping out. It felt a very safe platform to try out acting as a beginner while also encourging you to go outside your comfort zone. It was a great way to meet new people with plenty of opportunities to get to know people outside of the class also. People were from different walks of life which was lovely and added to the whole experience.”

I loved the course. I revived my thirst for writing. I went into the course with an idea I had started writing about. It was due to our “non-compulsory” homework for the course that a TV show proposal I wrote ended up getting commissioned by a TV station. Everyone had different interests which is what make it so much fun and it was really laid back. Couldn’t recommend it more to get you creative juices flowing. I did it for the crack and it delivered big time.”

“I really enjoyed the different backgrounds and different ages of participants and that it was focused on people with no acting experience. It took a lot of pressure off doing the course. Some of the exercises were very interesting like the mindfulness have encouraged me to research more into that area as well. It’s very good. A friend of mine has signed up to it recently as well.”

“It is fun, creative, easy going but with just the right amount of challenge to keep it interesting and really worth going going back to each week. I found it great for my self confidence and well being to speak in front of others and to be creative, play and use imagination in the company of like minded people while being facilitated by someone who ensured it was safe and fun.”

It’s showtime folks!

https://plus.google.com/+ActTheMaggot/posts/7BXbNbqxvJw Fantastic stuff. Conquering your fears. Getting out of your comfort zone. Making new friends. Memorising lines. Performing in front of a live audience. It seems like yesterday this bunch rocked up to try their hand at our flagship course in Beginners’ Acting. They completed six short weeks of improvisation and general mayhem. They got bitten by the bug and returned for Level 2 where they continued with improv skills but also dug deeper into character and text and the result?!! Hey presto – their first foray on stage. Well done all. A great night. We are all looking forward to what they pull out of the hat in Level 3 – where they will concentrate on scenes. Now that is a performance worth waiting for. Roll on summer time. If you are thinking about dipping your toes in, drop us a line and join our fun community. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and you can track the progress of our new Beginners’ Drawing class on our Instagram and Pinterest pages. We also have another fun Creative Writing class for Beginners kicking off on June 6th in Temple Bar. Bag your spot today! More classes happening in May and June, actthemaggot@gmail.com

What do you get when you cross the Abbey Theatre with two Scotsmen?

unknownRelevance.
Perhaps? Let’s see.
Most heavy weight or complicated subjects cannot be discussed on air live in a radio studio, much less on television. And often, right now, is just too early to dissect an issue. It hasn’t even been digested. It’s too raw. It’s too cooked. Too silent. Too loud. Too in your face. On air, the segment, the sound bite, the phone in, all of it is not working. Things are begin left out. We are not getting the full story. The time does not permit it. There is no conclusive argument – “that’s all we have time for folks, I’m going to have to cut you short there”, how many times have you heard that? Or how frustrating is it when all you hear are lots of white men talking over one another in a studio and nothing is really said or heard. And, although social media is definitely more inclusive and it is good for picking up on stuff or catching the gist of a news story…..you can just forget about Facebook and Twitter for informed debate unless you have hours upon hours at your disposal for wading through the miles of rants, inaccuracies and the repetition! How about theatre then? Can it be a place of relevance? As opposed to this high brow, obtuse, irrelevant place where middle-aged people go to fall asleep before their steak dinners. Is a play the result of one writer tap tap tapping away beside a burning flame in a dusty garret? Yes and No. But mainly, No. The playwright is a very specific kind of writer. Albeit still poor. And when paid, still underpaid but that is food for another day. The playwright writes for the stage. Is thinking orally all the time. Thinking how people think and talk. The playwright covers many angles. Looks at a story, event, issue from the point of view of different characters and that is key. We are in a very exciting period for theatre. Now more than ever, we need discourse, debate, analysis and I’m sorry but the media machine is not doing its job of facilitating this. In real time, current issues are lost to the next, hottest story in the blink of an eye. And what was of vital significance yesterday is all but forgotten by today. There is also very real menacing legal fears. Can we print this? Can you say that? Ah the beauty of fiction. Theatre can revisit these real time issues and light them up again. Put them under the microscope. There is something about it being “up there” on the stage, the rational and the emotional fused. Stories made flesh. Maybe we can see things more clearly. Tf successful, a good play can truly cast some new light on a subject. And then, maybe then, we can have a proper, satisfying, conclusive argument afterwards in the pub. Imagine that?! Now that kind of theatre might even lead to change or God forbid, action. It might lead to better journalism and better theatre again. Osmosis. Dare I say it? A better world. The Abbey theatre is now being run by two new directors from Scotland and things are hotting up there. Neil Murray and Graham McLaren have just announced three brand new short plays as three urgent responses to issues that are happening right now. Take a look at their most recently announced short play line-up for May and treat yourself to a ticket. I for one am definitely going to check out A Whisper Anywhere Else today!

This Scottish three-year-old rocks

screen-shot-2017-04-20-at-10-01-18If you haven’t met Isla Nelson yet you are in for a treat. Her comedian Dad gives us her take on everything from Celebrity Culture to Easter to Valentines Day. Enjoy!

Choose how and when you want to Act The Maggot with us!

img_4446.jpgC’mon you know you want to. So much talk about tapping into your creativity, getting out of your comfort zone and minding your mental health has sent lots of fun-seeking adults to try Act The Maggot! We are now offering four different courses on Tuesday and Thursday nights in Temple Bar. Want to complete your first ever short screenplay in just six weeks? Try Beginners Screenwriting starting April 25th, 2017. Want to relax and use pencil sketching to open up all sorts of creative possibilities in your brain? Try Beginners Drawing starting April 25th, 2017. Want to gain confidence and have lots of fun while improving concentration and focus? Consider our flagship Beginners Acting class starting May 11th, 2017. Or do you love to write? Want to develop a good practise, learning lots of new skills along the way? Try our Beginners Creative Writing class. Many people try more than one. There is so much to choose from. All aimed at the absolute beginner. All courses cost €180 and take place in Temple Bar. Call us today 087 3744926 or actthemaggot@gmail.com for queries/bookings.

Poem to start the week

Wake up. Day calls you

Wake up. Day calls you
to your life: your duty.
And to live, nothing more.
Root it out of the glum
night and the darkness
that covered your body
for which light waited
on tiptoe in the dawn.
Stand up, affirm the straight
simple will to be
a pure slender virgin.
Test your bodys metal.
cold, heat? Your blood
will tell against the snow,
or behind the window.
The colour
in your cheeks will tell.
And look at people. Rest
doing no more than adding
your perfection to another
day. Your task
is to carry your life high,
and play with it, hurl it
like a voice to the clouds
so it may retrieve the light
already gone from us.
That is your fate: to live
Do nothing.
Your work is you, nothing more.

Pedro Salinas
1891-1951

translated by Willis Barnstone

Where to see great Short Films?

fadeinThe way to view film and video content has changed so dramatically in recent years. Apart from catching the latest shorts at the Dublin Film Festival, it is difficult to find examples of good short films that are being made today. There are heaps of Facebook groups you can join. This website is a favourite – an amazing short films website hosting all the major film festival winners in the short film category. Happy viewing. Elsewhere, here is a cool site showing some quirky and interesting shorts films made in Ireland.If you are planning on writing your first short screenplay, it is important to study some of your favourites. Choose ones in the genre you wish to write in and study their dialogue, story arcs and the timings. You can also consider joining us at Act The Maggot in Temple Bar for our Beginner’s Screenwriting class. Working with a group helps get the juices flowing and the cross-pollination of ideas can get you really into your own story.

Wednesday Poem

ADVICE TO WRITERS

Even if it keeps you up all night,
wash down the walls and scrub the floor
of your study before composing a syllable.

Clean the place as if the Pope were on his way.
Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration.

The more you clean, the more brilliant
your writing will be, so do not hesitate to take
to the open fields to scour the undersides
of rocks or swab in the dark forest
upper branches, nests full of eggs.

When you find your way back home
and stow the sponges and brushes under the sink,
you will behold in the light of dawn
the immaculate altar of your desk,
a clean surface in the middle of a clean world.

From a small vase, sparkling blue, lift
a yellow pencil, the sharpest of the bouquet,
and cover the pages with tiny sentences
like long rows of devoted ants
that followed you in from the woods.

Billy Collins

Congratulations!

boomWell done to the maggots who have just completed their six-week beginners’ creative writing course tonight. An excellent bunch of writers in all with so many interesting characters and stories. Watch this space! Congratulations is also due to last week’s bunch who completed their six weeks in beginners’ acting. A rowdy lot they turned out to be once they got to know one another! A great time was had with both groups and we look forward to the follow on courses as well as launching our new introductory courses in drawing and screenwriting. Oh yes, it’s going to be a very creative spring here at Act The Maggot. Sure we wouldn’t have it any other way.