The People You'll Meet

 

Theatre People

 

Shot from 'Henry IV' at Trinity Theatre

I'm sure I'm speaking for a large portion of the Island theatre scene when I say that one of the best bits about performing, in general but specifically on the Island, is the enormous wealth of talent and loveliness of the people you meet along the way.

The people I've met have all had such an impact in the way I perform, the way I look at a performance and my overall love of all things theatrical, so I thought I'd take this chance to say thank you to them and give their non-existent egos a little boost in these trying times.

Of course it goes without saying that everyone I've performed with or met through theatre are very special, but to name them all would be a bit ridiculous, so please, know that you've had an impact regardless of a mention.

A shot from a show with Stage By Stage

I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning, way back in
2008 is when I suppose theatre became a love of mine, back then I attended weekly sessions at Trinity Theatre (and Later Solent Middle) with the Cowes branch of the theatre group, 'Stage by Stage' (Now Spotlight Theatre) and every five weeks or so we'd perform a show at Shanklin Theatre with their other groups. The three mentors that stand out from my experience there are Acting Grandmaster Dom Pope, Keyboard wizard David Redstone and Dance Extraordinaire Mary Bowdery (Now a Director at The Starlight Boutique) and it was with these three that my love of performing was ignited, from playing Baz the Prison Escapee (We tried to use the elastic in our underpants to make a slingshot), to being Paul McCartney in a piece about The Beatles. I must have done 4 or 5 shows with them before I was stopped from going for not tidying my bedroom (Probably the worst punishment I've had to date) and then that was it for a long time, as my Middle school didn't have a drama department.

Myself with Joe Groves in As You Like It

Medina High School is when I initially re-ignited my love of the arts, taking part in a number of drama activities with Miss Warne, Miss Shorrocks, Mr Doyle and Mr Wiseman (Absolute legend by the way) with the most notable being able to perform a slightly adapted version of my favourite musical, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I played Naphtali, one of the brothers, and this was where it all started again (Shout out to Joe Groves, who I met here and haven't manage to shake off ever since, he’s destined for greatness, if you have a space in your cast, I recommend getting in touch, and when you see his name in the credits of the biggest blockbusters in the next five/ten years, as an Actor, writer, director or anything else, remember that I always said he was destined for greatness)

With the Queen herself

I left Medina after the first year and started at Cowes Enterprise College (CEC), which is where I started taking it all a lot more seriously, taking Performing Arts as a GCSE with, as I call her, Queen Liz Segal, who was instrumental in developing me into the, if I don't mind saying, capable actor I am today, so many memories from that time that still very much influence me now, from Jason, The highly camp hairdresser-come-Vampire Slayer, to Lenny Moore, the Charismatic, and slightly irritating host of 'Which Matters Most'. It was also Liz who pushed me to go along to a rehearsal for the Isle of Wight Shakespeare Company's production of 'The Winter's Tale' as they needed someone to play Autolycus. I was hesitant; firstly, because I wasn't a fan of Shakespeare in the slightest, and secondly, because after some research, I realised it was quite a big part, which I wasn't confident to take on, I've never told her this, but I purposely didn't get in touch until I knew they had that part filled, and therefore, I became a lord, a small part, but still part of the show and I even had a few lines (one of which I heavily abridged without telling anyone, sorry), and that was that, my relationship with the IWSC began. (It should be noted, that I have said, and still maintain, that Liz will be right at the start of any awards speech that I give, should I be lucky enough for that to come up, Looking at you Grovesy, cast me in that part)

With Michael, Emily and Josh at Languard Manor

I'm trying to stay chronological for this, so we'll venture back to school in a bit, but for now, the largest portion of my theatrical adventures begins. After 'The Winter’s Tale' I went on to be a part of 'Henry IV', 'Henry V' and 'Macbeth' (as well as a last minute replacement in 'Twelfth Night' which I was made aware of when I turned up to watch it. As well as 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', 'As You Like It' and 'Romeo and Juliet' with their youth branch, 'The Mechanicals'. 

An IWSC Rehearsal Selfie

With Sid the Dog

My time with IWSC was a turning point for me regarding my interest in Shakespeare but also my confidence in acting, which I put down to the incredible people I shared a stage with. Josh Pointing, Hannah Brewer, Michael Mullin and Nick Weightman were instrumental in ‘harnessing my potential’ and making me feel welcome, and to this day I am still so grateful for the experiences they gave me, from Camping in the grounds of Languard Manor or performing with a real life dog (The Legend that is Sid the Dog) and being a cockney Sheriff to walking on stage, as Paris, to 'You Make My Dreams' by Hall & Oates to discover a dead Juliet, in an 80s themed 'Romeo and Juliet'. I had so much fun with these guys, and all of the cast in all of the shows, especially my lil' Royal Squad (If you know, you know)  

With Nye, before the Total Theatre Awards

Now it's the Summer of 2015, We've just performed 'Henry V' and 'Two Gents' and within days I am flying to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival to meet with Nye Russell-Thompson, who, at this point, I've known for about 3 months, to do the tech for his Award Nominated Edinburgh Fringe show 'Just A Few Words' (I even got to go to the awards ceremony, which was awesome). As well as being a fantastic person to share a stage with, I've been lucky enough to tech for him at a fair few venues and that as an experience has been so valuable and he's the BEST person to travel with, we have a number of great memories from the Edinburgh trip, from Joe Lycett Impressions and coining the term OKAYSOME to saying "Olly's in that" every time we saw a poster for 'The ladyboys of Bangkok' (I have no idea why we did this, but we did)

With Nye at Olly at THAT Costa Meeting

So Summer ended, and A-Levels began, but AS was a dodgy time for me in all things drama, so we'll just cut that bit out and talk about a meeting I had with Olly Fry in Newport Costa in October of that year, he told me of a crazy play he was writing called 'The Story of Wendy and Jill' and then he asked me to co-direct it with him, before I'd even had a think I accidentally said yes, and then I got terrified that I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fine, because it wasn't even happening until Spring. This show was my big test, I was in charge (partly) and had the BEST cast to work with. Olly has been such a major part of my Island theatre life, He was there in 'The Winter’s Tale' where all I thought was, 'he's funny, really tall and slightly intimidating', he was in Henry 4&5 too, where I realised 'He's still tall, still funny which apparently annoys people quite a lot, and he's not intimidating anymore' and here he was making his wild, crazy dream come true and he let ME be a part of making it happen. 

Co-Directors for The Story of Wendy and Jill

Through this show, Olly taught me that it's fine to be ambitious, it's fine to be a bit silly with the delivery, it's fine to turn a rehearsal/performance space into a Nerf Gun arena and it's fine if only one person in the cast has page 50 of the script. This wasn't the only experience where Olly has been a great support, in September 2016, Olly ran a workshop on one man shows and together we formed a show called 'Mitch Hamer's The Great British Strictly Come Takeaway Take Me Out Of Here All Talk Chatty Man Late On Ice Factor'(That's a mouthful), which was all about my love and borderline addiction of Television, impressions and voices, this was such a different experience for me but Olly was so good as reassuring me and giving me the confidence to perform it to an audience.

With Joe Plumb

Jumping back a bit to 29th May 2016, at 7:34pm I receive a Facebook message from Local Island Celebrity Joe Plumb, who before this, I had met once, when he was working at CEC for a week, back then he helped me develop one of my GCSE Performing Arts pieces. The message asked me if I'd be up for being in One Man, Two Guvnors (1M2G) as 'Gareth/Ensemble'- I didn't know much about the show, But I knew it was good, I knew I liked Joe Plumb from that week in GCSE and the legendary Zoe Divers was the one who passed my info on, so I knew I'd get to do a show with her which is always the best, and on June 2nd I confirmed that I could do it.

A Promo for 1M2G

With Zoe Divers

This was exciting, A big show in 18 days’ time, with a great cast that I had been recommended for, all was going well, and then, on my third or fourth rehearsal, I had to make a decision, go to the rehearsal, or stay at the beach and say goodbye to a friend of mine, I chose the latter, I don't regret it, it was a special day, but, as I did then, I feel awful about it- A few angry voicemails from Zoe later, and I was feeling the worst ever, So I wrote a long grovelling message to Joe and the director, who I had met once and was absolutely terrified of at the time, the impeccable Fiona Gwinnett. The replies?-

                                                Joe: 'No Worries[...]See u Tomorrow'

                                     and Fiona: 'Thanks for your explanation[...]Tomorrow is another day'-

I still felt awful, but I wasn't worried to turn up the next day anymore. Joe and Fiona have been the best mentors on professionalism that you could possibly have, and I'm not terrified of Fiona anymore, she's lovely, just don't push your luck.

Some of the Cast of Pantomonium!

Something obviously went well with Joe, he invited me back for a second run of One Man, Two Guvnors, and then, along with Lewis Wheeler (also in 1M2G) we hosted 'The Sunday Roast' on Vectis Radio and in December 2017, we put together 'Pantomonium!' A madcap mashup of mayhem and Crumble starring BGT's Lorraine Bowen. That was the last time I performed with Joe, mainly due to me being away or being busy with other projects, but I hope to tread the boards with him again as soon as possible and, at risk of bigging him up too much, he's still my biggest on-stage influence.

With Georgia and Jamie

With Mr Dean Lyle

Finally comes the conclusion to the

school days, the A2 Drama year, if I'm honest with you, this was a really tough time for me and my mental health and without going into it too deeply, it got quite dark, strangely enough I'm still really proud of the final piece that we created, 'Asylum' and it was thanks to my castmates; Georgia Prangnell and Jamie Stinton and my teacher Dean Lyle that I managed to get through that part of my life. I regret that I let it impact on my performance and commitment, but mostly I hate what it did to the relationships, and the potential damage it could have done the future of my castmates. This, however, was still a hugely important life lesson for me privately and within theatre, it's important to remember that your actions can and do impact the others in a cast.

With Joe Groves and Emily Scotcher

Some honourable mentions of those who I've met along the way, who have each taught me lessons for life both on and off the stage: Firstly, the absolute gentleman Kevin Wilson, the ever smiling Selwyn Hawtin and the eternally wise Maureen Sullivan- All of whom have taught me to grasp every opportunity when they present themselves, and to keep smiling (and keep the tea flowing); The sublime Emily Scotcher and the supportive and reassuring Holly Downer who taught me to believe in myself and to be the best I can be; Amber Bourne and Janey Hawtin, for teaching me that the onstage talent are only as good as their stage crew, and the man we all need in a time of crisis, Patrick 'Patch' Barry, who taught me that once you do one production on the Island, you are officially part of the 'Island Theatre Scene Casting Catalogue' and thank you to Niall, you accidentally made me make the best decision of my life and I owe you a lot for that.

So in Summary: For me, the Island theatre scene is about

the memories you make along the way and the lessons you are taught.

In Action with Patch, in The Merry Wives of Windsor

For me, Island theatre is about the quirks that the people bring to each rehearsal.

For me, it's the Sausage rolls, it's THAT candle monologue, it's the meaty ballsy chicken balls and it's the Languard Log.

For me, it's telling people to 'Get on my level', it's singing about Cat food Crumble and it's seeing Nigel on the character list.

For me it's Falstaff's talcum powder hair, it's Touchstone's weird salute and it's the image of a certain someone, on a motorcycle, singing 'Too Legit to Quit'.

But mostly, for me, it's the people.