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Articles
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Articles |
Getting Acting Work - Boyle Yer StottsBoyle Yer Stotts? What on earth...? Well... "Stotts" is short for "stotty", which is short for "stottycake", which is a fairly large, round, flat loaf of bread found in the Tyneside and Wearside areas of England (also known as a "fadge"). Eating stotties filled with meat (or sausage, or bacon, but never salad - nothing so healthy!) is a good north east pastime, but what relevance it has to Boyle Yer Stotts Productions I do not even pretend to guess! Boyle Yer Stotts was set up by a group of young actors, all in their early twenties, in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. Originally the company were Iain Cunningham, Dale Meeks and Iain Slavin (actors) and director Jackie Fielding. Wayner Miller joined them for the second production, and, for the third, they were joined by Darren Ali and Kerry Collins. All (except Jackie) are former students on the BTEC Performing Arts Course at South Tyneside College, who, when they left, knowing that they couldn't afford drama school, discovered that their chances of getting professional work or even appearing in amateur productions (except for youth theatre shows) were very slim. However, instead of sitting moping about the unfairness of it all, they decided to set up their own company, doing the sort of work they liked, and even writing their own shows. From 10th to 14th October this year they presented their third show, Babies, a comedy written by Iain Cunningham and Dale Meeks. Performed at their local theatre, the Customs House, it was their first full-length show (the others had been about an hour long) and, thanks to the reputation their first two shows had gained, played to almost full houses in the venue's Studio. For once Dale Meeks didn't appear in the show, for he had managed to secure a part in The Beautiful Game, the new Andrew Lloyd Webber/Ben Elton musical, now playing in the West End. His performance as Ginger has earned him good reviews and he hopes that this will be his chance to launch a career in London. For the others there are hopeful signs, too. Tyne Tees Television made the company the subject of a documentary which will be broadcast across the ITV network in the new year. For them, the problem faced by so many starting out in the profession, that of building up a suitably impressive portfolio of work, has been solved by their own initiative. And they have other plans for the future. The writing collaboration between Dale Meeks and Iain Cunningham will continue, and Wayne Miller is in the midst of writing a play, which he hopes to workshop and then produce later this year or early next. I suspect that there were many seasoned theatre people who, when Boyle Yer Stotts presented its first show, Beer Monsters, were perhaps a little affronted at the temerity of this young upstarts, but I am pretty sure that now they have been won over. And I hope that they, like me, will admire them for their courage and applaud their success. I have to admit to having an interest here, for Iain Slavin and Wayne Miller are ex-students of mine, but that is really irrelevant: those who set out to make their own way in this notoriously difficult profession and are willing to sacrifice time, effort and the very little money they have to achieve their goals, deserve admiration and encouragement. Good luck to 'em, I say! Articles Indices:
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