I have just finished working on BC, a play by Nazlah Black, that we workshopped and performed in the On The Verge new writing festival at The Arches in Glasgow – On The Verge is part of the BA Acting that I am currently studying on, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and is an opportunity for students to create their own work. There were some really wonderful pieces that I really hope go further, as they have so much potential and it was great to see a week of plays, and up to three or four new plays a day.
For us, after weeks working in a rehearsal room on text and story construction; acting and improvising the scenes again and again to really get to grips with the essence of the work, we came out with a play. I worked with Vivan Chan and Laurence Scott, two of my fellow actors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on the work that tells the story of two teenagers, one of whom is battling depression. A tough subject that really required its research and a strong assertion of artistic integrity. It is not a subject to be played with lightly, but hopefully we explored it touchingly and honestly. It was an eye-opening experience to work on new contemporary writing as an actor and one I shall never forget. I guess it will make more sense in the context of the play than at the end of my post, but I think it’s a beautiful line from the show so I’m gonna put it in anyway. As Dani (played by the lovely Vivian Chan) says in the play, “Some memories are harder to erase than others”.