The Diary of a New Girl.

Day one and I wake up 40 minutes before my alarm and lie there staring at the ceiling, Shakespeare’s gnarly act 2 scene 1 verse running through my head; I’ve slept terribly. Probably because I’m extremely nervous. Always one to have suffered from intense imposter syndrome, this is made worse by the fact I am the only one in the cast who’s never done a tour with this company before and I have no idea what to expect from the process. What if I ask a stupid question? What if they all hate me? What if I can’t do it? The kind of thoughts we all had before our first day of school. Being an actor is like having your first day of school every time you have a new job. I jump on the tube. 

Brixton is like a chaotic hug from a drunk girl in a bathroom at a club; smelly, hot, too much, a bit terrifying but also gorgeous and kind.

I arrive over an hour early (I know… I have a problem), grab an iced coffee (the London heat wave is not messing about), and wait (iambic pentameter ferreting around my brain). 

I’m a London girl born and bred, so I feel right at home where we’re rehearsing. The room however is like a sauna a couple of measly fans battling against climate change. The others, one by one, enter the space, and, not surprisingly, they’re all utterly charming, gorgeous & friendly (I am immediately more relaxed- maybe I’ll make friends!). Although, surprisingly, we had all dressed very similarly. We laugh about this and decide it is a good omen for our cast – same language different font. 

Day one already makes me feel calmer, but day two is when we really get the ball rolling with all five of us in the room something feels electric, and I start to get excited during our workshop with the incredible RC Annie discussing our shared language as a group and how we will begin to tackle this mammoth task.

We made all priorities clear as a group and write them on a whiteboard. These include honesty, kindness, direction, and beer.

Walking into work my third day from the station I start to contemplate how incredibly is it that I get sit in this room with four other passionate people discussing the meaning of this intricate story, and stretching our imaginations like a muscle. It really is a fantastic acting exercise I’ve never experienced before. We play with creating a storm using our voices, using our bodies, using movement. 5 very sweaty actors creating magic. 

We continue, fuelled by incredible Caribbean food provided by Francis & Arlene (our hosts at the rehearsal space),  to navigate our way through the play. It’s a bit like being in a tempest ourselves. Sometimes there’s calm waters, sometimes waves that we have to work together as a team to overcome, but by the end of the week we seem to have something resembling a functioning system which allows us to try ideas. As Sam (playing Sebastian & Ferdinand) so perfectly put it “we are holding each other to a high standard with kindness”. 

I get on the tube home on Friday, imposter syndrome has taken a back seat, this is one hell of a team and we all feel really excited about the next few weeks of discovering this island and the characters on it. Bring on week 2. 

Phoebe