blog

sceggs invalid reading

2012-05-01T09:01:00Z

Today I visited SCEGGS Darlinghurst where drama teacher Vivienne Rodda is directing my play The Invalid Rehearsal. With a cast of 10, which includes three boys from Cranbrook and Sydney Grammar, we had the first cast reading of the play.

The Invalid Rehearsal was originally written for and performed by the National Institute of Dramatic Art's Drama Studio in 2010. It is one of the three short plays I'm publishing this year. The Invalid Rehearsal, Beth and Grounded will be available mid 2012 in a single volume, GRIT: 3 Plays for Teenagers.

Head of Drama Inga Scarlett said she was so excited to read The Invalid Rehearsal and believes it will work really well at SCEGGS. It will be performed on the 26th and 27th July. Good luck to Vivienne and the cast - I can't wait to see the results and look forward to popping in along the way.
I'm pictured with Vivienne Rodda, director The Invalid Rehearsal.

charlotte joins creative state

2012-04-05T21:53:03Z

I'm thrilled to welcome Charlotte Salusinszky to Creative State. Charlotte has come on board to help me take Creative State to the next level and beyond. She has only just started and I'm thrilled with what we have achieved in a short amount of time. We've designed week-long acting workshops for actors at varying levels of experience, we've created a safe haven for actors to regularly practice their craft and much more. We'll be sending out a newsletter shortly to bring you up to speed with what's happening in the year ahead and I'm very excited by the direction we're taking things.

Charlotte studied drama at school as well as acted in and directed theatre productions. She has studied acting through NIDA's open program and is presently attending NIDA's 'The Actor'. She brings with her passion, energy and a great sense of humour.

Welcome aboard Charlotte!

filming at plc

2012-03-26T02:59:00Z

Tamara Sweetman, drama teacher at Pymble Ladies College brought me in to assist a group of students with a film project. The six students from years 9, 10 and 11 were entering a film competition and I spent two days helping them prepare for the shoot. On day one we brainstormed ideas around the competition brief and each student devised their own film concepts around our findings. The students pitched their ideas to the group and then voted for the idea they liked most. Over the next week they wrote the script before I returned for day two. We then story boarded the film and created a shot list and a multitude of props that were required for the shoot. I was told the shoot went well and they're presently editing the film. Good luck in the competition girls!
I can't wait to see the end result.

tricky business

2012-02-14T06:50:00Z

I just spent two days playing a guest role on Channel Nines new TV series Tricky Business. Obviously I can't give away any details about the show and its story lines but I had a lot of fun playing the role. My scenes involved series regular Kip Gamblin and he was great to work with. Look out for 9's new show which airs early to mid 2012.

congratulations rhys

2012-01-27T12:29:52Z

Congratulations Rhys Keir! Rhys is continuing his acting journey at Actors' Centre Australia, ACA. I recently coached Rhys on his drama school auditions. Throughout a handful of sessions we worked up a few monologues including Biff from Death of a Salesman and Mark Antony from Julius Caesar. Rhys was successful on his first audition for ACA and he begins soon on the two and a half year course. I wish you every success Rhys!

congratulations brooke

2011-12-16T19:08:05Z

Congratulations Brooke McElligott! Brooke is continuing her acting journey at the Victorian College of Arts, VCA. I met Brooke in my Bundaberg workshop earlier this year and it was clear she was a talented young actor. Because of distance I wasn't able to coach her with her auditions for Australia's top drama schools so I mentored her through the process. I met with her a couple of times and also her parents to discuss options. It was then I recommended she include VCA in her audition list, as she hadn't thus far. I'm thrilled she did - her audition, which was her first for VCA gained herself a place at the prestigious institution and she's off to Melbourne soon to begin a great adventure!

grounded

2011-12-14T08:43:46Z

Over the last three years I've been the core tutor of NIDA's Drama Studio - a one year course for teen actors. Each year I have written and directed their end of year performances. This year has been my last in this role and I've finished with my third short play for young actors, Grounded.

Grounded has a cast 7 female and 5 male characters. It begins with a group of girls heading off into the bush to have a party that none of their parents know about. The play deals with the ramifications of doing so. It performed at NIDA's Parade Studio on Sunday 11th and was a great success. The students felt it was a unique opportunity to play people their own age but in circumstances quite far from their own experience.

Grounded will be published along with Beth (2009) and The Invalid Rehearsal (2010) in a book of my short plays. The book will be published by Creative State and available for schools in 2012 - watch this space!

40 years of youth theatre

2011-09-25T01:52:58Z

The Bundaberg Players, which has been operating since 1950, have been running a youth theatre group for 40 years and it's time to celebrate! The celebrations have taken place over the last four days. They began with a series of workshops in musical theatre, improvisation, acting and screen acting. All of the workshops were run by past members of the youth theatre who have gone on to work in the arts: Rebecca Hutchins, Adam Williams, Trevor Green, Colin Thrupp, myself and Trevor Hunter. The festivities ended with a dinner, performances by present youth theatre members and a puppet show by David Hamilton.

It was great to return to where I got my first acting role as Louis Leonowens in the King and I some thirty years ago and I also got to catch up with some old friends. The youth theatre productions produced over the years include Man of Steel, King Macbee and the Walking Trees, Sheerluck Holmes, Pinocchio, Bugsy Malone and The Dracular Spectacular.

plc readings

2011-09-25T01:51:58Z

I had the unique opportunity of hearing two of my plays read by a group of students from Pymble Ladies College and Knox Grammar. Tamara Sweetman, drama teacher at PLC organised the readings. The two plays were Beth and The Invalid Rehearsal. I wrote and directed the plays for NIDA's Drama Studio in 2009 and 2010 and as I'm publishing them for schools in 2012, I jumped at the chance to hear them once again before a final rewrite. It was not only good the hear the plays but to get both Tamara's and the students' feedback. I benefitted greatly from their feedback and questions and the plays have both improved immensely. Thank you to to the students and especially Tammara for organising the reading.

If you'd like to be kept up to date about the release of the book of short plays, contact me.

coaching laura

2011-04-16T06:06:24Z

I was recently approached by a mother from the Coffs Harbour region. Her daughter Laura was having difficulty selecting a HSC solo performance piece and suspected she may have difficulty polishing her performance to gain a good assessment result. On purchasing Individual Performance, my book of 20 original scripts for HSC students, Laura selected Deing Julia, the first script in the book about a teen's struggle being dyslexic. Laura chose the script because it spoke to her - she has had some learning difficulties and has a friend who is dyslexic - she felt it was familiar.

Laura's mother then brought her to me in Sydney for a 4 hour coaching session on her performance. Laura had rehearsed her performance and came to the session well prepared. We played with the piece, improving it bit by bit and finished giving Laura specific work to do on her return home. I recently heard from Laura's mum:

Just thought you would like to know that Laura has just performed her Individual Performance at the Eisteddfod. She came first in her division with a mark of 91%. Thank you so much for your help. Laura has really appreciated it. Will stay in touch as it progresses towards the final performance.

And Laura said:

Thanks Paul, you are a true champ!