Definition Of The Lesser Spotted Luvvie.

...I'd rather rip my own arm off and hit myself with the soggy end than spend any time at all with that peculiar breed of act-tor called the Luvvie.

Luvvies are the type of actors that talk loudly, even at funerals, in a booming voice and wait for people's heads to turn. They constantly prattle on about roles that they've done and clang continuously about famous celebrities that they've worked with, calling them by shortened, irritating pet names like "Larry"or "Ed" or "Tula." They have an annoying habit of, when finding out they are talking to another actor/tress, immediately asking: "So what are you working on now then?" in a condescending manner and then they intensely pretend to listen to your answer. They have a propensity to stand as if posing for a Spotlight portrait. They use words like fabulous, super, fellow thespians and darling (with a drawn out rrrrrr). The males, more often than not have facial hair, have played Prospero or Lear (without any great depth of character probing) and like to drink Marks & Spencer Port "for the voice you know!"

The female of the Luvvie is usually adorned with some sort of shawl and floppy hat. She likes to hug people and air kiss them as many as 3 times whilst saying: "So good to see you again, so lovely to be back." This lets you instantly know that you are on her turf, she will smile patronisingly whilst offering to show you round and be your mentor, she means it kindly but also enjoys that level of control. She's a huge fan of the enviroment and herbal tea and will probably try to convert you. She will definitely mention "drinkies" after rehearsals but be aware that she may exclude the ordinary actress, such as myself, in favour of someone of comparable lovvieness. Do not be offended at this, you're much better off, they are easily affected by alcohol and then really revert to Luvvie type!

Do post if you spot one as they can be (wishful thinking) quite rare these days.

Not A Thigh Slap In Sight

So I'm going to be in a play! Yep this TV actress is going to dare to perform live and not in some panto in the wilds of Cumbria...


It's very exciting actually, a physical piece, demanding, exhausting and (although I'm only 2 rehearsals in) I find I'm laughing more than I have for ages.


I'd forgotten what it was like to bond with a company of actors. "One doesn't do that in La Television, darrrling, one is an island!" It's going to be good I can feel it in my water.

The play is a new piece by Ian Moore (hereafter known as The Boss) called The Inconsistent Whisper Of Insanity.  As this is an anonymous blog that's more information than I should have told you, I feel slightly sweaty now! What the hell we need bums on seats!

Anyway...my character is a tall, Russian woman. Nice? That sounds glamourous doesn't it? WRONG!

Firstly think Soviet Union not Russia. Are you loosing sight of those beautiful blonde girls that marry English men yet? Now imagine a concrete tower block and lots of potato soup! See those pretty girls are a distance away now aren't they?

My character, let's call her Svetlana, is more your shotputter than your table dancer. She' (in my head) is quite large and slightly obnoxious! Sounds good so far right?

Where did I put those steroids??????

Adverts lead to champagne!

Recently I had the good fortune to do an ad with a very charming celebrity. It was also a well written advert - so take back nearly all I've said about think tank advertising executives! The aforementioned charming celebrity was a thoroughly nice bloke and invited myself and man to a show he was doing.

So off we went to the local venue in question where I was pleased to discover 2 tickets to the sold out evening of entertainment. The show was great, we chortled in our seats, made all the more fun because I was a guest of the bloke on stage. Afterwards we headed backstage and met up with said charming celebrity who offered us a beer and a chat! A footballer friend of his also came backstage and we ended up being invited to a party. In for a penny - in for a pound - I looked over at Man and thought "why not?"

So a short time later we ended up in a millionaire's house playing pool and drinking champagne till the early hours of the morn. It was a beautiful place - obligatory pool/gym/sauna (that nobody uses) and a game room complete with light up dance floor and a bar bigger than my local! Sometimes I really love my life... I might have no money, no profile and occasionally no pride but you couldn't organise a night like that if you tried! Happy days chuckle!

Just how many chairs do you think you can emergency stop?

So here I am, sitting somewhere in the North of England thinking to myself I just have to tell someone about this. Everyone, anyone, somebody or nobody? It really doesn't matter!

I spent four years training at drama school to do what I do, blood, sweat, tears and tea went into my degree - cheating, so sadly apparent in our universities if the discussion on 5 Live the other day was to be believed, was not an option for me!

Don't get me wrong - this blog is not a way to vent my angst at the world as to why I haven't been invited to collect my award at the BAFTAs yet, or even the TV Choice Favourite Soap Special Dinner. Quite simply life is funny!

How many of you can say that they went to a meeting today and were asked - in all seriousness - to emergency stop a perfectly ordinary chair?

This audition was my first in a while (I've changed my agent in the last few months and she's very cheerful). I proceeded up the stairs out of the rain, so glad that I'd spent time straightening my hair, and filled in the casting form: smiling all the time at the other candidates whilst trying both to look confident and smaller than my actual height (a difficult feat to master). Then there's the obligatory photo against the blandest wall in the room, which of course looks really bad. Why do casters still use Polaroids? Actors spend hundreds of pounds a year on quality pics only to dress up, go to a casting and be confronted with a blurred reproduction of how they look "at that moment". At this point I am usually bending my knees and normally blinking!

Well, after hanging around for an hour or so (castings always run late) it was my turn to win the caster and client over. I walk in the room, smiling, make eye contact - being direct only to be confronted with a plastic chair and a scenario on how to emergency stop it. I did not make it seem natural! I tried all the actor's process, the Stanislavski, even the Peter Brook but I just couldn't seem to make it serious enough - probably not helped by the giggles I was trying to suppress.

You see I might be £250.00 plus repeats poorer but no amount of money can buy the smile that stayed on my face for a whole day!