Taking to the Road
The joys of mentoring are many, as I have found out over the last four or five years since my involvement in the Alan Bates award began.
It's great to get a new perspective on the profession in 2016, one that I as an actor approaching 60 years of age would not have had, and indeed it's a lot of this information that is inspired me to write my recent tome "The Working Actor" which the Twitterati tell me is Being received extremely well. Indeed doing a book signing and a discussion courtesy of Samuel French a week or so ago has meant that I've had the chance to sit down with a couple more young people and find out exactly what they're up to what the world is like out there today.
The guys I mentor to the Alan Bates are now working and doing well, and it's an unexpected joy to have to once again take to the road visit the repertory theatres of England to see them in action.
A slow train to Stoke-on-Trent and a stay in a hotel straight out of 1973 was part of the deal in going to see Adam Buchanan in "Diana of Dobson's",a beautiful production by Abbey Wright. Adam is a bundle of energy, a bundle of neurotic energy, and it works brilliantly on stage. Over the last couple years it's been great to watch him add to that an assurance and confidence that makes his work extremely watchable. Playing a cad with a heart, I sat in the theatre on a damp misty Tuesday night feeling very proud. He's just about to open in " Talent" by Victoria Wood at the same theatre which due to the recent sad events is of course a sell-out, and in which I am sure he will be absolutely brilliant.
This weekend has seen a lightning trip up to my own home city of Sheffield. I'm actually a Rotherham boy, but a mutual nativity in South Yorkshire has been what has made mentoring Luke Dale a real joy. After a bit of a stop and start first year, which has included some TV and corporate video, he is now achieving part of his dream by making his professional theatrical debut on the stage of the Sheffield Crucible in his home city. Having watched a preview of "Flowers from Mrs Harris" I'm proud to say that he does this in style. It's not the largest of parts, but he has made sure that he makes an incredibly valuable contribution to what is a heartwarming piece of theatre. A first production which he can be justifiably proud of being part.
Elliott Barnes Worrell made sure that his latest piece of work didn't require me to buy any train tickets or take to the road. It's a beautifully crafted piece of film entitled "The Works" which he has written, directed, and acts in. You can find it on the BBC iPlayer as it was snapped up to be part of the BBC Shakespeare 400 festival, and it's a great accomplishment.
All our new mentors are in position and working with their Alan Bates finalists. Some of already been up a successful job interviews, some are still finishing their final year productions and are waiting for that big step out into the world, but all of them, mentors and mentees, will benefit from the relationship. The sharing, the exchange of experience, and the sheer pride of seeing each other working.
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| Luke in rehearsal |
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| Adam in performance |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03rkqcv/shakespeare-lives-the-works
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