We had two tremendous meetings in May.

The first meeting of the month was on the 12th when Chris Begg was our host where he passed on some of his vast experience and knowledge, gained from many years as a professional actor, director and drama teacher. Chris himself said that we barely scratched the surface of the waters into which we were dipping the tiniest of fraction of a toenail but there was some very useful and thought-provoking stuff on offer. Chris started by presenting an effect in character, telling a story using the character, physical movement and clever use of language. He then spoke about the fifteen seconds that we have in which to make our first impression and get the audience interested. The way he put it was to make your entrance and entrance the audience. He fielded a few questions regarding this as well as one or two other items like stage fright (Stage Excitement, Chris says) and had everyone pair off to perform a few exercises in Conservatoire Evaluation and Critique. This was highly enjoyable and we all got a lot out of it. Chris spoke about breathing exercises and the importance of accurate diction, engaging the audience, smiling (when appropriate), eye contact, scripting, avoiding being your own commentator and stating the obvious and, very importantly, having fun when performing. We are players after all. Chris closed the evening with the All the Worlds a Stage soliloquy from As You Like It, a fitting end to a great night.

Dave Anderson made his hosting debut with Stage and Prlour Magic on the 26th. Dave Anderson was our host for an evening of Stage and Parlour Magic. Dave had setup the main performing area and table nicely, declaring the evening the Show of Shows and it pretty much lived up to its billing. With only one or two exceptions, everyone in attendance performed and the performances with uniformly great. There were one or two talks about sets and performances in the process of being finalised and Dave filled the gaps between these with his one pieces, attempting to retrieved escaped snakes and much else; all of it first-rate. We ran a little over time but I am sure everyone was sorry to see the end of the evening. Dave thanked everyone for attending and performing and received a great round of applause.

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Dave G