Last Thursday, I attended the inaugural session of Scene Gym at the Old Vic Workrooms, a new concept, which is the brain child of Julia Taylor and brings together actors, writers and directors to meet new people, try out new writing and also flex our acting/directing muscles.
I was working on a play called The Club by Jim Mannering, with direction from Rafaella Marcus and alongside actors Connor Mills, Adam Wittek and Charlotte Woolfe.
Without giving too much away it is a black comedy about a ‘club’ of serial killers and I was playing ‘A’ the head of the club.
It was a fantastic scene, which had so much potential that we had a great time playing around with the characters. We then ‘performed’ the scene to the other groups who fed back on the scene.
The only thing I would have liked is more time! I only felt we’d scratched the surface of the characters and Rafaella’s ideas and suggestions coupled with the other actors openness made the whole thing so much fun.
Fortunately, Jim is looking to do another scene from the play as part of a new writing drop in group at The Actor’s Centre in September, which I can hopefully be involved in and (as I know the other actors have also expressed an interest in doing it) continue the journey we started oh so briefly.
William Baylis 