Grace Crilly personal statement
Course -Everyman & Playhouse directors course
Duration-8 weeks
Course description taken from: https://www.everymanplayhouse.com/yep-directors
Course information
You’ll discover a range of directorial skills such as script interrogation, rehearsal technique and technical rehearsals in weekly sessions led by our experienced theatre practitioners. There’ll also be the chance to see work and attend occasional masterclasses with national and international companies. You’ll have the chance to direct a play as part of the YEP Directors’ Festival and there is some potential to either assist on one of our in-house productions or direct a full length studio production.
Personal statement
Growing up in the city of Liverpool has shaped who I am as a person and as an artist. What I want from theatre and art is a tangible view of real life, I want the raw and unedited version of theatre. It is so easy to superficially see snippets of people’s lives and pass judgement or lose interest, but I don’t have an interest in that. I want to take those snippets and discover what happened before or what may happen after. There is so much more to people than a phone conversation you heard on the train or an inside joke you hear between two friends in a café. I want to make theatre relatable. I want to make ‘oh I’ve been there before theatre,’ I want to make ‘I can’t believe things like this happen’ theatre. I want to make theatre for the people who believe no one would ever make theatre about them.
I wish to study on the Everyman & Playhouse Director’s Course, as this course would allow me to refine my skills as a director and help me realise my identity as a practitioner, as well as this, it would help me gain the expertise needed to begin working in the industry. The opportunity to attend masterclasses and work alongside other experienced theatre practitioners excites me as I believe it will challenge me and push me to my full potential.
I have always been very passionate about directing since a young age. In 2016 I spent two weeks ‘Diverbo’ summer camp in Spain as a Drama and Theatre team leader. This involved being a leader for 30 young adults along with your other team mates. My role at this camp was to create and rehearse a different show each week. This allowed me to flourish as a person and become more confident in leading and directing. In the two weeks that I was at Diverbo we put on the shows ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Grease’. Being in charge of organising rehearsals and workshops has given me commendable time management skills and encouraged me to use my time wisely to get the best out of rehearsals etc. As well as this, working with a large number of young adults, meant working with a range of abilities and needs. This pushed me to become more flexible and to make sure when creating a scene or routine that I catered to people’s strengths. Overall this experience taught me how to utilize my skills, work in a group environment and how important it is to keep people motivated and encouraged.
My undergraduate studies at York St John studying drama and theatre have allowed me to flourish as both a performer and a director. Although throughout my time at university and sixth from I was mainly performance based, I believe that this has pushed me to be a better director. I understand that performers can contribute more to a performance than just acting. As a director I am flexible and open minded to other creative ideas each member of the team will give as I have worked with many different practitioners with different styles and visions. I enjoy working as a collective with my cast and allowing them to have input as when performing /rehearsing for shows this was something I wished my directors had allowed me to do. As well as this I believe that because of my performance background I am able adjust into new settings with new people very comfortably and I am able to make connections and friendships with people which is key when you will be working alongside them.
Through the months September 2020 – May 2020 I directed my own written piece of theatre named ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. This was performed in the York St John 3rd year Independent Practice and Research Festival. This perfomance followed the lives of two survivors of the Hillsborough disaster and their struggles for years after. As a director this piece of theatre challenged and fulfilled me in more ways than I can explain as I faced creating a play based on real people, real lives and real emotions from a disaster that shook my city before I was even born. This involved a very extensive research period where I visited the Liverpool city centre archives, interviewed survivors of Hillsborough and educated myself on the metal health effects of Hillsborough. As I was using verbatim theatre in my piece it as important for me as a director to be aware of the ethical implications there could be surrounding this. The wellbeing of my contributors was an important consideration in my research and I made sure that my interview questions were appropriate and that we spent time before and afterwards discussing wider issues. I asked the contributors to bring a friend along to the session and to be accompanied throughout our conversation if they wished. I also kept them fully informed of the route I was taking and the ways in which their words and experiences were likely to be portrayed on stage. The contributors all gave their assent to my ideas and were happy that their experiences were being given validity in the performance.
I also directed my own cast, adjusting my theatre making approach to suit the unique needs of each of my actors and creating material which recognised and took full advantage of their individual strengths as performers. As my cast consisted of different ages and abilities it as key for me to take that into consideration when planning rehearsals/scenes etc. As well as this I believe as I director you must motivate and lift your cast up which is what I always strived to do. It was important for me to remind them how much this story means to people and inspire them to create the best performance possible.
Ultimately I believe that studying on the Everyman & Playhouse directors course will allow me to enhance my skills and drive my passion of directing forward. I have a desire to make theatre that is true, relatable and relevant and believe that this course will educate me on how to do that. I want to develop as a practitioner and explore and play with fellow theatre makers.