Desirable Characteristics

If I were to take on traits of some of the characters I’ve played for real, which bits of them would I like to adopt?

The Wild One – I’d like her outward energy, her strong sense of her own physical presence and her fearless way of approaching people. And her passion and eloquence. Her steadfastness of opinion in the face of apathy.

Emma – Her depth of concern for others and the purity of that concern – the fact that she doesn’t let outside influences touch her inner values. She has a real ‘giving’ energy.

Benvolio – His sincerity. The fact that you can just look at Benvolio and know he’s telling the truth exactly as he knows it without filtering it through his own judgements.

Lucy – What I like about Lucy is her consistency. Despite her cartoon appearance, Lucy is an emotional being with a real and consistent way of expressing herself. For one, she says what she means. Lucy hides nothing from no one. She’s an open book. What you see is what you get. I’d like to be like that, in that it would be great to be able to tell people what I really think as a matter of course. That way everyone would know where I stood. My inner emotional state would not pass by unexpressed, and therefore it would not become suppressed. When Lucy has a feeling, she expresses it – lets it out, lets it go, and if it rattles someone (or everyone) then so be it. She’s just being honest, consistently honest, about her emotions.

Kate Hardcastle – She’s tricksy! I’d love her quick wit! She’s a frivolous blonde, a kind hearted gentlewoman and a cunning heroine all rolled into one. Who wouldn’t want to be that versatile? She’s the Restoration Charlie’s Angel!

Portia – Well, what can I say? I love everything about Portia. If I could be any one of these characters, I would choose to be Portia. Like Miss Hardcastle, she’s got it all. She is sassy, sexy, strong, smart and sweet. What I really love about her is her sheer energy and her willingness to get her hands dirty.

Audrey – (just realised I forgot her) He he he. Sometimes I’d love to be so completely ignorant that I could walk around in a cloud of oblivion, not knowing (or even suspecting) what tricks I was falling for, just enjoying the ride with whoever would take me along. And then of course there’s the luxury of being able to squeal like an aardvark whenever I’m in a good mood without feeling self conscious.

Agatha Silverthorne – Baba Yaga-esqe cannibal woman of the suburbs. She’s very organised. The word meticulous comes to mind. I wouldn’t like to be THAT organised, but sometimes I’d like that level of attention to detail. I mean, this woman thought of EVERYTHING. She was pretty cool, really. I mean apart from being a desperate, human-consuming witch.

Sally Sunshine – Stereotypical Sally, created for the purpose of propaganda, although truly sickly in terms of bubbliness, believes she can solve any problem she comes into contact with. And not only does she believe she can solve it, she wants to with all her sweet little heart. When faced with a negative, Sally doesn’t even acknowledge it as a negative. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be like that? I’d love to put her in a room with Daria and see what happened. He he he.

Jacquie – If I’d had the sort of life Jacquie had, I wouldn’t be standing. She suffered physical abuse from her father figures for many years and was moved all over Australia with a nasty alcoholic stepmother. But her sense of escape brought her through it. She held onto what was pure about her childhood – her memories of Disney and little songs she knew – and she came out at the other end of it with self awareness and desire for good relationships. So I’d have to say I’d like to have her resilience in the face of those sort of disabling events, and the ability to dream no matter what the circumstances.

The White Witch of Narnia – Now here’s a woman with many qualities. I think the thing I like most about her is her stick-to-it-ive-ness (or however you spell that). Once she gets annoyed about something, she gets onto fixing it. She also likes to turn people into stone if they get on the wrong side of her. That could be fun.

That covers most of my memorable roles over the years. It was fun. Y’all should try it.

Import

Here's what I wrote in Word on my new computer...

Brand new computer with brand new nice version of Word.

Times New Roman isn’t the standard font.

Or New Roman Times as Clara calls it.

Why am I on double spacing? Can I switch that off? Should I switch that off?

It’s in size 11. Not 10. I wonder why. I love typing on this keyboard!
Ah that’s better I fixed the spacing. I wonder if that makes it default.
Maybe I’m going to be a writer again. I like this font.
I’m trying to think positive thoughts. David said that self doubt doesn’t become me.
I wish I were as eloquent as David.
Eloquence provides a key to - and an outlet for - understanding.
I’d like to be neater. I’d like to spend my time wisely. I’d like to know how to.
Lots to do tomorrow. Must stop listening to the sound of these wonderful keys...hey that rhymed.
It’s all been done but that’s just an illusion. Creativity is not an illusion. The greatest tragedy is the death of an illusion.
The death of an illusion.
The death of my illusion.
The funeral of my illusion.
Now I’m getting poetic. Problem is I’ve got nowhere to use the line and I can’t just write a poem around it without a purpose. But maybe if I keep writing like this the poetry will come. Maybe. There’s hope in maybe.

Catch you again soon.

The meter of life is a powerful beat (anapæstic tetrameter with initial iambic substitution and docked weak ending)

I've been reading a book on prosody (study of poetic meter) by Stephen Fry (yes, the actor) called "The Ode Less Travelled". It's brilliant! I'm building on what I already know and filling in all the gaps of terminology and learning little tricks. It quotes the masters and you get to do exercises. It has the detail of a good textbook, but unlike many textbooks it is very conversational, readable and enjoyable. As you can see from the limerick in my previous post I'm progressing rapidly! (That was a joke. I think.)

I've decided to base my Cagebirds character on a cassowary. Flightlessness was an issue that almost dissuaded me, but I don't think it matters. It's still a wild (and powerful) bird that wants freedom from the cage. It's really intense and fun developing it. Hard work, but solid work.

I'm getting excited about my 21st! It's nice that it's one you celebrate big because it takes a bit of the sting out of getting older.

Or younger, depending on which part of me you're looking at. I'm turning 9 as well.

My child within is getting younger with age.

K80!

There was a young woman called Katie
Of posts on her blog there were eighty.
When asked why so many
She said, "That's hardly any!
It won't be long til there are a hundred and twenty-five!"

I had some negative thoughts germinating in my mind today so I went shopping and bought a new dress and some jeans and T-shirts. Is that bad?

A letter to the BMCG about the SWYAP

Hi Karen

Sorry it's taken me so long to get in touch to tell you about the Young Achievers Program and to thank you and the theatre so much for your sponsorship!

I learnt lots of interesting things and enjoyed the atmosphere of the program. We did juggling, yoga, board-breaking (martial arts), logic and teamwork exercises, and even a bit of an acting class in the public speaking session! The public speaking stuff was definitely my favourite. It was run by the Bunbury Toastmasters public speaking group, and I was so impressed with them that I've joined! It's a good opportunity to improve my skills by getting the chance to practice lots in a supportive environment.

We also studied negotiation and networking skills, general communication for business and personal, time management (yay!), the importance of exercise and some financial investment stuff that went straight over my head!

The people who taught us were really awesome. David was our main 'leader' who went everywhere with us and he was a top bloke. Then there was this really funny Irish guy who used to work in Intelligence and knew all about us before he met us which was really creepy! Remind me to show you a thing he wrote about me - I actually thought he might have talked to you to find things out about me! Nathan Gardniner was a past participant of the program so he ran around with the video camera and organised bits and pieces. He was glad to see me there because he reckons it's been a while since they've had anyone on the program representing arts and culture. I guess that was the only downside really - that I didn't have much in common with the other young people because none of them were artists as such so they weren't really quirky or offbeat which is what I'm used to!

Overall it was a very unique and engaging experience. I've learnt practical skills and information that I'll use forever, and although I didn't make any lifelong friends among the other young people, I met some inspiring mentors from the community who will be good contacts, and I've joined Toastmasters, which can only be a good thing! So thank you again. It was an extremely worthwhile three days of my life.

Kate