So dark you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. It happened in an instant with just a slight popping sound. 10 seconds ago you had the lights on and Netflix running the Office for the 30th time and then SNAP! No power. Now as your fan slowly turns to a stop, there is complete silence.

Is it even safe to get up and go check the fuse box? Where the hell IS the fuse box? You’ve got to do something and soon because all this darkness means no lights, no fridge, no phone, no internet.

Let's face it: you've chosen a tough business. The competition is fierce, and people can be ruthless at times.

Chances are you are doing musical theatre because you are passionate. You can't imagine doing anything else. This is what you want more than anything, so it hurts that much more when things don't work out.

So how do you deal with that?

A number of years ago, I decided to try my hand at directing.  I had been involved in community theater for several years as an actor and felt I wanted to experience the dramatic arts from another angle.  I expected there to be learning curve (which there was).  What I didn’t expect was how directing changed my perspective as an actor, especially when it came to auditioning.

Perhaps our understudies are underappreciated, and it's time we shouted from the rooftops about the amazing amount of time and effort they put in to these roles without the payoff of audience feedback.

No matter if you are going into musical theatre, classical music, or even pop music, a strong and solid vocal foundation is where everything begins. But how to begin? Its a big old world out there, even bigger now that the internet has made everything available at the touch of our fingertips. A  word of caution as you take this very crucial first step; not everyone is what they seem. It used to be that snake oil salesmen the like of Pirelli were found only at the circus; now they can be found in the pages of well-known industry magazines, on YouTube, and from self-professed ‘coaches’. So how can a young singer take the first steps?

“What makes us passionate and willing to go to great lengths to expose vulnerability should not live in the same space as a weak approach in communicating about it.”

“Now being someone who has high social anxiety, I was more nervous the closer that we got to opening night. Having little experience when I started this whole process the cast and crew welcomed me with open arms.”

Smile If You Love Me, Baby

Concept: A person stands stone-faced. If he/she cracks when another person says “smile, if you love me, baby”, then the other person takes his/her place. And so on and so forth. Basically, the only rule is that you can’t touch the person who is stone-faced.

Don’t be scared to ask for it. It is very hard to work on an accent alone because most of the time, we don’t hear it ourselves. So, don’t be scared of asking for some help.