Методические указания по английскому языку для студентов 3-5 курсов исторического факультета. Часть 2. Коныгина Г.И. - 11 стр.

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it was the first time in my life I had nothing to do. I’d always written essays or learnt
lines and performed and now I was unemployed. I wrote lots of letters looking for work
- Wednesdays and Thursdays were my main letter-writing days. I went to see plays as
much as I could, so that I could then write to the Artistic Managers and say ‘I saw your
production, would it be possible to come and meet you’ - then I met him or her and I
was at least on file - that way they might remember me if a part came up that was
suitable for me. It’s estimated that actors spend as much as eighty per cent of their time
looking for work. Someone told me that for every twenty letters you write you may get
an audition and for every twenty auditions you may get a job.
Then my long-awaited break came. I got a job in a production called A Christmas Carol
in a small theatre. It was a profit-sharing arrangement - this means you only get paid if
the play makes a profit. Not many people came - we thought we’d done well if we got
twenty people in the audience, and one night there were only six. So it didn’t do
anything to make my financial situation any better. But it’s amazing how much better
you feel when you actually get a part - it made a huge difference to how I felt about
myself.
I then began to turn my attention from acting to directing, in an attempt to take more
control of my situation. I directed The Illusion at the Dukes Head Theatre and it got
good reviews, but it was another profit-share arrangement and I still had money
problems. I kept thinking that I would be successful and something was going to
change. You’ve got to make your own luck, so each day I did something towards the
plan of success. I made a couple of important phone calls each day, asking large theatre
companies to come and see the play I was directing.
I then set up my own company, the King’s Players, and directed a production of A
Family Affair, which won the London Small Theatre award for Best Comedy
Production. We had a couple of lovely photos in national newspapers and some great
reviews and that was great because I could now be taken seriously as a director. Then I
decided to try to appear in a TV commercial for coffee - I read that they were looking
for somebody, so I wrote off, I thought ‘you never know’ and I got a phone call from
the company saying that I had been shortlisted right down from five thousand to the last
eleven. But I didn’t get it, which was a shame because I was fed up with working for no
money. The one good thing that came out of it, though, was that I got an agent, one of
the two main agents that cast all the adverts, so I’m waiting to hear about others.
I now want to get a position as an assistant director with a major company, I think that’s
the next step, not just for the money. I think I’m at my best when directing, I mean it’s
horrible on the first night when it’s beyond your control, you can’t do anything if
something goes wrong, and it is quite lonely. But I am very happy and I have greater
satisfaction when things work than with acting, so I think this is the way I’m going to
go.
Four years ago when I started I thought I’d be further on than I am now - I didn’t
envisage being unemployed for such long periods. I feel that I’ve developed and
matured - before, I presumed that I would be successful. Now, I still know that I will be
successful ultimately, but it may not be simple - it may take longer and be much harder
than I anticipated. That’s what I’ve learnt. Nothing depresses me more than the idea of