Scherrikar Bell: How I got into the acting industry
Training: I personally would recommend going to a drama school if you have the finance and 3 years to spare. Both of which I currently do not. If I knew I wanted to be an actor before I was 18 I would have definitely tried to get into a drama school. I, however, was in my second year at university when I realized someone like myself could have a chance at becoming an actress. Nonetheless, after my first two professional acting jobs: Musical 'Oh What a Lovely War!' and feature
Love & Scandal, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School – a journey
(Jenny (centre) in rehearsal for The Madame Macadam Travelling Theatre. Photo by Craig Fuller) Love & Scandal – well, that got you reading. Actually, it’s the name of the café where Steven Kavuma and I met to talk about The Diversity School Initiative and about the various developments at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. From my point of view it felt like an energised and fruitful conversation and at the end he asked me to write this blog. On a personal level, I was a kid fro
Being BAME: A Catch 22
BAME is a word that has recently been latched onto my identity, and frankly very unwillingly. When I introduce myself to people I do not say
Why? – Why bother in an industry set against you?
Why bother? – Why should we try and ‘make it big’ in an industry where white supremacy, class elitism, poor representations of queerness, and general misogyny (among many prejudices) control theatre and keep us in the margins? Because we cannot make a difference on the periphery of an industry which controls representations of us – an element of how we, and the world, sees us! We cannot stop fighting for a diverse theatre industry – It is too important. The prejudices in the
Don't talk about Hamilton
At the moment I'm in a month-long run of a children's Christmas show in which I play a fairy and a sock. It's absolutely ridiculous and I love it. A few days ago two Chinese kids came in and as soon as they saw me onstage, their faces lit up with excitement and recognition. YES, I AM LIKE YOU! YES, I AM ONSTAGE! AND YES WE ARE GOING TO SAVE CHRISTMAS TOGETHER! I can't explain how I felt but it hadn't even occurred to me how significant that was. I don't think many (the majori
