So, I’ve only gone and got myself cast in A Midsummer Night’s Dream! (I’m playing a reduced version of Theseus).
A few months earlier, a friend had said that I’d make a good Oberon (which I promptly googled — not being much of a literature buff). I wondered aloud if they thought that because I’m quite tall, maybe a bit unusual looking… although I’ve also been told I have a good voice – if that was why they saw me as a King of the Faeries. But (to focus on the more polite elements of the conversation), they declined to comment…
So, the late callout for someone to play Oberon (or Theseus) really caught my attention…
I’d recently joined a local amateur dramatics group, after enjoying one of their productions in 2024 – though I’d been unable to attend the original auditions as I was in Ireland for a few days. Fast forward through an enthusiastic first read-through (which I quickly had second thoughts about) and a few rehearsals (with a few absences)
We were then asked to submit a short biography for the programme.
Here’s what I arrived at (with some feedback and suggestions):
“After chickening out at the door to the theatre auditions at school, Cameron made it into Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna at sixth form college, and enjoyed it thoroughly even though he had no idea what it was about (apparently Ionesco didn’t either!) He also appeared in The Visit, and The Boyfriend, but the auditions at university (where they asked him to be fire) didn’t go so well – his acting has been on ice ever since. Cameron is terrifie…delighted to be cast as Theseus at BHTC, decades later – and is also happy to be improving his Early Modern English!”
I’m not sure the humour quite works – eg the ‘Early Modern English’ line might work better with “Shakespearean English” – which is a better known term, though I think “Early Modern English” is inherently amusing (a little bit) … but I’m not sure..
Anyway, a couple of edits later, and it’s been submitted….
TBC