Acting crazy

I love the arts. Music, painting, drawing, dance, writing and many more, but none more so than drama. I really love acting and would like to do it for a living when I'm older. Of course acting for a living is a bit like reading playboy for an education, it seems like a stupid idea. The reason it seems like a stupid idea is because it is one. But to be fair not trying to do what I want to seems like more of a stupid idea.

Last year I finished my drama GCSE a year early (got a B) and since then I haven't really done much acting. At least not conventional acting. As I'm not currently with any theatre group I have to get my acting fix through stranger outlets. Specifically random improvised theatre. Which mostly means changing regular situations strange and generally comedic through acting, normally with an unwitting public audience.

The best example I can think of happened last summer. I was on a residential activity course and they obviously didn't have well planned evening activities as we were doing an egg drop. Someone had drawn a face on the egg and a minute or two later I decided to yell at him (the person who drew on the egg, I didn't yell at the egg itself, though you'll soon see that wouldn't have been that strange) something along the lines of "You're going to kill our son!" I of course got a few strange looks from around the room. I kept trying to convince the father of the egg (for some reason I thought it would make sense for me to be the mum) not to go through with the egg drop. When the time came to send my son up for the drop I think I actually tried to kidnap him from the father. Once he was dropped and of course destroyed as our protective device was rubbish I went more or less into shock. This is when the performance really took off, as another character joined. He hadn't been asked to join, but he really got into it. He took the role of a lawyer who had to deliver the regrettable news that the egg wasn't really my son, it was in fact the son of a chicken. I of course didn't take this news too well, especially when told that the case regarding the right of burial had already gone to court, with the "true" father winning. Apparently the courtroom was made up of poultry, so I never really stood a chance. The whole performance went on for about two hours and brought many cries of "What the hell?"

The reason I bring this story up is that one of the spectators unwittingly gave me one of the greatest compliments an actor can get. She asked the person playing the part of the lawyer if I was insane and actually believed what I was saying. He replied with "Either that or he's a really good actor." Actually convincing someone that I believed what I was saying was a great feeling.

Of course the question remains: Am I a good actor, or am I just insane?

For people interested in seeing more public improv comedy can go to http://improveverywhere.com/missions/

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