So about 10 years ago, an opportunity appeared at the Burgh Hall in Dunoon where I live and said ‘Why not come along to this taster session?’ for something called The Flames, which really appealed to me. It seemed to be about storytelling, and when I was at school, I really wanted to do drama, and my dad was like… ‘Drama? Don’t be ridiculous. What a waste of time.’
Wouldn’t let me do drama so I thought, well, I might be 50, but here’s a chance, so I went to the taster session.
Absolutely loved it!
It was like something magical that I’d never experienced before. And yes, it was about storytelling, but it was the creativity that it allowed me to exercise that really excited me.
So that was my first show with The Flames in Dunoon, and since then, I don’t know, I guess I’ll probably done another 8 or 9 shows in various locations including Wick, Aberdeen, Glasgow. I think that’s it, and it’s just become part of my life I cannot imagine not having The Flames in my life now.
It’s helped me in so many ways, I mean, not just the fact that I’ve got the opportunity to perform, which is something I’ve always wanted to do, but to do that at the age of 50 and now, 60 plus, I’m still doing it. And I still get excited every time Fiona sends an email and says ‘Right! There’s another session happening, who’s up for doing a show…’ at wherever. I have cancelled family engagements and holidays to make sure I’m going to be there. That’s how much it means to me.
Yeah, it’s the performance skills, but it’s also, rightly or wrongly, when we tell stories, I often find myself telling stories about very personal and quite deep issues, which at times can be challenging, but in a funny way, they really have helped me to get through those times.
Talking to other people about it, performing about it, you know, making it into a performance, a creative approach to a problem really that’s in my life, and the rest of The Flames community are just fantastic people.
And we’ve all had our ups and downs, and traumas, and we share openly in our safe cozy, community environment.
Yeah, I just can’t imagine not having this now and yeah, if anyone else is even thinking about going for it, don’t hesitate and don’t think ‘Oh, I can’t act’. It’s not about acting. It’s about sharing a bit of yourself and meeting some wonderful people. So, don’t hesitate. If it comes to your door, go for it!
IMAGES
LINKS
Tricky Hat Productions https://trickyhat.com/
Tricky Hat on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/trickyhat
