I hunted a witch, grew a vegetable path and finally understood acting

Stop performing. Start becoming. Apply now to live as a real World War Two codebreaker in the War Project... StandBy's once-every-four-years immersive method acting module. Auditions Saturday 18th July. Apply here

What does it actually feel like to stop performing and truly become a character?

In this episode, StandBy Artistic Director and method acting coach Louise takes you inside one of the most extraordinary experiences of her entire training; five weeks living as a medieval peasant in the woods. No script. No director. No audience. Just a character, a family, a vegetable patch, and a witch hunt she didn't see coming.

Louise shares how she built a character completely from scratch: researching medieval life, constructing a family identity, building a home and living an unscripted daily existence alongside other actors in an immersive world with no safety net.

And somewhere between tending her crops and hunting down a suspicious woman from the neighbouring village, something shifted. The technique disappeared. The self-monitoring went quiet. And for the first time, she wasn't acting anymore.

She was just living.

In this episode you'll discover:
🎬 Why the small, mundane moments are the foundation of every great performance (and how most actors skip them entirely)
🎬 The moment Louise realised she'd stopped performing and started becoming, and what that felt like in her body
🎬 What five weeks without a director, a script, or an audience teaches you about creative independence and character sustainability
🎬 How this experience directly shaped the War Project at StandBy, and why it's unlike any acting training available today
🎬 Why Louise started keeping a journal during those five weeks, and how it eventually became the Actor's Journal gifted to every accepted War Project student

Whether you're an early career actor trying to find your way into a character, or someone who's always wondered what method acting really means beyond the myths... this episode will change how you think about the craft.

This is the episode that started as a witch hunt and ended with a revelation.

Press play ▶️