Episode 26 - Q&A with Alice Fearn

After an acting through song workshop with Alice Fearn, some of our students took part in a Q&A session. Listen to hear what Alice has to say about how she started her performing journey, advice she would give to new performers and how to deal with nerves during auditions. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

So I've just got to put myself into that headspace and know that no matter what goes wrong, the worst hasn't happened. Yeah. I'll just have done it wrong and I'll move on. That's how you've got to see it. And I know that's easy to say, but actually, if you think it, really, really think that and really put yourself into that position and then go, but I've just got to sing a song and tell a story.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Hello and welcome to Theatre Workshop Talks. My name is Alice, and I'm a teacher here at the Theatre Workshop. We have a theatre school based in Birmingham, Barnt Green, Blackwell, and Bromsgrove. Here you will gain an insight to what it's like being a part of the theatre workshop. Along the way, we will be talking to TTW students, parents, teachers, and also some very special guests. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you know when a brand new episode drops.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Well, I hope you've got questions because we're doing a podcast now. It's terrifying. Okay, who's got the first question? Anyone for anything? What's your favourite character you've played and why? Good question. Um, I think this is a a three part. I'm gonna give you the top three. Okay. Uh, because that's how long I've been going, I've got a top three. Um, I think my third is um actually something which you probably never never saw, maybe have not even heard of, called Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Um, but funnily enough, it's not the part I I understudied in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I understood the two female leads in it. And I actually loved Muriel, which is the older character in it. But I was 30 at the time, and um I was playing this much older character, and I was really nervous about it, and I didn't think I was going to be able to do it. And I really asked a lot of questions. I was like, and the director said to me, He said, No, just trust yourself, it's you in 30 years. I'm like, Oh, okay. He said, So don't overplay it, just play you, basically. So I did, and it really worked. It was a really wonderful lesson. So I loved that part because I sort of learned something about how to play something that wasn't quite like in your ballpark at that age. That's my third. Um second is probably Beverly Bass in Come From Away. Um, and that I it it's a it's almost like a tie for number one, but I the reason it goes to number two is I um I just I loved the strength, I felt I connected with the strength of her quite well. I think I was the right age to play that role, I think I was the right energy, I was the right time in my life to play that role, and it's the most extraordinary show to be in. So I think I loved it for all of those reasons. Um, but number one has to be elf bird, it's not for the reasons you think. Um obviously it's an amazing part, and it's it's amazing to have been played it, and it was brilliant. But for me, I'm quite a lazy person by nature, right? I don't, I'm not like someone that likes to go running or I hate going to the gym, and just like the energy of all of those things just made me want to cry, right? When I watched Wicked before I got it years ago, I remember watching it going, God, that looks exhausting, that part, too much for me. Of course, then you get it and you realise you're gonna have to do the thing that you looked at and said, That's disgustingly hard, right? And I was really worried about that, and I thought, God, am I gonna be able to do that? That's you're asking me to do it eight times a week, two and a half hours, you know, sometimes double that a day. I didn't know if I was gonna be able to do that. And I did do it, and I did it for three years in the end, and I was like, so not only do I go, it's a brilliant part, and all those things that come with it, but sidebar, I as a person learnt a lot about myself because I went from someone who really can't be bothered to do any sort of physical fitness whatsoever, to suddenly doing a part where I'm in incredibly heavy costumes, doing the biggest vocal I think I'll ever probably do, um, for two and a half hours, running around on stage, doing all this, that, and the other. And I was really like, I was really shocked and proud of myself in a way, do you know what I mean? Because I didn't think that was I was going to be able to achieve it to the extent I did. I mean, I did eight shows a week. I would be I remember my my I could do like five or six weeks of eight shows before I even had to take a day off, which is unheard of for me in that kind of physical, massive role like that. So I really sort of took it on and learned a lot about myself as a performer, um, in that sort of basic way. Um, and then obviously this the separate entity is I got to do a part that so many people want to play, um, that's so revered and so wonderful, um, and sing some of the best songs in musical theatre. You know, so you've got like that's like the two sort of strips of why I loved that show so much and why it did so much for me because it not only did something for my career, but it did something for me personally, where I went, yeah, if you put your head to it, you can actually get up off your sofa and really work hard, yeah, which is uh which was something that I really maybe didn't think I could do until I did that role.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Thank you. Um how and like when did you know that this is something that you wanted to do as a career?

SPEAKER_03 4:56

It was quite late. So I did do little bits and pieces in school, but I went to a school that and also you're talking 25 years ago, where we didn't have things like this. Um there was no sort of workshops outside of school, so you were doing it in school or nowhere, right? So we we did have at 16, I did do music, I always did music. So I I played the piano and I played the harp and I did sing, so there's no doubt about that. I did those two things. But I thought I was going to go into music, and then at 16, a we got a really good music teacher join our school, and it was not something that anyone else did. I was probably one of I think in my GCSE music um course, there was three of us, um, and everyone else did sciences and everything. Um, and it was quite a sporty school, so music wasn't really a thing. We got this new music teacher came in and he wanted to put musicals on every year, which was the first time it had been done in years. And I obviously sang, he loved to play musical theatre tunes, and said, What show do you think we should do? And I said, Um, and I loved the Wizard of Oz. So I said, Let's do The Wizard of Oz. I was 15. And he said, Okay, Dorothy. Um, and I went, Yeah, thanks. So I got things because I was the only one that could sing, so I basically got all the lead roles, basically. Um, so we did that, then we did Grease. He said, Pick the part, do you want Rizzo or Sandy? I picked Rizzo. Um, so we did all these sort of shows, and I started to do them on musical theatre. I still thought I was going to do music, um, and basically it was happening chance that I so I started to do all these musicals. I loved musicals, but I was like, oh my god, I'm starting to do them and I quite like this. And then I dislocated this thumb on a dry ski slope when I was 17 years old so badly that I couldn't play piano for about six months at all. Um, and my mum said, Well, the only other thing you like is musical theatre. Do you want to see what getting what drama school auditions are like? Remember, this is 25 years ago. And I went, Yeah, okay. Um, I'll see how what the you know how difficult it is and if it's something I want to do. And I just happened to get into Mount View. That's that is literally the whole story. I just happened to get in. You're it's a long time ago where not obviously everyone, I mean, we had to go all the way down to London, six-hour trip, stay overnight. I had never danced before in my whole life, but I do had did have rhythm because I I'm a musician. Um, I had done English at drama school, uh, sorry, sorry, English at A-level and GCSE. So I was a really good reader, and they asked you to read something off without having looked at it beforehand. So I could do that quite well, and I had good projection because I'd had English classes, um, and I could sing, that's the only third things, but obviously I was quite green in every other area. So it was by happen chance. As soon as I got into drum school, oh, I just went, well, that's what I'm doing then. Because I thought, well, that's a sign. Do you know what I mean? Like I just did not believe that I thought I was gonna have to do a couple of years of like rehab on my hand and um a couple of years out working, and and then I'll see what happens. And in the end, just because I got in, it was so it was really random. Um, and I used to swear about my P teacher who dislocated because he made me do a dry ski slope and dislocate my I used to swear about, of course. Now I thank my lucky stars that I did that dry ski slope because I might not have got into it in the way that I did, but I was very, very lucky, it was a very different time, I will say that. But um, and there as I say, I there was nothing like this, and I didn't even there wasn't even that many drama schools. Now there's about triple the amount of drama schools that I had available to me at the time. Um so it was a very different time, but I it did sort of happen because of a series of events, as opposed to me sort of choosing it, if that makes sense. What is your dream role and why? Okay, good one. I think if I'm honest now, at the tender age of which I won't tell you, um, I think I would say that it's something that hasn't been written yet. I've done a lot of roles I really wanted to play. I wanted to be in Lay Mizerab. I did that as my second job. I wanted to um be in Wicked once I saw it, and that was a job that I did. Um I wanted um Nancy, I'd have loved to play Nancy. I did do Nancy and um Oliver. Um, and to be honest, now I'm at the point where I go, I just want to do things that I don't even know exist. Um so I would say that it'll come at when it needs to come now, I think. But I've I've been lucky enough to have played a couple of roles. I didn't even know I wanted to play Beverly Bass until I was playing Beverly Bass. You know what I mean? Because it was a brand new show. I thought I was too young, but when I got it, I went, oh, okay, I'll do this. And as soon as I started playing it, I went, Wow, this is unbelievable. I'm so happy I'm doing this. So, in a way, like of all the things that I've there's things that have passed me by that I won't ever get a chance to play now because I've I'm too old for it. So um things like, even though I'm probably on paper not too young, the way they cast it, I'm too old. Um, sorry, um, is Ellen in Miss I Gone. I think that's probably gone now, and I would have loved to go at that. Those there's probably another one that I can't think of right now. But yeah, there's a couple that have probably gone that I go, oh, okay, that's gone. Um, but really my dream is that something will fall on my lap a little bit like a Beverly, that I go, oh my god, I didn't even know I wanted to play this. And I'm absolutely this is my dream. So it's it's more that that's where I'm at, really, now I think. So it's a little bit of a different, it's a sort of answering your question, but sort of not at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

What's your advice on like preparing for drama school and preparing for the industry that like you wouldn't expect to happen?

SPEAKER_03 10:25

I think there's I think it's the one of the big things is to never stop being open to learning something, I think. We tend to think we know how we like something to be, or and and that can still exist, but it can also exist with learning something and going, you want me to do it like that, okay, I'll do it like that. I don't think that's my preferred way of doing it, but I'm gonna do it like that because it teaches me how to change something if I need to. There was lots of things over the years that I've got I don't like doing it like that, but a director's tell me to do it like that, I've got to do it because that's what they're wanting to see. Um, so it's constantly being open to changing something that the way that you think it should be done to maybe something that is a little bit scary to do or a very different viewpoint of doing it because it it will teach you something no matter what, regardless. That's the first thing is to be really open to changing stuff. The second is to be fearless. I've always said this. We've just got to get rid of, we've got so many things that we're worried about in terms of how we look, how it sounds, um does it suit me? Do they like it? Does that person there like it? My friend, do they think I was any good? All of those things in a room where we're doing, we're we've got all of that to think about, and in a way, it doesn't help us at all, and we just have to be kind of like fearless to try stuff out, and then we learn even more. So I suppose my top one is is is to just be like totally fierce, and it plays into that other one, which is you know, you learn more by doing that. But trying to get rid of all the noise is difficult, yeah. Because every time I did Wicked, every every night I went on every single show, I knew it was getting recorded by a fan. So every time I've done something wrong, it's gone out there, it's gone out onto YouTube, might have got taken down or whatever, but it's gone. There's a blooper, Alice Fern blooper, because I at one point I literally couldn't remember what I was saying and said absolutely nothing. I said, God will de gook and was laughing about it at the time. We all had a laugh. Went straight on YouTube.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

So I had to learn to not let that affect me going out the next day, knowing that God, if I go out tomorrow, it's gonna get recorded again. God, if you make a mistake again, it's gonna go on YouTube. And you had to sort of like let that go. So you have to just go, yeah, no, be fearless and just do it anyway. We make mistakes as human beings. Why can't we make mistakes as performers? You know what I mean? Like we've sort of have this, and I will always strive to be good and and do the best I can, but I don't let it, if it goes wrong, affect me forever or even for 10 minutes. You know, um, that's the same as an audition. I I quite like auditioning, which is just a wild thing to say because who likes it? But I like it because I go, it's a test, I need to listen, see if I'm listening, am I doing what they want to do? If I don't, I go and after uh maybe half a day, I'll let it all go. You know what I mean? Because then I can move on. I don't let it sit and wait because we just let that all just sort of like build. And I suppose that fearlessness helps me continue on in an industry that's very, very hard. And I think that's the best, it's what it's the only way to survive it. My husband um is a performer, um, but he's taking time out at the minute because it was honestly getting too much. This this sort of like constant, you know, am I gonna get the next job? And it was weighing on I just went, This is not healthy, you can't let this go. He says, I know I want to be more like you in auditions, and I go, Well, and you're not. So actually, what you need to do is take that time out and try and learn that, and if it's not, then it and he's so much happier now, he's not. But if you're not that way inclined, it's a really, really tricky industry, and so that's why I'm saying fearlessness is better because you let things go a little bit more and you don't let things sit on you and cause you further stress down the line.

SPEAKER_05 14:13

Um, how would you um recommend to navigate between this and like performing and then education at school and like which way to go?

SPEAKER_03 14:23

What you're asking me there is should you do it or not, right? Um if you went to university, would you do a drama course at university?

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Probably not. I'd probably get a degree in I want to do veterinary medicine.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Right, so they're not they're not even slightly in the same direct thing. Um All I can say, I can't tell you which one to choose, and I would never even dream of it. All I would say is if you there's there's sort of it's a twofold answer. If you don't do it, and do you think you're gonna not do it and then regret not doing it? Now that's the sort of it's an impossible question, but if you go, oh my god, I'm gonna I'm never gonna forgive myself if I don't give it a go, right? Um that doesn't mean you have to do it now.

SPEAKER_05 15:20

That's what I was gonna say. Would you like which way to kind of go about it? So almost get your degree and then go for it.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

Well then you've always got your veterinary because I think you have to be a vet, you have to have a veterinary degree, don't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

Like it's something to find.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Drama, you don't need a degree.

SPEAKER_05 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

You don't, you really I mean, I can't remember the last time someone said, What did you get in your BA honours degree from that view? Like, no one's ever asked me that. Because it's kind of not built on that, really. Maybe if you were to teach, maybe that would make a difference, but really it's built on just your talent, isn't it? And and the opportunities and luck to an extent. Whereas to be a vet, you have to have a degree. So there is there is definitely an argument, and it's very valid to get that first and then do it. Um it also doesn't mean though, that I think you couldn't try it for a couple of years and then potentially do a veterinary degree. Like, like I think both exist, or the the ability to do both exists. Um but so I don't think it either way is better, but it I suppose the point is you could you could do drama at any point if you wanted to. You could get that degree, start to be a veteran. I I recently did a ship, um, I sometimes sing on ships for like a consort or so. And I just got off one, and someone was she was a uh like a a sort of a teacher that goes into what's it what's it called when you're debt teaching in schools. Yeah, so she was one of those teachers, and then she um and then she just at 40 just went, No, I miss I never went to singing, I'm going to go and sing. And she was singing on this ship like consistently, and she's got loads of other options now. She's about to leave the ship, she's got a an option on land where she's gonna sing, and so she just changed her career at 40 because she went, I'm gonna regret it if I don't give it a go at some point. She can go back to being the those one of those teachers, I would presume at any point, you know what I mean? Because she's got all that C V now. I don't think either way is right, it's what you are more comfortable with, what you go, I want to do that, now I want to do that, and it's and I think it's uh only you can answer that really. But what you do need to know, which is not a problem, is I can do either at any point. So what do I want to do now?

SPEAKER_05 17:43

Yeah.

unknown 17:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

You you you no option is off the table. All you're just gonna do is like if say you did veterinary for three years and then you became a vet for five, and then just before you were 30, you said, Do you know what? I miss it. Well, all you've done is miss out playing the young, really young 18, 19, 20-year-olds. So you're just gonna start playing those parts that are a bit older because you've waited until you're that's it. That's the only difference it will make.

SPEAKER_05 18:06

Okay, thank you. So how would you like recommend? Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

I thought you were gonna go, so which one should I do?

SPEAKER_05 18:13

No. Um, how would you recommend getting into it then? Like afterwards? Or even before, like just where do you start basically?

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Well, so if what if you did veterinary first and then is that what you mean?

SPEAKER_05 18:24

Um without veterinary, just getting into it.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Well, I think drama school is obviously a an easy, great option if you can get into drama school because what they do is they teach you everything, it's intense. Um, no matter if you do it for one year, two year or three, it's always going to be an intense sort of time to learn a load of craft, and then they will probably put you in front of people at the end of it. So it's a nice, easy, compact, like in a box kind of thing. If you don't do that, there are now, luckily for you, there wasn't 20 years ago, but now there are so many other options. There are cast and directors do calls all the time that are open, yeah. They also do workshops and things that you could go and learn a lot from without going to drama school, yeah. Um, you can take singing lessons on your own. You can go to drama, you know, you could get acting lessons, acting through song lessons from anyone, you know what I mean? You can do lots of things that are outside of it being in a drama school. What you've got to think of a drama school is like someone saying, Here's an education in a box. Do you know what I mean? Uh a crash coursey kind of world. But you could essentially get that education outside of a drama school, it just takes more hard work.

unknown 19:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

In terms of finding the right things you want to do. So it's very, very possible to do it. Um and you've got social media where you can just go and follow every casting director you know. When you go and see a show, who cast it? Yeah? Who are the directors? Are they doing any workshops? I'll go and follow them online just in case they put a workshop on. Agents do workshops now as well, where you can go and actually ask an agent. So you see, there's every avenue is open to you to learn almost everything you would at a drama school. It's just that they package it in a really lovely way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

What tips or advice would you give like young performers or just performers in general that want to go into the industry that are like less confident or like so like scared of like auditioning and go into it but want to do it?

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah, nerves essentially is what you're asking though, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Do you know what I always say to people that are terrified of getting up and performing? And this sounds really dramatic, but I really mean it in its basic form, is you get up there, right? And the fear is I'm gonna multiple things. I'm gonna mess up my lines, I'm gonna forget my lyrics, my voice is gonna break, it's gonna crack, it's not gonna come out the way I want it to. Um, I'm not gonna act it the way that I can, I have done before. Um maybe there's a few more, but those are the sort of basic ones, right? When you get up and perform a song.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Well, even if all of those all of those things happen, your voice breaks, you forget your lyrics, the voice doesn't come out. You accidentally fall down at some point when you were doing like literally walking, whatever, and it messes up your direction. No one will have been killed at the end of that.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

For me, the worst thing in the world is imagining that I've killed someone, right? So say I'm saying my brain surgeon, yeah, and you're doing that really intricate brain surgery, and just that you move your left hand an int into mental thing to the left, yeah, and it kills that person. That's the worst thing. That's pressure, that's nerves, right? That takes some steel, steely sort of resolve to be able to do that. Stand up and sing a song, no matter what goes wrong in that moment, no one will be dead at the end of it.

unknown 21:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

So I sort of go, so just go and do it then. Because God, there's people out there that are doing surgery, there's people that like the that are doing jobs that take way more resolve than that. So I've just got to put myself into that headspace and know that no matter what goes wrong, the worst hasn't happened. Yeah. I'll just have done it wrong and I'll move on. That's how you've got to see it. And I know that's easy to say, but actually, if you think it really, really Really think that and really put yourself into that position and then go, but I've just got to sing a song and tell a story. Oh yeah. Easy. You know what I mean? It will take some of that nerve away when we simplify it like that. What we've done is, and it's and I get it, we put we build, we build, we put all these things extra onto it. We we stress ourselves out, we go, but they're gonna think I'm crap, or um, I'm gonna be really upset with myself, and and I've done this better, and so now I'm frustrated. All those things, we've added that to ourselves. When actually the basic thing is, I'm just going out there to sing a song and tell a story. I've not got someone's life in my hands.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

That's the easiest way to try and get rid of really bad nerves. That's the way to get try and shred it so that you've got the basic level of nerves. We're always gonna have a basic level of nerves. We add on top of nerves. Yeah. Yeah. We just need to get back to that basic nerve. Yeah. But that's the only thing I can give you because really nerves are nerves at the end of the day, and sometimes they really help us, but we add to them and we stress ourselves out. And um, we need to just shred and just remember we're just telling a story. It's it. God, how easy that is. Do you know what I mean? Compared to so many other things in this world. That's the best thing to think of. Yeah? Yeah. Is that helpful?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah, thank you. Hope so. This question came in from Richard Munday, it's really important. God. He said, please can you ask Alice, who's better at DIY, Richard Munday or Gavin Alex Wood?

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Well, I can't even um like put a picture frame up. So without doubt, it's my husband, Gavin Alex Wood. I mean, right now he's doing like he's at home doing DIY full blown.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

I've heard all about him.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

Oh my god, he's unbelievable. He's absolutely brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

So he's definitely better than Richard.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Like, it's embarrassing how much better. How much sorry he is. Yeah, sorry. Richard, you've got nothing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

Oh, Alex, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

A pleasure. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Well done for everyone. Thank you for listening to TTW Talks. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode and look forward to hearing the next one. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at the Theatre Workshop Birmingham and TikTok at the.theatre.worksband to see all of our class and show content and all of the exciting things we get up to. Once again, thank you for listening. This has been TTW Talks.