2011 – an amazing year!
2011 was an incredible year for me professionally for many reasons. At the beginning of January I was looking forward to returning to London, Ontario to play Madge Larrabee in the Grand Theatre‘s production of Sherlock Holmes, the Final Adventure. I was delighted to have something in the pipeline. In the second week of January my agent called and said that I had an audition for The Railway Children. Rehearsals would start two weeks after Sherlock Holmes closed. It was too good to be...
Read MoreWhen to let go…
When do you decide not to go up for a job because you don’t fit the age range? On Thursday last week my agent sent me the breakdown for a new reality TV show. The producers are looking for male and female co-hosts for a Discovery Channel-type series all about bugs. I would love to be a tv host. Here’s what they are looking for: Presenters prepared to travel all over the world for nine months next year – hooray! Sounds amazing. The show looks at all manner of reptiles,...
Read MoreAbsolute is cancelled!
Er…..this is becoming a bit of a habit recently. Just to let you know I won’t now be appearing at Absolute Comedy tonight. But there’s a really good reason! I’m now going to be in at least three episodes of “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures” and I have a lot of filming to fit in between rehearsals for “Toronto Noir”. I’m so happy – I’m really enjoying everything I’m doing right...
Read MoreLiving the Dream
When it’s going well, being a professional performer is the most fabulous job ever. I am having the best time (see the cheesy grin, left). It all happened so fast. I hadn’t had a job in six months and suddenly I landed a theatre job with Summerworks out of the blue. Just after rehearsals began I had a tv audition for “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures” which I nailed (thanks to casting director Deirdre Bowen’s stellar direction) and got the part. So now I’m...
Read MoreThe Quiznos Commercial
A couple of years ago I was cast as one of the Twelve Chefs of Quiznos for their new campaign. My character didn’t have a name at that point – I was not going to be featured, simply part of a chef line-up. However, at the costume call I auditioned for the director (as did all the other chefs) for the role of the shirty chef who didn’t like the idea of his/her creations being demeaned by appearing in a commercial or lowered in price considering the amount of man-hours that had...
Read MoreWriting is annoying…
Or it can be. When it’s not going well. I get cross and impatient and want whatever I’m writing to be fantastic in a very short time. Which rarely happens. There are occasional flashes of inspiration which create a fully-formed joke in a couple of minutes of frantic scribbling. But mostly I end up doodling in my little black book or staring at my laptop screen, trying to avoid looking at Facebook. I was exactly the same as a kid when rehearsing an audition piece or a show made me...
Read MorePreparing for an audition
My kid asked me why I was reading six short plays by Noel Coward. I told her it’s because I have an audition for the Shaw Festival and I wanted to read some of the plays they were doing so that I could choose some appropriate audition pieces. She asked me why I had to read so many. I explained that they were doing quite a lot of Coward and that if I read at least some of what they were doing I could get an idea of what I might possibly be cast for and so do pieces at my audition that...
Read MoreWhy testing your material rocks
Would you rather get your ass kicked in front of a live audience or get constructive feedback from a group of your friendly peers? Whether it’s stand-up or an audition piece always consider giving it a go in front of your mates. I don’t do it often enough and every time I do I wonder why I don’t do it more. I go to an artists’ salon that my friend Inge (pictured left) runs out of her house each month – we share our stuff and get feedback. It can be anything –...
Read MoreMarilla who?
I am a British-born actress and stand-up comic who does lots of voice work (for commercials, cartoons and corporate clients) and sometimes, when I'm very lucky, tv and film. When I was in England I did mostly theatre. Now I'm in Canada I spend the majority of the time writing and performing stand-up. When I'm not producing and mcing Storytelling at Caplansky's, that is. And that's me for you.