Some Acting News

It's been a while again.

Since the last time I wrote here, I have finished a short film, Connection in Letterkenny, the town where I first lived when I moved to Ireland. It brought back good memories, especially about the An Grianán Theatre and the acting group I was a member of more than a year ago. I didn't meet old friends unfortunately, but I got to know a lot of cool people during the filming, and I enjoyed the whole thing.

I started a new acting course, a Stanislavski workshop series lead by Tom Finlay, our director from Belfast Tempest. The group is more or less the same from BT, with a couple of new members, and it's fun. I remember learning about Stanislavski in the university; I had to read An Actor Prepares for a theoretical course a couple of years ago, but I couldn't really make any sense of it. I think Stanislavski can't really be understood unless you try the method in practice when you act.

Also, I'll attend a stage combat course in less than one month – something I've been dreaming of doing for a long time! I used to do fencing in secondary school for a few years, and I always enjoyed it. Hopefully stage combat is something similar; I was sent the course desrciption and we're going to use a rapier amongst other stuff, so it's super exciting for me.

I keep auditioning all the time, and I've had tons of good experiences so far. For example, at first I thought that I'd have no chance at all with my weird native accent, but I realised that people actually enjoy listening to my accent. I always get positive feedback on auditions; last month I read for a character with Southern Irish accent, and I wasn't really able to do it. But the casting director was like "actually it's not that important for your character to have Southern Irish accent" and I was asked for a callback this week. Wow. The auditions are held in Derry, and I love taking the train from Belfast to Derry because of this:

And this:

And did I mention this?

And it seems that Shakespeare just won't leave me alone (I'll be the next Kenneth Branagh, ha ha ha); I was recently cast in a stage adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. It's not a big role, but an important one, and considering that English is not my first language and I didn't go to drama school, it is a huge thing indeed. Besides, it is acting, and I haven't done acting for weeks now, and I hate having breaks, so I'm happy to play any part, no matter how small it is.

Garden of Cats

I didn't know this garden existed, I just happened to take a walk at Cave Hill yesterday. I remembered one of my friends had suggested that I visit the Belfast Castle, and so I did.

image source

(Sorry about not using my own picture. Unfortunately I couldn't take a good quality photo of this sign, but it's quite an important part of the garden, so I really wanted to put it here.)

This garden is one of the best places I've ever seen in my life. Not only because I love cats; this would be a gorgeous sight even without the sculptures and all the other stuff. The view is amazing, the castle itself is adorable, not to mention the road up to the top of the hill, which is like walking in a peaceful and lovely forest far from the city. Definitely must see. It's called, as you can read above, the Cat Garden, and is located right next to the Belfast Castle. It's free to visit, though it's a bit far from the city centre, you might just want to take a bus or cycle instead of walking.

I didn't stay to find all of the nine cats, because it was already getting dark by the time I got there, but I took photos of a couple of them.

This is my absolute favourite:

Really; those whiskers are just so hilarious, and so is the tail – I wish I had a garden so that I could have a bush like this. And here's the next one:

This fellow is having a nap at the edge of the fountain in the middle of the garden. You can just sit next to the cat and literally spend hours enjoying the view of the sea.

I just wanted to take a photo of those pretty stairs when I noticed there was a sculpture of a white cat on the pic:

Can you spot it?

The castle, the wall and the garden. Fancy.

The legend says that anyone who visits the castle will have good fortune as long as a cat lives nearby. I haven't seen a single cat apart from the sculptures and mosaics, but I had mine with me, so I hope that's enough for my good fortune.

My dear friend enjoyed this garden just as much as I :) The view is stunning, I'm just so sad I didn't go earlier, it was too dark... I could have done so much better photos.

Man Plans

Brilliant new trailer to our upcoming show, including a tiny piece of opportunity to take an admiring glance at the back of my hair as well as at the most ridiculous facial expression I've ever made:

I just really hope I'll be able to get through this whole thing properly. I enjoy the rehearsals so much and I don't want to let all those wonderful people at Terra Nova down.

But man plans... And who knows what's going to happen in a month.

My future in this town seems to be completely gone anyways. And I guess it will take a while to build myself a new one. But I will.

Life-Update and Advertisements

It's been a while.

Here is my latest work ‒ a music video of Tusks - For You:

Great shots, I think. And I really enjoyed working with those guys. Being the only female cast member definitely has its benefits, you can have your own dressing room and all.

Also, if you're a Shakespeare fan, you can see me in Terra Nova Productions' Belfast Tempest in April. Check this out for more information:
http://www.terranovaproductions.net/belfast-tempest/

Anyway, tomorrow is Patrick's Day. I'm planning to see the parade, I've never been to one in my life, but I just don't know if I'll feel like doing it. My flatmate has gone home for this week, which means I'll be celebrating on my own; but I'm working at night, so I'll hopefully have a good time with my colleagues.

Living with an Actor

Things you can expect when your flatmate is an actor:

• She will knock on your door in the middle of night to ask for random objects that no normal person owns in their household such as plastic flowers or a viking ship, claiming that she needs them urgently for work by next morning.
• She will leave the house around 11pm to go to Tesco (the only place still open) and buy clothes, shoes or jewelry.
• She will randomly begin to run around the corridors screaming "I'm in! I'm in!"
• She will walk around the place murmuring, shouting, singing or whatever. Also, she will listen to very creepy random recordings.
• After a couple of months of living together with her, you will definitely know some full Shakespeare plays by heart.
• She will move around with a huge backpack all the time. Or with a folder. Or anything else that is capable of keeping CVs and headshots in it.
• She will talk to you in a different accent each time you start a conversation.

Get ready.

The Bodhrán Project

(image source)

Bodhrán: Irish percussion instrument. The name is a compound borrowed from Old English, bod meaning "command" or "precept" and hrān meaning "whale". The word refers to the sound of the instrument, which is similar to the grunts made by the leader (usually the dominant male) of a whale pod.

Hahaha, actually not. But it would be cool, wouldn't it? Did I mention that I LOVE making up fake etymology for existing words? This is what linguistics is for. But this one is too easy to see through if you know the pronunciation. (And if you've ever heard any whale songs and bodhrán players before and are aware of that they sound as different as possible.)

Actually, bodhrán has nothing to do with medieval things, it started to grow popular only around the 18th or 19th century. The name, of course, is Irish Gaelic, and is said to be related to the word bodhor, meaning "drum", though the exact meaning is unclear. The instrument itself is a very basic frame drum, it looks similar to a tambourine, apart from the fact that the latter is normally struck with the bare hand, while a bodhrán is traditionally used with a tipper called cipín (Irish Gaelic, meaning "kindling"). (information source)

Why am I giving this boring presentation about a silly Irish yoke? Because I officially fell in love with Irish music and this drum is just aaaawesome. So I made a deal with myself to buy one and learn how to play on it once I have enough money for that.

Since I moved to Belfast, I literally find money on the street every day, 3 coins per day on average, which is just crazy, I mean, there's money on the pavement wherever I step and nobody seems to care but me. I've been here for 12 days, and I already have more than 1 pound in total. So I decided to buy the bodhrán using the money I find on the street. It's quite expensive, the cheap ones start from 50 pounds, so it will take a while, but I don't really need it right away, now I'm concentrating on monologues and other skills to get involved in acting as soon as possible.

Kid Quotes

I haven't been around for a while, and I have no idea when I'll be back. Life is tough, and I don't really feel like talking about it now. But I came around to share a small collection of kids' quotes, because I left Drogheda a few weeks ago, and I miss those three little monkeys so much I think I'm going to die :(

I heard Dualta's (4) voice from the bathroom:

"My poos are very big, but Noinin's poo is even bigger."

Conversation with Noinin (2).

Me: "Where should we go today? Should we go to the toyshop?"

Noinin: "Yes. That's good."

Me: "And what about the bookshop?"

Noinin: "That's good, too."

Me: "Great. And what else would be good?"

Noinin, without hesitation: "Monkey."

Eventually, we still skipped the zoo.

Sibling love. Noinin came to me with teary eyes to tell a story.

"Dualta bit me!"

Me, searching for the bruise to kiss it better: "Where did he bite you?"

"In the kitchen."

Well, unfortunately I was unable to kiss her on the kitchen.

Dualta got a new toy.

"It's Superman," he explained to me.

"But he doesn't have a cape, where is it?"

He looked at the yoke for a moment, then said "it's gone in his belly button."

I should have known. I mean, come on, where else? :D

When I was quite new around and wanted to know a few things about the boys' schools, I happened to ask Dualta "is there a playground in your school?"

"Yes."

"What's in it?"

"Everything."

I needed a bit more specific answer, so I kept on asking.

"A slide, maybe?"

"No," he shook his head sadly.

"A swing?"

"No."

"Then what?"

Wide grin. "Everything else."

Optimism is the key. Well done, my boy.

Roan (6) was our oldest, and his classmate Robert (6), who lived close to us, somtimes came around to play with him. I was in my room, and they were playing on the corridor, so I couldn't see them, but this conversation is still epic.

Robert: "I'm the big brother now."

Roan: "Okay, what age are you? Are you a teenager?"

Robert: "Um... no."

Roan: "Then what age are you?"

Robert: "I'm twelve."

I was trying not to laugh too loud in my room, but then Roan went even further: "What?! That's an adult!"

Holy Mass on Palm Sunday, I was sitting next to Roan. The priest started to say the homily:
"Today is Palm Sunday."
I heard Roan giving a sigh and murmuring impatiently:
"Oh, we know that!"

Dualta was singing:
"I'm sixty and I know it!"

That's all, folks. Anyway, Belfast is quite a nice place. I hope things will turn better soon and I'll be able to see its true beauty behind all the shit that's been happening to me here.

Home, Sweet Home

I haven't really been online recently, but I have my reasons. Very good reasons, actually.

Last Tuesday I came home to Hungary to visit my family. I arrived to the airport around midnight and spent the following day in Budapest to meet some people. I finally obtained the Hungarian translation of Tolkien's Beowulf and I even got it signed by the translator, who is a very good friend of mine. One more book I can't wait to read - I think I've got too many plans realted to books for this year. I'm about to reread Terry Pratchett's full Discworld series as well, which means, oh gosh, 41 volumes.

Anyway, I finally arrived to my hometown, and it was quite a good feeling to see how much I was missed, my mom even baked biscuits with "hiányoztál" (which means "I missed you" in Hungarian) written on them. It literally made me cry.

Also, I met my parents' lovely cats. I've seen them before on skype, but seeing them in real life is different, I can pat them and all, and they get my clothes covered in cat hair :'D

Too bad my entire holiday at my parents' house is actually about getting prepared to go back to Ireland. I need to buy many things to bring them abroad, and next week I'll spend a whole day in town to arrange some official things. I wish I could just leave them until next time, but unfortunately I can't.

Ř

I had quite a busy summer, that's why I didn't really have time and energy to maintain this journal. Well, "summer". I wouldn't really call this summer, I had to wear long sleeve clothes almost every day and caught a cold two or three times in 2 months.

A lot had happened, anyway. I finally finished filming my short film, and this really was hard work. I had to work with two six-year-old, none of which had ever acted before, so, ugh... But they are pretty good actors, so I hope I'll make a great film. I don't know when I'll be able to start editing, though.

During the summer, I spent most of my free time travelling around with an au pair girl from the Czech Republic, who came to Ireland for the summer. This is why I gave this entry such a silly title; I was desperate to learn how to pronounce the Czech letter ř, which is an extraordinary speech sound and I'd never heard it before. But she said that I was very good at pronouncing it. Anyway, we had so much fun together, and we had visited a few places that are not so far from here but I had not seen them before. Of course I took dozens of photos, some of which I'm going to upload here.

First of all, I finally went to the Hill of Slane, which I had wanted to see ever since I moved to Drogheda. It looks super cool.

The weird-looking tree that you can see next to the abbey is a Chilean pine tree. It was raining when we went up there, so we couldn't stay for long, but I'll definitely visit this place at least once more before I leave Drogheda.

Because, yeah, I'm going to leave Drogheda very soon. I decided to move up to the north in the middle of October and rent a flat in Belfast with my best friend. I'll miss this place so much, but I hope I'll find a great drama club or whatever there. I haven't acted in months.

Another interesting place we've visited is The Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre. We went into the museum and took a nice walk in the garden as well. The museum was a bit of a disappointment for me, I had expected it to be bigger... This was one of the most important battles in the history of Ireland, after all. But it was quite interesting, and the garden is beautiful.

As you can see, this photo was taken in the garden. I was told that it had not been the actual battlefield, but it doesn't really matter, it just looks cool with that stone in the grass. I took some pictures in the museum, too, but they didn't come out so well because it was too dark inside the building and I wasn't allowed to use flash.

Aaand, finally, another one of my favourite Irish landmarks: the Donaghmore Round Tower near Navan, Co. Meath.

So that's it. She left Ireland in the end of August, and I miss her so much because now I don't really have anyone to spend my days off with :( But I'll go to Hungary for 10 days in less than 2 weeks, and when I come back with my best friend, we will move up to Belfast, which is sooo exciting!

Just a Few Things to Share

Random facts from the last few weeks:

I finally got a brand new DSLR camera. I'm planning to visit some round towers such as Faughart, Lusk, Swords and Clondalkin in the next few weeks. And now I can finally make my short film as well!

Until that, here are some new (and better quality) pics of Monasterboice:

We've bought three chickens.

They're as lazy as they can be, we usually have only one egg per day or none at all. Pff. But at least they give me a farmhouse feel. The place I'm living now is an old farmhouse after all.

Cleaning the house can be a nightmare sometimes. If you have children or are planning to have some, never ever buy them stickerbooks. Never.

According to my mom it's nearly 40°C in Hungary, but here in Ireland it's so cold and windy that I've just caught a cold. So have the children. I must tell you that Beechams tastes horrible. Coldrex is much better. And more expensive, of course.

Why do Irish libraries not have Old English dictionaries? Maybe I should try in Trinity College. Or I should just use the online Bosworth-Toller dictionary. (Or look around once more in the local library. They MUST have something, really.)

And I'll visit Hungary in three months, gosh.