I’m perfectly fine to dayjob when I’m not acting. I’m perfectly fine to talk about it. I know damn well that some people outside the industry don’t get it and stigmatise the idea of it, but that’s backwards thinking. The only people left in the industry would be the phenomenally successful and people who are considerably more privileged than me, and I’m uncomfortably close to little lord fucking Fauntleroy with my riverside Chelsea flat.
Today it was a school doing what used to be called Dragon’s Day but has been customised. An Enterprise Workshop for year 7. They invent something and pitch it, make a jingle, all that. This was a tech heavy school. They all designed and built things on their iPads. Some of what they built was good.
But for me it felt really auspicious. I walked into my classroom first thing in the morning, getting ready for a day job day, just after an audition for a part I really hope for, and the first thing I set eyes on was a poster with my name on it.
I’ve got that poster in my kitchen. I persuaded everyone to sign it cos it’s a credit I’m proud of and a show I was really happy to be in. And it was and still is a really happy company. The Othello WhatsApp group is still a pleasant place and not too spammy. We don’t have anyone who is doing the usual WhatsApp shit like spamming petitions or constantly sending memes. We share news and occasional banter and I have never needed to mute it. Most of my WhatsApp groups I might as well not be in anymore. I like the Othello one.
So… I sent that photo to the group. And I felt held all day running a workshop alongside a reminder that yes by jiminy I’m an actor that does acting, and this is just one of the many side hustles I’ve managed to pull together. Cos I’m a resourceful and enterprising human being dagnabbit.
At the end of the day I signed it with a green sharpie. I think though that it was a whiteboard pen so it’ll rub off almost immediately. Just like so much of what I do even my signature was written on the wind. Ah the ephemeral. I didn’t stick around to check. I wrote a little note for the teacher as she wasn’t in school today. And drove to Brighton. Thank you Birmingham for a happy alignment moment. Hopefully it is the universe telling me that one of these lovely jobs is gonna land. Or all of them.
