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Hi! My name is Ellie Robinson and I am 19 years of age, studying acting and performance is something I’ve always been interested in as I have been in regular shows and performances since I was 6 and theatre helps me escape whilst creating exceptional pieces.

I’ve chosen to study this course at Sheffield Hallam instead of going to a university like bird college as I want to further develop my acting skills whilst also understanding the art behind it and how acting has developed to how it is today. I believe with this course I will have little if no limits on understanding the way the acting world is and the industry itself.

For my career I am torn between sharing my knowledge with students like myself through a term of teaching, helping peoples mental health through a form of therapy or performing my talent abroad on cruise ships. I’m hoping this course will help me decide through its work placement and teaching.

One of my recent acting experiences was working amongst average community members who also had the passion in acting and came from all different backgrounds with a national theatre partnership in a spin off of the Doncasterian chalk circle in which I was on of the janga tau leaders. I have worked with national theatre through this connection since 2020 and I’m happy with the progress of my confidence and skill building through also building an off stage family. The janga tau leaders are in charge of a group of children almost like the lost boys from Peter Pan who have been orphaned or left due to the overthrowing of the monarchy. As the role of the oldest janga tau leader I had the biggest responsibility on stage during the fleeing of the militia.

Photography by @rhys_robling (IG)

What inspired me to start acting was when I performed Ed the hyena from lion king when I was 6, I enjoyed the fact you can escape and become the character your there to play. I enjoyed taking part in regular school plays from then on and included myself in regular out of school activities such as St George’s choir or national theatre connections. And I’m ready to delve in more to grow my acting skills on this course.

I am inspired by people in the acting industry such as Margot Robbie, Millie Bobby brown and Rebel Wilson. I especially liked the new ‘barbie’ movie that Margot Robbie was the lead in, following Margot Robbie and seeing her act as the opposite of the villain and still have the raw emotions that make the audience feel as though they are on screen with her putting everything she can into her acting and expressing herself and her character values. 

My favourite show is the musicals, Hamilton, les miserables and everybody’s talking about Jamie. I like these shows as they all reflect deep issues from either the past or modern day and tell the story of overcoming or educating people about them.

I’m going to discuss about the film version of everybody’s talking about Jamie. The production itself is based upon morals and is talking about the Modern issue of homosexuality, being queer, and the homophobia that comes with it. The director is able to reveal events and problems in each scene showing past and present events through various flashbacks. I interpreted this films storyline as being different isn’t always a bad thing bringing the powerful message that they show throughout the show and also the on stage production.

The acting was detailed and well demonstrated in the film. The character Jamie implied actions in their acting. I spotted some parts of physicality in the film and each characters acting, for example when the song ‘work of art’ is playing each of the students create freeze frames which change to the beat in order to make Jamie feel overwhelmed with anxiety and embarrassed as if they were looking at him his posture also changes quickly throughout this scene and he looks at the floor or away from the crowd in various parts in order to lose eye contact. This scene showed me as an audience member that Jamie struggled with getting judged and this is why the song opens with him and his best mate pitti getting interrupted by Mrs Hedge whilst she teaches him how to do his makeup ready for his drag debut. The character loco Chanel was a very interesting and unique character to watch when I was watching this on stage as the character was clear in her identity and it helped show Jamie what it was like to be part of the drag world. I could tell through loco Chanels song ‘the legend of loco Chanel’ that she was masking and hiding some emotions to do with being too old to perform anymore which is shown easily in her determination to fully involve Jamie whilst also looking at old tapes of her throughout the song.

As I reflect on how this has made me feel and the amazing acting being in this film. I’m interested to also create pieces that inform or remind the audience of a current or past situation that either still needs to be resolved or hasn’t been discussed in a while in order to reach lessons. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone from the course and meeting new people and seeing what skills they have to offer.