Stage fright

Ever experience your body going into in voluntary tremors, Sweat dripping from every pour of your body, your heart beating faster than an engines piston, then comes the great dissapointment of all you open your mouth to say your lines and all you can hear is a shaky stuttering voice.......
Its called Stage fright,Every ameature actor has to suffer afew times on thier first encounter with the stage.....this its not a phobia to be precise and just the fear of the unknown...

I remember this particlar day we had been invited to go and perform in Meru eastern province.On the eve of the performance was the day we finalized the screen shooting with K.I.E.
I was approached by this lady by the name june she was a Promotion Manager.She was loooking for a group to perform for her shows. she had been able to achieve more than five venues.
The cast was thrilled to here about the shows. We gathered our selves and had a full cast for the paly. We were supposed to perform a play by the name Aminata.

on the day of depature Our main character who was supposed to play Aminiata herself went missing 30 minutes before depature. Alternatively we chose one lady within the group who was new. She was forced to cram the lines over nite.....

The following morning we were on stage. I was furios, restless but yet contained,there was nothing or little i could do.
the Audience had paid and the show had to continue. After an thrilling first scene that had ended in a climaxed crescendo.It was Aminata's scene...
she had a powerfull body structure that easily illuminated her stage prescence, her voice was audible and her confidence was thrilling.
Her entrance had captivated the audience, they had already pictured the full profile of Aminata's profile. Whistling, Claps and cheers filled the auditorium.
I was at standing on the left front stage throwing darts

The ritual.

The Stage is like a sanctuary.. a holy ground a temple where one's
imagination and desire are replicated and idolized.
Rehearsal is perceived more as a ritual, like the rosary, Constantly for more than a month one recites the same lines adding emotion, actions and emphasis to
bring out the life in which they incarnated slowly the actor is immersed into character. Its some sort of incarnation.

Before every session the actor start with a song, a chant or a game in order to elevate his spirit and moods.
Like a lump of clay on a spindle slowly gaining shape and magnificence, so does an actor's character evolve from mere words to Personificcation.

like a spirit the character engulfs the actor.

and so we begun

"Adam: I will follow thee to the last gusp with truth and loyalty " Shakespear (No fear)

As I had Narrated earlier my first performance was not the best impression.I can still remember the Chill of fear running through my body, the cold drop of sweat from my armpit and my trembling feet.

my clenched fist was drenched in sweat,heart pounding like an engine on overdrive, for the first time i felt adrenaline running through my viens. The bell rang signaling our turn to perform.

Backstage everyone was on cue , All the props had been set in position. I held my breath as the curtains were drawn. The audience bewildering silence covered the auditorium, the only thing that could be heard was adjudicators flipping through the synopsis and script. Like Warriors at war we were prepared to ambush, we run on stage and aligned ourselves.Our Intro was overwhelmingly applauded, I felt my fear diminish and a leap of joy swam through my body, I felt like a big load had been lifted of my shoulders, a dazzling smile encroached my face, with teary eyes I slowly lifted my head and alas! beheld the great multitude that was seated applauding and cheering us, my Psyche was magnified ...

In an actors world, the Reaction of the audience is his motivation if the actor is able to get a postive reaction from the audience, his performance becomes betterr and he is fully immersed in character.

As we stood on front stage reciting our introductory prose, I learnt it is easier for one to hide his weakness and fear while they are in a group.

"In a group one finds An amour of protection and a place to hide from his fear and weakness
".

The performance was great and we proceeded to the next level, the higher we went my fears slowly vanished and i learnt to enjoy stage prescence,I no longer was in a hurry to rush out of stage, instead i wanted to stare back at the sea of eyes that were glued on me , tease them a little, watch them as they rolled there heads and eyes in every direction i moved. It felt good when they laughed at me, laughed with me and when they laughed at what i was doing or saying, moreover when they understood what i was feeling.

How it all Starts

"ANTONIO: I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; A stage where every man must play a part, And mine a sad one. "

I started acting back in kindergaten. At first i did not know what acting was, to make matters worse English truly proved to be foreign.

I missed my cues, entrace,moves n lines.

On my first show i got lost backstage only to make my entrance when the show was on the last scene........

Well that was back then when i was a kid.

High school was the begining of new frontiers and self reliasation, I was pasionate about drama.

In high school one gets involved in various activities either to fill in the gap or for pleasure and status. I did it for all the reasons.

Being in Boys school i had to device a way by which i had the best chance of going out with the team through out my four years. Getting a role was a dream, the minor parts proved to be the hardest ,protogonist part was a dream that only a few boys wanted to achieve cause it took alot of effort, time and not to mention memorization.

So i came up with a plan. It was simple though tricky.My plan was to take a female role on my second year, if the plan was successful then i would be directly voted to play a lead role on my third and fourth year.

the plan worked and thats how i never missed an outing or any competition... back then

And thats how it all started