David King, Camden Fringe, The Ascend Actors Group

Camden Fringe – Acting After Illness

24 July 2016

One evening in early October 2014, I walked into the Royal Free Hospital.  I was admitted with a serious neurological condition – a brain haemorrhage, and the discovery of a congenital AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation).

In Steven Pressfield’s, new book on writing, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t ,  Steven  informs  us that scripts have an “All is Lost Moment” –  the protagonist’s darkest hour.   Think Karen Blixen in Out of Africa or Bond. These moments are then followed by a way out.

For me, walking into hospital was one of those  “All is Lost Moments”.

After several months in hospital I began my journey of recovery and acting really has been my way out.  Acting has helped me with the rebuilding of my executive functioning skills and given me a focus.

One of the first things I did was to take Barbara Oaley’s  MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) ‘Learning How to Learn’, which gave me access to invaluable learning techniques and tools.  Using these approaches, I learned that I was able to pick up a script and began to read and learn lines again.

To get my performance confidence back I took a contemporary scene study course and progressed through a number of acting courses.  I also did workshops and an intensive acting course where I worked on a script by Peter Barnes, Acting Exercise, which I am now taking to the Camden Fringe.

Acting Exercise will be on at this year’s Camden Fringe on the 8th and 9th of August at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, at 2.30pm. You can get tickets from the Camden  Fringe Website.  Any profits from ticket sales will go to the Brain and Spinal Research Fund.

See you there!

David King

@Mr_DavidKing

Represented by Sam Brown at Brown and Mills

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