2019 in Review, and Looking Ahead to 2020

After several weeks of writer’s block, I felt I had to come here and at least try to write something. Even if it’s just a couple of lines…

I am sitting alone in my room, with Robbie Williams’ rendition of If I Only Had a Brain playing in the background on my Google Play Music page. It’s at quiet times like these where I am able to reflect on things.

So, I am sitting here thinking about what a year this has been. Thinking about how, in just a few days, we will not only be starting a new year, but also a new decade.

Generally, I’d say that 2019 has been a fairly good year for me.

I left my old job at Evolution Gaming in search of a career which gave me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. As luck would have it, approximately a month later, I was accepted at a nearby school on what was my first-ever teaching experience. I started out as a sports playworker for the summer months, then after seeing how well that went, I decided to stay on for the rest of the scholastic year. My duties now involve taking on one-to-one cases with students who have learning difficulties, and even taking charge of classes, helping them out during their homework session and organising all sorts of activities for them. It feels great to finally do something which is so gratifying, in an environment where I truly feel respected, appreciated, and loved!

When it comes to another passion of mine – drama – 2019 has also brought with it great opportunities.

Earlier this year, in April, I had the absolute pleasure of working with a talented group of young people in Birgu’s edition of Jesus Christ Superstar; by far the most physically demanding and active performance I’ve ever been involved in. While this experience further confirmed that nobody will ever see me on an episode of Dancing with the Stars anytime soon, it was thrilling to have been a part of one of my favourite musicals of all time.

More recently, as you’ve probably read in previous blog posts, I landed my biggest role in a theatrical production in my six years of acting so far. The part of Billy Gray in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, which was another big challenge, yet a huge success.

So what does 2020 have in store?

Simply put: more of the same, I hope!

More good memories, more positive experiences and opportunities to learn from and write about, and more success in whatever I do.

Whether it’s a new book (or several dozen) which I just bought, a novel which has made an impact on me, an adventure I’m about to embark on, a witty and quirky phrase I come up with, or a good old fashioned rant about something which raises my hackles, you’ll know all about it right here on See. Think. Write.

Here’s to a more productive, pleasant, and prosperous 2020!

Best wishes to you all, dear readers, for the Yuletide period and for the upcoming new year!

Warmest regards,

– Preston

So Long, and Thanks for All the Goat!

Exactly a week from today was our last of two very successful performances of “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?”.

And what an incredible ride this has been! A truly unforgettable experience, which has helped me mature more as an actor.

From the beginning I knew that interpreting the role of Billy Gray, the seventeen-year-old gay son of Martin and Stevie Gray, was going to be a big challenge. The seemingly never-ending monologues, the roller-coaster of emotions, and the many layers of the character. But after months of hard work, focus, and determination, it’s safe to say that the end product was an excellent one (even if I say so myself).

Being a part of this magnificent and controversial play also gave me the opportunity to share the stage with some of Malta’s most prominent actors – Marceline Galea, Anthony Ellul, and Patrick Tanti. It was such a pleasure to work with you all!

My first ‘thank yous’ go to our awesome crew: Karina Carabott and Nathaniel (backstage crew), and Steve Catania (lighting and audio). You guys made our lives a little easier, and helped make the stage’s setting and atmosphere more realistic.

Last but not least, a special ‘thank you’ goes to our director Jane Zammit and her husband Edward Clemmer, for entrusting me with the role of Billy. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to take part in such a great production, for helping me take my acting career to a higher level.

A huge well done to everyone!

I look forward to the possibility of working with you all again in the future!

– Preston

8:25 p.m. Thoughts – 24th November 2019

Our first performance of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? is now officially less than one week away. We the actors have come such a long way, and it’s incredible to see how work has progressed throughout the months.

Months… Ha! Even that is hard to believe. It seems like it was only yesterday that I got the call from our director, asking me to come audition for the part of Billy Gray. How time flies!

Walking (so to speak) in Billy’s shoes, during these months, has been one hell of a journey.

Billy being a very sensitive seventeen-year-old, my biggest challenge was finding how to express his emotions to make them seem and also feel real. Fortunately, I didn’t go through the kind of trauma that Billy does in the play, and I never had any doubts about my sexual orientation. I couldn’t use real emotions since I have never gone through similar experiences, which made things slightly trickier. So, essentially, I had to imagine myself being in such difficult situations and then ask myself: how would I react if that happened to me? But even that wasn’t easy.

Over the last few weeks, my main focus was fine tuning the little nuances to help give the character more life; gestures and expressions, actions, and the tempo and tone of different lines.

With opening night less than seven days away I’m pretty confident that all will go well.

Being an overthinker, however, means that I cannot help but think about what could go wrong…

Nothing should go wrong, though. We’re all very well prepared.

– Preston

Who is Sylvia?

I have just landed the biggest role in my acting career so far.

Billy Gray, from Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?.

The Goat is the tale of a married, middle-aged architect, Martin, his wife Stevie, and their 17-year-old, emotionally sensitive, gay son Billy, whose lives crumble when Martin falls in love with someone else. With something else…

A goat.

This play will be a challenge for me in several different ways.

The first, of course, being the lines which need to be learned. With its many language games and grammatical arguments in the middle of catastrophes and existential disputes between the characters, the dialogue is of utmost importance. As are the plethora of emotions in the characters’ lines.

The other big challenge is the fact that I’ll be interpreting the part of someone who is of a different sexual orientation to mine. And who also, during a particular scene, has to kiss a person of the same sex.

Admittedly, for someone who usually doesn’t care what other people say or think about me, I cannot help but feel that this time I will be judged or labelled as something which I am not. Which then, ironically, poses the question: maybe I do care about what others say or think?

Despite these thoughts, however, I believe that taking on such a role will only take my level of acting up to another level. One has to take into consideration that this is acting, after all, and none of the parts us actors interpret are actually who we are. This is the way how I have to mentally approach my challenge.

Overall, I am absolutely buzzing to get started on this new project, and I will also have the privilege of sharing the stage with three experienced and professional Maltese actors.

Special thanks to Jane Zammit, the director at Upstart Productions Drama Company, for entrusting me with this great role.

– Preston

Thy Will Be Done

In just over a month, I will be taking on my first-ever dual role in a performance.

I will be starring in an Easter pageant, Ikun li Trid Int (or Thy Will Be Done, in English), with Kirkop Pageant Group, as a modern-day Pontius Pilate, and Simon of Cyrene. Two key and contrasting figures, you could say, in the story of Jesus Christ’s final days.

Pilate of 2019: After being diagnosed with cancer, Pawlu Borg goes to speak with his supervisor Mr. Grima (played by yours truly), in order to request more sick leave days. Instead of taking an empathetic approach and trying to help out, Mr. Grima avoids the situation by telling Pawlu to take the matter up with the general manager. Metaphorically speaking, he washes his hands from the situation just like Pontius Pilate had done.

Simon of Cyrene: The man singled out from the throng of people, by the Roman soldiers, to help Jesus carry his burdensome wooden cross while on the path to Mount Calvary.

The story switches between the past and the present – each scene from the passion of Jesus Christ, and a modern day scenario of that particular scene.

Also, the original script written by our talented director Mrs. Carmen Frendo, is based on the 1976 musical of the same name by Emmanuel Mifsud and Marie Therese Vassallo. Tracks from the musical will be used throughout the performance.

Thanks to a passionate and dedicated director, a great script, and a large cast (over 40 persons) of varying talents and ages, this production promises to be a really exciting one!

– Preston

My First Theatrical Comedy

I wanted to do something different when it comes to acting, this year. And I was lucky enough to have been chosen by I.N.K. Productions to take part in their theatrical comedy No Baby, No Dollars.

Written by Renzo Bonello, it tells the story of four brothers – Pawlu (Paul), Frankie, Johnny, and Wenzu (Lawrence) – whose multi-millionaire aunt Vanġiela (Evangeline) is on her way to Malta to decide on her inheritance. And she will only leave her inheritance if one of the brothers’ wives has the same name as hers. Frankie, however, has no intentions of ever getting married. Time passes by and Frankie receives a call that his aunt is dying. He sees this as an excellent opportunity to take her money, and tells her he got married and also had a baby. However, the situation takes a turn for the worse when the news makes his aunt better, and she decides to visit Malta to see the newborn. Unfortunately, none of the brothers have any children. So, they concoct a plan to get their hands on a baby in order to convince their rich aunt.

This will be a rather unique performance for me for different reasons. The first being that, despite being split into three acts, it will be continuous (i.e. no stage blackouts, no change of scenery). This also means that even after the brief intermission, the actors who were previously on stage have to go back to their exact positions, for the sake of continuity. And lastly, our performance will only feature eight actors in total, compared to the larger numbers I’m used to in pantomimes.

In No Baby, No Dollars I will be taking on the role of a police sergeant who makes his appearance, together with a fellow police constable, towards the end of the play. Some people have already said that this is a great character for me to portray as I’m known to be proper, well-disciplined, and to stick to the rules. Funnily enough, I have considered policing as a career path in the past.

Directed by the writer’s nephew, Ismael Bonello, whom I’ve worked with on other occasions, I’m certain that our performances on the 11th and 12th of May will leave our audience in stitches.

– Preston

My Acting Plans for 2018

My experience at Evolution Gaming as a card shuffler has been going fairly well over the past few months, but that does not mean that I’ve been neglecting one of my passions – acting.

So, here’s what I’ll be up to this year…

I will be taking part in Evolution Dance Co. Productions’ 2018 pantomime, in December. It is based on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and will once again be directed by Mariano Gellel Agius (assisted by Ismael Bonello). This year I will be playing a smaller role, that of Belle’s father, Maurice. Although I wouldn’t necessarily classify Maurice as a main character, it should still be an interesting role. Given that he is an older person, I have to work on the typical ‘father figure’ personality who’s super protective and has a close bond with his daughter, and who is willing to do anything to see his girl happy with the man she is head over heels in love with. In general, an authoritative yet gentle, kind, and somewhat frail man.

My biggest and most challenging opportunity, however, will commence in a couple of weeks’ time. This is probably the most difficult role I’ve had to take on in my five years of acting.

A brief description of how I got the part…

At noon, on the 3rd of August, I received a Facebook message from an assistant director whom I’ve worked with before. She said that she has a “perfect” role for me – following the previous actor’s drop-out – in a major soap opera on national television, set during WWII and the present day, titled Ċirkostanzi (Circumstances, in English). She told me it is a main part, that of a soldier, and I would obviously have lines to learn.

Naturally, I did not turn down this fantastic chance. I mean, how often does it occur that someone comes up to you with an opportunity this big, and just offers it to you on a silver platter?

Fast forward to two days ago, and the moment I had been anticipating for the past weeks arrived. I received copies of the script for the first episode! If I were to draw a picture of my thoughts and emotions during the span of that hour after I received and skimmed through them, it would be similar to that of a heart rate graph:

 

1. Email received, excitement starts to build up.
2. Excitement at its peak as I open the email and see the scripts.
3. My thoughts after seeing how many lines I have to learn: What?! I can’t possibly do this! How can I learn all these lines?!
4. Well, maybe it is possible…
5. But is it, really?
6. Yeah, sure it is…
7. After going through the scripts again: Hell no, I can’t do this…
8. Just relax, give it a try, see how it goes. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts…
9. But-
10. Self-motivation and self-belief kicks in: Oh for Pete’s sake just get your act together, will you, Preston?! Of course you can do this! You’ll have time to study your lines, you’ll give it your best shot like always, this is not a live performance so there’ll be multiple takes! You’ve got this, man! It’ll be one heck of an experience!

 

Ever since I started acting I’ve dreamt of being part of something big like this, someday. And now here I am. Such experience at a high level will only further boost my confidence, while also helping me to seek bigger and better projects and challenges in the future.

If I had to give some advice to young actors out there, it would be to take every possible opportunity that comes along. Whether it’s as an extra in a movie, or just saying one line in a play. Take it. We’ve all had to start from somewhere, as did I. Put your heart and soul into whatever you do; do it with pride and passion. And I guarantee that you will make a great impression, and get recognition in turn. Intelligent directors who pay close attention to the people they’re working with will surely pick up on your hard work, which will establish a good rapport, and help build, shape, and grow your acting career.

 

– Preston

 

 

Becoming a Superstar

This week started off with a huge surprise.

On Monday afternoon, I got a call from my friend Mariano – last year’s panto director.

He told me that he’s taking part in an Easter pageant, that one of the actors has dropped out, and asked me if I’d be interested in filling in the role. Mariano then mentioned the name of the play, and I simply couldn’t decline the offer.

So, it is safe to say that one of my lifelong dreams will be coming true, this weekend.

I will be taking part in Jesus Christ Superstar 18. And I’ll be playing the part of the apostle John.

Directed by Antoine Galdes and Ismael Bonello, the play is based on the 2000 film Jesus Christ Superstar, which is a modern take on the original 1973 movie of the same name.

This will be a first for me, as I’ve never taken part in a Passion Play, before. And Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my all-time favourite musicals, featuring fantastic tracks composed by the great Andrew Lloyd Webber.

For those wondering: No, taking part in this play does not mean that I’ve now converted to Christianity. Far from it. I did this purely for the experience of trying out something new.

Given that the two performances will take place tomorrow and Saturday evening, it’s been a very busy, hectic week for me. I met with the other members of the cast on Monday, therefore the bond between the others and myself isn’t that strong; I’m still the new kid on the block. And due to my refereeing duties, I couldn’t attend rehearsals yesterday, and the day before.

All this said, however, it’s not to say that I won’t try. Since I have committed myself, then I will certainly put in my best effort (as I always do).

Here’s a sneak peek of what the stage looks like…

With large, beautiful projections, great music, stunning light effects, and a talented, hard-working team of actors and dancers, I’m sure that we’ll captivate our audience with a spectacular and unforgettable show!

– Preston

We’ve Taken Our Bows, and Our Curtain Calls

To my panto colleagues,

As the saying goes: all good things must come to an end.

Yesterday was our last performance of Is-Sirena ż–Żgħira Taħt it-Tieqa tad-Dwejra.

Throughout this time, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside great, multi-talented actors of different ages; we shared jokes, laughs, and countless number of bloopers, along the way. As with most things in life, though, it wasn’t all roses. There were some frustrating times for us, but we still managed to get through them together, as one strong team, in order to give our audience one hell of a show.

These past few months have been crazy for me, I admit, juggling pantomime rehearsals whilst continuing my refereeing career, trying to balance the two. It wasn’t easy, but they’ve been truly unforgettable.

Once again, it’s been a fantastic experience to have worked with you all. I’m sure that our paths will cross again in the near future.

À la prochaine. Thank you, and well done!

With love and best wishes,

Preston, your Prince Eric

Ariel and her evil sister Ursula, with Prince Eric photobombing the picture

Some of the characters: Scuttle, Flounder, King Triton, Ursula, Marlene, Sabrina (the dame), Pirate Lily, Anne, The Dancers, and myself as Prince Eric

The entire cast and crew