The youngest member of Team Scary, Roisin Bermingham, writes for us here about her experience of lockdown. Roisin is 14 and she appeared in Before I Wake for us in 2018 at Heligan Gardens and the Minack Theatre, and she is a voice actor on Greenham Women Digital
Lockdown has been a tough time for everyone and, like many actors everywhere who have had projects and shows they’ve been working on so hard for months ripped from under their feet, I wasn’t able to appear in a play we were about to perform at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.
I was just about to do my first dress rehearsal when lockdown happened and I was left crushed, defeated and so disappointed after months of rehearsals, but you have to try and look on the bright side.
Lockdown brought another wonderful project I could be involved in. The Greenham Women Digital project was a brilliant experience not only because I got to act, but also because I learnt so much about those brave women who came together for the greater good. This really puts lockdown into perspective and all of us isolating to protect the ones we love, much like those women who protested against nuclear weapons.
Recently, we have had a Zoom rehearsal for the play I was meant to perform at Minack and it’s been pencilled in to be performed either next summer or Easter 2022. This fills me with hope for the future because I love acting so much, particularly at the Minack, which is such a special place and I am so lucky to be part of the Minack Youth Theatre.
I really missed the camaraderie of rehearsing with other actors and Zoom meetings don’t really feel the same but it is better than nothing! I have really missed acting and this time period of not being able to act has just reaffirmed my passion and made me more determined to become an actor when I grow up. The first time I went back to acting was brilliant.
I am very grateful for living in Cornwall right now because there are fewer coronavirus cases and that means I can meet up with the youth theatre. I hope 2021 will get back to normal and allow theatres to open properly again.
