Tag Archives: Acting

WHY I TRADED IN A HIGH-FLYING CAREER IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY TO PURSUE MY ACTING DREAMS, AND HOW I DID IT

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By Peter Meyer, author of The Boy from the Wild

Most of us dream about quitting the 9-5 (or is that the 8-7) rat race, but few ever do.  The author Peter Meyer is proof that following a dream can be more than just a daydream. He hung up his suit and left a highly-paid job in the hospitality industry to embark on a career as an actor – and was soon rubbing shoulders with Brad Pitt.

I grew up in the hospitality industry, quite literally. I was born and raised on a game reserve in South Africa that my father created. It had a safari park, a five-star hotel and a conference centre. It was once known as Safari World and its pioneering fusion of Disney-style theme park and nature reserve  made it akin to a real-world Jurassic Park

When I was older, I graduated from Les Roches Hospitality University in Switzerland and went on to work all around the world in places including the UK, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.  I worked in different director roles in sales, marketing and business development for groups like Hilton, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, JA Resorts & Hotels and then YTL Hotels.  At one point I was even one of Hilton’s youngest directors at 26 years old.  I had it all going for me – the experience, the qualifications, the connections, the lifestyle and so much more…. but then it all changed.

In 2014, I dropped everything to spend time with my father after hearing he had a very rare form of terminal cancer.  My father was my life and an incredibly special person, so I was going to be by his side.  After I lost him I lost a part of myself and realised that you are vulnerable – and that life is governed by time that we take for granted.  I tried to get back into hotels and got a huge position in Kuala Lumpur but was ultimately in a very bad mental state and lost my zest and desire for the industry.  I was missing my dad plain and simple.

By chance a short while later a family friend suggested that I try acting and modelling for fun, and at least until I’d planned my next move.  So, a short while later, I signed onto a website that was a portal for jobs in that industry.  Within the space of a few days I was contacted by a production company, which asked me to do a TV commercial for Ford.

I did the shoot and was told I was a “natural” and was advised to do more! Two weeks later I got a call from a director making an independent British film and I got a tiny part as a news anchor with some lines.  It was then that I realised how much I loved acting and it woke me up out of semi-depressed state for my father.  I decided to see where it went.

Suddenly I was getting acting and modelling roles and even got my first lead in a short film within three months of starting.  My biggest came when I got a call to audition for Allied with Brad Pitt and got the smallest part to sing.  Sadly, the role was cut but I was still an extra and got picked to be near Brad Pitt and enjoyed getting to know him. I then got chosen to work as an extra next to Liam Neeson this time on The Commuter.  He partly inspired my book “The Boy from the Wild”.  In less than 18 months all this had happened.  I was also doing a lot of plus size modelling and was Tesco’s first plus size male model wearing Jacamo.  But I have also modelled internationally with groups such as El Corte Ingles wearing Hugo Boss, GANT, Ralph Lauren and more.  Who knows what’s next?

I’ve gone from surviving animal attacks and snake bites on a safari park to surviving the concrete jungles of Hollywood.  How, people ask?  Well, get headshots, get a showreel, get an agent, brand yourself to get your followers and have passion.  If you are determined and do what you love then you will achieve.  Sometimes you have to risk it to get the biscuit. A dream is yours and yours to fail, so don’t let it.

The Boy from the Wild by Peter Meyer is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £3.99 as an eBook. It is available for sale on Amazon UK. Visit  www.petermeyer.com

Chichester’s triple threat… Review: The Norman Conquests

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The Norman Conquests
Chichester Festival Theatre
Until 28 October
Box office: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Three interconnecting plays, Alan Ayckbourn’s cleverly conceived trilogy gets the red carpet treatment in this excellent revival. While seeing all three provides the complete story, Ayckbourn wrote each play as a standalone, so you don’t lose out if you’re only in town for an evening. But there are several dates when the marathon triple bill can be seen and, if you possibly can, take your seat for the longer haul.

Fabulously staged (a first for Chichester is the addition of on-stage seating, thus creating a full in-the-round experience); the setting is a rambling country house and garden in Sussex where Annie (Jemima Rooper) lives and looks after her ailing mother. Desperate for some much-needed fun (in the absence of local nice-but-dim vet Tom putting the moves on her), she plans a dirty weekend away with her incorrigible brother-in-law, Norman (Trystan Gravelle). The arrival of her brother Reg (Jonathan Broadbent) and sister-in-law Sarah (Sarah Hadland), followed by eldest sister – Norman’s wife – Ruth (Hattie Ladbury) puts paid to Annie’s plans. The collective convergence also unleashes fall-outs, flirtations and some enthusiastic hurling of home truths.

Taking place over the course of a weekend, in the first play, ‘Table Manners,’ the action takes place in the dining room. In ‘Living Together’ we relocate to the sitting room to see what has been going on in the meantime. Finally we catch up on the outdoors action (and oh boy there’s plenty of it!) in the concluding ‘Round and Round the Garden.’

Making her Chichester debut, Blanche McIntyre directs. Written and set in 1973 (superb design and detail from Simon Higlett), while the period is evident, McIntyre injects a sense of newness; vintage Ayckbourn with a contemporary twist.

Without exception the performances are polished. Delivering beautifully played comedy while highlighting the foibles and struggles of their individual characters, there is a pleasing synchronisation between the actors that aids the flow of the entire trilogy.

Very funny, neatly done and with moments of sharp poignancy, this is a hugely satisfying three-course theatrical feast.

Review: The Stepmother

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The Stepmother
Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre
Until September 9

www.cft.org.uk
01243 781312

Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore

The words ‘seldom performed’ in a marketing blurb can trigger alarm bells. In many cases there’s a damn good reason why directors don’t dust down certain plays. In this instance, however, it’s an absolute mystery why it has taken so long to revive Githa Sowerby’s beautifully observed drama, in the experienced hands here of former artistic director of the National Theatre Richard Eyre.

Written in 1924, money, equality – or the lack of – and career are core themes. The setting is the home of widower Eustace Gaydon (Will Keen). A financial chancer lacking in integrity, kindness and sincerity, when he discovers that shy young Lois Relph (Ophelia Lovibond) is set to inherit his sister’s estate he promptly marries her, thus providing a stepmother for his two young daughters and shoring himself up financially. Ten years on and the shy young woman he married has become a successful society dressmaker, but Eustace’s dodgy deals have turned on him.

Keen is superb as Eustace. Shifty, sly, domineering and full of self-justification, he is irredeemably unpleasant.

Lovibond also convinces as the young girl who, as she morphs into a confident businesswoman, gradually comes to realise just what a ghastly situation she has signed up to.

A strong supporting cast includes Eve Ponsonby as stepdaughter Monica. Desperate to marry but constantly blocked by her father’s refusal to make good with an allowance, her youthful passion and increasing desperation are beautifully portrayed.

Historically fascinating, this stylish production deserves a life beyond Chichester.

Review: Grimm Tales, Chichester

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Grimm Tales – For Young and Old
Adapted by Philip Wilson
Chichester Festival Youth Theatre at the Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood
Until 19 August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

If you go down to the woods today… Just when it seems impossible for Chichester Festival Youth Theatre (CFYT) to achieve any greater heights they come along and smash it of the park. The sculpture park, in this instance.

The Cass Sculpture Foundation is the perfect setting for Grimm Tales. Woodland paths, tree-lined hollows and sheltered clearings provide a series of glorious natural stages. Greeted by a raggle-taggle band of minstrels beckoning us into the woods, the music throughout is evocative, catchy and haunting. All members of the Youth Theatre, these young troubadours are exceptional and add greatly to both the charm and continuity of the production.

Starting with Little Red Riding Hood and followed at different locations by Hansel and Gretel, Hans My Hedgehog, The Goose Girl at the Spring, The Three Snake Leaves, Rapunzel and The Juniper Tree, these yarns are grim indeed. Adultery, murder, child abduction, cannibalism – Mr Disney may have prettied some of them up for the big screen, but in their original form these fairy tales offer no trace of saccharine sparkle or Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. Marvellously dark, but not without humour, Philip Wilson’s adaptations are magical, mysterious and utterly spellbinding.

Under the skilful direction of Dale Rooks the acting is uniformly superb. Remaining totally in character even when leading the audience from location to location, even those in minor roles demonstrate the discipline and focus of seasoned professionals. It would be grossly unfair (and almost impossible) to single out any one performance.

Testament to the excitement and enrichment of the experience, the smiles of the cast at the curtain call are wider than that of Grandma’s wolf. With satellite groups across the county, West Sussex children are so lucky to have CFYT available to them. Especially at a time when funding cuts threaten to hack drama and the arts down to almost nothing in some schools.

Ably supported by members of the Technical Youth Theatre, as darkness fell there wasn’t a star in the sky to outshine this supremely talented company.

Tickets: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk
There is no parking at the sculpture park, but a highly efficient system of park-and ride coach transport is in operation from Chichester College.

Review: The House They Grew Up In

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The House They Grew Up In
Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Until 5 August
Box Office: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Deborah Bruce’s new play, a co-production with Headlong, manages to be both entertaining and deeply moving. It’s a tale of our time. Middle-aged brother and sister Peppy (Samantha Spiro) and Daniel (Daniel Ryan) live in the house they grew up in amid floor-to-ceiling clutter (Max Jones’s claustrophobic set design is marvelous). Isolating themselves, autistic Daniel spends his days recording a precise log of every passing moment in his diary. Highly strung and obsessed with art history and Cambridge University, Peppy leaves the safety of their nest only for food and, later, to visit Uncle Manny to try to find out why he didn’t make his regular Christmas visit. But the arrival of the little boy next door into their co-dependent lives (superbly played by Rudi Millard on press night) triggers a terrifying change in their reclusive existence, with the police, social workers, neighbours and journalists forcing the much-feared outside world upon them.

Remarkably, what seems certain to be the inevitable conclusion takes a happier turn. Jeremy Herrin’s thoughtful direction and Bruce’s accomplished writing allow Peppy and Daniel to be heard and understood, ultimately earning our compassion and making us feel uncomfortable at failing to feel and extend it sooner.

Beautiful and bitter sweet, the tragedy of the optimistic ending is that in the real world Peppy and Daniel would be the exception rather than the rule.

With superb performances, especially from Spiro and Ryan, this a thought-provoking and fascinating play that deserves a wider audience than its short run in Chichester will generate.

Review: Fabulous Fiddler

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Review
Fiddler on the Roof (until 2 September)
Chichester Festival Theatre
Box Office: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk


Photo credit: Johan Persson

Heart, humour and world-class performances are just some of the elements that make Daniel Evans’s big summer musical an absolute belter. Add to that terrific musicians, Alistair David’s thrilling choreography and Lez Brotherston’s cleverly conceived set, which makes the very best use of Chichester’s unique stage, and you have a show that has all the hallmarks of a West End transfer.

The story of Tevye, a poor dairyman with five daughters, it is 1905 and in Russia an uneasy sense of impending change is in the air. But on a poor shtetl Tevye is more immediately concerned with finding husbands for the three eldest of his girls. Alas, despite his best efforts to keep with tradition, it seems that they are determined to follow their hearts rather than their heads, or indeed the advice of Matchmaker Yente (gloriously played by Liza Sadovy).

Omid Djalili is superb as Tevye. Radiating warmth sufficient to melt a Moscow frost in January, he convinces absolutely as the ordinary family man who is not without his shortcomings. In his regular exchanges with God (Dajalili’s stand-up career is much in evidence here), and later as he sings the touching Do You Love Me? to his wife, he reveals a touching vulnerability.

Tracy-Ann Oberman as his wife Golde is equally impressive. A feisty lioness who knows her old man better than he knows himself, it is an inspired pairing.

The singing overall is outstanding. From sweet and soaring to joyous and rousing, Tradition, the opening number, is nothing short of an emotional musical wallop to the gut.

A stupendous ensemble effort, this is a revival that feels both fresh and relevant. Delivering the theatrical triple of laughter (the dream scene is as clever as it is riotous), tears, and food for thought, it is the latter of the whole shebang that is the production’s ultimate strength.

A sharp reminder of how political and social unrest continues to throw lives into disarray, the final moments are heartbreakingly poignant.

Review: Sweet Bird of Youth, Chichester Festival Theatre

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Sweet Bird of Youth

Chichester Festival Theatre

Until 24 June

Box Office: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk

Photo credit: Johan Persson

With the run-up to General Election a veritable carnival of hypocrisy, self-interest, arrogance and rampaging egos, the day after the event itself wasn’t the ideal time to digest more of the same. Alas, in Tennessee Williams’s 1959 play there is little relief from such monstrous conduct.

Fearing derision and rejection after the premiere of her latest film, aging Hollywood movie star Alexandra Del Largo (Marcia Gay Harden) has bolted and is holed up in a hotel in St Cloud on the Gulf Coast of Mexico with Chance Wayne (Brian J. Smith), a gigolo and wannabe actor who skipped the town a few years previously. While the actress hides behind an alias and dulls her demons with alcohol, narcotics and sex, Chance is determined to be reunited with Heavenly, his teenage sweetheart. Unaware that before leaving St Cloud he infected his girl with a STD that necessitated a hysterectomy, he has no idea that Heavenly’s father and brother are resolute: should Chance ever show his face in the neighbourhood again he will pay for his crime.

The first act, almost entirely a two-hander set in a hotel bedroom, offers superb performances from Harden and Smith. Convincing and compelling, on the Festival Theatre’s thrust stage, however, some of the intensity and intimacy is lost.

Elsewhere the performances are strong, especially Richard Cordery as Boss Finley, a bully with double standards and an unshakable belief in the American Dream. Victoria Berwick as Heavenly Finley is also excellent. Vulnerable, compliant but filled with a rage, when she sobs silent, despairing tears, her grief and anger is sorely palpable.

Easy on the eye, Anthony Ward’s set is stunning; clever, evocative and stylish, it is also beautifully complemented by Mark Henderson’s lighting.

The ruthless marching of time is one of the play’s key themes. In Jonathan Kent’s undeniably ‘classy bird’ there remains a niggling sense that the pace needs to be stepped up.

Review: Forty Years on at Chichester Festival Theatre

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ARSONatChichesterFestivalTheatre.PhotoJohanPersson_02652

Photos: Johan Persson

Taking up his post as Artistic Director new Head Boy Daniel Evans opens his first Chichester Season with Alan Bennett’s early play, which is set in 1968 at Albion House, a fading public school.

Some fifty local schoolboys join the cast and are outstanding, opening the production with a roof-raising rendition of Praise My Soul the King of Heaven.

The occasion is the end of term show, which also marks the retirement of the elderly headmaster. Under the directorial auspices of his reformist successor, the offering of a history revue includes some sketches that get the old duffer decidedly hot and bothered – to be overtly risqué is definitely tsk-tsk territory.

There are some joyous moments. Danny Lee Wynter’s naughty portrayal of an elderly aristocrat à la Dame Maggie as Downton’s Lady Violet is delicious, while an ace tap-dance solo is worthy of the Strictly! final. A stage invasion of lusty-voiced rugger buggers is also a gas, which for all the headmaster’s puritanical tendencies is deemed perfectly acceptable once it is revealed that the opposition has been roundly trounced.

Alan Cox as incoming headmaster Franklin, Jenny Galloway as Matron and Lucy Briers as Miss Nisbitt give accomplished performances, while the music and singing is superb, thanks to the excellence and exuberance of a terrific ‘school orchestra.’

Some of the historical inspirations do not resonate, leaving these skits teetering on the brink of tedium. But there are plenty of jolly spoofs to compensate, as well as flashes of poignancy bringing a balancing shade.

)inCFT'sproductionofFORTYYEARSON.PhotoJohanPersson_04653You can almost smell overcooked cabbage thanks to Lez Brotherston’s impressive school hall set, which comes complete with an almighty oak organ, rising from and towering over the stage.

At eighty years on himself, and having suffered a heart attack only last year, it is perhaps unsurprising that Richard Wilson is not yet tight on his lines. Reading from a script for the most part, when he struggles to find his place on the page it causes the audience collective anxiety. It’s a shame, but there is still much to enjoy here.

www.cft.org.uk Box office: 01243 781312

Vicky Edwards