| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| · Experience working with recognised industry professionals
· Versatile within musical genres · Strong range · Talented mezzo/emerging soprano · Can move well · Can work with some intermediate choreography · Harmonising/pitch · Expressive facially · Independent · Observant · Enjoys researching the character/role · Likeable personality · Calming aura |
· Can be seen as quiet or not forthcoming
· Choreography takes longer to pick up · Often struggles to push comfort zone boundaries · Can get too caught up on intellectualising everything, therefore restricting a sense of ‘acting on impulse’ · Often has a warped sense of self-belief |
HANNAH DIXON – A SUMMARY
As a performer, it is important to identify one’s own strengths and weaknesses in order to understand how you may be perceived when working professionally. If your weaknesses supersede your strengths, then you may find yourself not working as often as you’d like; I have considered what directors and peers have said to me in the past and how they match or differ from what I perceive to be my own strengths and weaknesses (as listed above).
Looking at these qualities, I feel confident that I could appeal to an agent because of my more charismatic traits (the likeability and expressiveness, for example) and versatility, but I’m also aware that my calmness can be perceived as “quiet” and being too observant can stop me from making impulsive acting choices.
With these in mind, I feel my castability outside of university would be ensemble/swing based in shows that don’t require as much technical dance, such as Les Miserables; in terms of leads, I think I’m often suited to the heroine rather than the villain (more Ariel than Ursula in The Little Mermaid) or the soft-spoken characters (such as Molly in Ghost). In the future, I’d hope to be cast in lead roles such as Lauren in Kinky Boots that requires expressiveness, a strong mezzo voice and ability to move well, or more ‘villainous’ style roles such as The Mad Hatter (Wonderland) or Elphaba (Wicked… we can all dream!)
DREAM, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE…
Graduation is something I’ve waited for since I first started college. I couldn’t wait for the day I could say “I’ve done it! I’m a professional actress!” Little did I know that I’d reach my last year of university and be bombarded with trigger words such as BUDGET, TAX, and STRATEGY.
In the next few months, I will have left London College of Music. My first, and most preferable, option is to be able to live in London and have an agent who can guide me in the next chapter of my acting life to suitable auditions for West End shows. Although I enjoy and prefer musicals overall, I’ve come to realise a taste for straight acting and would be open-minded about auditioning for plays/RSC. In the best case scenario, I’d be auditioning for shows every few weeks with a potential few offers and maybe even a job straight out of university. The more likely scenario would be maybe one audition a month, perhaps one recall every second audition resulting in a job months or even a year later. If that were the case, I would hope to take up a part-time position within Merlin Entertainments where I previously worked Front of House at Shrek’s Adventure; this time, I would speak with the performance department to work as an actor within this facility or its neighbours at London Dungeon as it is an opportunity to continue to act whilst being granted flexibility around possible outside auditions.
My second option is to move out of London and go home to Southampton, which is most likely as I must consider two major life events that require a large sum of money: putting a deposit down on a house and getting married. I have considered the possibility of delaying both, but this would be an unfair expectation of my fiancé and I’d like to think I’m contributing as much to these events as he is. As I have recently been promoted to a supervisor in my pub job, I can transfer this skill to a pub of the same chain where I will be living in Southampton; I also have strong connections with the staff at Mayflower Theatre, so I plan on getting in contact with them about any vacancies they may have so that I may not feel as though I’ve lost touch with my degree; this would also be a fantastic opportunity to network as the theatre is a touring house and many renowned companies and large-scale shows are performed there. Assuming I get an agent after graduating, there is a direct train from Southampton to London Waterloo that won’t cost more than £25 if I continue to purchase the 16-25 Railcard annually; as there is no expectation of me to pay rent, I would be able to use the money I save in that area to afford these visits.
Over the next year, I aim to gain representation from an agent who can guide me towards suitable auditions; alongside this, I will continue to further my knowledge of musicals (by frequently visiting the theatre both on and Off West End) and remain in contact with my peers as a means of networking. Furthermore, I would like to participate in at least one summer show using my contact with British Theatre Academy principal, Dean Johnson, with whom I have worked with on two professional productions in the past two years. In the circumstance I do not gain representation from university, I will continue to apply to jobs through Spotlight and attend singing/dance lessons to maintain my current abilities. Away from musicals, I have recently begun writing a play that I hope to submit as a possibility for the National Theatre Connections Festival that I’ve had the pleasure of being part of in previous years. Had I not pursued Musical Theatre, I would have liked to have been a journalist, so the piece looks at current events and takes the form of several monologues focused around the recent terror attacks in central London.