I found the interview with Denise Gough extremely relatable as she addressed a lot of fears that I have regarding the acting profession. Her pathway into the performing arts was not much different to my own or most of my peers, having taken an interest in school, joining weekend classes and eventually studying at drama school/university.

Gough expresses that her love for the art derives from childhood games of pretending to be other people, dressing up etc. Which is essentially what acting is at its simplest form. I strongly believe that our imagination develops limitations as we mature as adults and that as actors we should always be trying to rekindle the level of imagination that we developed as children.

One particular part of the podcast that I found relatable was the discussion regarding her home village. Being from Derbyshire, in the countryside, the expection is to obtain a “proper job” that provides a stable income, therefore moving away to London to pursue a career in the arts was a big risk for me to take. With this risk, I also find that there is a lot of pressure to succeed, as if I don’t, I will have no choice but to return home and get a ‘standard’ job as I cannot afford to live in London due to financial difficulty.

Throughout my training I have also had to have a part time job in order to meet the living expenses of London. I have been lucky in the fact that I have a job at the Royal Albert Hall which I enjoy very much, but I am beginning to resent it as I essentially want to be on stage rather than serving the audience members (who usually have a great lack of respect for others).

The section of the podcast that addresses disrespect in castings is a very current topic that is being challenged by Equity. They have produced a manifesto for casting that exposes the rights and wrongs within an audition process, and educates performers on their rights in regards to professional casting. Therefore I hope that our future as performers will become more equal and reasons such as not being ‘conventionally beautiful’ will no longer be deemed acceptable as a reason for not being cast in a certain role.

Fear of auditions and the profession in general is a battle that I face everyday and so knowing that successful professionals such as Gough face the same worries settles my mind greatly. Knowing that other actors also feel these pressures, highlights to me that we should be more caring towards one another in a competitive industry and not allow each of our anxieties to affect one another. Gough also acknowledges that we shouldn’t allow the career to take over our lives, we should find self esteem in everything else that we do as “work isn’t your life, it’s part of your life”. We should never lose sight of why we chose an acting career and certainly never allow success to get the better of us as Gough says “the ego will find a way to fuck up everything”.

Personally I think that I need to take Gough’s advice and eradicate fear from my thought process, especially in regards to become successful or trying to prove a point to my old school friends or certain members of my family. No matter what or where I end up in life, I will be able to “bring dignity to anything that I do” (Gough’s mother).

“Go easy on yourself, you’re doing fucking great!” – Denise Gough