Sunday, February 3, 2013

Go Directly to Jail: Do not pass go, do not collect $200

Before I tell you about my current project I need to catch you all up a little. I am now, officially a working actor in London, with a visa and everything. The process has not been an easy one, let me tell you. I genuinely believe that the border agency like to make things difficult on purpose, for their own entertainment.

The saga of my visa is another story entirely though. One that takes a long time to tell and is full of nail biting suspense. However I have another story for today so I wont get in to the gory details. Let me just say that after weeks of waiting, many hoops to jump through, and ridiculous last minute problems, I have obtained a UK work visa. This is what I have been working towards since I moved here, and it finally happened. I am still in a little bit of shock about it. Now, it is not for as long as I would like, and I will have to figure out how to renew my passport soon, but these are problems that I don't have to face just yet. So I will just enjoy the fact that I can stay here for a while.

Now how did this fantastic turn of events come to be? Well, that is what I want to tell you about today. You see, I have a job. I have been cast in a professional and paid production. And this production is unlike anything that I have ever worked on in the past. You see, this show is being produced inside of a jail. Yes, a jail. We are doing a production of West Side Story, in which more than half the cast are prisoners.

Now, I don't know about most of you, but before rehearsals began I had never set foot inside of a prison. Most of my knowledge of the inner workings of the prison system came from things like 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Prison Break', which I believe may not be hugely accurate. Before we were even allowed in to begin rehearsals every one of us had to go through some intense security screening. The story of my security screening is strikingly similar to the story of my quest for a visa, so I wont go in to all of the mind numbing details. Let me just say that it was a long and arduous search for about 10 times more paperwork than they had originally asked for.

Once that was all taken care of I was finally allowed in to rehearsals. These rehearsals are incredible. I have a very hard time wrapping my brain around everything that is going in to this whole process. I will fill you in on everything, but I need to collect my thoughts a little bit first. So, I will leave you with this for now, but you should expect another installment of the Adventures of Captain Kate sometime soon!

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