Hello my friends.
I've been a little lax with the updates as I've been busy with a few long form projects, home renovations, plus I finally caught the dreaded 'Rona.
I'm really pleased to be nominated for best female performance in an Audio Drama for my portrayal as "Polly" in Shadows Fall at the One Voice Awards 2022. I'm in a category with some great actors and production companies so no idea how I will fair, but just pleased to be recognised really.
You can purchase both parts of the very awesome audio drama here https://www.graphicaudiointernational.net/shadows-fall-1-of-2.html
Though Shadows fall is set in a fantasy world I wanted Polly to be real and relatable. She is experiencing strange physical and supernatural occurrences that are a result of a childhood trauma that she can't remember. This trauma manifests itself in the very house she's living in. When she enters certain rooms in the house she is transported back to key times in her life, so vocally I had to voice her from childhood to adulthood. The protagonist, James, tries to help her get to the bottom of this so she can live a normal life again.
As a Psychology graduate I love exploring a character and what makes them tick. For Polly, a bit of prep work was essential as she is clearly suffering from mental health issues and some kind of PTSD and I didn't want to play this like a stereotype or caricature. She is seen by others as a "crazy recluse" but most people do not want or choose to be alone unless they have a good reason. And in Polly's case, why would you choose to stay in a house that's literally driving you insane? So it was about finding the reasons and making them big enough and scary enough in Polly's mind for her actions to make sense to her and the listener.
Below is one of Polly's monologues (beautifully written by Simon R Green and directed by Scott McCormick). As I recall I did this all in one continuous take. It does contain SPOILERS. And if you want even more clips you can head over to the Voice Over page Audio Demos -> Bonus Characters Playlist, where you'll find two more excepts.
The awards are taking place in May so I will let you know how I fair. I was actually nominated back in 2020 in the IVR/Telephony category but because of lockdowns the awards were online/virtual only. So I am really looking forward to getting dressed up and meeting people in real life!
Best of luck to all those nominated. To some people, awards can seem a bit self congratulatory or pretentious but in an industry were rejection and disappointment can often feel like the norm, it is nice to get a little external validation every now and again. But the main thing for me is that my clients are happy with the job I do, anything else is just a bonus.
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