Acting Out

Everything in life is a big grey area stock full of subjective concepts that are all completely unique to one another. That goes for the reasons as to why people do a lot of things in life as well, naturally.
Folks are attracted to the acting profession for a number of reasons, be it their desire to be in the spotlight and, therefore, the centre of attention. And then there are those who simply want a break from themselves.
Another interesting reason for those who undergo the art of performance is to express all the different faces of that individual's psyche or personality, concentrating solely on that one face, exaggerating those hidden traits; something that we all have deep down somewhere.


Drag queens are personas created by actors. These actors come from a range of backgrounds, sexual orientations, mannerisms, et cetera, and all have their own reason for doing what they do. In regards to actors in general, some, believe it or not, are painfully shy, such as the likes of A-list actor Johnny Depp, who plays a range of eccentric characters from big softie Edward Scissorhands (sounds like an oxymoron if I ever did hear one), to the tea loving Mad Hatter.
Despite Depp's shy or awkwardness as himself, he puts on marvellous displays for his alter egos, wowing and entertaining his audiences to no end at all.



From experiencing the world through the eyes of their other personas, actors are able to experience being someone completely different to themselves; which is, again, the case for many of those who take on drag queens and the likes of pantomime dames in particular as they even go as far as interacting with the general public or the audience that they are currently entertaining in a completely new way.


I'm a really self-conscious and shy person in real life myself, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the odd spot of acting here and there, and am definitely considering seeking out groups to do it more. My reason for that is because, well, it's damn fun. It's fantastic seeing people's reactions to the different faces and personality traits that you can take on. I suppose that's one advantage to being a bit of a mouse; you can observe the way other people interact with each other, hear what they have to say to and about each other and put that into play by exaggerating those traits in your own creative writing or performances. It's great to experiment with 'cause, for the most part, people don't think you're all there or not actually participating in conversation (this makes it sound like I'm mute; I'm not, I do speak from time to time, hah).





 That helps to add a slight personal touch to the documentary we're making, mind you. It helps us to potentially better connect with our subject, helping them feel a lot easier about expressing themselves as we can find a degree or some form of common ground. It helps add to the genuine interest we have for our subject's own individual and personal case as well. It means something to everyone involved.