Make mine a G & T

May I offer my hearty salutations and thanks to Esther Pilkington, Daniel Ladnar, Sandra Laueri and Gareth Llyr for their inspirational performance in 'Random People (Versions 1-5)' last night in the theatre. (To all who missed it just close your eyes and imagine you hadn't).

Personally, I will be taking my newly learned strategies for overcoming stage fright and public speaking to Newport where I will be teaching animation to 50 BA students next Tuesday, God help me! Presenting an idea to a large group of people is a nerve shattering experience that many of us avoid at all cost and no amount of preparation can compensate for the memory lapses, technical hitches or lack of response from one's audience that result in private melt-down. However, there are ways to help make it all run smoothly.

For instance, Power Point, bullet points on individual cards, props, good old blackboard and chalk, weaving in personal experiences, wearing a disguise, demonstration, and if all else fails, imagining your audience naked. Evidently it takes courage to get on stage and deliver your piece, whether you are the author or whether you are interpreting the idea of another person but the conclusion I have come to is that a little vulnerability goes a long way.

Versions 1-5 was in turn funny, painful, sensitive, engaging, endearing, courageous and entertaining, delivered with authenticity and conviction and full of individual personality. By the final and fifth version (which thankfully did not involve audience participation) the four of them had us eating out of their hands, or at least declaring love! The chemistry between them was accentuated for me by the odd technical blip which, far from being distracting, only added to the warmth of the performance as they were genuinely, visibly and vocally sorry for each other when it happened.

They didn't get to hear the audience applause at the end as they had left the room but if you are reading this, Esther, Daniel, Sandra and Gareth,

"We love you!".