Tag Archives: Acting

BACK TO SCHOOL | Theatre

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Arty Kamikaze, Take 3 Management and Pleasance present

BACK TO SCHOOL

Wednesday 1st – Sunday 26th August 2012

Pleasance @ Braidwood Community Centre, 69 Dumbiedykes Road, EH8 9UT

Back To School is a site-specific, interactive experience where audience members are cast as students, premiering at the Pleasance for this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Part-comedy, part-social experiment, this new show from Britain’s modern day “Mary Poppins” in collaboration with playwright Ranjit Bolt (among others) promises to delight and amuse.

Mixing comedy and masterclass, ‘pupils’ attending ‘Saint Dumbiedykes’ will study insect dissection with one of the country’s most renowned entomologists, take sex education classes with flirtation expert Tracey Cox, hear their graduation speech given by Jonathan Ross as well as enjoying irreverent takes on the school assembly, school dinners (make sure to eat your greens) and the end of term disco. With a a resurrected school hamster and a mystery celebrity playing the school bell, Back To School promises to be a rollicking good show, full of Fringe fun, dark surprises and extra-curricular chaos.

The show is the brainchild of ‘Super Tutor’ and comedian Clementine Wade (founder of Arty Kamikaze productions). Wade commented; “Whether we loved or loathed school, we’ve all been through it! The nightmares, the celebrations, the trials and tribulations, all make up its theatre. Using this well-known format, normally the exclusive privilege of the young, the audience can relax from the responsibilities of adult life, enjoy the luxury of learning, whilst potentially exorcising a few demons.”

Developed in response to the renowned psychological experiments of Zimbardo and Milgram, Back To School and Back To School Disco are new theatrical experiences that play on the social construct of the school. Arty Kamikaze aim to amuse and enliven, giving the audience another chance to be big kids and mess around in assembly, spicing up the educational debate and proving it is never too old to be young and never too late to learn.

Back To School is being showcased at the Braidwood Community Centre which currently faces closure. Arty Kamikaze chose to work in partnership with the Centre to raise its profile and support its work as a hub for the Holyrood community. Throughout August, the performance team will be running free, daily community events, from storytelling to CV surgeries, for local Edinburgh residents to raise funds to regenerate the Centre.

Back to School will take place at Braidwood Community Centre, 69 Dumbiedykes Road, EH8 9UT from 1st – 26th August. The show lasts one hour and thirty minutes. Dumbiedykes Road can be found off Holyrood Road, running alongside Holyrood Park.

Previews: 1st – 2nd August, 4pm (£8)

3rd August, 1.30pm and 4pm (£8)

Weekday shows: 7th-9th, 14th-16th, 21st-23rd August, 1.30pm and 4pm (£10)

Weekend shows: 4th-5th, 10th-12th, 17th-19th, 24th-26th, 1.30pm and 4pm (£15)

School Disco: Every Friday and Saturday, 10pm – 1am (£10)

What To Expect When You’re Expecting | Film Review

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I wanted to see something a bit different when I went to see this film and the stellar cast had me excited. The film is based on a self-help book by the same name by Heidi Murkoff.

The film has five couples all “expecting”. Elizabeth Banks has always been a wonderful and strong comedic actress and this film is no exception. She is proof that women can be beautiful and funny if casting directors give them a chance. Jennifer Lopez’s character and storyline is real and touching. She adopts with her husband after spending the 401K money on IVF. Cameron Diaz plays a celebrity fitness guru who wins Dancing With The Stars and get’s pregnant by her dance partner, played by Glee star Matthew Morrison. Diaz character is strong-willed and likes having it her own way.

Chris Rock is on top form as the leader of the ‘dudes group’. The dudes group is a support team for men with children. I really liked this film. The cast is superb and it is both funny and real at the same time. The story of a series of couples who are ‘expecting’ is one I have not seen done in a film before.

This film is positive about men and women. The characters are strong and I really liked the script. The film is funny and entertaining. A few of the cast were previously in Bridesmaids and some of that humour is there.

This film is a great night out at the cinema. Entertaining and funny. I liked how it was pro-men too. Chris Rocks says at the end: “When I was young, I used to think I was happy – but now I know I’m happy. Exhausted, but happy.”

Director: Kirk Jones. Cast: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock.

The Unpaid Acting Work Dilemma by Professionally Resting.

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Casting call: ““Unfortunately we’re not able to offer a fee on this occasion.”

Sadly this type of casting call is one that I’m all too used to seeing. At least 75% of castings will
contain the above sentence or a wonderfully inventive version of it (such as the incredible ‘This is
a no-pay experience!’) It’s unfortunately become a fact of acting life and I’ve become as skilled as
sifting through castings as I have at rifling through sandwiches for rogue tomatoes. Directors will try
and soften the blow by telling you that you’ll get a credit to put on your CV (gee, thanks) and that
they’ll be providing you with food on set. On-set catering can be a thing of beauty (pizza) but it can
also be an utter horror made of stale sandwiches. Apparently actors can live on credits and bread
alone. If only landlords, phone companies and councils could be fobbed off in the same way.

Unpaid work has become a rather aggressive disease in the acting world. What was once the domain
of film students and wannabe filmmakers; it has now entered the world of television. And this is
a worrying development. I understand that however much they’d like to, students and smaller
production companies can’t always afford to pay people. The ethics bother me because I believe
that if you can’t afford to pay everyone then you probably shouldn’t be making the piece in the first
place but that’s an argument for another day. Unpaid work happens and sadly, just like the damp in
our flat, I have to deal with it for now and watch it ever so slowly ruin me. I should also admit that
I’ve taken on my fair share of unpaid work in the past. Unfortunately there are times when you have
very little choice and so you can either do nothing or take on some unpaid work in the hope that
it might just get you spotted. It won’t, but you never know when that top agent is going to turn up
at a secondary school in Northampton to watch you prance about telling kids about the dangers of
heroin. But now the bigger companies have jumped on the bandwagon and suddenly everything is
starting to topple over.

There have been a string of very high-profile companies that have recently started advertising
unpaid or expenses only work. And when I say ‘high-profile’ I mean the type of companies
that produce widely watched primetime programmes that air on terrestrial channels. These
are companies that clearly have plenty of money, or at least enough cash to make sure that all
performers are fairly paid. When they start offering unpaid work, what kind of message does that
send out to all the other companies? Apparently it’s now perfectly acceptable for these businesses
(one of whom made a profit of £471m last year) to get performers to work for free. But these
companies forget that actors often have a lot of time on their hands so it doesn’t take too long
before they’re ousted via the beauties of social networking. But what happens when they get found
with their devious trousers around their tight-fisted ankles? Well, what has happened recently
is that they make like George Osborne and u-turn. However, they don’t then promise to do the
honourable thing and actually pay actors. Oh no. Their reaction is to say that they will instead be
casting friends, family or employees. That’s what this profession has been downgraded to. Actors
are now regarded so poorly that we can be instantly replaced with the make-up artist’s cousin and
the focus puller’s university mates the second we start to complain. We find ourselves so low on the
career ladder that we’ve now been downgraded to the lackey that just holds the ladder and watches
everyone else climb up it.

So what this means is that actors will yet again be forced into unpaid work as they desperately try
to keep hold of a career that’s more slippery than a greased-up seal. We continually find ourselves
being held to ransom where we can either ‘shut up and put up’ or keep fighting and risk the chance
of never working again. Just like the next actor, I’d love the exposure that a primetime programme
would offer but never at my own expense and certainly not just so an exec can save a few precious
pennies and ensure that their bonus is intact for another year. Why should they get to go on exotic
holidays when I’m left wondering how to survive for the next week on a tin of chopped tomatoes
and a rapidly ageing nectarine? It’s at its lowest, meanest level and until all actors make a stand against these companies, all we’re doing is encouraging them to turn our already fragile
industry into a laughing stock.

Miki Yamashita On Acting | Frost Interviews

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What made you go into acting?

I think I was interested in the arts and performing even before I was aware
of it. My mother says that as a child, I danced and sang around the house so
much that she put me in lessons as soon as I was old enough, because she
wanted me to learn how to do it right. My parents are both teachers, so their
solution for everything is education. It’s actually a pretty good philosophy.
As I grew conscious of my passions in life, I consistently made life
decisions that propelled me towards a life as a performing artist. Let’s just
say I never gravitated towards coal-mining.

Could you ever do anything else?

I guess the right answer is that I actually do many other things. Having
spent my life around many other actors, I have observed that I may be a
slightly different breed than most. I have a group of actor friends that I
started out with performing improv and sketch comedy with at Walt Disney
World, who are still doing only that; I have another group who I did a lot of
musical theatre with, who are still focusing only on Broadway; same with
opera people and comedy writers and commercial actors and episodic
television actors. I am really lucky in that I am actively able to book work in
all of these areas, and I consider that huge spectrum of interests to be my
pursuit as a whole, so if my universe is that huge, understandably there
really isn’t an “anything else” for me.

You famously said: ‘If this business kills me, it will be after everyone in it has my
headshot.’ That’s a go-getting attitude that can be missing in a lot of
performers. Do you agree?

My dear friend Bonnie Gillespie was kind enough to include that in her
brilliant book, “Self-Management for Actors.” When a newer edition came
out, she asked if she could include it again, and I said of course, except that
I didn’t want to imply that manically blanketing an acting market with
headshots was the technique I was espousing. I believe in being fiercely
motivated, but in a very focused and strategic manner. There’s a young actor
in LA, I haven’t seen him in a while, but this crazy kid literally plastered the
exterior of his car with his headshots. I swear! He drives around in this car
all day long hoping for, I don’t know, to get pulled over by a casting
director and get asked to do a monologue by the side of the road?? I don’t
know! But it’s pretty delusional and highly misguided. I guess what I meant
to say is that “If this business kills me, it will be after everyone in it whom I
have researched and targeted as potential buyers for my product has my headshot.”

Over the years, I have met so many actors; some have almost zero
motivation and ambition to do the basic work that is necessary to even have
a chance at success; others are rabidly foaming at the mouth and doing
everything they can desperately and inefficiently so that they can get ahead.
What I’ve learned from these actors is that there is a better way, there is a
sweet spot, where you have a calm, cool, focused energy that propels you
forward slowly, steadily, and intelligently. Wow, I think this is officially the
most Asian thing I have ever said!

I find you incredibly funny, has your sense of humour helped you survive in
showbusiness? Is it possible to do this without one?

Thank you! I think it’s literally impossible not to develop a sense of humor
as a professional actor. I was once asked to sing opera while running full
speed on a treadmill in a sequined gown. I was once told to continue
reciting my monologue while the casting director got on her cell phone and
ordered a chicken salad. I was once physically threatened by a male chorus
dancer. I mean, as actors, this is daily life, okay? And I think if you don’t
find it hilarious, you become seriously mentally damaged in a way that
prevents you from functioning in society as a normal adult. And then it
becomes this wonderful tool to help you consistently cope with the vast
array of indignities that actors face all the time.

What’s the hardest thing about being an actor?

The hardest thing about being an actor is when Chanel sends you so much
free couture from their latest collection that you run out of assistants to re-
gift them to. JUST KIDDING!!! That’s what most people think actors’
problems are. The general public is fed nothing but lies about our
profession, and they are only provided with the success narrative. It’s part
of the machine that allows the industry to maintain its operations, so you
have to accept that civilians are not ever going to get what most of us go
through. The most difficult thing is really how seldom we are actually able
to do our work, and that we must spend an inordinate amount of time doing
work that has nothing to do with performing in order to bankroll the pursuit
of our REAL work.

And the best?

The best thing about being an actor is getting to crash your car into an 18-
wheeler, blaming it all on your assistant, and showing up 4 hours late to set
where they will still tell you you’re the perfect choice to play Liz Taylor. HA
HA HAAA. Seriously, the best thing about this profession is that we are
constantly challenged to imagine what is possible. Every time I get an audition,
whatever it is, a commercial where I’m a pretty Asian mom, or an
opera where I’m a flying ghost bird-spirit, or a daytime drama where I’m the
secretary to the family patriarch, I get to make decisions about these
characters based on my imagination, my life experience, and what is on the
page. And no one else is going to make the same set of choices that I will.
Even if I don’t get the part, for a brief moment, for the duration of that
audition, my humanity was merged with that character, and I find great
fulfillment in my ability to execute that with consistency and quality.

What is your favourite thing that you have worked on?

My favorite thing that I have worked on is an original new work in which I
sang a principal role, with Los Angeles Opera. The piece was called “The
White Bird of Poston,” and it was newly commissioned specifically for the
purposes of educational and community outreach in the city of Los Angeles.
The opera is about the Japanese American Internment during World War II, a
very dark part of American history. The music and the story are so
beautifully written, I felt so honored to be a part of it, and I felt like it used
so many of my skills simultaneously—my classically trained voice, my
acting training, my dance training, and even a little bit of my abilities as a
comedienne. And on top of that, it had such profound cultural significance
to me as a Japanese American.

You have a great niche as an actress: you studied opera, has this greatly helped
your acting career or is it separate thing?

As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of people that I started out with,
training and performing professionally as serious classical or musical
theatre singers, who are still completely focused on only that sector of
performance. For me, singing eventually became something glamorous and
glorious that I could just keep hidden in my back pocket, and whip it out
suddenly and just stun people with it as needed. This evolution mostly took
place because I moved from the New York acting market which is very
heavily theatre-based, to Los Angeles, which of course focuses much more
on, well, speaking and not singing. But even without the move, I think I was
really adamant about transcending musical theatre; I felt that I had more to
accomplish in other areas, and my interests had a much wider span than just
singing in musicals until I was dead.

Advice for actors?

My advice for actors is pretty depressing, but realistic. If at all possible, get
a degree in a subject that has nothing to do with drama or music. I’ve made
a lot of hideous mistakes in life, but the one thing I did right was to earn a
college degree in English literature instead of acting or vocal performance.
Even though many would say a degree in English is almost as useless, I
would have to argue otherwise. The acting business becomes more and
more competitive every day, and what sets me apart from many others is my
relentless desire to articulate my own experience. As a writer, I have a
heightened sense of power because for the most part, words on a page
cannot be refused or rejected because the writer isn’t blond or skinny. I am
shut out of thousands of performing job opportunities a day simply because
of my physical appearance, something that cannot be transformed by
“working hard.” Trust me, I’ve tried. Exercising cannot change your race!

So my advice is to find tangible skills that will enable you to support your
pursuit of acting for a very very long time.

But ultimately, have faith that you are answering a divine calling by being an
artist. And know that you are in control of what you choose to sacrifice for
this calling.

What’s next for you?

I’m about to make big changes to my online presence; a fellow LA actress,
Sarah Sido, taught me a lot about building websites, so I’m going to use
those skills to rebrand my personal page, as well as start a blog about
acting. Wow, now I’ve said it so I better do it!

FAVORITE ACTORS/ACTRESSES – I think my favorite male actor is Jim
Carrey. A lot of my earlier sketch comedy and improvisational work I did at
Walt Disney World was heavily influenced by him, and I have deep respect
for his significant capabilities as a dramatic actor. He is so interesting to
watch doing anything! Let’s say if, starting tomorrow, he stopped making
studio feature films and decided to just host a vegan cooking show on
HGTV, I would watch that.

For female actresses, I would rather be executed than name just one. Meryl
Streep seems to literally becomes other human beings, to the point where it
actually scares me. Meryl is a frightening example of sheer mastery of the
craft. I would like to see her play some kind of deep sea creature or
something, because that lady would seriously prepare for the role by eating
paramecium and withstanding 500 bars of atmospheric pressure. And that’s
entertainment, my friends.

I love Julianne Moore’s work, because I find that no matter who she plays,
her characterization is so detailed and complete that I feel like I actually
live out the movie in real time as her role. The performance is so intimate
and honest and infused with inner life that I feel like I AM her character.
Believe me, it takes skill to convince a short Asian girl that she is a white
1950’s housewife.

Photo credit: David Muller

Professionally Resting Interview: Lifting the Lid on Acting.

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The talented actor behind the blog Professionally Resting first caught my eye on Twitter. She is brave, witty and accurate about the downside of the acting industry. As an actor myself I just read her tweets/blog posts and nod. I just had to interview her for Frost, so here it is! I also have a guest post coming from her soon, so look out for that too.

What made you start your blog?

I’d been reading a few other acting blogs online and I soon realised that none really covered what it’s like to be an actual working actor. Many are written by actors who are constantly in work and that was something that I just couldn’t really identify with. Most actors I know spend a great deal of their time resting and I wanted to create something fun and supportive for those of us that regularly find ourselves within the unemployed majority. I also wanted to use it as an excuse to keep busy. There are days when there’s very little work coming in and having a blog to think about really keeps me feeling like I’m at least doing something creative.

Tell us a bit about yourself (without giving too much away)!

It’s always tough answering these questions without sounding like you’re on Blind Date! I’m in my late twenties and have been acting (on and off) since graduating from drama school in 2006. I had a break for a couple of years after getting a bit trapped in a temping job that became permanent. It was a horrible job but it meant I could have a couple of years actually earning money and being able to buy things that had previously been a luxury like food that isn’t on the reduced shelf. However, there’s nothing quite like a miserable job to remind you exactly what it is that you really want to be doing and that was the catalyst to making me find acting work again so that I could finally escape.


What do you think of the acting industry?

It’s very much a love/hate relationship. I regularly complain about it on Twitter and on my blog because it honestly drives me insane. It can feel that it often has more to do with luck than talent and you are completely at the mercy of those in control of the work that is out there. It often feels like many companies and channels operate a closed shop policy and I think many of them are guilty of working with the same very tiny gang of actors time and time again. I read an article recently that said there was a very small pool of talent out there which simply isn’t true. There’s an absolute ocean of clever and gifted people out there but they often get ignored as there are other names and faces that are deemed more popular. Unfortunately viewing figures and ticket sales are placed about creating quality work and while I accept that many of those performers that are used time and time again are very good at what they do, a bit of variety really wouldn’t go amiss!
However, having said that, there are very industries that would pay you a month’s rent to mess around as a time-travelling police officer for the day and that’s why I’m still slogging away at it!

What is the worst casting you have ever seen?

There are so many to choose from! The reason I started tweeting about castings was because people were so shocked at just how insulting and offensive and downright baffling they often were. Ones such as ‘No pay unfortunately but you will get to ride in a white stretch limo with a midget and the band’ and ‘She looks a bit like a trollop but tries to dress a bit classy’ have been incredible finds. However, I think the worst has to be one that I saw recently asking for actors to play characters in a sweatshop and the company (a very well-known TV channel) were only offering expenses. I thought I was past being shocked by castings but this one was offensive on so many levels that I genuinely had to keep re-reading it just to make sure that I was seeing it properly. Sadly I was.

What was the catalyst behind you starting your blog?

As I said, it was because I felt like I couldn’t relate to the other acting blogs out there and I felt that there needed to be a voice that represented normal working actors who often find themselves out of work. However, although I knew that it was something I wanted to do, it took me a while to actually get it started. It only happened when I was coming back on the train after a month performing at the Edinburgh Festival. I’d stupidly forgotten to bring a book and my boyfriend and I were unable to sit together so to keep myself occupied, I just started writing. After nearly 4 hours of solid writing, I realised I had a lot to say on the subject of acting and after a bit of encouragement from my boyfriend who’s also a blogger, the blog was born.

What can be done to improve the kind of roles women get?

It has to start with the writing. There is not a day goes by that I don’t see at least one casting where a woman isn’t required to either be a stripper or a prostitute and although I often make a joke of it on Twitter, it is very worrying too. There is such great writing out there for men but female roles are so often overlooked. So many times I read castings where all the male characters are given weird and wonderful characteristics while the women are just written to look nice. There are some incredible writers out there who are really trying to make sure that there are strong, interesting roles for women but they need support from the major producers for their work to get made and seen. I do think that it’s changing and television and film is starting to listen but it feels like a very slow process that needs to speed up a little!

What is your favourite, and least favourite, thing about the industry?

Let’s start with my least favourite and get the negative stuff out the way. It has to be the lack of good, paid work out there for actors. So many companies expect actors to work for free and although I completely understand how difficult it must be working on a tight budget, it’s tough when you’re faced with it day after day. Acting is something that I stupidly want to do for the rest of my life but it’s hard when people seem to think that by offering you a limp cheese sandwich and £5 to cover your travel expenses, they’re doing you a favour. I’ve done jobs in the past where I’ve essentially been paying to be part of them and that’s when you know that something has gone wrong.

And my favourite thing about the industry? It’s that you just don’t know what’s coming up next. A few months ago I was whinging on Twitter about how there didn’t seem to be any work out there and literally minutes later, my agent was on the phone with an audition for an incredible part in a feature film. I didn’t get the role but I do love how your luck changes from one minute to the next. Although it can be pretty unnerving at times, especially when you’re going through a particularly quiet spell, it’s incredibly exhilarating too. I think it’s a little bit addictive which is why actors put themselves through such torment.

You blog and tweet under a pseudonym, do you believe it would harm your acting career if you didn’t? Can you be critical?

The decision to write under a pseudonym was made so that I could be openly critical about the industry. As an actor you have to be so careful because you never know who you’re going to be working with next and I think that means a lot of actors are worried about speaking out about how infuriating this industry can be. Writing anonymously gives me the freedom to be brutally honest about the problems I face without jeopardising my acting career. Although there are days when I wish I could just tweet under my real name, I’m sure I’d have been in a fair bit of trouble for some of my comments, especially about casting calls and auditions.

What was your favourite ever job?

Despite going on about getting paid, my favourite job was one when I didn’t receive a penny. It was one of the first jobs I did after graduating from drama school and was a devised piece. It was pretty shambolic most of the time and we didn’t even get expenses but it was incredible experience seeing a project from the first meeting where we had some terrible ideas to the final night of performance. We barely sold any tickets (mainly because it was listed incorrectly meaning that most audience members turned up about 5 minutes before it was about to end) but it was great fun and real learning curve for me as a new actor.

and your least?

A summer-long Shakespeare festival. It was fun for about a fortnight but after three months away from home on only £25 a week, I was a state. The plays were performed outdoors and it was a particularly bad summer which meant that we spent a lot of time performing in soaking wet velvet dresses. British audiences are incredibly resilient and would determinedly sit there huddled up in anoraks and shelter under umbrellas while we battled with wind, rain, thunder and lightning. Because I was earning so little money, I was mainly living off value bran flakes and tomato soup so I ended the three months malnourished, exhausted, utterly sick of the sight and sound of Shakespeare and with about £4 in my bank account. That was something they really didn’t warn me about in drama school!

You can read the Professionally Resting Blog here and follow her on Twitter.

A Dangerous Method | Film Review

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This film about the birth of psychoanalysis is a triumph. An intelligent and though-provoking film with wonderful performances by Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley. Fassbender plays Jung when he was 29 and just married to a wealthy women called Emma. He was working at a hospital in Zurich in 1904 when he met Sabina Spielrein, an 18-year-old Russian Jew who is admitted in a deeply distressed condition.

Jung is attracted and fascinated by Sabina and after Freud sends him Otto Gross, (Vincent Cassel), as a patient, Jung comes under his influence and enters into an unprofessional relationship with Sabina. Gross was himself a psychiatrist in his 20s and suffered from dementia praecox (as schizophrenia was then known).

Jung cures Sabina with the “talking cure”, or psychoanalysis, then being used in Vienna by the 48-year-old Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), a well-established but highly controversial figure.

Sigmund Freud thought of Carl Jung as his natural heir, but relationships between the two men became strained.

This film is a very good historical film from David Cronenberg. I believe this film is the best Cronenberg has ever made.

Freud sees himself as the father that Jung wishes to destroy. Jung believes that psychoanalysis may save the world.

As the film ends Jung tells Sabina about dreams of the apocalypse. This film ends just before the first world war so Jung was accurate about an apocalypse. The legacy of Freud and Jung is evident in the film. They still affect not only psychoanalysis but our everyday lives. Sabina becomes a celebrated psychologist in the Soviet Union, but, sadly, becomes an early victim of the holocaust along with her two daughters.

A Dangerous Method is available on DVD and Digital Download from June 25th.

WORLD RECORD FREERUNNER BEATS THE UK’S FASTEST TRANSPORT

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GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FREERUNNER BEATS THE UK’S FASTEST MODE OF TRANSPORT

CHASE ARMITAGE flaunts his win to London actor TAMER HASSAN.

New footage hits social networks this week of record-breaking athlete proving it’s quicker to freerun through the UK’s most congested cities than to use public transport.

The ‘Man vs. Tube’ race saw the UK’s quickest mode of public transport fail to win by an incredible 11 minutes and 10 seconds. Top Freerunner and Guinness World Record holder CHASE ARMITAGE was challenged by top British actor TAMER HASSAN (DEAD MAN RUNNING, THE BUSINESS) to beat the time it takes to travel a 1.3 mile course on the London Underground. While TAMER HASSAN relied on public transport, freerunner CHASE ARMITAGE back-flipped and wall jumped his way to the finish line first, despite getting lost on the way.

RESULTS:

* Chase Armitage completed the challenge in 11 minutes and 21 seconds.
* Tamer Hassan completed the in 22 minutes and 31 seconds (the projected time for this journey is 14 minutes).
* The total time difference was 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

TAMER HASSAN was inspired to test out the method after starring opposite Danny Dyer in the action adventure film, ‘FREERUNNER’, out now on DVD and Blu-ray (Revolver Entertainment). The movie depicts freerunners crossing an entire city in 60 minutes, to fend off dangerous gangsters – arguably a similar pressure felt by commuters in the UK every day, in their race to get to work on time.

CHASE ARMITAGE commented, “Freerunning is not only fun, but it’s the quickest and fastest way to get around the UK’s bustling cities. It’s cheap to learn and helps to you to keep fit – physically and mentally. You don’t get all the stress of commuting; no fretting over whether you’ll be late for work, worrying if your train service has been cancelled or anxiety about the bus or tube being overcrowded. I’m glad I’ve finally proved to the public that they have an alterative, and no longer have to rely on expensive and unreliable transport methods.”

TAMER HASSAN said, “After today’s race, I think that I think I may have to invest in a pair of running shoes, because the whole journey took me over 22 minutes and Chase looked like he’d be resting for ages by the time I reached the finish line.”

If unhappy British commuters were to invest in, and switch to freerunning to reach their workplace, they could potentially save over £2,000* a year each in travel costs (see below).

Gabriela Hersham | Ones to Watch

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Gabriela Hersham is a British born actress who has appeared in a number of independent films
and fashion productions.

Born in North London, Gabriela originally studied at a London business school before deciding to
pursue acting, which has since taken her across the world.

In 2009, after an extensive search, Director Ross Hockrow chose Gabriela to play Shelby, a
troubled young girl struggling with depression in his film A Happy Ending, where she played along
side Lou Martini JR, from the US hit The Sopranos.

In 2010 Gabriela played a large part in the film The Burningmoore Incident, a horror film based
around the renovation of a house interrupted by the slashings of a serial killer. In this film, Gabriela worked closely with Geoff Tate of the cult American heavy metal band Queensryche. In late 2010
Gabriela filmed a number of short fashion films for hot young London based designers Nonoo
Lyons, Corlette London and Mechante of London, filming both in the UK and in New York City.
Working in both independent films and short fashion productions, Gabriela has been able to hone
her acting skills whilst working with prominent directors and costars.

Having formed a strong working relationship with her costar, Johnny Ramey and writer/ director
Ross Hockrow, Gabriela is now in undergoing extensive accent coaching in preparation for the
lead role in American Gypsy (to be filmed in New York City) which tells the story of a disturbed
young woman who puts on different disguises and personas to lure men into compromising
situations before robbing them of their possessions.

Gabriela has three feature films lined up for 2012 in Europe for director Tony Jopia and is also
involved in several other productions which are filming in the US and Middle East.

In addition to having studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, Gabriela has also been
trained by Susan Batson and Jack Garfein in New York and London.

With her unique looks and strong personality, Gabriela is an important new talent to the film
industry.