Lonesome workshops. A community of actors.

A long time ago in a galaxy much like this one I got a message on twitter (X) that read, " do you take headshots of directors who look like a door?". My response of course was "what kind of door?" Porthole? Side door? A drawbridge? As you can imagine my interest was peaked. The door in question was of course the energetic Niall Phillips, actor, director and leader of Londons premiere acting training ground, Lonesome Workshops.

Lonesome runs four acting classes a week. They're always packed and if you get the chance to attend you'll witness a room full of actors of all ages, all walks of life, all jamming on some challenging modern texts. Ive stepped into a few workshops to take some photos and its fantastic to see the wonderful, creative and above all safe space Niall has created to help actors practice their art and get better. I think there can be a vibe here in the UK that once you've graduated drama school the training finishes. The learning stops. The actors at Lonesome are still grafting, honing their skills and getting better. Thats a beautiful thing.

Lonesome also invite guests to come along and offer their insight and experience. Theres a constant stream of agents and casting directors coming in to share their knowledge and scout for talent. This is great on a number of levels. Meeting an agent or casting director for a 5 minute audition can be a stressful experience but getting to work on scenes with them for 3 hrs is whole different kettle of fish. The workshops allow everyone to just relax and show what they can do. As a consequence, Lonesome actors can find themselves with new rep and in some tasty castings that might not have otherwise materialised. Getting into rooms can be tricky but Lonesome helps make this happen.

Above all Niall has created a community of actors who now have a space where they can work on their craft, catch up on whats happening in the industry and get better. It's a glorious sight to behold. We are here for it. Bravo.

BW