糖心Vlog

Lottie Grogan and Reanne Black met on East 15 Acting School鈥檚 Certificate of HE Theatre Arts. Inspired by their joint love of physical theatre and comedy, they created a show together and now they鈥檝e just returned from showcasing their talents at PhysicalFest in Liverpool.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 actually remember a time where I didn鈥檛 want to work in theatre,鈥� said Lottie, who is graduating in BA Acting and Physical Theatre. 鈥淢y parents were super cool and took me to the theatre a lot. I even went to a mime festival in France every year.鈥�

Reanne, who is graduating in BA Physical Theatre, has been inspired since childhood too. She turned to acting after giving up dreams of being a ballerina and hasn鈥檛 looked back.

鈥淚 loved that I got to have a class in imagination, I got to make my own shows, be my favourite characters, imagining the space around me, and play pretend. Nothing makes me happier,鈥� Reanne said of her East 15 Acting School experience.

They鈥檝e been friends since they met on the East 15 Acting School Certificate of HE Theatre Arts and have been working together ever since.

鈥淲e actually have an incredibly similar way of creating work which makes it easy. Also, she makes me laugh an insane amount,鈥� said Lottie.

It was this shared sense of humour that sparked the inspiration for Secret of Cerise, their film noir-inspired show which they performed at PhysicalFest in June.

鈥淲e'd ordered a Chinese takeaway as a celebration for finishing the run of the show we were in. Lottie popped a chop stick into her mouth and pretended it was a cigarette, she uttered the fateful words 鈥榠t鈥檚 1947, and I just shot my husband鈥�,鈥� explained Reanne.

Lottie and Reanne play all the parts in their show, which tells the story of Focaccia and Cherry, two women on the run after killing Focaccia鈥檚 husband, with police officers Rigby and Digby in hot pursuit.

鈥淚t鈥檚 full to the brim with big laughs and outlandish characters,鈥� said Reanne.

They first penned the piece for the Self-Devised module of their degrees hoping to make people laugh.

鈥淭he most challenging thing was trying to work out what would make other people laugh, and what was just funny to us. We had such a laugh in rehearsal and we really just wanted to share that with the audience,鈥� said Lottie.

They describe getting the show accepted at PhysicalFest as 鈥渋ncredible.鈥�

The pair are both inspired by Mischief Theatre, who they hope to work with one day. Whatever the future holds, they know they鈥檒l continue working together in physical theatre and have formed their own company, Tipsy Cow Productions.

鈥淟aughter is something that really connects people, so using that to address important topics often really works. Using your body in such a physically silly way is such a great outlet of expression,鈥� said Lottie.

鈥淚 like that things can be funny without the need for speech. Laughter is a language of unity. In any language or culture, someone falling over a banana peel is always going to be funny,鈥� added Reanne.