Meet Hanna – One of our Young Actors

 

“It’s a gift to speak two languages fluently,” that’s what Nnenna told me during an Estate Endz Workshop. 

This one simple sentence and my whole time as a S.P.I.D. member gave me so much self confidence – it changed a big part of my life. 

I’m originally from Germany – where I used to act a lot in school and during my free time – I moved to London in September 2019. Since then, I’m a full-time volunteer at the Marylebone Project, which is the largest hostel for women experiencing homelessness and different forms of abuse. 

As I’m responsible for the activities that we are running in the rough sleepers drop in, I’m trying to give our ladies the opportunity to join an acting group to feel the joy and magic of acting.

At the same time I was looking for an opportunity for myself to release my thoughts at the end of the week and join a group where everyone shares the love of performing, acting and directing. That’s how I found S.P.I.D. theatre and I joined the Estate Endz Workshop in November 2019. 

I was, as the typical British person would say, “bloody” nervous before my first workshop because it was my first time acting in english and I didn’t know anyone. From the moment I entered the doors of the rehearsal space, I felt instantly comfortable and at ease. The S.P.I.D. staff are the most loving and caring people! 

Every single time I struggled with something they took their time to talk with me and to encourage me to keep going. We created special moments with our end performance “A Place For People” and I enjoyed every single minute of it. My time at S.P.I.D. made me strong enough to finally have the power to go completely my own way. I decided to apply to study Drama and Acting in London. 

This step was a huge one for me but even then, S.P.I.D. continued looking after me. I had a lot of email contact with Andrew who helped me to choose monologues for my auditions and gave me so many good tips. He even offered to rehearse with me, I had a monologue session with him one evening. Andrew explained Shakespeare’s way of writing and had a lot of patience with me practicing to pronounce the words of my monologues. He gave me a lot of strength to keep going and I’m incredibly grateful for that. After he told me that, “my accent makes me interesting” I’m less worried to speak in front of people! 

S.P.I.D. theatre is unique. It changes lives, you meet many lovely people and it gets the best out of you. It simply makes you happy and is a wonderful thing to be a part of! 

Best wishes and good luck in whatever your endeavours may be! 

Keep shining,

Hanna