The Latter Half of 2012

 Hiya my lovelys!! Well this is my second and final post of the year. My posts haven't been as frequent as they were last year, but that's only because I've been quite busy, and that doesn't mean I have less to tell ya. If you didn't get a chance to read my last post about the first half of this year go for it, click here then come back lol. This post is all about the second half of 2012. From August right through to December. It's been a goal achieving year for sure and I can only thank God for all the blessings he's thrown my way. When I first started my blog in April 2011, I had a new zeal for my acting career, and I wanted to document all the things that I would do on my journey to reaching success. I wanted to write down my goals and be able to look back to see how and if I've reached them. After a while I had a new reason for writing my blog. I was told that it encouraged others who are striving for the same things as me. If my journey can inspire and encourage others,  then that's all the more reason for me to keep on writing. But most of all I wanted to document my memories. 

Some of my most memorable experiences have been through my acting jobs. I'm the most sentimental person you'll probably ever come across, and I love the idea of having an online diary where I can not only write about my adventures, but add pictures and videos and stuff of that sort. Anyway, I've defiantly come a long way since April 2011. I've been signed and now have 2 wonderful agents, I've been working non stop on plays, commercials, musicals, online series, short comedy sketches, and . . . wait for it . . . two months ago I filmed for my first television series. I'm going to tell you all about it, but first, a brief catch up on the second half of 2012.
My last post I briefly wrote about two shows I had coming up. A short performance for 'SPLASH', a Jamaican Independence Day celebration, that takes place in 'Jamaica away from Jamaica' Brixton. The second was a three week run of the drama, thriller and comedy mix of a show 'The Killing Class', were I played lead as Tia.

SPLASH

I had the pleasure of working with former reggae singer, actress, director and mother of famous UK singer 'Star Boy Nathan' Lorna Gayle for the first time. She worked real hard with us to get our pieces ready. She also took us to the National Theatre costume department to pick out our fabulous costumes. Myself and actor Kayah Mitch, wrote a duologue all about the 'Windrush' years. In 1948 there was a rush of Jamaican men and women that came to London, Brixton via boat to work. Their was a shortage of workers in the armed forces and London needed them. Before coming to England they'd heard many stories about how much better life would be. 
They called it the 'Promised Land' 'A Land of Milk and Honey'. It was rumored that the streets were paved with diamonds and rubies. When they arrived however, things were very different. There was plenty of work but they faced discrimination and on going problems with accommodation. 

I played wife of a man who came to England to make a better life for his family. My character arrived to find a very different truth about this so called 'promised land' and wasn't pleased at all. Playing this part was wonderful! I learned so much about the history of my country and my culture. Because I was going to be performing this in front of thousands of Jamaicans over a weekend, I was forced to work on my terrible Jamaican accent lol. 

We first performed at the 'Tea Dance' Brixton Town Hall for over 100 pensioners, some of which were on the actual Windrush boat in 1948 which was such a honour. The minute we stepped into the building we were interviewed, pictures taken of us, it was incredibly overwhelming. We were dressed in costumes and outfits that Jamaican men and women would wear according to their social status, and many of the pensioners said we reminded them of their parents, their siblings back the 1940's. Old traditional Jamaican songs were sung, children performed dances to old school reggae, we ate curry goat, rice and peas, drank fruit punch and spent the whole afternoon speaking in patois. 

The last time I went to Jamaica I was two years old. I never even knew there was a traditional Jamaican dress until this year. I felt so overwhelmed with a sense of 'I'm home' that I didn't know what else to do with myself other than to just cry tears of joy. It was an emotion I didn't quite know how to explain, but I was incredibly happy. 

The second day we performed on a humongous stage in Windrush Square, the heart of Brixton. There were many thousands of people in the crowd and to this day I have never performed in front of so many people. There were many other performances on that stage through out the day, including UK singer Ruth, who is well known for her part in television show 'The Voice'. Our group were the only ones doing a drama and the crowd loved it! The whole experience was one I'll never forget. I learned that your roots; your heritage is so much a part of you, that even if you know nothing about your culture, the minute you're in the environment, you feel so at home, It's in your blood. This was the weekend I fell in love with Jamaica! <3

(Back stage at SPLASH)

The Killing Class

Two weeks later was the opening night show of The Killing Class. We had been rehearsing for this 3 hour show since May, and the time had finally arrived take the stage. 

To be honest, my journey during rehearsals were quite stressful. I played lead female, a teenage girl put in prison for selling drugs shortly after her older brother was murdered, but was given the chance to have her sentence cut short by taking part in a project to put on a play Romeo and Juliet with a neighboring boys prison. Now the girls were in prison for petty crimes, whereas the boys were in prison for life for more serious crimes.

My character was given the part of Juliet and ended up falling in love with the boy who was given the part of Romeo, only to find out he was in prison for killing her older brother. Yep. I know right. Deep. So you can imagine the inner turmoil my character had to go through, and I myself had to evoke as an actress to convincingly portray such an emotional struggle. I had many one on one rehearsals with my director Suzann McLean, who I have worked with before in my younger days of becoming an actress, so as much as I struggled, I trusted that she would get me to the place that I needed to be, and she did. 

We had a wonderful three week run. Fantastic reviews, packed audiences  sold out every single night, it was a complete success. I fell in love with the huge cast of 21 actors. We worked together for such a long time and became real close friends. I was one of the oldest in the cast but that didn't get in the way at all. One of my most memorable experiences was every night in the dressing room before we went on stage. Not a night went by were one of the cast members didn't ask me to pray, so I did. We held hands and put every show into Gods hands. We bonded in such a beautiful way, we became family. Guys if you're reading this, you're all such wonderful kind hearted people and I'm so glad we're still in touch. Love you all!! 
Thanks to every one who made it to the show, but to those didn't, we've been offered a four week run next May at the Arts Theatre in the West End. Whether we take it there or not depends entirely on raising enough funds, but I believe in faith as small as mustard seed moving mountains  so keep an eye out. . . Here's some brief summaries of the show, behind the scenes, clips direct from the stage, actor interviews, the trailer and more. This is enjoyable stuff :)

The Trailer

Behind the Scenes Click Here!

The Journey

COMEDY COLLABORATION!!!

A little later in September I once again joined forces with the brilliant comedy writers and actors, Nathan Bryon (also known as Jamie from TV programme Some Girls) and Mawaan Ritzwan (also known as MalumTV the popular award winning comedy YouTube-r). Mawaan called me up asking if I wanted to film a comedy the following day. Of course I said yes, and so we did. I learned my lines on the way to set and we filmed all evening.

It was a complete blast! Mawaan decided he wanted this video to have a different feel. So he and the camera lady Theressa Varga went for a 'The Office' kind of style, mirroring that of a documentary. Twas great. I'll let the video speak for itself. . . Oh and by the way, no comedy sketch is complete with out an accompanying outtake/bloopers video, check that out too!!

The Comedy!!

The Bloopers!!

MASSIVE NEWS ON E4!!!

Now just a few weeks after filming for Mawaans sketch in September, I had an audition for E4's new comedy series 'YOUNGERS'. Now I had heard quite a lot about this show, as the YouTube Genius' that are Mandem on the Wall had already been cast, and I auditioned for the pilot last year. My audition was very short and not particularly impressive. I forgot about it almost as soon as I left the building, but to my surprise I received a phone call from my agent the following week saying that I had been offered the part. I was shocked not only because I didn't think that I had done that well, but also because usually when a casting director likes you, they call you back for a 'recall'; a second audition, but none of that happened. I'm not quite sure what I did in there but Gods favour was written all over this. 
Later that day I found out that my best friend Shavani Seth had been cast in it also, but as lead female! Also, my fellow agency client Calvin Demba (a former HollyOaks actor) had been cast as lead male and I was playing his girlfriend. The day I met the entire cast at the read through, I found out that fellow actor Arinze Kene had also been cast, an actor but also a writer who's second play I was blessed enough to be cast in back in January 2011. Also friends Rapheal Solowe, Ria Zmitrowicz, and Dennis Kate, who you may know as Dee Kartier, one third of Mandem On The Wall, who is an old friend I did my first ever tour with, on a musical called Bling the Hip Hopera back in 2006. I felt overwhelmed and incredibly blessed just sitting at that table with so many talented actors and writers, producers and directors that I've admired for so many years. 
The added bonus was that I had the opportunity to share this moment with friends I've grown up with. It was a moment of, 'We've made it, and we've made it together'. My first day on set was nothing short of spectacular. I didn't quite know what to do with myself. My only experience with TV work was commercials; a very different world. I was driven all over the place, had my hair and my make up done, fitted into the most fabulous outfits, there were cameras everywhere and the sweetest people offering me hot soup and holding my jacket in between takes in case I got cold. I had no idea I would be so overwhelmed, I was just glad I had my friends there.

I can't tell you anymore without telling you about the show, which I wont do. But I will tell you that it's an 8 episode series, it'll be appearing on E4 this February, it's been dubbed the 'London Skins', and you're going to LOVE IT!! I feature in the first two out of eight episodes, and my character is the complete opposite of me lol. That's all I'll say :)

(Calvin Demba and I chilling in our trailer)

Back to the Modelling 'DONNA CHI DESIGNS'

Not long after that I did a bit of modelling. For the second time I teamed up fashion designer Mandona Chipungu who runs Dona Chi Designs. The first time I worked with her was at the very start of the year when I hosted fashion show 'Catwalk Melody'. This time round she was making an advert for a popular product of hers the 'Multi-functional Blossom'. We recorded an audio, did a  photo shoot, and filmed the advert all in one evening. Her family work with her in her fashion career. Her husband does the photos and her son does the filming and editing. They're such a wonderful family and it was an honour to work with them again.

 Multi-Functional Blossom Advert

More Modelling 'ONWORD CLOTHING'. . .

Literally just a few weeks after that, a lovely lady at my church, (who is also a fashion designer) asked me to model a few of her T-Shirts, and of course it was a pleasure to do so. Here's a few pics of T-Shirts from 'ONWORD CLOTHING'. I love these shirts, the colours are amazing and they also have bible scriptures printed on them. Genius!

The BEFFTA's

October also saw that I went to my first awards ceremony. The BEFFTA's (Black entertainment in Film, Fashion & Television Awards), was held in the building that belongs to my church so of course I was going to be there. A friend of mine was nominated for an award so that was also a reason to go. It was a wonderful night full of surprises. I went backstage to put my coat and bag away when I saw all my church family working the event, and causally saw singer Lemar eating his food . . . as you do . . . and I also witnessed Sir Trevor McDonald collecting his award. I enjoyed it very much :)

MORE MORE MORE!!!!!

Now the following month (November) proved to be a month just as exciting! I started rehearsals for the showcase my agency Hoxton Street Management organized for 30 of its clients. We rehearsed duologues and monologues to perform in front over 100 industry proffesionals in 1 night in December. I performed a duologue written by Shereen- Jasmine Philips with actor Frankie Wilson. Our director was Stef O'Driscoll which was wonderful. Stef started out as an actor many years ago and I had the privilege of performing with her back then. Today she is an award winning theatre director. In the audience we had casting directors, writers, people who could really make our careers. Actor Ashley Walters even came by to support which was wonderful. It was a big night.

CINDERELLA Ella Ella. . .

Less than a week ago I wrapped my final show of the year. 'Cinderella Init'. A modern take and twist on the classic fairy tale. Now I love comedy but I've always thought Panto's were beyond cheesy. They sure are, but I loved every moment of it. We performed four shows in 3 nights and we received a breathtaking 5 star review in which I had an amazing mention in (click to read the review)

"A big mention also to Cerise Reid who seems to hold the whole show together as Nina Star a mock TV host. Cerise is certainly a name to look out for in the future". - Taryn Yates 

 I teamed up once again with the writer and director duo that are David Fielding and Suzann McLean. Pantomimes are usually for the kids, but the adults loved it just as much. I played the character of a mock diva TV Host - sort of the modern/urban 'Fairy God Mother' equivalent  and I got to do everything I love the most with this character. 
I got to sing my heart out, I got to dance, and I got to dress up like crazy!! This show saw that I got to work with a few fellow 'The Killing Class' actors once again which was great!

The final night of the show was the most memorable. Two little girls, no older than 8 years old, came into my dressing room to meet me. They told me I was their favourite in the show and wanted to take pictures with me. That night we signed our autographs on kids programmes and posters and stayed around for ages after the show talking to the audience members who absolutely loved it!! Doing the show was the most fun I've had in a very long time and it was a great way to end the year. 

                   2012 (regardless of the slow start) has been one to remember. I have been hugely blessed, and I have seen very clearly were a little faith and a loada hard work can take you. 2013 is only going to be better. Thanks for reading, thanks for your support, thanks for your prayers and well wishes. God bless you and I wish you all the success and happiness in the new year. Chase your dreams and make them a reality.  

               Love Cee Cee <3 <3 <3