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For enquiries and bookings, please contact info@iaptalentgroup.com

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The Acting Bug group

Since I moved back to Belfast permanently in November 2024, I've been trying to get myself back into the acting circles in the city, so I was delighted to see that a new acting group (now with the settled name of The Acting Bug ) was being set up by Owen James , and facilitated by Rosie McClelland . Members of The Acting Bug class (acting the maggot!!) As soon as I saw the calibre of people involved, I knew I'd have a great opportunity to shake off some of the Lockdown rust, and regain some of my confidence performing. Having been attending for over a year now, I can safely say that it fulfilled both, and in doing so I gained a new agent as a direct result. There's been workshops with the likes of Neil Keery, Chris McCurry and Georgia Simpson The various groups that I've been in - I began classes on Saturday morning, but moved to the Wednesday evening classes - have all had their own unique qualities and brought out different aspects of my performance repertoire. And A...

The 39 Steps has sold out!

The next show I'm in, The 39 Steps, with Wireless Mystery Theatre, part of Belfast Fringe Festival has officially sold out - two days before the performance. [caption id="attachment_368" align="alignleft" width="484" caption="Poster for Wireless Mystery Theatre's The 39 Steps"] [/caption] I went in to No Alibis to buy tickets for family members, and was informed that after my purchase, there were only five tickets remaining, of which two were instantly sold in front of me, and my friend informed me she had bought the final three. This is a great (and just) reward for all the work Aislinn Clarke and everyone else has put into the show, and will keep us on our toes for the performance on Friday night. The whole Fringe Festival is creating a great buzz around the city, and it's just a pity that resources forced organisers, Peter Quigley and his crew, to keep it within 3 days, and 20 venues. No doubt next year the Fringe will be huge, a...

Los Campesinos are the most important guitar band of the year!

OK, so this isn't acting, or theatre, or film, but this is important. Listen to Los Campesinos! and do it now. They are unquestionably the most imaginative guitar band going at the minute, with their latest album Sick Scenes up there with Stormzy and Kendrick Lamar as one of the few essential LPs released in 2017.

The Odd Couple (2012): One of 20th Century Theatre's enduring crowd-pleasers.

𝕺ne of the more successful productions I was involved in, as far as consistently high bums to seats ratio was The Odd Couple in 2012 . It was directed by Mary Lindsay, who I had worked with previously during the rehearsed reading for Sitting Up for Michael. She was so perfect in the role of Doris , it tore me up that she was about twenty years too young for the part when it came to staging.

PRESS RELEASE: New Play by Northern Ireland Writer Set to Premiere Next Month

Omagh-born playwright James McAnespy’s first play Sitting Up for Michael will premiere at Derry Playhouse on Saturday May 19th. The new play, the first production by his company King’s Fool, is set at a wake house in rural county Tyrone. Poster for Sitting Up for Michael McAnespy has expressed concern that the increased pressures of modern lifestyles and increased youth emigration threaten the viability of sitting up for the deceased in a wake house. “Irish wakes are a unique form of mourning,” McAnespy said. “It allows the mourners to celebrate the life of the deceased as well as providing a platform for people to offer their condolences if the death was a tragic one. “It is unfortunate that we are already seeing the tradition is being practiced less and less in city environments.” The comedy, which McAnespy will be acting in, is a bittersweet comedy about the tensions that arise when the truth comes to the surface, especially when emotions a...

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