What is Narrative Structure?
What do Lord of the Rings, Kramer vs Kramer, The Castle and La La Land have in common? Narrative structure. In fact you can think about pretty much any film, television show, play or conceptual...
Posts by: Patrick Cullen
A Guide to Eyelines
Acting, in theory, is a walk in the park. Like any abstract art, quite often the layman looks at it and goes ‘I could do that!’ One of the giant, tiny, vital, overlooked aspects of...
The Best Plays of Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage, born in Brooklyn in the sixties has become one of the most prominent playwrights of her generation. She focuses her attention on the marginalized groups in society, a topic given extra weight in...
The Best Plays of August Strindberg
The Yin to Henrik Ibsen’s Yang, August Strindberg is one of the greatest playwrights of all time. A contemporary to Chekhov and Ibsen, Strindberg offered something totally different to both of those great writers. Dreams,...
The Best Plays of Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn is one of the most extraordinary playwrights in history. A mystery, wrapped in an enigma, drenched in poetry and social commentary. A spy during the Dutch-Anglo war, a former prisoner and the first...
The Best Plays of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Talk about an over-achiever – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a statesman, a poet, a scientist, an author and a playwright. In retrospect, calm down Johann, calm down! You’re making the rest of us look...
Can you have a full-time job and still pursue acting?
This is a question we get a lot here at StageMilk and I get a lot as a scene coach – do I have to quit my job to fully focus on being an actor,...
How to be More Believable
This is a question I get asked a lot ‘how can I be more believable, more truthful in my acting?’ The answer is simple and none said it better than that great sage of 90’s...
What is a sizzle reel?
Last night I sat down digitally with a bunch of actors from all over the world as part of my work for the StageMilk Scene Club, offering advice, running lines and talking about the state...
Acting in Isolation: A Survival Guide
On a scale from one through to terrifying, the world is pretty terrifying right now. I am writing this in early March of 2020 and the COVID-19 virus has been wreaking havoc across the globe....