Round The Twist: The Future Is...

I write this on the smooth touchscreen of my tricorder, er, my Samsung Galaxy S2. In the couple of weeks since the show opened, I have joined the future. I don't know what took me so long. I got the Asus Eee as soon as it came out, I run Linux, and read mainly science fiction on my Sony Reader. But I hesitated over a smartphone for a couple of years. As soon as I succumbed, though, I knew I had made the right choice.

A similar thing happened for me with acting. I had enjoyed youth theatre for most of my life, and developed a great passion for making a spectacle of myself, but although I fantasized about becoming an actor, I never quite let myself view it as a real possibility.

It changed over dinner with my Aunt Orna. Asked what I wanted to do with myself when I grew up, my 14-year-old self decided to do his best impression of a well-brought-up middle-class career-seeker, and spouted something about possibly archaeology, since he didn't think acting "was the right thing money-wise" for a career.

Now precisely what Orna objected to about this I never found out: perhaps she felt I lay in danger of not living the dream; or more likely, felt sickened by my bizarre notion that archaeologists made more money than actors. But she made it clear that I ought to examine my reasoning for what I had just said.

On reflection, I realized that I hadn't really told the truth over dinner: rather I had told the story I thought the alpha female wanted me to tell. Luckily for me, the alpha female in question had the insight to recognize that Joel the pack-animal had gained control of the speaking apparatus at that moment, not Joel the thinker, and certainly not Joel the free-willed being.

Joel the free-willed being eventually decided to pursue acting after all, when he did work experience at the Mercury Theatre Colchester and realized what an exciting breed of people worked in showbusiness. Screw the money!

Joel the free-willed being now worries rather more about the money, especially since he has now met The One and has started thinking about breeding at some point this decade, but generally still agrees with his decision to pursue acting. And hey, with the economy in its current mess, everybody else has to start worrying about the spectre of unemployment, whereas Joel has dealt with it for 6 years and come out on top. He can even afford to get a smartphone...

And Joel the pack animal gets increasingly less of a look-in in a subculture that highly values individuality and eccentricity. In this career, what sets you apart gets you the job, a point one realizes pretty quickly on encountering a roomful of other versions of oneself every time one auditions.