I know it’s only November but for me Christmas has started already. For the last few years I’ve worked performing shows for immersive grottos and brought their magical, fantastical and sometimes wacky characters to life. This year it’s Professor Freeze in her magical snow laboratory as well as her assistant Anti-Freeze! We have a crazy bubble filled lab, Santa’s Snow Nog, and making magic snow fuel.

It’s a lot of fun but it can also be quite a challenge. We perform a show every 20 minutes to about 100 people at a time (especially when it’s sold out in December) and the show is 15 minutes long! So yes, it can be hard work and high stress. Especially when you get a grumpy, stressed out or rude parent... But it is all worth it for the looks of pure wonder there you get from a lot of the children as they enjoy the experience and feel the Christmas spirit.

Then there’s the people that you work with - they are amazing! I’ve honestly had the best of times with these people (especially playing games of Muggles Against Humanity in our down time, and racing to fold endless amounts of flat packed boxes while creating more new harmonies for the annoyingly catchy jingle that we made up).

It takes a special (and patient) kind of person to do Christmas work with kids, but it is rewarding and enjoyable to keep the magic alive for them. Plus you can really go to town with these larger than life characters! It’s good exercise for you improvisation skills too because even though it’s scripted, whenever small children are involved it will inevitably not always go to plan. Although these often result in some of the funniest shows of the season!

There’s also the things that happen that leave us all in either utter disbelief or fits of laughter once the audience leaves the room. We’ve only been performing for 2 weeks so far this year and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the number of parents who don’t know how to use a funnel!

The rest of the season should be a lot of fun. We will have our ups and downs, but I will get to share it all with the most fantastic group of people. When it’s all over and done with on Christmas Eve then I’ll enjoy my hard earned and well deserved holiday until January! If you would like to meet the characters that I play or see some of the fun that we get up to then be sure to check out my vlog series The Reel Road over on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/lydiakay

Audition nerves are something that pretty much every actor has to deal with, and I actually think that they are a good thing - stay with me here. If you're nervous about something then it just means that you care about it. It's also a good way to keep your ego in check. So yes, I think being nervous about auditions is a good thing. That being said you don't want to let your nerves take over, turn you into a complete wreck and ruin the audition. Nobody wants that, and we've probably all been there at least once. So how do I beat these nerves, or rather keep them under control?

There's a few ways that I find work well, and they all work together too. The first thing is to embrace them, to accept that it's ok to be nervous and to know that everybody else feels it as well (even if they don't look like they do). Learn to see it as a sign that you care about your work and be proud of that. Secondly you need to change your perspective on auditions themselves. You need to learn to enjoy them and have fun. We should look forward to auditions, not dread doing them. If you're having fun instead of worrying about how you're doing then you'll definitely give a better performance.

Which brings me to the next, and probably the most important piece of advice. This is how you re-wire your brain so-to-speak. The audition IS the job. It is not the thing that you have to do, or some test you have to pass to get the job. Don't focus on trying to get the part. You already have it, for the time that you're in the audition room. For the time that you are in there the role is yours. That is your time to become that character. That is your time to show them who you've created from those words on the paper. That is your time to perform. Yours. So don't screw it up by not being there in the moment because you're nervous about whether you'll get the part or not. You have the opportunity to play that part RIGHT NOW. The audition IS the job, everything and anything that may come after is a bonus.

This is how I managed to get my audition nerves under control, so that now I can appreciate their presence as passion and actually enjoy the auditioning process. And it has honestly changed my world just by adjusting my mindset. I love my job! Oh and once you leave the audition room - forget about that job. You played the part, you did you work, and now it's time to look for the next opportunity. Get straight back to work and look forward, if you get a callback or the role then it will be a wonderful surprise! If you've been lucky enough to get offered two jobs while working hard like this then you'll be one of the few in demand actors who's able to choose which you'd like to do more. I really hope this helps any of you who struggle with nerves like I used to, and break-a-leg in your future auditions!