My Hidden Gems Experience

Charlie Coke, Grade 7
don’t particularly remember why I started doing talent shows or why I continue to do them after my first experience. They are the most stressful, nerve-wracking, limit-testing things I can imagine – and for some reason, Hidden Gems is even more so.
Though I don’t know the real reason why I do them, I do have a few theories. One theory is the feeling you get from being on stage – the combination of fear and ecstasy that somehow makes you feel like you’re the most powerful person in the room. That or I’ve just been watching way too many K. Trevor Wilson comedy routines and, for some reason, think I can be as great as he is! 

My final idea is that other kids so often ignored me at my previous school that I developed this sense of needing to be heard and seen to matter. I was able to satiate this via the art of theatre, whether it be comedy, musicals or improv. 

To others who want to try performing in Hidden Gems, I can really only offer one suggestion: make sure you’re confident in what your performance is and in your own abilities. Without those fundamentals, no matter what you do, your performance won’t even shine a light to someone who does understand and use them. The number one thing when it comes to performance is confidence.
 
To end this with a quote, I’ll use a line from my favourite year:

“Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” – Peter O’Toole, 1982
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