Deathly Hindsight

Hindsight is dangerous. It can break a person; drive them crazy. As I write this very sentence, it is 04:15 am and my mind is in overdrive. I can’t sleep, who could, when you know that one of the most exciting opportunities to come up in your life is currently in limbo, waiting for an outcome? Waiting to progress.

I’m sitting here at my computer, tapping away, as bloggers do, yet I’m finding myself becoming very emotional. A huge part of me realises that this could be to do with the fact that listening to the amazing, powerful Adele probably isn’t helping matters, though I just feel as though I need to let everything out. What I felt today, was pure passion, adrenaline and desire and it’s psychologically draining after feeling this way for nearly twelve hours.

Twelve hours ago, I was sitting in McDonalds in Gravesend Town Centre, texting my friends and passing time, munching on some food- as people generally do, waiting to make my way to my audition.

After a quick cab ride to Broadditch Farm Shop, I suddenly realise that I’m 45 minutes early for my audition. Slightly awkward/ overly keen but I’m hoping this will not hinder my chances of getting through. Although, I’m not so sure it matters because I just have not done myself justice of what I know I could have showcased.

I could sit here and type out each individual mini experience, but I was so inspired today, I could sit here and write thousands of words on just how much of an affect the people I met today, had on me. How I admire them and I hope i get the chance to work with them.

The truth is, I’ve never met people more passionate about putting on a “show”; providing the audience with an immersive, detailed and fantastic experience. Specifically, Halloween in this case. The work these guys do is absolutely phenomenal. the best thing? It’s all in-house and it’s a family run business. No third party companies here, everything you see is their own and it shows.

This is where Broadditch shone today; no industry politics, less bitching and all that rubbish that you can find elsewhere in the entertainment industry. Broadditch are focused on one thing only and that is their guests. They listen and care for their guests (or audience, if you like) more than any other company or attraction I know of: their passion to provide an unbeatable experience, in my view, is un-matched.

It got me thinking about other Halloween events around the country. Due to the huge numbers of guests that theme park events receive, they are unable to provide such a personal and individual experience as some of the smaller attractions. In this case, I believe the parks are victims of their own success. Not that I’m holding this against any of the parks- I think they do really well considering the huge volume of guests they receive.

Broadditch, last year, received around 10 000 guests attending their Halloween event over the course of the week. This gives the attraction a platform to cater an experience where guests do not feel like a “number” being process through an attraction as quickly as possible on a conveyer belt.

On top of that, I don’t think I have ever seen such care and attention to detail put in to the stunning sets and props of the mazes themselves. Spooky Castle, in particular, is jaw dropping in detail and is already spooky without actors. this is what tops this event for me above the theme park events. you need the whole package.

I realise I’ve gone off on a tangent now, but I just feel so strongly about family run businesses and the quality that is far and beyond above that of the “premier” theme parks’ efforts. They live it, breath it, they ARE Halloween. What’s more, the actors that work there aren’t professionally trained, they’re just so freaking passionate about what they do. Other theme park events should take note. You do not need to be professionally trained as an actor to be able to do well in the scare industry. Of course, it comes to an advantage at times. But you learn this as you go and through training. The auditionees today were phenomenal… and the best bit, none of them were training to be actors, they just love the event and want to be involved in it.

So the reason why I’m getting so emotional is that I want to be involved in this so much.  want to be part of the event, Share the enjoyment and the adrenalin. This audition has made me realise that I want to be a part of this strange, twisted world. The people there are the ones that I want to surround myself with. These are the kinds of people who are a credit to the themed entertainment industry. The sad thing is, there are countless more of these people out there but they’re just escaping under the radar. It’s a shame, but I’m so pleased that Broadditch are doing things their way and are loving it.

My audition could have gone better. The usual three parts were there. The “Ice-breaker”, the “group exercise” and then the “scare attempt”. There were a selection of props available.

For my first part, I had to pick a character out of a hat and select a prop to aid this. My first one was the tooth fairy. Being a scare attraction that I was auditioning for, I aimed to try and make it twisted and a bit creepy but unfortunately I think I twisted the concept of tooth fairy way too much and it in fact backfired on me. The second character was a witch- I don’t even want to go into it because the thought of what I did makes me cringe. I wish I could go back and change that! 😛

The second part, went quite well. I was given a scenario and teamed up with another guy. We had to re-enact a “candle lit dinner for two that goes wrong”. Enzo chose the gloves and I chose the sledge hammer.

We sat down at a table that conveniently had a wine bottle on it. I poured him a glass of wine and told him to drink it all. Whilst I watched him drink it with my own glass in my hand. I then banged a sledge hammer on the table and things started to get very sexual indeed.

If I’m being honest it was  bit of a blur, I just know that it ended with him wearing gloves and me bending over and slightly revealing my arse. HA! He proper grabbed it though. I was a bit surprised, but I may have actually enjoyed it! *Runs*

People were cracking up and the judges were in fits. At the very least it’ll make them remember us and I hope it’ll persuade them to put me through.

The final part I was given a prop and had to scare the panel of judges. This is sadly another part where I feel I misjudged. I was given a zimmer frame. I put all my weight on it deliberately so it made the most god-awful noise and dragged my body along with it. I slowly approached the panel, making some kind of odd growling noise which I don’t think had much of an affect on them. Boo!

All I know is that at that very time, I gave it my best and I was that character. With hindsight, I should have gone for a more energetic, physical impact scare, of which I hadn’t demonstrated elsewhere in my audition. I know exactly what I would have done. I would have walked up to them, in the same way, but thrown that mother fucking zimmer frame across the room and screamed in their god damn face. I’m frustrated, because I know I can do better than what I did. You can always do better.

So here I am now, at 04:59. Still frustrated and mind in overdrive. People have no idea how much I want to hear good news next week from the Broadditch team. It will make my whole year and that is no understatement.

I’ve rambled enough now. I don’t usually like to make such text heavy posts but I felt as though I needed to get all of this out of my system and if anyone is out there reading this, then I hope you didn’t get too bored and I appreciate your time and effort. *Hugs*

Best wishes,

Mikey.