My name is Lucy Edwards, but every one calls me Ellie. I’m here trying to - well attempting to try and become a props maker. It’s just one of those things that really gives you a buzz, to just sit there and say “I made that”.
I’m dyspraxic with a strong element of dyslexia, which means that when I write I hold my pen in a funny way. And I also have some problems developing a good language. When it comes to writing as well I have some problems with punctuation and vocabulary.
The help that was given to me, helped significantly and I mean I’m able now to produce a good piece of writing be it I may have someone else, you know writing it down for me such as a scribe, which I did have a lot of help in secondary school with scribing. And they were all completely fantastic about it.
It was in secondary school when I got introduced to drama and I was always torn between drama and art. I went into college and did a BTEC in performing arts and from there I kind of got dragged back stage.
I found Bristol Old Vic on the internet. I liked the look of the course and I applied. The road that I’ve been trading has not exactly been easy. I found quite a bit of it quite difficult in stage management specifically the bit which involved a lot of paperwork. I couldn’t keep up. I got a laptop, a scanner, a printer and a dictaphone paid by my disabled students? allowance, which really helped me. I mean with out the laptop I would not be able to be here.
The second term within the first year you are set projects from everywhere. It feels like the four corners of the earth are closing in upon you and they are going to crush you unless you get it all done. And without the laptop there and if I had to use my hand singly I think it would have died. So being able to have that help there was really good.
The carpentry teacher that I had last term was superb. I had a slight tendon problem during that time and he said “Listen take time off, you know, Go see a doctor.” He goes “and if you really need to, you know, if you come back, because we are doing a lot of jigsawing work, we can get you shock resistant gloves so they can help you cope better and so it’s not whacking your wrist out every single time it vibrates”. Which is a really, really nice feeling to be able to know that you have this problem but you can still operate normally.
In the school I do try my best to talk to the tutors and say if I have a problem. Say if they’ve got any concerns with what we are going to be doing and if they’re concerned that I’ll have a problem with it, they’ll take that on board.