Fiona 'Speakeasy' Ramsay #FanClub

I think it is safe to say that Fiona Ramsay is one of the actresses on my top list of acting icons, equal to the likes of Meryl and Judi.

Fiona's experience, credits and list of achievements is awe-inspiring and surely speaks for itself.
Only a few of her credits include...

On Screen: Homeland, Dominion, Black Sails, The Bang Bang Club, In My Country.

On Stage: Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Streets of Gold, Delirium, Sailing Somewhere, The Old and The Beautiful.

As a language, accent and dialogue coach, (her company is called Speakeasy Vocal Training) Fiona has been commissioned on several local and international film and stage productions. Notably she acted as dialogue or language coach for Stander, Hotel Rwanda, Winnie Mandela, Material and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom coaching actor Idris Elba who portrayed Madiba in the feature. In 2014 she worked as dialogue and dialect coach on The Salvation and also did work on the Charlize Theron and Sean Penn feature The Last Face that filmed in Cape Town.
Check her out on IMDb.

In December last year a few of my FADCreationS Mentorship students and I watched Fiona Ramsay in the two-hander 'The Old and The Beautiful' at the POPArt Theatre in Maboneng.


It was so great to see Fi in an intimate theatrical piece like this alongside Tony Bentel, showcasing her phenomenal skill, incredible diversity and emotional depth engaging the audience from beginning to end. The outing with my students reminded me to remain in touch with my own student spirit and Fiona reminded me to stay inspired, to use what personally moves me in my work and projects and to keep learning from the greats. 
 

How lucky am I to have had the privilege to work with her in my career (Thoroughly Modern Millie 2006) and I honestly hope that I get to do so again in the future!

I know that she is planning to bring the production Doubt to the stage soon, and will keep you posted when I find out about upcoming production venue and dates! Also, soon I will be launching the first episode of the FAD Roundtables - The Actresses online, where Fiona is one of 5 other actresses in a one hour interview chatting about our industry and their career experiences in it. I can't wait to share it with you all!!!

Stay inspired peeps!

Gaynor Young #InstantInspiration

Thank you Gaynor Young! Thank you for the joy of your blog "'Ear 'Ear"and the incredible gift of sharing your journey with the digital world. I stumbled across it as I searched through many entertainment, theatre or arts blogs and I am so profoundly happy that I did. It was the perfect thing at the perfect moment.

As artists, we so often fall victim to our own self-doubt, criticism and cynicism. We allow our 'artistic' selves to run away with endless questions, musings and often hopeless convictions about the industry or our careers.
And then you get to read a post (The Loved One!) by someone who many years after a tragic and horrific accident in a theatre and two cochlear implants later, for the first time was able to listen, really listen to a performance by the wonderful South African vocal artist PJ Powers, ... and tears begin to well up.
You read the post called Pardon! on forgiveness for those who held responsibility for this tragedy and cannot stop the gentle tears from spilling over.

Gaynor, your story is such a well known tale among theatre folk and your name synonymous with theatre safety and tragedy. BUT what people don't bother thinking about is what came after, how many challenges you must have faced and conquered since then, how you have turned that event into a pivotal moment of change and motivation in your life and how you manage to inspire so many by what you continue to accomplish day by day.

I can not wait to delve deeper into the depths of your blog and somehow get a hold of your book 'My Plunge to Fame'.

Thank you for reminding me that life is a gift, that every day is a gift and that every obstacle we face is a gift... to be more, to do more and to live more.

For #InstantInspiration go and read or follow Gaynor's blog 'Ear 'Ear and follow her on twitter at @earearblog.

Much inspired love,