University News Last updated 12 January 2012
Iris Roberts gets to the heart of acting
2008 graduate Iris Roberts has already had an amazing few years, including stage productions of Faustus and God of Soho at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre during 2011. The end of 2011 saw Iris in an RSC production of The Heart of Robin Hood playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. A beautiful but dark play where Iris is Marion, a woman who must show the ruthless Robin the error of his ways – not just to steal from the rich, but also to share with the poor.
Throughout her time working with the cast and crew of the play, Iris wrote a blog about her experiences, from rehearsals right through to the end of production. These included having to bleach her hair from dark brown to white blonde, learning to climb ropes and walk like a man, and even managing to break her tooth on a metal pole in front of a full audience - ouch! This blog really gives a great insight into the actor processes from beginning to end, as well as gaining an understanding of all the hard work that goes into putting on a large-scale production like The Heart of Robin Hood.
A video from one of the scenes from the production is also available, which showcases the fantastic talent of Iris Roberts. One reviewer had this to say about Iris’s performance: “… she is fabulous. [She] struts around the stage with assurance and enormous skill… wonderful comic timing and endless charm.”
Birmingham Post also wrote an article about Iris Roberts' performance as Marion and Iris had this to say about studying in Birmingham with BSA:
“I went to Birmingham School of Acting, and luckily they didn’t try and beat [my accent] out of me. They were really keen on me keeping hold of who I am.
“Which is nice, because in other drama schools you’re encouraged to speak with more of an RP accent.
“It was brilliant. As I said, the drama school encouraged me to really be myself. Which is so important, because our differences are what make us what we are. And they didn’t make me feel bad about being from Liverpool.
“If anything, they made me positive about it, and it actually got me my first few jobs out of drama school. The whole environment was lovely, and living in Birmingham was really good, because it wasn’t in London.
“Doing the Birmingham thing really gave me lots of energy and enthusiasm.”
Read Iris’s blog at www.rsc.org.uk/explore/blogs/by/iris-roberts