LordToSergeantLARPer

… so who am I? 

Well I’ve started off my blogging journey brilliantly, my first post is out… and it’s not actually about who I am. So let’s amend that shall we? 

Howdy everyone, my name is Luke, as you know I am an actor, LARP convert and huge nerd. How has life brought me to this blog page, well… 

Many many many years ago I did a thing in the UK called the “Year 6 Leavers Play”, it’s something most kids in the uk heading to secondary school will do. Now my play was the “Rocky Monster Show”, which I’m pretty sure was meant to be a child friendly version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show… meaning it was almost nothing like its source material. I did this show as the Frankenfurter type character who was a rockstar who was a bit like the Phantom of the Opera with half his face covered. Now I got off that stage and I had had the time of my life, and I was quite a reclusive kid, but onstage I felt safe and secure. I decided that night I was going to be an actor. I also admittedly did think I was gods gift to the acting world and hadn’t made any mistakes, and watching it back when I was a bit older… yeah maybe my view was a bit skewed.

Nonetheless, as soon as I got to secondary school I very quickly found my place in the acting community there. I would do the pantomime every year and the summer show every year too. Now I won’t go into many details here, but suffice to say I didn’t like secondary school for many reasons, but one thing I could always look forward to was rehearsals and performances for plays there. 

Around when I was 15 my parents were really trying to get me to explore acting outside school, but I was always too nervous to do so. Now I don’t know why, but I was on holiday in Crete with family and randomly I decided I was going to audition for the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre in Crayford. Now why I changed my mind here (I could be quite stubborn), I have no clue honestly, but I do remember the moment I decided to do it. This was one of the biggest choices I ever made in my life.

I would grow more at the GWT than I ever had anywhere else, and I really started to get in touch with who I actually am, not just as an actor but in my real life as well. And eventually I branched out to other groups, I did quite a few musicals for a time (not that I can really sing or dance, but fake it till you make it ya know), got opened up to Shakespeare and my view I was going to go to drama school was very much solidified. 

My first year of auditions went well, lots of recalls, no yes’s but I felt good. Then the next year Covid hit… like many people in the world Covid really rocked my personal life. I’ve never felt quite as low as I did during that time, it really felt like my world was coming apart. But of course as we all know the world resumed, and I was able to return to doing acting stuff. 

In 2022 I decided I needed to know if I actually wanted to go to drama school after being rejected so much, so I went into the Rose Bruford Foundation Course. Doing the course resulted in two things, it showed me I did want intense acting training and I got to meet my wonderful partner there. However at the end of that year I still hadn’t been accepted into any BA’s.

I decided my next year would be my last year trying. We hit June 2024… no yes’s. My partner had been accepted into the MA International course at East 15, she pushed me to audition for their MA… now I have never entered an audition with more of a “f**k it” attitude in my life… well clearly it did something as I got a place! 

The many years of trying for drama schools brought me to East 15 and I’m so glad. I’ve met some of my closest friends and the course pushed me into places I didn’t know I could go. And if you’ve read my previous blog you will know it brought me to LARP. 

In terms of work I have mostly worked in immersive theatre, but I’ve also done a few short films here and there. 

So outside acting, what do I like? I love history, it’s my oldest interest, and my main area is the Second World War, but I also have a keen interest in the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, the Russian Civil War, the Civil Rights movement and Leo Major (if you don’t know about him, please look him up). And on top of all of that, this lad loves a good museum!

I am a huge nerd, that all started when I was very young and my dad just handed me a VHS with the Peter Cushing Dalek movies on it, and basically ordered me to watch it. Now my dad may have later regretted this because I developed a life long obsession with Doctor Who and the Daleks in particular, and his bank account definitely suffered for it. He later did the same thing with Star Wars so he really didn’t learn his lesson there. 

I love A Song of Ice and Fire and will forever be loyal to the one true King of the Seven Kingdoms, Stannis Baratheon. Also Batman, a very close thing to my heart, even if I wish I was a bigger comic-book reader. 

I write a little, in fact I’ve written my first play which will be on at Camden Fringe this year (cheeky little plug I know, but more details to come in a future blog). I have also written multiple short films, not that I know how to get them produced haha. 

I also have a Letterboxd, so if you want to check out my film tastes and the occasional review, see the link below. 

Finally, LARP. I am a very recent convert, but it has become a huge part of my life. I absolutely love it, and when I don’t have acting work which gives me that little spark, I always know I will have LARP there to provide it. 

And that’s me really, there’s more of course… but buy me a drink first for those kinds of details ya know. 

Bye bye for now.