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'Submit an alumni bio' form submission

Field	Data
Name	Will Berrington
Grad Year	2017
Course	LLB Law,LLM Public International Law

Bio1 (Time at theatre)

My time at NNT started when a bloke Id met only a few days prior, Ollie Shortt, told me about this little theatre on campus doing plays that he thought Id might want to join. Id always done musical theatre previously, but never straight plays. Cut to 3 months later and after playing copious amounts of Mafia, I had my trousers round my ankles, running around the stage like my life depended upon it.

I spent my the rest of that year, and my second, acting, before realising I really did suck at learning lines and fancied doing that bit where you still got to go to the rehearsals, but didnt have to learn any of the words, and could actually pick which play you wanted to do. Coincidentally, it was at this point that I really began to feel the effects of an anxiety disorder that prevented me from acting for a good while, and something which would impact a lot of the manner in which I directed theatre.

So from then on, I started directing. My first couple of outings were wonderful fun, from the female focused Sex Cells, a show I believed proudly brought back some of the spirit of the NNT comedies Id been a part of in my first year, to Someone Wholl Watch Over Me, which I genuinely believe is the show with the least percentage of correct lines ever performed on the NNT stage.

Not ready to leave university yet, I took on a Masters degree. I was then given a show called W;t, possibly the hardest show I have directed to date. Directing a show about a dying woman learning to come to terms with her terminal cancer through metaphysical poetry was not something Id ever expected when I came in, a staunch comedy actor in my first year. The experience of directing that show, and the wonderful reception it received, is not something Id ever forget.

For what was meant to be finally, I decided to see just how much in the other direction I could go, and took on the behemoth of directing a show which Id been told in my first year would probably get laughed out of proposals. Lots of drugs, one very disgusting toilet, and the audience seeing slightly too much of Pete later, Trainspotting was meant to be the moment I bowed out at NNT. Immensely proud of it, I was finally ready to go.

Over the Summer of 2017, I got incredibly sick and found myself still at university writing my LLM thesis in October. Still clinging onto the last vestiges of my studentship, I proposed a show with a friend, but as producer this time. Sadly, that was not to last as the friend was required to drop out of the show relatively quickly, and I somehow ended up directing Collaborators, a show about a show which the writer is forced to write. Everyone saw the irony. But after a wonderfully large cast, many of whom I am proud to say were brand new members to the theatre in a show I hoped they enjoyed as the first of their careers, I was tired and ready to go.

NNT gave me some of the most phenomenal experiences of my university career, and I cant thank all those who made it what it was enough.

Bio2 (Post-graduation)

Field	Data
Checked careers
Other careers

Shows

Committees

Awards

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Are we allowed to facilitate contact to this alumnus? Yes

Attempted File Generation

---
title: Will Berrington
course:
  - LLB Law,LLM Public International Law
graduated: 2017
contact_allowed: true
careers:

links: *fill me out

award: *fill me out

---

My time at NNT started when a bloke Id met only a few days prior, Ollie Shortt, told me about this little theatre on campus doing plays that he thought Id might want to join. Id always done musical theatre previously, but never straight plays. Cut to 3 months later and after playing copious amounts of Mafia, I had my trousers round my ankles, running around the stage like my life depended upon it.

I spent my the rest of that year, and my second, acting, before realising I really did suck at learning lines and fancied doing that bit where you still got to go to the rehearsals, but didnt have to learn any of the words, and could actually pick which play you wanted to do. Coincidentally, it was at this point that I really began to feel the effects of an anxiety disorder that prevented me from acting for a good while, and something which would impact a lot of the manner in which I directed theatre.

So from then on, I started directing. My first couple of outings were wonderful fun, from the female focused Sex Cells, a show I believed proudly brought back some of the spirit of the NNT comedies Id been a part of in my first year, to Someone Wholl Watch Over Me, which I genuinely believe is the show with the least percentage of correct lines ever performed on the NNT stage.

Not ready to leave university yet, I took on a Masters degree. I was then given a show called W;t, possibly the hardest show I have directed to date. Directing a show about a dying woman learning to come to terms with her terminal cancer through metaphysical poetry was not something Id ever expected when I came in, a staunch comedy actor in my first year. The experience of directing that show, and the wonderful reception it received, is not something Id ever forget.

For what was meant to be finally, I decided to see just how much in the other direction I could go, and took on the behemoth of directing a show which Id been told in my first year would probably get laughed out of proposals. Lots of drugs, one very disgusting toilet, and the audience seeing slightly too much of Pete later, Trainspotting was meant to be the moment I bowed out at NNT. Immensely proud of it, I was finally ready to go.

Over the Summer of 2017, I got incredibly sick and found myself still at university writing my LLM thesis in October. Still clinging onto the last vestiges of my studentship, I proposed a show with a friend, but as producer this time. Sadly, that was not to last as the friend was required to drop out of the show relatively quickly, and I somehow ended up directing Collaborators, a show about a show which the writer is forced to write. Everyone saw the irony. But after a wonderfully large cast, many of whom I am proud to say were brand new members to the theatre in a show I hoped they enjoyed as the first of their careers, I was tired and ready to go.

NNT gave me some of the most phenomenal experiences of my university career, and I cant thank all those who made it what it was enough.

newtheatre / history-project

Will Berrington bio submission #1761