Personal Statement - Willow Whyte

I’m going to start out this personal statement with a quote from Silvia Plath as it is one of
the most powerful sayings I have ever read and it resonated with me to the point where I was
in tears; it read like this:
“Perhaps someday I’ll crawl back home, beaten, defeated. But not as long as I can make
stories out of my heartbreak, beauty out of sorrow.”

When I read that it made me realise that all the pain and suffering that I had been to self
piteously invoking on myself can be used as a superpower. Now this is not to say that I don't
have any good experiences but it’s been scientifically proven that negative experiences have a
greater impact on your emotional memory and psyche.

I want to attend your course to further my knowledge and skills of my craft; I truly mean it,
because if there’s one thing I've learned from my experiences in life, it is that it makes a very
interesting and relatable story. I don't see all this negativity as something I've lost but
something I have gained.

All of this made me who I am today; a strong willed, driven and empathetic individual who
has a lifetime of experiences behind them. All of which are tools that I can apply into my
acting.

If you allow me a space on your course I can promise you these things:
● A professional and serious approach to the work that can challenge me in new ways
so that I am continuing to learn and develop my process as an actor.
● A drive and passion for acting and movement that I have built up over the past few
years from attending the InCahootz theatre, the National Youth Theatre and finishing
my HND in acting and performance.
● A curiosity that makes me eager to try everything be it puppetry, mime, or ambiguous
performance art.
● The skills to use memory recall when appropriate to aid in characterization.
● Advanced movement skills, such as; Embodying otherworldly characters,
complicated blocking, dancing and stage fighting.
● The ability to fully immerse myself in my work, work as an ensemble and listen and
learn from my peers.

To this day attending this course is still my ultimate goal as theatre, acting and being creative
gives me purpose in life. My work with InCahootz after finishing my studies has turned my
life around completely.
It also gave me the chance to flourish in my other skills, for example; I play the fiddle, my
first language is Gaighlig and I write plays in my spare time. Theatre and performing is what
keeps me going and I honestly don’t know where I'd be right now if I didn’t have that.

I believe that I am the most suitable for this course as I thrive from working in group
settings, I am a good listener and have a keen interest in learning from people from all walks
of life.
In this statement I wanted to be as honest as possible, so with sincerity I hope that through
reading this you can see just how serious I am about attending this course and making not
only myself but your institution proud.