Welcome back to Gloucester Independant Film Festival with Acting Up! For the first instalment in their series of interviews, Megan and Jordan sit down with the incredibly talented film makers behind this years entries for Best Short Documentary. First up, Director Sam Pope and Producer Tom Crawford of Imaginary Man Productions to discuss their truly heartwarming documentary ‘The Little Cinema in Gloucester’ which premiered at the festival! The documentary takes the audience to the Sherborne Cine...
Apr 23, 2025•51 min•Ep. 58
We are so back! Post the slightly depressing ageism episode and being professionals at Gloucester Independent Film Festival 2, Acting Up are back with a BITE… Another episode of the ‘Just Two Besties and Their Special Interest’ genre, this week Megan and Jordan are talking vampire media, and they’ve prepared their whole mortal lives for this. Discussions include would you accept the dark gift? Eczema, skinniness and vampirism and the media that most impacted your hosts and the culture. The media...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 57
Megan and Jordan both recently celebrated their 25th Birthdays! And by celebrated they mean crashed out about their impending expiration from an industry famously unkind to older women! Yippee! So here it is - the long awaited and truly infuriating episode about ageism and misogyny in Hollywood. Buckle up because we’ve all been indoctrinated… Jordan confronts the idea of the ‘expiration date’, anti-aging culture and paradoxical procedures to prolong careers, villainous hags and youth as a type-c...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 56
This week Megan and Jordan are immersing themselves in the world of immersive theatre, from the history to personal experiences recent and historic - it’s time to go beyond breaking the fourth wall. Jordan covers the basics of Immersive Theatre for actors, what it is, expectations for actors, Equity standards, how it’s been commercialised, what the future holds and the Post-Immersive Manifesto. Megan enlightens us on the pioneers of the genre such as Punchdrunk Theatre, Fruit for the Apocalypse ...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 55
This week Megan and Jordan are asking themselves the age old question - is wrestling real? Why? Because Rhea Ripley that’s why. Inspired by their newfound love for one particular wrestler, Megan and Jordan slam into the world of wrestling, starting with Megan’s brief history of the WWE and Jordan’s honourable mention to oily naked wrestling in Ancient Greece. Discussions include films about wrestlers and the industry, wrestlers who became actors, fakery and nuance, the real dangers of safe stunt...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 54
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by the wonderful performing, milk drinking, dog loving, plant father that is Thomas Walton! Thomas is here to discuss his journey into the musical theatre industry and how he’s giving back to his community. Thomas tells his story from being a young working class lad in ‘Alifax, pursuing theatre despite the all too common lack of opportunity in his area. Discussing the importance of school trips to the theatre, Pantomime and its accessibility, reach, culture ...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 53
This week on Acting Up, Megan and Jordan sit down with another face from their drama school days, the incredibly talented, not Spanish speaking, dance virtuoso that is Eli Follant! Eli opens up about their experiences within drama school and the industry, including the pressure to be a triple threat and moving away from expectations, moving out at 16, queerness, class clowning, coming out, changing your name, zoom pronouns and effective allyship. Eli gets candid about their experiences navigatin...
Feb 21, 2025•53 min•Ep. 52
You thought they were done interviewing Megan’s coworkers? Think again! This week Megan and Jordan are joined by the fiercely funny Actor/comedian Madelaine Crabb! Maddie joins Acting Up to discuss all things her life and career (try to listen past the accent will you?). A Scottish child of Actor parents, Maddie delves into when your parent is your teacher, maybe I could have skipped drama school? leaving for London and winding up in the DUNGEONS with Ruth Jones and threatening yourself into bec...
Feb 07, 2025•59 min•Ep. 52
This week Megan and Jordan are reuniting with another of their drama school classmates - they are joined by the wonderful, bilingual and certainly not too serious Sophia Cordell! Sophia gets off to a cracking start by telling a tale of Megan in contemporary, but soon rewinds to recount her journey from growing up and singing in Germany to upping and moving country to study Musical Theatre in the UK. Sophia spills on the flights, auditions and lessons learnt that led to her foundation course, dip...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 51
1 year, 1 podcast, 2 besties, 2 countries, 4 counties, 25 guests, 49 episodes, a million train journeys and a whole film festival later?! We're so back. Welcome to Acting Up in 2025! In this episode we take a moment to reflect on and celebrate one more year of the podcast, one more year of friendship and one more year traversing the industry. Discussions include the Spotify Creators Wrapped and the statistics that blew our minds and warmed our hearts (we hit the charts and didn't even know about...
Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 50
This week Acting Up are joined once again by the original guest and bestie of the pod - Rhys Tinney. Rhys returns for chatty discussion on a special interest, welcome to three besties on a sofa talking about horror! Rhys discusses their relationship with horror and how they came to be (in Jordan’s words) ‘an infinite well of knowledge’, spills some history and gifts you all a wonderful guide to getting into horror. Jordan laments again on the death of the medium budget film and remembers the hor...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 49
This week Megan and Jordan are revisiting a question that haunted them during drama school - why do I cry when I sing?! They each unpack their relationship with singing pre, during and post drama school, having both suffered with panic attacks while singing. Jordan spills on doing everything she could not to sing in first year and the time she had to relive being cheated on in Acting through Song, while Megan tells her past self to stop caring what other people think of her! Of course while ackn...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 48
This week Megan and Jordan sit down to talk about their new favourite hobby, Pole Dance! From personal experience to a perplex history, this week it’s time to delve into the wonderful world of pole. Guest starring Jordan’s mum! Megan discusses how the film ‘Anora’ inspired her to start, while Jordan discusses how she followed the ballet-aerial-pole pipeline and how it’s healing her relationship with dance. Megan goes into the nuanced and contested origin story of pole dance and how it became the...
Nov 24, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 47
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by another dynamic duo, Melodrive megaminds and the founders of Gloucester Independant Film Festival; the wonderful Joshy Lee and Oscar Wenman-Hyde! Joshy and Oscar delve into the inspiration and process behind founding a film festival in a community previously lacking one, nurturing a creative partnership, highlights from the evening itself and taking inspiration from authenticity. Joshy reveals the formative media that kickstarted his career (Transformers ...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 46
This week Acting Up has, along with many of you, been deeply saddened, angered and disappointed to be reminded of the hate fuelled dystopia we find ourselves living in. This podcast has and will always be a safe space to build community and uplift your voices. For the working class, the LGBTQIA+ community and especially our trans friends, for POC, for women and femmes and anyone who’s safety and body autonomy is threatened by politics. Though it’s so important to stay informed and to keep fighti...
Nov 09, 2024•45 min•Ep. 45
Welcome back to Gloucester Independent Film Festival! This week Megan and Jordan invite you to join them as they run around the beautiful venue, microphones in hand, to converse with the attendees of the evening. Tune in as they gather intel, insight and inspiration at the very beginning and very end of the night. They speak to everyone from locals to photographers, costume designers to graphic designers, Actors to Producers, family members to filmmakers and students to Academy Award Winners! Th...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 44
This week Megan and Jordan invite you to join them at the inaugural Gloucester Independent Film Festival, where they were Acting Up live on stage! Tune in to hear the panel interviews (hosted by Megan, Jordan, Joshy and Oscar, including questions from the audience too!) with the award winning directors of the festivals headlining short films: Matty Reese and and Tom Berkeley. Megan and Jordan sit down with Matty Reese - of multi award winning production company Colossal Films - the director of ‘...
Oct 24, 2024•52 min•Ep. 43
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by West-End Veteran, Essex gal, musical theatre queen and another of Megan’s co-workers: the incredible Amy Louise Everett! From pretending to be an aeroplane in baby ballet to an illustrious career across the musical theatre industry, Amy is here to tell the story of her life as a performer and how she’s come to have a career to be proud of. Amy unpacks the pressures of starting drama school at age 16, the nuances of sexuality and dance, Cats and cruise shi...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 42
This week Megan and Jordan are back with a research episode! This time unpacking their very own logo and its symbolism, it’s time to talk about Jesters and Clowns! Megan delves into the silly yet sinister history of Jesters, from their role in courts to Shakespeare appearances, their power and influence, the great Jester Wars and the concept of Jester’s Privilege and how this podcast is attempting to utilise it. You can’t backlist us if we are funny yet insignificant enough! Jordan then discusse...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 41
This week Megan and Jordan are once again blessed with the presence of the Lowborn Theatre Company Directors: Meghan Loughran and Gray Enever! They are back and they are back with news… YOU CAN CATCH ALL FUR COAT ON THE BLOODY WEST END FROM THE 14th TO THE 19TH OF OCTOBER 2024! We hope you enjoy this episode of celebration and introspection. Discussions include extending the original material, recasting (or not), the dreaded merge of your work and your WORK, the logistics of scheduling literally...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 40
This week Megan and Jordan are quickly hopping on to share the exciting news that they will be attending Gloucester Independent Film Festival (GIFF) and they want to hear from YOU! GIFF hosts local and international filmmakers for premieres, Q&As and networking opportunities, and your hosts are going to be on the scene asking the questions you want the answers to. So send in your questions! The categories include Feature Film, Short Film, Animated Film, Music Video and so much more, and Acti...
Sep 27, 2024•36 min•Ep. 39
This week Megan and Jordan are completing the set of Acting Up Alumni Twins - today they are joined by the wonderful Conor Donovan! Conor is here to give his side of the origin story, to reflect on his year post graduating drama school, his time during and to tell the tale of how he came to play Quentin on the Netflix hit show - Sex Education. From extra to credited cast member! Discussions include talent equating identity, first times on set, queerness in casting and naturalism, what do Produce...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 38
This week Megan and Jordan (and Elvis the dog) are reunited, after their longest time apart since the pod began! Did they miss one another? What’s happened since? Tune in to get caught up. Jordan spills on her recent commercial (#bookedandblessed, #cheekynandos) and Megan talks on tattoo removals, secret crochet and being depressed. Jordan also brings forward a list of travel thoughts, including the club from the Cat in the Hat, do I believe in tarot now and are we witches? private healthcare, a...
Sep 12, 2024•46 min•Ep. 37
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by long time bestie of the pod, class of Acting Up, Megan’s ex housemate and Scottish lass: the incredible Mia Coffield! It’s been a long time coming and tears are shed… From wardrobe department to ensemble/1st cover Sophie, Acting Up are so proud to finally be able to share the news that Mia will be joining the cast of Mamma Mia! on the West End! It’s incredibly deserved, but Mias journey certainly hasn’t been orthodox. From drama club to the Dance School o...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 36
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by the fabulous Honey Holder! Fresh into the industry having studied performance design and film costume, Honey is here to shed light onto what goes into what goes on you. Honey discusses her work as a prop supervisor, prop etiquette, designing theatre vs film, battling budgets, the grey area that is hats, costuming student films, stop-motion, where are all the women? and of course, being an ex theatre kid. Talks also turn to puppetry: the creation and theat...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 35
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by the Marvellous Molly Griffin-Jones to discuss all things graduating, dancing and navigating the industry. Molly spills on her time at the BRIT School, dancing her way to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent! and her journey into the industry since. Including as always a meaty chat on drama school, favouritism, agent showcase flops and identity. Mollys introspection is infectious and discussions turn to curating training that serves you post-graduating,...
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 34
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by the incredible Erin and Steph (and a fish) - the founders of Birthday Fish Theatre - before they head up to Edinburgh Fringe! Erin and Steph discuss the birth of the surrealist wonder that is Birthday Fish, starting with conversations in contemporary class and developing into a creatively, collaborative friendship - they get candid about what it takes to get a show to fringe, from conception to completion. Steph discusses her decision to leave dance schoo...
Aug 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 33
This week Megan and Jordan are joined by friend of the pod, the wonderful Owen Dennis! From freaky fringe performances to frightening French directors - Owen spills on his time in the industry. A career sparked by watching Doctor Who behind the scenes (her influence!), it’s the classic bossy child to performer pipeline, including after school clubs and the wonderful world of drama school. Owen gets candid about his experience booking a one man fringe show before even graduating, doing a photo sh...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 32
This week a very giggly and tired Megan and Jordan have a discussion on voice acting. Something they don’t (or didn’t!) know all that much about. Discussions include the Acting Up home studio, Indeed’s (?) guide to becoming a voice actor, Rob Wiethoffs story, more on Dungeons and Dragons and SAG-AFTRAs current video game strike. Jordan has plans to be an audio-erotica voice actor while Megan may be in the market to be the new Ralph Wiggum. Tune in for many impressions, including but not limited ...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 31
This week Megan and Jordan are back on topic with an episode for you on none other than stage combat. Starting as usual with Jordans ‘a brief history’ segment, going back to the literal beginning of humanity and working its way up through Gladiators, Samurais and Shakespeare, it seems stage combat has existed for as long as performance has. Your hosts reflect on their own experience with stage combat, from workshops and auditions to training in drama school - an iconic experience (cut tragically...
Jul 25, 2024•50 min•Ep. 30
