Good evening,
My friend.
Welcome to your sleep story.
My name is Stephen Dalton,
And it's my great privilege to be the voice that you listen to as you go to sleep tonight.
In tonight's story,
I continue my series,
Wonderings of an Irishman.
I've decided to take the word abroad off the name of this series.
The reason being that some of my wonderings have been in my own country.
Tonight I'll take you back in time,
To a time in my life when I achieved one of my greatest dreams.
But more about that later.
So let's move into the relaxation session now,
Before tonight's story.
Whatever way you're lying in bed,
If you need to adjust,
Feel free to do so.
If your eyes aren't closed,
Allow them to close now.
Gently say goodbye to the day.
Feel the support of the bed or the floor beneath you.
Allow yourself to feel a little gratitude for this moment.
You are safe now.
The day is done.
Now I'm going to count down from ten to one.
And as I do,
Allow yourself to feel more and more relaxed.
And this will also allow your imagination to open up and be receptive to tonight's story.
Noticing your breath,
Take two deep breaths now.
Just when you're ready,
In through your nose and out through your mouth,
Let go of everything now,
As you breathe out,
Letting your breath return to normal.
Now,
Noticing any tension within your body,
Anything that you're holding on to right now.
Whether it's in your feet,
Your face,
Your neck,
Let go now.
Eight.
The day is done.
Tomorrow will come,
But all you have is now.
Enjoy that fact.
Seven.
Imagine a little light,
Starting within your center,
The center of your chest.
And now imagine that light,
Spreading slowly throughout your body,
Bringing with it a feeling of peace and calm.
Six.
It's a healing light,
A light that brings restoration,
A light that brings safety.
Five.
Allow the light to settle now within you,
Feeling more and more relaxed now.
Know this,
There is always peace within you.
It's always accessible.
It's your constant friend.
Three.
You are moving now towards sleep,
And towards a beautiful sleep story.
Enjoy this fact.
Two.
Feeling completely relaxed now.
One.
Feeling open and ready,
As I take you to London.
I first found out that I would be moving to London in the summer of 2008.
It was a big deal for me.
I had gained entry to the Giltor School of Music and Drama,
A place that many great actors studied at.
And it was,
For me,
A great honor to be accepted.
I had gone through rigorous auditions,
Back and forth to London,
And out of 3,
000 applicants,
25 of us were chosen for that year.
I packed my bikes,
I said goodbye to my parents,
And to Ireland,
And I travelled by boat.
To Wales,
And then England.
I was starting a new adventure,
Moving into a world of constant creativity.
For three years,
I would study acting at that great school.
I would learn the craft,
The subtlety of a gesture.
To dissect a text,
Learn how important a stress is on a word.
I would cry,
I would laugh,
I would love.
I would go through great highs and great lows.
But I was alive.
Those three years shaped the rest of my life.
There was a day during that training,
Where I was selected to go and read a poem,
And stand on the Laurence Olivier stage,
In the National Theatre,
In London.
I stood in front of my peers,
In front of my teachers,
And I recited Shakespeare.
I remember standing in that great theatre,
On that great stage,
Where so many household names had stood before me.
Just to be heard,
Is an art in itself.
I looked up.
I looked out.
Faces hazy in the darkness.
I felt safe.
I felt,
For me,
The theatre has always been a safe place.
A place where dreams come alive.
A place where imagination is a skill,
Is an asset,
Is a necessity.
Where play is encouraged.
Where humans are their most human.
Where truth is celebrated.
Where connection is essential.
And on that day,
As I stood under the spotlight,
Reciting those words that had been written 400 years previously,
In that same great city,
London,
I realized that I had a dream to be employed by that theatre upon graduation from drama school,
And to actually act.
When I left Guildhall,
In the summer of 2011,
I'm not going to say it was easy.
Being an actor,
Anywhere,
Can often be tough.
But,
I was resolute in my commitment to following my dreams.
For two years,
I went from audition to audition,
Job to job,
And then,
In 2013,
My agent said,
The National want to see you.
You might understand that I was excited,
To say the least.
I never prepared so much for any audition,
And when I went into the audition room,
And met the legendary director,
Howard Davies,
There was something in me that felt certain I would get the job.
Howard was kind,
He was welcoming,
And he encouraged me.
And indeed,
A few days after the audition,
I found out that I would be employed by the National Theatre in London.
Dreams do come true.
Sometimes it takes a little work,
Though.
Now,
This particular job was a very small part.
But that's not the point.
I was given access to the rehearsal room in the National Theatre,
And for one month,
I watched Howard Davies direct the principal actors.
I sat,
And when it was time for my small part,
I was directed.
It's difficult to describe what it is to be paid to live your dream.
All I can say is that it fills you with a kind of joy that is impossible to quantify.
I would encourage everyone to follow their dreams.
We only get one life.
And so,
After rehearsals were complete,
The opening night would soon come,
And I would achieve my dream of standing on a National Theatre stage.
Now,
I must add,
There are three stages in the National Theatre,
And I wasn't standing on the stage of my dreams.
And I suppose there's a lesson in that.
Our dreams rarely materialize exactly as we foresaw them,
But different versions often do,
As long as we work towards whatever we have.
But I did work on the Lyttelton stage of the National Theatre nearly every night,
For about three months.
I can't tell you the rush of excitement one feels.
As you stand on a stage in front of an enthralled audience,
Each individual audience member,
Comfortable in their seat,
Shrouded in the coziness of the darkness of the theatre,
They are not being watched.
We,
The actors,
Are showing them a world of the imagination of a human mind.
We,
The actors,
A whole multitude of things,
Escape,
Identity,
Empathy,
Connection,
Tears,
Our own vulnerability.
You might say that no actor is complete without having access to their own vulnerability.
And being able to show that.
And so,
My dream developed.
Because while I was doing that show,
Another call from my agent told me that the National wanted to see me again,
For a show that would start rehearsing the day after my current one finished.
I was very happy.
I went to meet the next director,
And in this show,
I would play a bishop.
I was hired.
And so,
A number of weeks later,
After another month of rehearsals,
I actually did achieve the dream that I had started out with all those years before in drama school.
I stood in the employ of the National Theater on the Laurence Olivier stage.
Moments,
They come and go in life.
Some moments,
You completely forget.
And some moments,
They stay with you forever.
