William Seaward

William Vincent Seaward, 8th June 1986 - present day. Director and actor. Co-founder and director of The Strolling Theatricals, a theatre company based in the United Kingdom, William Seaward initiated acting serious plays on a bouncy castle.

Early Life

Born on 8 june 1986 in London to two barristers, Martin and Siobhan Seaward, he is the eldest of 4 siblings. He attended Francesca Cabrini Primary School until 1993, then Margerate Roper Primary School until his secondary education at The John Fisher School, where he quickly developed an aptitude for the dramatic arts. He continued there for 6th form, achieving good grades and narrowly missing out on becoming Head Boy. After taking a gap year to teach English in South America , he went on in 2005 to study a joint degree, English literature and History of Art at the University of York. He joined Goodricke College and he has just completed his third year, receiving a first class degree.

Career

Will worked in retail from 2004 and 2005, since then he has concentrated on his studies and his work in the Arts, though he has occasionally painted portraits on commission.

A "bona fide campus legend"cite news| date = June 20, 2007 | title = Roll up, roll up—it’s Tony! The Blair Musical | work = Nouse | url = http://www.nouse.co.uk/2007/06/20/roll-up-roll-up%e2%80%94it%e2%80%99s-tony-the-blair-musical/ | accessdate = 2008-06-09 ] cite web | last = Denison | first = Kirsty | date = June 10, 2008 | title = Summer Pantomime Preview | work = The Yorker | url = http://www.theyorker.co.uk/news/theatre/1969 | accessdate = 2008-06-11 ] he used the university setting to quickly become a prominent figure in the universities societies based in the arts. He landed principal roles in some of the largest productions of his first year, and became the only chair of PantSoc, the university pantomime society to serve for two consecutive years. He served on the committee of DramaSoc and was also a regular guest on a show on URY, the university's radio station.

Within PantSoc he directed and performed in "Peter Pan...tomime", a student pantomime which satirised reality television. The show was a widespread success, attracting record audiences for the society, and with Will giving "the performance of the evening."cite web | last = James | first = Rod | date = January 25, 2008 | title = Peter Pantomime Review | work = The Yorker | url = http://y-ne.ws//news/theatre/1154 | accessdate = 2008-06-09 ]

The Strolling Theatricals

William co-founded the Strolling Theatricals in 2006, a small drama company to take shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was with this company that William developed his signature "Bouncy Castle Experiment", where he edited and performed Shakespeare pieces entirely on a bouncy castle, usually for comic effect. The concept reportedly formed while in Argentina, when Seaward was considering how to stage Waiting for Godot while at a children's party.cite news | date = August 15, 2007 | title = Performers ditch standard Fringe venues | work = Australian Broadcasting Corporation | url = http://abc.com.au/news/stories/2007/08/15/2005819.htm | accessdate = 2008-06-11 ] It proved to be a difficult venue in which to present a Shakespearean play, with difficulties arising from the use of wooden swords, and entrances by the actors proved to be problematic - as Seaward described the problem, "When people enter, the actors already on stage tend to fall over".cite news | date = August 4, 2007 | title = Sell us your show: Bouncy Castle Macbeth | work = The Scotsman ] Nevertheless, he directed "Bouncy Castle Hamlet" and "Bouncy Castle Macbeth" in 2006 and 2007 respectively, receiving mixed, but predominantly positive reviews from critics.cite news | last = Costa | first = Maddy | date = August 7, 2006 | title = Enter Hamlet, carrying an inflatable chair | work = The Guardian | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh2006/story/0,,1838891,00.html | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] cite web | last = Phillips | first = Ian | title = Bouncy Castle Hamlet | work = The National Student Magazine | url = http://www.national-student.co.uk/magazine/theatre/fringe_2006_bouncy_castle_hamlet.htm | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] cite web | last = Barton | first = Robin T. | title = Bouncy Castle Macbeth | work = Broadway Baby | url = http://www.broadwaybaby.com/fringe/reviews/bouncycastlemacbeth | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] cite news | last = Lukowski | first = Andrzej | date = | title = Bouncy Castle Hamlet | work = Metro.co.uk | url = http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/edinburgh/theatre/article.html?in_article_id=18473&in_page_id=30 | accessdate = 2008-06-10] "Bouncy Castle Macbeth" was listed among the top 100 best acts to see in Edinburgh.cite news | date = July 29, 2007 | title = 100 best things to see in Edinburgh | work = The Sunday Times | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/specials/edinburgh/article2141182.ece | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] They recently appeared on Britain's Got Talent however, they were not well received.cite web | last = Cooper | first = Lorna |title = Britain's Got Talent 2008 | work = UK MSN | url = http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/realitytv/britains-got-talent/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=8419102&imageindex=13 | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ] Will is currently and starring in another Bouncy Castle Experiment production, "Bouncy Castle Dracula".cite news | last = Carrell | first = Severin | date = June 5, 2008 | title = Edinburgh 2008: This time it's serious, say festival organisers | work = The Guardian | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/news/story/0,,2283942,00.html | accessdate = 2008-06-10 ]

Acting Style

William has been compared to Brian Blessed, due to his size and stage presence both physically and vocally. He is also famed for making notoriously bad puns, usually involving mistranslating English words and phrases to a foreign language. A typical example would be:

Control? Why that's Spanish for 'with a troll!'

Note: The Spanish word 'con' means 'with' in English.

References