Page 132 - The Bite Magazine - Spring Summer 2013
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I
n the moments leading up to my meeting
with comedic actress Anna Morris, I was
unsure of what to expect. After spending
the days prior doubled over in front of
my computer screen watching the video blog
series of ‘Georgina the Bride’, the self-indulgent
character coined Britain’s worst bride by the
press, I had begun to envisage Anna herself
as a larger than life anti-marriage, feminist
caricature. However, within minutes of meeting
the 33-year-old, I was ashamed for having
been so presumptuous. With a trusting smile,
Anna gives me a hug before launching into a
description of her day’s travels round London
as if chatting to an old friend. Dressed in a
sheer pink blouse and jeans, is the real Anna,“I
decided not to bother too much with make-up
and have some lunch instead, especially since I
am having it all done anyway for the photos.”
Unafraid of being herself, Anna has used her
gender as a gimmick in her ever popular stand-
up show DOLLY MIXTURE.
In the one year since the first of ‘Georgina’s
Wedding Blog’ videos was uploaded to
YouTube, Anna has received over 75,000 hits
a month, travelled the UK with her solo stand-
up debut and has featured in publications
such as
AOL,Time Out, Heat magazine
and
The
Huffington Post
who marked her out as one
to watch. Following DOLLY MIXTURE’s final
appearance at the Brighton Fringe festival on
May 25th, Morris now plans to bring her sell-
out show to our homes with developments
being made to create a TV show. With a
modest giggle Anna said, “I cannot believe it
was only a year ago that I was sat on a beach
on holiday when the voice of Georgina just
popped into my head.”
Despite the rapid success of her solo act,
Morris has been on the fringes of the comedy
scene for a number of years. Since graduating
from Warwick University with a degree in
Theatre Studies in 2001, Anna has written for
the likes of Nickelodeon, Paul O’Grady show
and BBC sketch show Man Stroke Woman,
produced by the brains behind UK hit The
Office, Ash Atalla. However, prior to her first
big break on Nickelodeon,Morris lost direction.
Speaking quietly Anna said, “I moved to
London when I was 22 in a hope to gain more
jobs writing but I lost my confidence. Everyone
went to drama school but I could not afford to
go. I ended up working as a publishing assistant
because I did not know how else to pay the
rent in London. I had almost given up on it
because I assumed drama school was essential
because no one told me otherwise. I think that
is one of the biggest myths of the industry,
especially if you want to do comedy, I do not
think you can teach it.” Luckily though, it was
through this job that Anna found her way into
the entertainments industry, “The publishing
company I was working for were owned
by Viacom, the same company that owned
Nickelodeon and in the monthly staff letter I
saw an ad for a runner position. I thought that
EMERGING COMIC
ACTRESS ANNA MORRIS
HAS TAKENTHE BRITISH
FESTIVAL SCENE BY
STORM PROVING
WOMEN CAN BE BOTH
FEMININE AND FUNNY.
NOW, ONE YEAR AFTER
THE DEBUT OF HER
SOLO SHOW, DOLLY
MIXTURE,
CORRINE
MCCONNACHIE
LEARNS MORE ABOUT
THE CREATION OF
INTERNET SENSATION,
GEORGINATHE BRIDE,
ANDTHE LIFE OF A
FEMALE COMIC BOTH
ONAND OFF STAGE.
it would be something fun and different. I was
so bored of the whole publishing business and
I had worked with children before in Theatre
in Education workshops.”
After being offered the position at
Nickelodeon, Morris rekindled her passion
for creativity which did not go unnoticed and
landed her in a donkey costume for her first
television appearance, a moment that paved
the way for Anna’s future career, “My job was
to look after all the kids that came in. This
was back when Nickelodeon did a lot of live
material and I started fooling around like an
idiot to entertain the kids. Before I knew it,
the directors were asking me to do the same
on camera. In December we had this giant
advent calendar and everyday a child jumped
out dressed as a Christmas character. It was
ten minutes to go before we were on air again
and the child had not turned up.The director
decided we had to find someone else who
could fit into the costume and everyone turned
to me because I am so small. I was forced into
this horrendous donkey costume and quickly
shoved into the giant advent calendar with no
idea what to do so I just jumped out and did
some silly dance-moves. After that they kept
asking me to do more work on camera. I later
got asked if I could write a few scripts also.”
From what was a rather unconventional
welcome to the industry, Morris gained seven
years of experience behind the scenes in TV
writing and undertaking research.After blagging
her way into a job writing for Man Stroke
Woman following a chance meeting with Ash
Atalla in a bar, Morris like many others was hit
by the recession. As the number of available
jobs in television dropped for freelancers,
Anna took a vacation from the business. It
was upon returning from her travels in 2008
that Morris met BBC Doctors actress Beth
Vyse, the one woman who would influence
her career for years to come.The pair clicked
from the offset and decided to work together
and form stand-up duo, ‘Morris and Vyse’:“We
started playing around with characters and I
kept asking her if I could just write it and she
could perform it. It had been years since I had
performed, especially on a stage but Beth kept
Photography: Laura McKinnon
Make-Up:Ailsa Docherty
-
Styling: Corrine McConnachie and Stephanie Boyle
Clothing: ParmaVintage -
nna
Morris
Actress Spotlight
