Summer Issue 2006

Issue 2, 2003

Sammie Winmill: “When you actually give yourself the permission to consciously act out the Female, the Woman and the Lady inside you, the feeling and experience of these three lives is automatic. This is what learning is really all about.”

Sammie Winmill, is a professional actress who has appeared in theatre, film and television, including the popular series ‘The Tomorrow People’. She conducts Inspirational Theatre courses and is a Founder member of Feminenza in England. Sammie has always been fascinated by the drama of life itself and loves the idea that ‘All the World’s a Stage and we are but the Players’ (William Shakespeare).

With this in mind she designed Theatre workshops and courses, specifically for women. They offer the experience of the three major lives within each member of the xx-gender: the Female, the Woman and the Lady. “Drama is a brilliant medium to encounter these lives,” says Sammie with a twinkle in the eye. “It can be done with wit, humour, pathos or profundity, the choice is endless. Once these lives are distinguishable, sacred dancing is introduced. The drama provides the understanding, whilst the sacred dancing provides well-being and together this makes for a great sense of freedom.”

You have a particular background where theatre is concerned. What lights you up about it?

Well, it is many things. I must confess that the ‘Female’ life in me has always been very attracted to the glitter and glamour of it all, whereas my ‘Woman’ life enjoyed the challenge of getting inside the various lives and portraying them as accurately as I could. Even when I was a little girl, I used to love mimicking people and then everyone would have to guess who I was. Also, I would stand for hours at the window of my upstairs bedroom and adopt the movements and postures of all the passers by in the street. It was as if I could sense what these people were like, just by copying them. There was never any judgement in me about them, just a total fascination about human beings!

Some impressions from the presentation which was put together during one of Sammie’s theatre courses. It shows the interplay between Female, Woman and Lady (these stills, taken from the video, represent the essence of the moment but are a bit less in quality).

Anyway, at 21 years old, I decided to become an actress. My first job was in a very tatty repertory theatre in Clacton-on-Sea, where I played three small parts. The rest of the time I had to make the tea, paint the scenery and work in the prompt box. From there I went into bigger and better theatres such as the ‘Nottingham Playhouse’ and the ‘Bristol Old Vic’ and ‘ The Old Scala Theatre’ in the West End. My favourite roles were ‘Juliet’ in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Mary’ in ‘How the other half loves’, a comedy play by Alan Ayckbourn. From there I went into television, which was very different, but none the less, a lot of fun. So, having had a successful career for years, I reached a point when I wanted to give it up and do something else. I did not quite know what that‘ something else’ would be but on reflection I can now see that I was searching for the nderstandings of ‘Feminenza’ which then inspired me to create ‘Inspirational Theatre’.

One of the brilliant understandings of Feminenza is that it recognises that there is a Female, a Woman and a Lady in each feminine gendered person. The research of this is absolutely enormous and it has helped me to know myself a lot better. For example, I no longer have to fix myself or label myself as one thing, but can be free in the knowledge that there are many different characters in us and they all have different behaviours and therefore need different attention. I very much wanted to share this knowledge and these newfound feelings with other people, and what better way to do it than through the medium of ‘Theatre’. It has so far been an incredibly enjoyable process, both for myself, and those who have participated.

What has been the experience so far in the ‘Inspirational Theatre’ courses, both for yourself and the participants?

Well, very positive. I think most of the women who have attended these courses were utterly fascinated by this new idea of the three major characters within them, and with this came an abundance of wellbeing as they started to unlock the many unanswered questions they had lived with for years.

As time went on, it became apparent that it would be great to run these courses with the added help of another person. Fortunately, Thelma Bishop, also a founder member of Feminenza, who has developed a high degree of sensitivity and a wide variety of other skills, agreed to come and work with me. This made a huge difference, in that she was often able to spot things that I had missed and she has a tremendous ability to give very accurate reflections about myself, the participants and the general progress of the course.

What kind of discoveries have you come across in these courses?

When you actually give yourself the permission to consciously act out the Female, the Woman and the Lady inside you, the feeling and experience of these three lives is automatic. This is what learning is really all about. Just reading about it or talking about it does not hit the mark!

Of course, the participants are always given guidelines to work with, but the experiences are won by themselves. These new discoveries about themselves are so inspiring, bringing greater self-confidence and selfesteem. Even the dealings between people deepened and they supported each other. There is a saying: ‘Alter your Stride and meet a Stranger’, perhaps this is one of the ways to do it. And the stranger is... guess who? Yes, You!

Do you find the medium of theatre allows particular things to happen in the participants?

Yes, because with theatre, you are dealing with fast, slow and medium speeds. You are dealing with loud, quiet, high and low. You’re dealing with posture, movement, breathing… the whole works. For example, if you concentrate your energies towards your head, you’re going to be more in touch with your Lady life. If you focus your energy in your legs, you’ll find yourself in touch with your Female life. The effect is instant.

I suppose it’s very good for the participants to feel these lives within themselves, act them out and experience them, it seems a very quick way of learning.

I think it is, because the frequency gets into you. If you try and learn about the Female in a womanish way, or try and learn about the Woman in a female way, you’re not going to get very far!

What kind of discoveries about the three lives have you come across in these courses?

The Female for example does not like being left out. She will sometimes express this with a spate of over-the-top exhibitionism, or go into a sulk. Both of these you see are designed to attract attention. The upside of the female life is that she is very instinctive, always willing to learn and is very nurturing.

The woman life however, can often be seen as worrying too much, because she always has too much to do and this can often express itself in terms of being hard and strained. But the Woman also carries a dignity and a charm, which will stop people in their tracks. She has the ability to manage things, organise and be a great juggler. She is very skilled at keeping all the plates spinning at once.

The Lady, of course, is something else. She is unseen a lot of the time because of her quieter ways. She is always observing the situation and can give great guidance to the Female and Woman because of her wisdom, her prudence, safety and efficiency. But remember it takes practice to get to know your different SELVES!

What are you planning for the rest of this year?

I will be conducting a workshop on Saturday the 20th of September, which is called:‘ Meeting the Real You through the media of Drama and Sacred Dance’.

The next 9-week course begins on the 9th of October and runs every Thursday evening. It is entitled: ‘A Theatrical course of Drama and Sacred Dance featuring the Female, Woman and Lady within each one of us’.

It is going to be a lot of fun. We will be doing loads of conditioning work for the mentality, emotions and the physical body. We will be looking at the voice, posture and movement of these three lives and we will certainly be enacting a lot of different drama cameo’s to show them at play. The sacred dancing comes in towards the end of the course and this is geared more towards the Lady life. It is actually very magical and brings about a feeling of great settlement and well-being. Next year I also plan to work these courses in colleges of further education and eventually I would very much like to introduce them to television, so there is still much to be done!

What moves you about Feminenza?

Feminenza has a particular softness about it that is not born out of weakness, but on the contrary, it actually comes from qualities such as courage, strength and being able to recognise a situation for what it is. You will feel the distinct lack of judgement or criticism and every assistance is offered. Feminenza is a quality organisation and its members are very genuine. Women can easily identify with it, perhaps because of its care and understanding about human nature. It is my belief that once we, the women, have sorted ourselves out in a true and ‘as was meant to be’ way, it will inevitably enhance, inspire and encourage the men of this world to do whatever it is they truly need to do.

We have learnt that: ‘ A Lady needs TO BE so that she can DO And A Man needs TO DO so that he can BE’.