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Laura Blossom, Actress, Director, Singer - From Madrid |
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Laura Blossom is what many would consider to be a late bloomer when it
comes to acting.
“I started acting when I was twenty years old. My uncle, Balbino Lacosta,
is an actor in Madrid and I often went to the theater to see him. He was
the only (person in the arts) in my family. My grandmother and my mother
played piano, but as a hobby,” says Laura Blossom.
She explains another factor that led to her pursuing a career in the
arts, “There was an acting course at the university where I was studying
art history and I thought why not and I loved the course.”
Laura Blossom grew up in Zaragoza, the capital of the autonomous region
of Aragon located in northeast Spain. The city is located between Madrid
and Barcelona.
“It is a big city, but not as big as Madrid. There are theaters there,
but I had to move to Madrid, because in Zaragoza you can’t live from art
and from acting, because there aren’t enough opportunities,” she
explains.
She says, “I started to sing when I was five years old and at the same
time my parents paid for me to take piano lessons. I loved that. I then
took a music course and it was the best experience of my life. I was in
music courses for eleven years.
When I was ten years old, I started studying ballet in a school near my
home. I studied for twelve years and then I broke my leg when I was
practicing. Two or three years later I was watching musical theater
dancing and I thought it was so beautiful, so I decided to learn.
I was eleven years old when I first performed for an audience. For the
music course I was in we played a concert and we sang. It was really fun
and I liked that. It was in the principal auditorium. There were a lot
of people, family, friends and others. The feeling was special. It was
amazing.”
When we suggest to Laura Blossom that she is one of those rare triple
threats, an actress, dancer and singer (and keep reading and you will
read more about this talented young woman), she says, “It is so
necessary if you want to work in a musical.”
She got to realize that dream a few years ago when she performed in the
musical stage production of Mary Poppins.
“It was my first musical and it was really amazing. It was so special,
because I really like the movie Mary Poppins and we played the
musical just like the movie. We played in a lot of theaters in Spain and
I really learned a lot. It was a challenge, because some songs were very
difficult to sing and to dance at the same time.
I was about to perform in a cabaret musical in 2020, but then COVID
started, so we couldn’t continue. When it was revived, I was involved
with another project,” she explains.
Other artistic ventures in recent months have included, “A few months
ago I performed at the Microteatro por Dinero as an actress and the
director of this theater talked to me about a festival. It (consists) of
micro concerts at the Microteatro por Dinero. My best friend, Edgar del
Prado, is a really good guitarist and I said we have to perform together
someday. We presented this show twice more already.
The rooms in a bigger (venue) become little rooms for fifteen minutes of
theater. Right here you have the audiences and you can see their faces.
It is very intimate. You have to repeat the shows seven times in an
afternoon. It is very good for training. Ten years ago the microteatros
in Spain were the pioneers. It is really interesting, because you can
watch two or three shows, because they are only fifteen minutes and you
can have fun with your friends.
Laura Blossom turned her attention to directing in 2021 and it was not
the first time she had done so.
She directed Un Marido de Ida y Vuelta at Teatro de las Aguas in
Madrid.
“After
working in theater for five years in Madrid and finding it very hard to
work, I decided to create my own theater company, so I can perform when
I want and direct and act. If I want to be on a stage that depends on
me. My theater company is called Icarus Actores.
Un Marido de Ida y
Vuelta is a
comedy by
Enrique Jardiel Poncela,
who is a very
famous Spanish writer. I wanted to direct a comedy, because during this
time with COVID and all of these crises, people want to go to the
theater to forget their problems. They want to laugh and have fun. I
directed this play with another theater company and then I decided I
wanted to direct it again (Editor’s note: She won an award for
directing the play the first time).
This play is very
funny and familiar and in Spain everybody knows
Enrique Jardiel Poncela,
so it makes
it very easy to sell tickets. I didn’t act in this play, I just
directed.
We wondered about what adjustments Laura Blossom needs to make when she
takes on the role of the director versus being the actress.
“It is easier for me as a director than it is for me to act. When I
watch my actors, I have a lot of ideas and I see the result that I want
to achieve. I like to direct my actors with a lot of details like what
does your character want to achieve or to hear this emotion you have to
play it (this way) or your character is saying this, but he is thinking
a different way. You apply psychology to acting. You do not only direct,
but you have to design the set, you have to do the (advertising) and you
have to take pictures of the play. You have to talk to the theater. When
you are starting, you are new and you don’t have a lot of money, you
have to do it all. It is very complicated, but I love it. I like to
create something with my bare hands. The people work hard and they trust
you. It is beautiful.
We were lucky, because there was this friend (who helped with a lot of
the costs),” she says.
Laura Blossom hopes one day to direct on one of Spain’s bigger stages
and for those who have not visited Madrid, the city has a theater
district that rivals Broadway.
Her uncle Balbino
Lacosta was once again a major influence in her life when it came to
directing, “My
uncle is my main mentor and when I had an audition he directed me, so I
learned to direct from him. It was very important for me. He is an
amazing actor and an amazing director. He works very hard.”
“I would love to do that, to act and sing in a musical. When I sing the
songs from musicals it like my heart flies,” she says.
Recently,
(December 2021), Laura Blossom appeared in the role of Uma, in
Samuel Beckett’s
Waiting
for Godot.
“We performed for three days and we sold out each time. The audiences
enjoyed the stories and lives of the characters. My character is a woman
who tells a story about her and her little child, but the child is
invisible. My character can see him, but nobody else can. The play was
performed at Umbral de Primavera, in the Lavapies quarter of Madrid,
Laura Blossom says.
“I have also been in commercials. Acting in commercials is very easy,
you just have to be natural. It is fun and amazing, she says.
When she is not acting, directing or in concert, Laura Blossom is a big
fan of the Spanish series Valeria, now streaming on Netflix.
“I did a course with the director of Valeria, Imma Torrente. She
was recording the second season of Valeria when I studied with her. It
was very interesting to learn from people who are working at the same
time and who are in the field.
I like the character that Paula Malia plays in Valeria, because I
think it is far from who she is. I like when an actor creates a
character that is so different that she transforms into a different
person.
When I was young and I watched series, I would think I hate the bad guy,
but then when you watch an interview with the actor you think, oh he is
so nice.
I like the series because there is an evolution in the characters and it
is both for the characters and for the actors. I also like the evolution
of the story. I look at the techniques used by the actors and the
director and I find it is interesting. I learn from that.
I like that in Valeria the main characters are women, because usually
the heroes in television shows are men. I also like that Valeria talks
about real stuff that you (encounter) in life, so I connect with the
themes that they talk about,” she says.
As for the final inspiration for Laura Blossom to pursue a career in the
arts it happened one night while singing the song “New York, New York,”
at a hotel in
Zaragoza, after
she had translated the lyrics to Spanish and changed the name of the
city to Madrid.
“I told my family and friends that I was going to Madrid and that I
wanted to live for art,” she recalls.
You can follow Laura Blossom on her official
Instagram page here.
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Actress
and singer Laura Blossom, may be someone you have not heard of yet, but
you soon will, because she is superbly talented in both of her career
choices and although we have not yet had a chance to watch her dance, we
understand that she is also an accomplished dancer. If we were casting a
musical, whether on stage or in film, we would have her in our cell
phone as someone to present to the producers and directors.