The Duck Stranglers of Janada.

As all of you know, I'm studying Performance for Stage and Screen at Sheffield Hallam University. (DUH?!) Well, many of those who teach me have connections to the real acting world, from the director of Ghost The Musical to Jarvis Cocker. Around two months ago, I got the opportunity to audition for the biggest role of my life. And I got it. This is my diary from the amazing week I spent working with John Godber, Rob Hudson, William Ilkley, Neil Sissons, Luke Scott and Kyle Williams for the world premier of John's new play 'The Duck Stranglers of Janada' on The Crucible Main Stage for the International Student Drama Festival. (I know that's long winded, just me blowing my own trumpet.)

On Monday, we met. I have never been more nervous walking into a room knowing there were two professional actors, an award winning playwright, a highly experienced director and a musician who holds two gold records for his music. But the moment we sat down around a table and read the script, I felt so confident. Also, opening it and seeing my name printed really made me smile.

The rest of the week was almost a blur of intense rehearsals. It was incredible to see the two guys who have been doing acting for years really show off what they know. They were so helpful too, although they may have got slightly sick of my constant asking of questions. William Ilkley later confessed he went to Rose Bruford with Gary Oldman, my idol. I almost fainted. Everything from their stage presence to their ability to speak a fluently strong Eastern European accent upon first read through inspired me. I feel privileged to have shared a stage with them. John Godber is one of the most intellectual people I've ever spoken to and his passion for what he believes in is obvious. He'd speak and I'd instantly feel connected. The greatest thing is when I was 16 and studying my GCSE's, it was John's play 'Shakers' which got me an A and into college, which lead to my degree and to my position right now. Crazy when you think about it. It was so amazing to see myself progress in just four days from a basic knowledge of the script to a thorough understanding. I sure hope I did John proud.

The performance took place on Friday and being the typical student I am, the moment I was back stage I snapped away on my phone everything I could to do with The Crucible. Here is me and fellow student Kyle Williams stood on that very stage. I felt the greatest sense of pride wearing THAT hoodie, standing on THAT stage and representing Hallam.

Stage Right. My view for the vast majority of the performance. You couldn't see faces past the first three rows, which helped with my ever growing nerves.

With half an hour to go, Maddie the stage manager was getting more anxious. I, on the other hand, was just happy to be there. Look at my smiley face.

Walking down the Vom, I found this. I think it's so arty, I love it. The scribbles had so many notes on, from rude drawings to Hamlet quotes and the usual dated signatures. If I had a pen I would have happily written on "Leah was here, 29/06/12"

And here is the only performance still I could manage to grab, courtesy of Assistant Director Elliott Brown. In the background you can see William Ilkley, practising his Russian accent ready for show time.

The one memory I love was looking up from the stage, stood at the lectern and feeling myself shake from nerves and seeing my Nana, who had spontaneously turned up to support me, smiling. I instantly dropped my nerves and just felt into the performance. It was wonderful. Walking off the stage into the wings, I almost cried and instantly hugged everyone for doing such a grand job. I will never forget that moment for a long time. After, I sat on the stage and answered questions on the whole experience. One of my favourite lecturers asked "What was it like to work with such a batallion of professionals?" I simply said "Unreal." I think that summed up this experience perfectly.