Hi Everyone,
Happy Thursday, but more importantly…..HAPPY ST DAVID'S DAY!!! I am wearing my Welsh Rugby shirt (EVANS 1) - with pride today (thanks Team Evans for buying it for me!) I'm heading into town before these two shows to try and find some Welsh Cakes to take in for the company. It's stunning weather this morning. Good day ahead I can tell!!!
It's been a really good week since my last blog including a great press night for Ghost.
So last Friday was a busy day. I got up and did lots of office work at home before heading for a good gym session. I then went to view two hotels which I was considering for my friends Hen party which i'm organising. I'm sorting a very civilised affair without the trashy vail, L plates and Dildos. Just lots of champagne, good company in a nice location….which I'm yet to find. Neither of those hotels where what I had in mind so they were a bit disappointing.
After that I had to head into the theatre to rehearse with one of our new ensemble members Scott who was on for his understudy role of the Subway Ghost for the first time, and because it was their first week he hadn't had any chance to run through anything properly so we spent an hour on things and then I met my friend Gareth who worked for me a few times at West End In Wales, and we had some nice food before i headed back to the theatre to do the show. Scott did and amazing job as the Subway Ghost, really strong performance. The new cast are so incredibly talented, all of the swings were on in their first week of being in the job (which is rare) and they all did an amazing job!
Friday night I headed home and was really in need of sleep! Saturday was a really great day. I felt full of energy and ready for two shows. I always find that if I have a productive morning and I accomplish lots of little errands and chores it sets me up really well for the rest of the day - do you find that? It's weird, the busier I seem to be the more extra things I can get done, it's all about the frame of mind you're in I suppose.
After the matinee Siobhan and I went to Nandos for some chicken. We both wanted a simple chicken in pitta bread, however Siobhan had one of those loyalty cards where after 3 stamps you get a free 1/4 chicken, after 6 you get a 1/2 chicken and with a full house of stamps you get a free whole chicken. So I went to the counter and this was the conversation between myself and the lady serving me:
ME: "Hiya, I have this card but we don't want a whole chicken so could we maybe just use it to get some money off our 2 chicken in Pitta?"
LADY: "No it has to be whole chicken"
ME:"Ok but we don't want that much meat, we won't eat it all"
LADY: "Has to be whole chicken"
ME: "Ok well how about you do one chicken in pitta for my friend and I'll just use the card to get a free quarter chicken then?"
LADY: "No, has to be whole chicken"
ME: "But surely it makes more financial sense for you to let me have LESS chicken than what I'm entitled to? No?"
LADY: "No sir, has to be whole chicken"
ME: "Ok then I'll have half a chicken then, how about that - maybe you could have the other half for your tea?"
LADY: "A whole chicken sir, has to be whole chicken!"
ME: "Well then I'll have a whole chicken please."
LADY "Which spice?" …………
I won't lie to you, i did finish the whole chicken and left looking like a heavily pregnant lady, but how silly is that? You want a quarter of you free prize but you have to take the whole thing!
Anyway…..back to life outside of Nandos - Saturday night it was really nice to have a few drinks at the pub with the cast and then I headed home for way too much cereal - yet again I looked like a woman who's waters could break any minute! The return of Milk Mark and his moobs!
Sunday was lovely I had a lay in and then headed into watch a couple of really quirky pieces of theatre as part of the Old Vic Tunnels theatre festival which was held for the last three and a half weeks in the tunnels and offices underneath Waterloo station. We saw a half hour play which was a two hander which we enjoyed and then went into an interactive play which lasted an hour, which was basically a members club/pub set that the audience just sat in on as if they were just at their local. Then the three actors just acted around us and whenever a member of the audience used one of the interactive pieces of set, for example put on the juxe box or potted a snooker ball or rang the bar bell or pressed the button on the condom machine the whole place would go into flashback mode where images would project onto screens and the three actors would go into some scripted dialogue revealing bits of their past which assisted the return of the memory of one character who suffered from amnesia. It was a really interesting and very quirky piece of theatre and I really enjoyed it. We then went for a nice dinner and then I headed home to watch the film 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' which I thought was great. Tilda Swinton is a great actress.
Monday I woke and had a nice chilled morning watching the first couple of episodes of the second season of Brothers & Sisters and then I headed into the gym before checking out another hotel for my friends Hen Party and then popping into the theatre to rehearse with Rebecca who is the new understudy for Molly because she was on for the first time for Monday night's show.
There is a guy who's just sat to my right on this train who thinks it's ok to read this over my shoulder which really winds me up, so….. to you, dear man, let's avoid any confrontation and just let this be the last thing you read. ok?! Now turn your nosey head away! Many thanks!!!
After rehearsing with Rebecca I had a meeting with my website designer who is completely reworking my website which will be launched in a couple of weeks - new pictures, new look and new information and material. Looking forward to that being done!
Rebecca was great in the show on Monday night. You would never have known it was her first time in the role. It was a pretty special night because she and I went to the same secondary school in North Wales (many moons ago) and she was also my special guest on my 'An Audience With Mark' programme which we filmed in November and is shown on T.V a week on Saturday (March 10th) - so it was lovely to play opposite a fellow welsh speaking Welshie!!! Although of course I missed my bunny Siobhan too!
I got home Monday night and cooked a massive pot of chilli and then worked on some office stuff for WEST END IN WALES until 3.15am.
Tuesday was a majorly productive day. Got lots of stuff done and found time for a swim and physio session before heading to the theatre for press night!
I had to lay down for half hour before warming up because I had bad stomach cramps which were bringing me out in sweats - just what you need before performing the show for an invited audience of media people and industry professionals.
The show went really well. The atmosphere was amazing and the audience were great! After the show finished, Siobhan and I went into my dressing room and just hugged and laughed constantly for about a minute because we both felt so pleased and happy to be playing these amazing roles!
The party afterwards was great. To be honest I don't usually enjoy those sorts of events where you end up having to talk to a load of people you don't know, about a load of rubbish you don't wanna be talking about, but Tuesday's party was great. Had a few glasses of champagne and chatted to some great people and the night ended with a nice bit of food in soho before heading home for a good night's sleep!!!
Yesterday (Wednesday) I was a little tired after a manic day the day before but headed in to town in the afternoon for a meeting about an exciting project that's in the pipeline which is Ghost related and I can't wait to tell you all about it soon.
Siobhan was still unwell yesterday and I think getting through the press night performance whilst still feeling under the weather was too much so Rebecca was on again last night for her second show. Again she did a great job. Want my bunny to get well though!!! My whole dynamic changes at work without Siobhan being there! Weird! Still bloody love it though!!!
Which brings me to right now - just getting off the train to find some Welsh Cakes……
So I got off the train to find some Welsh Cakes but failed miserably. I tried a Sainsburys, a Tesco and two M&S' and there were none to be found! Gutted. So I decided to buy the entire company some Colin The Caterpillar chocolate rolls and they can just think of Wales while they eat them! Good times!!!
CYMRU AM BYTH!!!
Have a good week. Thanks for reading! Keep believing!!!
Sh-boom!
Mark
