Hey Everyone,
Happy Thursday.
Hope you've all had a fun week in the sun (providing it's sunny where you are, if not, hard luck!!!). I've really enjoyed this week, lots of catching up with friends and lots of fun times.
So last Thursday was a painful day - literally! I landed a little funny in one of the physical parts of the show and I bruised my knee and hurt my foot pretty severely. It was during the matinee which meant that the evening performance was very uncomfortable and involved me hobbling around like 'Wonky Donkey' - Lots of you won't remember what that is but Ant & Dec the T.V presenters used to present SM:TV Live every Saturday morning years ago and there was a game show on it called Wonky Donkey and they had a stuffed donkey which only had one leg - well that's what I was like in Thursday night's show! (perhaps a slight exaggeration!) Basically the whole of the ball of my right foot was black and swollen. I hobbled home after the evening show and made sure I used plenty of Arnica cream to sooth the swelling and bruising. I woke early the next day as I had a meeting and then I headed straight to my physio so he could check my leg out - by the way whenever I type physio my spell check changes it to psychic, really random but very apt for Ghost!
He took me straight to get assessed by a chiropractor who checked it out and said if the swelling doesn't subside in a couple of days that I would need an X-Ray as she said it was a suspected stress fracture! Just what you need to hear a couple of hours before you go to perform the same part of the show that caused the injury in the first place. But luckily I have been very careful since and it's on the mend and I can almost walk normally again.
For my opening night of Ghost a friend of mine gave my a voucher for a place called Thai Square Spa in London. It was for a purifying hand detox "to aid my damaged hands from putting them through solid doors 8 times a week" - a very sweet idea!!! So after my physio session I headed to have the treatment. It was amazing. They worked my hands, my arms, my face and my head and it was one of the most relaxing things I've ever experienced. It was suppose to be a 45 minute treatment but for some reason the guy must have decided to carry on because I fell fast asleep during it, and then I woke up, had the chinese herbal tea he gave me as part of the detox and then I looked art the clock and I had been in there an hour and 26 minutes - which left me with 4 minutes to get across central London, grab food and get to my guitar lesson! Needless to day I was a good 10 minutes late! So much for a relaxing detox - I was a sweaty mess once i'd hobbled my way from the spa to the theatre!
I had a great guitar lesson. Funnily enough for the last couple of weeks I have been working on 'Here Comes The Sun' which happens to be the first single off my good friend Louise Dearman's album. That CD is gonna be amazing so make sure you get a copy when it's out! Her album launch is on May 13th! Get your tickets if there are any left.
Surprise surprise I'm sitting on the train and there is a woman making really weird noises with her throat. She sounds like a frog going ribbet ribbet - Why do I ALWAYS end up sitting near them on the train, particularly when I'm writing my blog?!?!?!
Saturday morning I woke early to fit in 50 lengths of the pool before work and then headed in to have two good shows. I met with a friend who I haven't seen for some time after the matinee and then went to the pub with the cast after the evening show to celebrate the arrival of the weekend! It was a lovely day full of socialising!
Sunday was a great day. I didn't have ANY plans so I woke up and went for a walk to see my friend Aaron who has a really cute black Jack Russell puppy which we took for a long walk in the sunshine and grabbed some lunch too. I then returned home to have a couple more friends come over for a coffee and they brought Carrot Cake! And then in the late afternoon I had another friend head over for T.V and pizza! Good times! It was really nice not having to stick to a busy day or a schedule!
Monday morning I woke to do some household chores and then headed to the gym before meeting my buddy Paul who I worked with in Wicked last year. It was great to see him and then I met up with another 5 people from the Wicked company, Michelle, Jackie, Charlotte, Gemma from the cast and James who works in the wardrobe department. We used to get together in between shows every matinee day to eat chicken - we were known as 'Chicken Club'. So Monday afternoon was our chicken club reunion which involved grabbing some food and then wandering down to Trafalgar Square to sit in the sunshine! It was great to see them all and laugh lots!
This weather has been amazing eh? I'm loving it - although it's probably the only summer we will get. Haha.
Tuesday I had to work on quite a few office things at home and then I did a TV interview in my dressing room about the show before meeting my friend Lucie from my college days (we've also worked together lots since then too!). We sat in the sunshine with an iced tea reminiscing over good times and catching up good and proper! I then hit the gym for a good hour before heading to work to do the show. I was really tired after Tuesday night's show so headed straight home as soon as I possibly could!
Wednesday (yesterday morning) I got up and was going to chill all day until my rehearsal at work at 3pm. But then my personal trainer text me saying "everyone is cancelling their session today (because of the sun) so I have a free slot if you fancy it" - so of course, Mevans here went to the gym! My PT had lots of time so we did an hour and twenty minutes which was tough and then I carried on a little longer before having a swim. I then headed to my rehearsal which was only 45 minutes long and then the majority of the cast went to sit in the sun which was amazing! Love working with this company!
I then went to meet my best friend and her fiance and her mum for some food before they watched the evening show! It was lovely having them in the audience.
I'm now finishing this up whilst typing in my dressing room as I got off the train to have a quick steam at the gym before meeting my 'brother from another mother' Ben Stott for a quick catch up as I've not seen him for a while. We worked together on Wicked and had dressing rooms next door to each other so I miss seeing him every day but this morning was nice, just being able to chill and catch up in the blazing sunshine! Then I came into work to do a quick photograph for an online ticket company who are celebrating the fact they've sold over £1,000,000 worth of Ghost tickets! - And that's just one company. Proves how popular the show is eh?! Ghost celebrated it's 1st Birthday yesterday. It's a whole year since the first performance in Manchester last March, and the show has recently been nominated for 5 Olivier awards including Best New Musical. All of the above makes me feel very happy, proud and privileged to be part of such a successful production!
I'm now finishing this up in the interval of the matinee so that I can head out to get some sun once the show's come down. I'll post it later this evening!
Tomorrow I am releasing a blog that is very unique. Basically, for the past few years I have always been asked the question 'what advice would you give to people who want to follow in your footsteps?' from so many aspiring performers. So the blog I am sending out tomorrow is about 3 pages long, full of all the advice I could possibly think of for how to make the most out of your training and how to be prepared to work in this industry which can, the majority of the time be very tough and competitive!
If you are a student, or have a child who is in training or know someone who is in training then make sure you sign up to the mailing list on the link below or on the news page of my website so that you receive the blog tomorrow! I am only sending it out to the people on the mailing list at first so make sure you're email address is on there! I have had it proof read by 3 separate people who consider it very valuable and inspiring advice! It's one of those 'trust me I've been there, seen it, bought the T-Shirt and learnt from some mistakes" type things so I hope you find it helpful!
Here is the sign up link: http://t.opsp.in/1BYNh
Have a great week folks!
Keep positive and as always - believe!
Sh-Boom!!!
Mark
