Hi Everyone,
Happy Thursday.
How you all doing on this fine day? I'm sitting typing this in my flat with a cup of tea and two hot cross buns and I can hear the birds going crazy in my back garden. Kind of a nice way to start the day.
I am looking forward to the show this afternoon because I have about 50 guests coming down on a bus from North Wales, all from my little village Llanrhaeadr. My Mum and Dad and a few other relatives will be in there with them too. Need to make it a good one after they've travelled all this way. I've had a text from them saying they're all enjoying the journey and they've just stopped for breakfast. That's impressive though eh? 4.5 hours each way to see Ghost The Musical. Love them all and am always so grateful to them for their support - they see everything I do!
So this week has been pretty manic. I feel like I haven't stopped.
Friday was 'Good Friday' which I decided to make 'Good Advice Day' which meant I was at my laptop for 5 hours posting blogs and videos and such to help aspiring performers get some sort of understanding about this industry and some tips and tricks which is all being hosted on www.WestEndInWales.com mainly under the 'advice' page. So check it out if you want to have a read/watch/listen.
I then had a head ache from concentrating and typing and staring at a screen for so long (I'm not used to that) so I headed into town for a swim before work to clear my head a little. Friday night's show was hard work,I mean it always is a lot of effort (in a good way) but I just felt really tired and had to reach to the depths to keep the energy going through to the end of the show. I did though of course but was more than happy to get to my bed that night!
Saturday morning I woke and had a steam at the gym before the two shows. My voice didn't want to play at all on Saturday so that involved me pulling out every trick in the book to get it to work, which luckily it did. I feel like I know my voice more than any other part of my body, but then it is also the most unpredictable part of my body and when you play a role that is as vocally demanding as this one I do feel a slight anxiety some mornings as to weather or not my voice is going to behave that day. Many times it's just mind over matter and when it comes to the evening when it's time to perfume it all works absolutely fine! It's all part of the responsibility of being a leading man and the sacrifices you have to make in your social life to protect the voice and to rest are definitely outweighed by the reward you get from playing such a thrilling role. I love it.
After the matinee I decided I needed to sit somewhere quiet and eat a nice healthy dinner before the last show of the week. So I headed to Wagamamas, ordered a nice ramen soup type dish and opened my new book 'The Hunger Games' (which has taken over my life - but I'll chat more about that in a second). I was literally in there about 4 minutes and then I hear "Hey, Mark, sut wyt ti?" ('Hey Mark, how are you' - in Welsh). It was Owain Arthur who is currently playing the lead role in One Man Two Guvnors at The Haymarket theatre. (The role that James Corden originated and is now playing on Broadway). He is from North Wales and we ended up having a good chat over dinner - so much for keeping quiet. But then I really didn't mind 'cause it's always a pleasure chatting to people from North Wales. Makes me think of home a lot. What's better is the fact that I quite often casually bump into people who I can speak Welsh with in London. Amazing!
I then went to the supermarket to stock up on loads of nice food for my lazy Easter Sunday so that I wouldn't have to leave the house the next day, so after finishing the last show of the week on Saturday night, I headed home, had some nice food and a brew and got straight to bed and watched 'The Voice' on catch up which was great.
So I woke on Sunday at 11.30 - I hadn't set my alarm and it was absolutely amazing knowing I had had about 10.5 hours sleep. I really needed it.
I then had a nice breakfast and listened to a radio interview on Radio Cymru (Welsh Radio Wales) that I'd pre-recorded a few months back and then I opened my book and chilled out on my bed reading until I got a little cold so I had a plan - I put on the heating, and whilst the flat warmed up a little I jumped in the bath to read another two chapters - now laying in the bath is something i never do. I don't usually enjoy it and start to feel short of breath etc because of the heat of the water and can literally sit in there about 10 minutes and then I have to get out. But because I really wanted to have a full day of pure relaxation I wanted to let me body soak in some muscle relaxant stuff, so I made sure the water wasn't too hot and I placed a towel at the end to rest my head on and read two chapters of The Hunger Games.
My god this book is amazing! Loads of people have been telling me for a while how great it is and that the film that has just come out is AMAZING too so I thought, right I'm gonna buy all three books in the trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Well I have been well and truly hooked since the end of the first chapter. I am really enjoying it and it was really great to actually have time just to read for a change instead of it being something I manage to cram into a train journey.
After my bath I just wanted to keep reading, so… the plan continued. I have an oversized armchair in my lounge which is really comfortable (you can fit two on it) so I turned it around to face the window and the radiator that it sits in front of, loaded the window sill with drinks and snacks and literally sat sprawled on the chair in really comfy clothes. I was there from before 2pm through to 9pm - 7 hours of reading, dozing off, snacking and chilling. It was one of the best Sundays in a long time and the time seemed to pass really slowly too which never happens for me!
By Sunday evening I was half way through the book and decided to stop because a mate of mine was coming round for some nice dinner that I was cooking so we ate and then decided to watch a film. We watched The Adjustment Bureau which has Matt Damon in it. It finished and I couldn't decide whether or not I thought it was good or slightly disappointing. It ends with a bit of an unsatisfying resolve in my opinion. After a whole film of a really great concept I kind of feel like the writer couldn't think of a way to end it so what he decided to do was a real cop out and I felt cheated. So I don't think I'll recommend that one.
Monday morning my car arrived. I have bought myself a car so that I can use it as a run around near me here in London for when I need to go house hunting as I'm buying a second property soon and also if I need to drive home to North Wales (or anywhere else too obviously) I'll have it sitting outside waiting for me and I won't be restricted to trains and public transport. So I went for a little drive in it and then headed into London to go to the gym and then do some recording work in the studio before heading into the theatre for the show. I am doing lots of work in the studio at the moment but I'm unable to reveal what it is just yet. It's all great though and it will all be announced soon enough.
After the show on Monday night I of course headed straight home to continue with The Hunger Games.
Tuesday I woke up and spent most of the day working on things for my best friends Hen Do which is a week on Sunday which I've been organising for a while and then went back to the studio to do some more work and then headed in for the show.
Yesterday (Wednesday) I carried on working on some hen party stuff before heading into the gym - I was suppose to be in the studio again but didn't want to push things too much vocally so gave myself some 'me time' to run, cycle and swim at the gym. For the first time ever I became one of those people who reads whilst their on the exercise bike. I've never really understood it but it is such a great distraction - by reading The Hunger Games on the bike I burned an extra 230 calories without even realising. Great stuff. I'll probably read the next two books of the trilogy on the exercise bike because I get equaslly as engrossed in it as if I were sat on a comfy chair in a quiet corner of a Starbucks - only instead of munching on a muffin you get rid of your muffin top!
After the gym I met up with a couple of mates and their families from North Wales which was nice, yet again to speak Welsh in central London. They then watched last night's show and I saw them afterwards for a quick 10 minute hello before heading home to bed, reading a bit more and then getting a good night's sleep. I have one chapter left of the book (which is a good job because I have made plans to go and watch the film version in the cinema tomorrow with a good friend of mine, Caroline) which I'm going to read on the train into town now as I have a meeting before the two shows.
Have a great day folks and a great week. I fully intend to, so make sure you do too!
Thanks for reading.
Keep believing
Sh-Boom
Mark
