Hey Everyone
Happy Thursday.
Hope you're all feeling good today and ready for a great weekend! I have a a good week since the last blog.
Thursday was all about the two shows really. I had lots of friends watching the matinee and then I saw them afterwards for a quick hello before the second show.
Friday was just a full day of silence basically for my voice. Really got in to the second Hunger Games (finally- it took a while to get going) and so I enjoyed reading that. I had a vocal massage and that's about it.
Saturday I woke and headed in to town to have a nice brunch and read more of my book before the matinee and then in between the shows I had a catch up with a couple of friends and a play through of some songs I needed to learn for a couple of things which was good. After the show on Saturday I headed home and then drove over to a mates house to watch a film and chill out. I stayed over there and just had a lazy day all day Sunday. Watched Brothers & Sisters, ate nice food, watched 'Despicible Me' the animated film but the DVD kept jumping so we saw an hour of it and had to use our imaginations to fill in the gaps. Still funny though. My mate then cooked an amazing roast dinner before I headed to a wedding reception in the evening which was a couple of hours away in the car. It was a friend of mine who I did Rocky Horror Show with who was getting married and she looked amazing. The whole venue and reception was incredible. I had a really nice night and was great to catch up and enjoy time with good friends and see two people so happy on their wedding day!
I then drove home and really enjoyed some alone time in the car with music blaring and very little traffic on the road. There's something almost therapeutic about driving I feel sometimes, especially at night. I am heading home to North Wales this weekend and am looking forward to finishing the show on Saturday night and then jumping straight in the car and driving for 4 hours to North Wales for my Sunday Funday workshop which I'll mention shortly.
I got in after the drive home Sunday night and actually stayed up until about 4am watching some YouTube videos and doing some online research for a project that I'm working on at the moment. I then got to sleep and woke at 9am. I decided that I too would treat myself to a 'normal' style bank holiday Monday - and by normal I mean like the people who don't have to work, I did go to work to do the show in the evening obviously but I allowed myself to lay in bed and read in the morning and then have some breakfast then go back to sleep for a couple of hours before then heading to the gym for a run and a swim and a steam, which I really enjoyed. It set me up good and proper for a good show on Monday night and it was nice to feel like I had a bit of a lazy bank holiday!
Tuesday I woke early as I had to head into town for a meeting at midday before then going to the gym for a swim and hitting the studio to record something. I have been working a lot in the studio over the past few weeks and I think Tuesday was potentially my last day! I certainly hope so because all this extra vocal work is tough when doing a job like Ghost.
After that I went to my dressing room, lay on my sofa for a couple of hours reading and watching some property programmes on TV. There are so many on the box at the moment aren't there?! At every hour of the day there is a property programme on some channel or another. Not that I'm complaining. I'm looking to buy another flat at the moment and it makes me inspired and gives me ideas when I watch those programmes.
After the show on Tuesday I headed home silently for a good sleep.
I woke on Wednesday morning (yesterday) and went to meet my manager for a meeting and then I had physio before going to work to be a part of the press launch for the new production of Ghost The Musical which is opening in Holland in September. We met the 4 principals who are taking on the roles who are all lovely and we did lots of pictures and interviews to celebrate a new production opening this year! It was fun!
After that I sat in my dressing room for a couple of hours working on things for my workshop this weekend. The company I run, West End In Wales which is primarily a theatre website with lots of information for aspiring performers - but was initially set up six years ago as a musical theatre summer school in North Wales which has been held annually since 2006 (this August is the final summer school). However one of the new things we introduced this year were our Sunday Fundays.
This Sunday will be the last of the Fundays for this year and will be the best one so far. It's basically 4 hours between 12-4pm for people aged 10-18 to spend time with me, my assistant director Aimee Davies and experienced actor Gareth Aled to have a very relaxed fun afternoon of acting, singing and dancing but most importantly the chance to hang out with us, ask any questions about our lives, the industry, where to train, what it's like as a professional performer, we'll be working on vocal technique, script work, direction, movement, accents! All this just for £10.00.
So head on down to the Pavilion Theatre in Rhyl this Sunday from 12-4pm for a great afternoon. You don't need to book, you don't need to be Welsh, you don't need to be experienced, just turn up and bring your friends. The more the merrier to join in the fun! It's not very often you get the opportunity to be in a room full of people who you don't really know very well but you do know that they all share the same interest and inspired passion for performing or for theatre in general which is why I set it up in the first place!
After I worked on all that stuff I did the show. The audience were great and it was nice to know that the Dutch cast and press were in watching the show. They really enjoyed it and are very much looking forward to getting started on their own production which has it's premiere night on September 9th.
After the show last night I came straight home and headed to bed as I was well and truly shattered.
Today is going to be a good day I can feel it.
Hope you've enjoyed reading folks. Thanks for your support as always. By the way I've had a few people tweet and message me about fan mail. I am still (4 months later) waiting for printed pictures from Ghost to come through and when they do I will reply to you. If you sent me a letter to the stage door, please be safe in the knowledge that providing it was addressed to me it will definitely have arrived and I will have it in my room and will reply as soon as possible.
Have a great week everyone.
Keep believing!
Sh-Boom!
Mark
