Blog 109!!! Summer Schooling for the last time!!!

Hey Everyone

Happy Thursday!

Happy Blog day. Apologies for not writing a blog last week it was chaotic with the summer school and so I thought it'd be better to write about it when I had more time!

So I'm gonna crack on cos there's a lot to fit in!

The journey back to Wales after the show on the Saturday night was really smooth (even if we departed 20 minutes later than scheduled because we had a power cut in the Theatre which resulted in a 20 minute show stop!)

Myself and one of the summer school staff Evan were singing all the way back to Wales! Crazy Welsh boys with hoarse throats when we woke the next morning!

The Sunday was just a day of final preparations and sorting through props and costumes before heading to my friend Aimee's house where we were all staying that week and we watched the closing ceremony of the Olympics. I'm pretty sure we all agree that there were some great parts and some not so great parts to the closing concert but I still enjoyed it and was very sad when they extinguished the Olympic flame! It's never gonna happen again in our life time - and the fact that it was so successful for London and TeamGB makes me feel so happy and proud and lucky to have been living in this amazing city during the whole thing! The whole world got to see just how incredible London is!

So Monday morning was the first day of West End In Wales - the musical theatre summer school I've been running since 2006 and the beginning of the final ever course!
It always starts the same way, me acting like an idiot to try and make the students feel comfortable and relaxed and to allow them selves the freedom to join in with all the new challenges they are faced with during the week.

By the time we finished the first morning session which includes a singing audition where each student has to sing in twos, we soon realised that it was possibly the best group of students we'd ever had! 74 hard working and committed 8-18 year olds who were an absolute pleasure to teach the entire week!

The week consists of rehearsals in singing, acting and many styles of dancing in preparation for the showcase which is performed twice on the last day of the course which always blows the audience away because the students learn an hours worth of material in just 5 days. That's 22 numbers in the showcase!
It's a tough week for them but that's the whole idea, it gives them an insight into professional training and the quick pace of a performers professional life!

We also do many improvisation workshops and confidence building sessions to ensure that no matter whether they leave the school at the end of the week desperate to be a west end star or just realising that they don't want to do it as anything more than a hobby - I give myself the responsibility of making them feel that life is theirs to do with it as they please and to work hard and be confident in everything they decide to do and to not let anyone persuade them they shouldn't do it- whilst all the while being realistic of course, there's no point hoping to be the next Elaine Paige if you cannot sing in tune!
It's basically a fun week and a celebration of a large group of youngsters who share the same healthy passion and interest towards an art form which is one of the most challenging and rewarding performing art forms that exists in my opinion. I would have cut off my arm to have the opportunity to do West End In Wales when I was in my teens and that is the exact reason  I have been running the course for 6 years!

The end of week showcase was the perfect ending to the summer school. I felt so proud to stand in front of all the students as they we're dripping with sweat at the end of each performance and simply say to their parents 'do you see how much your children can achieve when they are pushed and given the right guidance and support' - By that point in the week it is always one of the most exhausted moments of my working year but also one of the most rewarding! It's a humbling reminder to any successful performer where they've come from, what they've achieved, why we do it and how lucky we are to get paid to do what we love!

I wish every single person who has ever been involved in my summer school the very best of luck in all you do and remember to keep working hard and focus on determination and your goals and remember to let me know when you've achieved them!!!

Ambition never stops, no matter how successful one may become and that is the joy of being a self employed actor- the challenges just keep coming to hopefully fulfil your ever growing passion for what you do!

So once the summer school was done and I'd packed all the stuff away - which took twice as long as two of nieces were 'helping' me, otherwise known as trying on every costume and playing with every prop they could get their hands on! I didn't mind though, I just enjoyed some fun times with them and then had a big banquet of Chinese food with my family and chilled in my sister's garden until late!

I drove back to London on Sunday afternoon. I was so keen to just get back to a normal schedule where I only have one full time job to focus on and to try and allow chill out time. By the time I was driving through London the sun was blazing, my car windows were down, music was pumping and as I drove past Hyde Park it felt really good to be back in good old London town!

Sunday evening I met my friend who lives near by and we went for a walk and ended up randomly finding a Spanish tapas restaurant so we went in there and had some good food and a laugh before watching a film and then I went to bed and for the first time in a long time, I didn't set my alarm.

I naturally woke early on Monday but then fell asleep on my sofa for a couple of hours whilst This Morning was on the TV - I'm not afraid to say that I seriously cannot stand to watch Eamonn Holmes. Just my opinion!

I had a long swim in the afternoon and then saw my physio for a session on my voice to make sure it was ready to return to the show after a week of shouting and singing with all the kids! I then slept again in my dressing room for an hour.

It was good to be back at work on Monday and after the show I headed home and slept like a baby all night! I spent most of Tuesday in the gym (or at least that's how it felt). I could tell I hadn't been for a week because I nearly passed out and vomited at the same time from pushing myself so hard! I'm feeling determined to get back on form as I was before all the excess summer school work started!

Wednesday (yesterday) I spent the afternoon at the National Theatre watching the Shakespeare play Timon Of Athens, which my friend Craige's in! I really enjoyed it! Some incredible acting, particularly from Simon Russell Beale who plays Timon!

This morning I came into town early for a swim and then a rehearsal for West End Bares with Louise Dearman. We're singing a brand new song written especially for us for this event and we'll be surrounded by practically naked west end performers! Worth buying a ticket???...... I think so! And it's all for the charity TheatreMAD! It's a week on Sunday, September 2nd at Cafe De Paris in Leicester Square, central London. Two performances 9pm & 12pm don't miss it!

And that brings me to the present! Sitting in my dressing room having just had our 15 minute call for the matinee and I think my body is a little bit in denial about what it's got to go through today....twice!

Thanks for reading folks! Have a great week!

Keep Believing!

Sh-Boom!

Mark

BLOG 108!!! I Want To Enter The Olympics As Spiderman!

Hey Everyone,

Happy Thursday. I hope you're all keeping well. All I'm gonna say is GOLD GOLD GOLD! Great Britain are doing phenomenally well in the Olympics and I'm SO proud! But hey, I rabbited on about the games a lot in last week's blog so I'm gonna leave it there for today!

Last Friday I spent the day with my friend Caroline in Hyde Park (watching the Olympics live on the big screens). The atmosphere was amazing and the sun was blazing (that rhymes!) and we had a great few hours! Although when I got to the theatre that evening after catching up with a friend of mine who was visiting from New York I realised that by being patriotic in the park and wearing my TeamGB t-shirt I had pretty nasty tan lines and had very prominent lines from my T-Shirt sleeves on my arms. Needless to say I had to use quite a bit of make up to cover up Sam's dodgy tan in the first scene where I wear a white sleeveless vest. I proper burned my nose too! Silly!

After the show on Friday I headed home watched some Brothers & Sisters and then got to sleep. The end of last week seemed to go on forever! It was really tough.

I decided to combat the fatigue and generate some energy on Saturday morning by Swimming 50 lengths before my guitar lesson and my matinee! It worked until half way through the second half of act two then I crashed like a demon!
After some food and a sleep in my dressing room (with the Olympics in the back ground on the telly) I was geared up for the last show of the week. It ended up being full of laughter and good times (off stage of course) - mainly because in one section of the show my trousers split in the behind - from the top all the way down the centre seam which resulted in me having to do the whole of the subway station where the subway Ghost is teaching me how to move things with at least one hand holding my trousers up else they would have literally dropped down to my ankles. The whole of the cast were either in the wings or watching on the monitor and were very amused by my challenge that had arisen. I exited the stage, got into my dressing room and was rolling about on the floor with laughter, my dresser had to tell me off because I literally have about 90 seconds to get changed and she needed to give me new trousers! It made me delirious!!!
We also kept getting updates of all the gold medals we were getting in the Olympics which got the whole cast so excited, my second act on Saturday was inspired by Jessica Ennis! She is an absolute machine!!! She's a legend!

By the end of the show I had exhausted every ounce of energy in my reserve tank and gladly headed to my mate Sally's house to stay the night and within 45 minutes of my arrival I'd devoured a whole bottle of wine to myself and then I hit the hay!

Sunday was a day of lounging in jogging trousers with Sal and her mate and we just ate nice food and guess what we watched on the TV all day?! Yup you guessed it, the Olympics! Andy Murray played some amazing Tennis on Sunday and I was so pleased he got the gold in the men's singles!

Sunday evening I headed home and could feel a cold trying to get hold of me so I dosed up and went to bed (after doing lots of work on my summer school)

I woke Monday morning and felt really weak and quite unwell, but I never let an illness get the better of me if I can help it, so I dosed up and had lots of vitamin C and worked on my summer school all day and then headed for a swim and a steam before work.

I got to the theatre and it was great to do the show with Siobhan again as Molly. She had a two week holiday from the show and I really missed her. So it was a good show on Monday and it helped me get through by focussing my attention on Siobhan as oppose to feeling ill!

Tuesday I woke and forced myself to have a relaxing morning and get some rest before heading into town in the afternoon for a swim and to run a few errands!

By Tuesday evening I think my sickness was bored of me not allowing it to take hold so it gave up- I felt much better and the show was great with a superb audience!

I went to the cinema yesterday (after even more work on my summer school!) to see Spiderman. It was amazing! I want to be spiderman. I have decided to cancel the jobs I have lined up for after Ghost and go into a science lab and stay there until I work out how to become spiderman. I got a C in my GCSE science so I'll be fine!

After watching the film I met my brother from another mother Ben Stott who I worked with in Wicked. We had a good catch up over a smoothie and then I headed to work.

I got home last night and watched more Brothers & Sisters. Those actors are so inspiring!

And that brings me to Here Right Now (the moment not the song!) I'm about to head to buy some tile samples before going for a swim and then i might do  cheeky matinee.

I am not at Ghost all next week as I will be in Wales running my summer school WEST END IN WALES. We have 74 students and the best showcase planned so I am warning you now, next weeks blog might be considerably shorter than usual as the summer school week is always my busiest time of the year.

Have a great week folks! Enjoy the closing ceremony of the Olympics on Sunday. Have heard some of the great things that will be happening from some people involved and it's going to be amazing! I LOVE THE OLYMPICS (had to get it out there one last time!)

Keep Believing!

Sh-Boom

Mark

Blog 107! An Olympic inspired week!

Hey Everyone,

How are you all doing. What a great week it's been eh?!

Loving the atmosphere around town because of the Olympics. Although I have to say that although we were majorly warned that London was going to be extremely busy during the Olympics, it is actually quieter than usual. That's just in central London of course, I'm sure it's much busier on certain forms of transport and in the event venues. So many people were doubting London's ability to host an event as large as this and I think the organisers are proudly proving those pessimists wrong - I have to admit that I had worries about how the transport system would cope but it's been organised brilliantly, and actually it's so refreshing to be surrounded by happy patriotic people from all over the world instead of miserable London commuters who hate their jobs, hate their lives and hate everything else that exists!

Last Friday I spent 6 hours on summer school admin work and then went tile shopping for my new bathroom - (I know, thrilling eh?!!) it is actually REALLY difficult. It's such a massive decision. Bathrooms can look sexy or naff and I don't want mine to be the latter! Its all about the sexy!!!

Then Friday evening I headed to a mates house near by and there were 5 of us drinking and eating and enjoying the Olympic opening ceremony, but even more  enjoyable was the novelty of having a Friday night off. We felt like we had 'normal' jobs and worked 'normal' hours like 'normal' people.

I personally thought the ceremony was incredible. Danny Boyle who directed it is a genius. Every element of it was so well thought out and beautifully executed. The only slight disappointment for me was the vocals of most of the singing. I'm not naming names but lets just say there wasn't really anyone that stuck out as being good in my opinion, which I think is a shame and a poor representation of our countries great artists and musicians.

I thought I might be extremely hung over on Saturday morning after consuming a LARGE amount of alcohol the night before, but I woke up fresh as a daisy and went for a swim before my guitar lesson and then did the final two show day of the week.

Saturday night I watched a film with a mate. It was a horror film called Grave Encounters which I loved. It was pretty jumpy and scary but was done very well and not silly and unrealistic like most horrors are.

Sunday I spent nearly 10 hours working on summer school things to get on top of it all and after that I went for a walk to my mates house to get some air and we sat writing silly songs with my guitar and having a laugh.

Monday I did more office work before meeting the musical director of my summer school to work through all the music and then headed for a work out at the gym and a swim.

After the show on Monday night I headed home to start a new series of Brothers & Sisters. The actors on that show are amazing. Sally Field leads an incredibly talented cast and she herself is just phenomenal and heartbreaking! I always feel inspired when I watch that show, which is a good way to feel before going to sleep! 

Tuesday I woke early and left the house immediately after breakfast to make sure I gave myself a day away from summer school work because it was beginning to define the very meaning of my life!

I headed to the gym and worked hard for two hours including a nice swim in an empty pool.  After that I met a good friend of mine for a coffee and a catch up before chilling watching the Olympics on the TV in my dressing room.

After Tuesdays show I of course headed home to watch Brothers & Sisters again.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I decided to do an early gym session again. Pushed myself hard for 2 hours and then after a steam I met my friend who'd just retuned from a holiday.

I spent the afternoon chilling with a mate and after the show last night I headed home for a couple of hours work on West End In Wales. You'll be pleased to know there is not much more preparation work left to do at all for the summer school now so we're all systems go to start a week on Monday.
It's gonna be a great week's course and we're fully booked with 71 students attending.

Right, that was my week, I hope yours was good. I'm off for a swim and then a physio session before heading to work for the matinee.

Have a great week folks and keep supporting which ever country your from in the Olympics- those athletes are incredible and the amount of hard work they put in to their training to represent their country in the best possible way is mind-blowing, they certainly deserve our support!!!

Keep believing and love your lives.

Sh-Boom.

Mark

Blog 106! Proud to be British!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Thursday.

It is ROASTING in London this week. Hope you've had nice weather wherever you are as you're reading this.

It's been a good week, busy for me but again nothing exciting really other than being stuck behind a desk sorting LOTS of things for my summer school, and it's just typical that one of the busiest weeks I have as far as office work is concerned, the rubbish weather takes a major turn for the better! Anyway, I'm being so stereotypically British talking about the weather aren't I?!!!!

Talking of being British though, how excited are you about the Olympics? The opening ceremony is tomorrow night!!! I mean yeah, the whole thing is gonna send London into mayhem for nearly two months but I have decided to be patriotic and be proud that we are hosting the 2012 games. (until you read one of my tweets where I'm complaining about TFL).

I had a thought today, well it was more a flashback to when I was a teenage fatty in Wales and doing not much other than a lot of dance classes, singing lessons and eating chocolate bars, I would never have dreamed then that 12 years down the line I'd actually consider London to be my home and to be living here this year is amazing! I just thought I'd write that in here as a reminder to you all that none of us know what the future holds and we should be excited by it and not just plod through life! I wonder where we'll all be and what we'll be up to in 10 years time! Whatever you WANT to do, set a goal now to get there by 2022! Have faith and belief and you'll get there - if you need a little guidance read a book called The Secret!

Anyway, this week as I said has been mostly working on office work so the only things I need to write about really are that I allowed myself a real chilled out Sunday with a couple of friends and enjoyed a good few drinks - which resulted in a few comedy photographs being taken which many of you will have seen on Twitter! It was a great weekend.

Other than the gym and swimming a lot that's all that's really happened this week- oh we also had an extra matinee on Tuesday because we don't have a show on Friday night because it's the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It's a much harder schedule to perform the show this way because although it's still the same amount of shows within one week, doing an extra double show day is tough. Singing and shouting the show twice in one day really takes its toll on a person vocally and so 3 double show days in one week is extreme! However I'm also glad because I would not like to be working tomorrow night because I wanna be able to enjoy the footage of what I'm sure is going to be an immense opening to our games!

Anyway folks I'm off to have a session with my physio (or physic as my autocorrect on my iPad likes to call him) before heading in for two hot shows! I'll be dead sweaty! Get it! Ok enough with the jokes I'm off!

Have a great weekend and lets celebrate how amazing Britain is and support TeamGB and hopefully we'll get lots of medals!

Positive thoughts! Keep believing!

Sh-boom!

Mark

BLOG 105! A whole lotta summer school prep!

Hey Everyone,

Happy Thursday and happy blog day.

Hope you're all grand.

Is been a good week since my last blog. Nothing majorly huge to report but it's been a good week non the less.

Last Thursday night after the show I met with my agent and had a good catch up to chat about lots of things and then headed home to chill with a couple of episodes of Brothers and Sisters and then slept like a baby! I've now finished the 3rd season and still love it as a tv show. I'm gonna start on the 4th season next week I reckon.

Friday I think the jet lag had caught up with me. Going back to do two shows was a bit of a killer after a few days in NYC. Luckily all I needed to do was sit in front of my computer and watch video entries of kids performing to pick a winner for a competition which has been held recently on a welsh TV show called TAG where the winner gets to come along to my WEST END IN WALES summer school for free. There were lots of talented kids who applied and it took a while to get through all the videos. There were 5 who I thought stood out over all and one winner, so it was quite an inspiring afternoon. By late afternoon I was on my phone on standby ready to speak to them in the TV studio live on air to announce who the competition winner was. Once I had done that I went for a nice long swim at the gym and then did the show.

Saturday I needed to head into work early for a guitar lesson and then performed the matinee. I don't know what happened to me but I had somehow shaken off the tiredness and jet lag and managed to have loads of energy for both the matinee and evening show which resulted in me heading out for a good few drinks with some of the cast and then headed home for some nice food and a long sleep.

Waking up midday on Sunday was a rare treat. I felt rested and refreshed. Headed to do a big old food shop before working on more summer school stuff and then heading to my friend Callum's house for a Sunday roast, lots of ice cream and a good film! Perfect Sunday!

Monday morning I woke and after 4 hours work on West End In Wales I headed to the gym for a couple of hours and then went to work. The audience on Monday night were incredible! Really great crowd! We have Lisa Davina Philip paying Oda Mae Brown this week (she's the understudy) and she is bloomin marvellous! It's worth a trip to see Ghost this week just to see her! So funny!

On Tuesday I did more work on the summer school and then again I went to do a couple of hours in the gym. After the show I saw my agent as he was in watching again and then headed home.

Guess what I did yesterday? (Wednesday)...... Yup you got it I did a lot more work on the summer school - due to the fact that it's the last one this year I am doing everything I can to make sure it's the best ever, hence all the hard work!
I then headed in to meet my manager Rebecca for a coffee and a catch up before heading to work to chill out in my dressing room before doing the show.

Last night I wanted to watch a movie when I got in but I ended up being too tired and just fell to sleep like a little old man! Ha.

I feel nicely awake now though to go in and crank out two shows and love every minute of it. I can't tell you how much I love doing this show. Of course it is hard work and I shall be more than ready to move on in October when we finish but having just gone past our 6 month mark (Siobhan and I opened in the show officially 6 months ago to last Friday 13th July, which is weird as we opened on Friday the 13th too), I can honestly say that I'm really happy to have been a part of this amazing piece of theatre and urge you to try and see it before October 6th if you haven't already,  it's a really special show that is very different to anything you'll see in the west end right now, and anytime soon I imagine.

Anyway, that brings me to a close yet again. Thanks for reading as usual. Hope you all have a great week.

I'm off for a swim before the show.

Love your lives cos life is great and above all...Keep Believing!!!

Sh-Boom

Mark

BLOG 104! Empire State Of Mind!!!

Hi Everyone,

How you all doing? Happy Thursday.

I am pretty darn jet lagged today. I'm not sure why cos I had quite a restful day yesterday after I landed back from my trip to New York. Perhaps it's the thought of trying to energise my body enough to do two shows today that's proving a little overwhelming for my little (yet very intelligent) brain! :-) 

So it's been a busy ole week including a trip to the other side of the world for a few days which was fun.

Last Thursday evening I packed everything I needed to take with me to NYC on the weekend so that I was all set and could use Friday as a chill out day before I left, which I certainly did. I had a lazy morning before heading to meet my good friend Haley on her lunch break from rehearsals which was nice to catch up and then after that I headed to Leicester Square to check out what film I might fancy watching in the movie theeaytre (I've become very American since my trip!) I decided to book a ticket to see 'Friends With Kids' but had a good hour and a half to wait before the film start time so I crashed on the comfy sofa in the bar of the movie theeaytre and watched a video on YouTube which was a bit of a research video for a project I'm working on at the moment. 

'Friends With Kids' is a great film, very funny, very well written and very well acted. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. I left the cinema feeling like I wanted to find a friend to fertilise casually and raise a child with! I could just keep the kid in my dressing room while I'm on stage right?! ha. One day there'll be a bit more stability in my life to consider things other than being mainly busy with theeaytre stuff!  (You're never gonna call it a theatre again now are ya?!)

So after the film I headed home to have some nice food and tried to get an early night after watching some Brothers & Sisters. 

My wake up call was 6.15am on Saturday as I was being driven to Heathrow Airport at 6.50. I arrived the airport and headed straight to the lounge to shove my face full of as much of the breakfast buffet as possible before getting on the plane.

I arrived in New york and the weather just hit me like a tidal wave of hairdryers blowing as hot as they could on my face!….IT WAS HOT!!!

I checked in to my hotel which was just off Times Square and was on the same street as the theeaytre where Ghost is playing - I was like "of course I'm gonna feel like I'm at work on my week off!" haha. It looks great. I didn't see the show while I was over there. I might see it when I head back November time I reckon. 

I went straight to meet one of my best friends Becca who is in Spiderman out there after she finished her matinee - I walked three blocks from my hotel to her theeaytre and was drenched with sweat! HOT HOT HOT!!! 

We had some great sushi and spent the rest of the night chilling with Drinks which was great. It was 4am on my body clock by the time I got to bed but it was 11pm local time so that was a good time to retire to the land of nod.

Sunday I woke and wandered around with a friend of mine Jake and we had brunch, then just walked near the Hudson river and around Central Park which was great but I got some dodgy tan lines by the afternoon cos the sun was blazing and I was wearing a vest which goes really narrow at the back near my shoulder blades so I have a pretty curvy tan going on right now. Ha

In the evening I went for dinner and a couple of cocktails with my friend Stephen which was good. It was a really great mexican place with gorgeous food. I was stuffed by the time we finished. That night me and my mate Jim headed up the Top Of The Rock (the open air top level of the Rockefeller Centre) which I've done a couple of times before, but when you get a view of the New York City skyline from so high up it's a great moment to put the world to rights and clear your head so I am always keen to get up there! 

We then met Becca for a smoothie before getting an early night.

I woke on Monday morning and had to go to a meeting until lunch time and then spent the afternoon eating a MASSIVE pizza from the famous John's Pizzeria - they're famous because of their 'no slices' rule - I had a small pizza and I was defeated by it, I had to take two slices back to my hotel room which is SO not like me. If you are ever in New York and want good pizza, go to one of those restaurants.

After that I headed back to the hotel to chill before meeting Becca to go for a walk in the park. We walked miles without realising it. We walked uptown through the park and it was only when we exited onto the street that we saw we were on 95th street (which is a long way from Times square) - and as Becca lives on 96th we walked to her apartment where I serenaded her with her guitar for about 20 minutes before we set off on the long walk back to the hotel. The hotel was on 46th street so between going to and from Becca's apartment, we walked over 100 blocks! That's insane. We had a quick drink in the hotel bar before I sent Becca home cos I needed my sleep. I woke early on Tuesday as it was my last day there and I had a meeting from 9-11am. After that, myself, Jake and Jim went for some gorgeous cocktails in an Oyster bar downtown. They were called Cucumber Rickeys and were really tasty and refreshing. Gonna try and make them here soon!

So all that was left to do after that was head back to my hotel to shower & pack and then get in a car to JFK airport and fly the red eye (over night) flight home to London.

I had a good couple of (ridiculously strong) drinks in the club lounge and then a fair few more on the plane with the food which was amazing before transforming my seat into a bed and getting a couple of hours sleep.

It wasn't enough though because by the time the cabin crew woke me for breakfast, we'd only been in the air 4 hours and two hours sleep was not good as you lose 5 hours of your life on the return flight because of the time difference. So I felt like someone had stolen my nighttime from me but it was good to touch down in London yesterday (Wednesday) morning, get in the car home (whilst sleeping the whole way) and then climbing into bed for an hour or two more! Nothing beats your own bed eh?!

So the rest of yesterday was just chilled really. I popped to see a mate then drove to get some food before having a chilled night on the sofa and then hitting the hay nice and early to get ready for today's double show day! 

It's been an eventful week but a good one and I look forward to returning to New York again in November all being well for the 5th time.

Hope you've all had a great week folks. Keep smiling, keep loving life and as the song on my album goes - Keep On Believing! 

Sh-boom!!!

Mark

Blog 103! Driving me mad!

Hey  Everyone

Happy Thursday!

How you all doing? I am sitting in a lovely Italian restaurant in central London writing this as the matinee of Ghost is about to start! Yes that's right I have a week off on holiday which means I can spend today and tomorrow chilling out all day! I might even change location half way through writing this just because I have time to relax! Happy Mevans indeed!

It's been a very busy week since my last blog and a tiring one too so these two days are very much needed as I am flying to New York City on Saturday for a few days and want to be rested before being affected by Jet Lag.

So last Friday I was doing lots of work on my summer school and preparation for a busy weekend in Wales which I'll write more about in a little while. Then in the afternoon I had a swim then a physio session before heading to the theatre to pre record a press interview over the phone and then did the show.

Saturday morning I drove in to town so that my car was there for my journey home to North Wales after the show on Saturday night, then after some food I headed in to do the matinee. I had my good friend Aimee watching the show with her Mum and Mum's friend and then we went for food afterwards. The evening show was great, it was really nice to randomly feel like my voice wasn't really exhausted at the end of the week! I seemed to have extra vocal supply in some newly discovered reserve account which I managed to access so I went to town with the ole belting my tits off!

After the show Aimee and I exited the theatre as soon as we could to get to the car and get out of London as quickly as possible! We certainly managed it, we were on the M1 motorway by the time I'm usually just exiting the car park which was great......but then.....the gods of the motorways clearly decided it was not our night to get to Wales in a hurry! They had closed the motorway for a whole 4 junctions which resulted in them diverting ALL four lanes of busy traffic off a single carriage slip road, then for miles through a couple of small towns which had the MOST amount of traffic lights and junctions I have ever known. We were at a stand still for most of the time we were away from the motorway. It took two hours twenty minutes to get back onto the motorway and we were still 20 miles south of Milton bloody Keynes. When we set off our estimated time of arrival was 2am - I got to bed at 4.15am. The birds were tweeting in the trees as the sun was rising and there I was trying to get some sleep, 6 hours after finishing the show! I could have performed Ghost another two times in the time it took me to drive back!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that for the last 25 miles the petrol light was on in the car with nowhere to buy fuel so that was an added stress at the end of a long journey!

ANYWAY....enough moaning! I woke on Sunday and chilled during the day then put some petrol into the car from the stash my dad has on the farm for his quad bike and then drove to The Rhyl Pavilion Theatre for the night.

My first dance school The Adele Meads School Of Dancing were doing their show and the principal had asked me to present the awards and to sing a song which is why I headed home for the weekend. I was also signing copies of my new album as it was the first time in a long while that I've been able to get back to North Wales!

It was a great night and it was a real trip down memory lane for me seeing all the kids wear some of the costumes I would have worn over 10 years ago - when I was much shorter and fatter and spottier! It reminded me why I do so much work to promote youth theatre because I thank my lucky start that everything worked out for me as far as making the right decisions and getting the breaks I needed are concerned but for some young talented people they don't have a clue where to even begin when it comes to following their ambition to work professionally as a performer.

I decided that night that as this year will be the final year of my West End In Wales summer school, I have lowered the age limit down to 9. So the new age restrictions are 9-18 so spread the word folks and lets give those 9 year olds the opportunity to work with myself and west end stars for a week in August.

After the show I drove to my folks' place and was entertained by two of my little nieces who were thrilled that they were still not in bed at midnight. They were singing and dancing and acting like crazy animals and I loved it!

After a good sleep I woke up feeling a little reluctant to drive back to London but alas, after a breakfast with my wonderful sister I jumped in the car and drove back for 5 hours in the hideous rain and dangerous driving conditions listening to music blaring to keep me awake and finally reaching my place in London at 3pm. Instead of allowing myself to crash and burn on the sofa I quickly grabbed my swimming gear and went to swim away my stress before heading to work to do the show.

I went home on Monday night and boy did I need my sleep. I slept like a baby.....in my pants though, I don't wear a baby grow to bed! Neither do I have a dummy or a soft toy! Ok I'm gonna say I slept like a log instead! I slept like a wooden log!

Tuesday I woke up and had lots of work to do in my office at home before heading to the BBC Radio building in central London as I was performing a set of three songs at a media showcase along side Louise Dearman and a guy named Mike.

It was basically promoting my new album to radio, tv, press and media people in a chilled out environment with a very laid back acoustic feel to it. I had to do my set first as Ghost had allowed me to be late for work that day so that I was able to do the gig, so as soon as I sang my third song I grabbed my bag and legged it to the theatre in time to do the show.

After the show on Tuesday night I chilled watching a movie before bed and then woke Wednesday (yesterday) knowing I only had one more show to get through before having some time to chill. I did some shopping to update my wardrobe and then had some work to do at the theatre before doing the show then heading home to officially crash and burn!!!

I woke this morning and headed to get my hair cut and then had a physio session before heading to Vapiano where I am now, having devoured amazing food and I've just made plans to meet my friend Nathan at a cool place called The Riding House Cafe on Great Portland Street for a coffee! Nathan is a great friend of mine and is a technical genius! He bought me my cool new iPad case and this is in fact the first blog I have written on my iPad instead of on my computer! Good times!

That's me done typing! This time next week I will be performing in Ghost again having had a couple of chill out days and a few days in New York too! Plenty to write about next week I'm sure!

Have a great week folks! Thanks for reading as usual.

Keep believing

Sh-boom!

Mark