London Previews

Well we have now done our 3 London previews at The Pleasance: Islington , and despite the inevitable small issues the show is in brilliant shape, I will post more when I get back home in Manchester but needless to say I am actually getting excited about Edinburgh now!

Lines, Lines, Lines

I love being an actor, it is something I always wanted to do!

But why oh why should the art of learning lines be so hard? I wish I was of the sort that can pick a script up and have the lines down in a couple of hours, but I have found over the last few years that I have to put in so much effort and time to learn the lines.

Of course the end result is always worth it, no actor likes to be on stage and be in the position of forgetting what their next line is, or what they have to do next.

As soon as someone creates a matrix style downloading device the better!

A quick life update!

Sorry fellow Bloggers and readers, I have seemed to let this side of my life down a little, but do not fear! I am still here and hope to fill you in very quickly about what is going on in my life and what is too come!

1) I have now left Christ's Hospital where I was Actor & Director in Residence and moved back to Manchester

2) I have just finished a tour of 'Nothing to Hide' playing several roles for Altru Drama, the same company I worked on 'Evening with Gary Lineker' with. The show was designed for Year 7's and gave them an insight into being a victim of crime and the safe use of Facebook, I had an awesome time and met some crazy kids throughout our adventure. Much love to Joe Simpson (What a fab director) Kate Gorst (A fab boss to work for and a mate for life) Lisa Mather (what a great actress - good luck eating dog ;op ) and Faye McLoughlin (who was a fab if not annoying sister...just don't go on the motorway with her!)

3) I am currently working on a world premier of a new show called 'Bright is the Ring of Words' by Jeffrey Mayhew (Who also co-stars) It is being directed by award winning playwright Julian Garner and will be at The Edinburgh Festival this year. We will be performing at Below one of the more intimate venues at The Pleasance Courtyard. The show will cost just 10 small pounds of your hard earned money and will be performed every day of the festival (apart from the 17th August...even we need a day off every now and then.) at 3:25pm.

4) If you can't make the festival or are in the southern hemisphere then why not see the show in London on the 14th/15th/16th July at 7:30pm at The Pleasance: Islington.

5) I will keep a rehearsal dairy about the show on here so do please keep reading, and I promise to keep it updated...honest.

6) Finally just two days ago I found out I had got my first Pro Panto gig, and although it is not in the role I would have loved (The Dame) I am still really excited to be involved and can't wait...I can let you know that the Panto is Dick Whittington and stars Rowetta (from The X-Factor and former member of The Happy Mondays) as Queen Rat, Andy Scott-Lee (Pop Idol, Hear'say and brother of Lisa Scott-Lee from Steps.) The production runs at the Grange Theatre in Northwhich, Cheshire from the 10th December until the 3rd January. Visit http://www.halleproductions.com/ for more info and to book your tickets!

The Bill Promo

As promised this is the promo for The Bill - which I filmed and blogged about earlier! Enjoy!

Ooooops!

Well I think the 1st thing to do is apologise, as it has been too long since I last blogged on here!

Several things have happened since I last posted

1. The production of PAN - A Musical which I co-wrote with Adrian Bawtree and directed went really well, despite having to step in last minute and play the role of Captain Hook, It received great feedback from the people who came and saw it, which is always great. We still have a few rewrites to sort out but it looks like it may have legs to go further!
2. I have now moved back to Manchester where I have had some ups and several downs, but It's great to be around old friends, and I just love the Manchester Theatre scene, there is always something going on!
3. I have had several auditions, some went well, some horrendous, but that's life...The promo ad for The Bill got aired and can still be occasionally seen on ITV 2. (I'll try and get it posted on here!)
4. This week I am auditioning Actors for the tour of Alice in Wonderland which I am producing, so I am excited about that and will keep you posted on the progress in the week!

Well that's the last few months in a nutshell and will try my utmost to keep you more informed over the coming months!

Two

Well tonight sees the opening night of Two, this has been one of the hardest productions to learn that I have ever been involved in, and one of the most enjoyable.

Victoria Rowcroft who I am starring alongside is superb and has brought such a powerful range of emotions to the table that I have had to up my game to match the intensity of the final scene.

I suppose I should be focusing on the show rather than writing a post, but in all honesty this is really calming my nerves. I suffer with nerves really bad before a show and have had to create a system to which I try and stick to as much as I can in order to get myself on stage.

1 - Arrive at the theatre at least an hour before the show (trad an actors call time for a show is the half (35 minutes before curtain up)

2 - Get into costume as early as possible

3 - Find a quiet place to be and just focus for at east 20 minutes, sometimes listening to a playlist of songs that I have created with which I think the character I am playing would listen to.

Its crazy that I have to do these things, but once the 1st line is out of the mouth, then everything gets sorted and I can enjoy myself! Well I am going now but will post tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Damn TV!

I suppose my title of this entry may seem a little strange, especially coming from an actor as TV work is very well paid and gives great exposure, but I am not talking about the Industry, I am in fact talking about the TV you can see me wielding towards Gary Lucy's head in the above photo.

Last week for two days I was involved quite heavily in a shoot for the new idents for The Bill, which after over 25 years is relaunching itself as a weekly drama in a new post watershed slot.

The Idents will look amazing, especially if the technology used on set is anything to go by, new HD cameras, green screens and Matrix Style Time-slices (frozen action - not far removed from bullet time effects) I play a Thug who threatens Bill actors Gary Lucy & Dominic Power during a riot scene - which will hit the airwaves from the 16th July on all ITV channels for 3 weeks. Don't worry this wont be a blink and you will miss me shot, as I am featured quite heavily in the Idents.

The photo above which was published in the centre pages of the Sun Newspaper on Monday is my first experience of being 'Papped' long may the tradition continue, similar photos also appeared in The Mirror and The Times.