Acting

I’ve been performing in HORRIBLE HISTORIES – BARMY BRITAIN at The Garrick Theatre since April and yesterday enjoyed two glorious shows, nine months after my first performance. I’m blessed with an amazing acting partner in Alison Fitzjohn and we both knew that the two audiences in yesterday’s packed performances where willing participants of the drama and comedy and we had enormous pleasure in working with them to create something special. People ask if you can get bored doing the same show for 9 months but because I’m working with someone who is ready to start from scratch every single show and because the audiences are often so willing to enter into the spirit of the production, each show becomes something uniquely different. The challenge comes not only from making the characters live and genuinely interact each show, but also from the comedy lines which you are shaping every time for the audience in front of you. And each laugh, gasp, silence is unique to that audience, so that throughout the show you are doing something different – and experiencing something different – minute by minute. Both Alison and I came off stage after both shows yesterday exhilarated by the communal experience we had all had. And what makes theatre so special is that tomorrow afternoon – we do it all again! – starting right back at the beginning, listening to and working with the group of people who have unwittingly decided to all come to the theatre together that day.