By day I’m an actor rehearsing for a West End play; by night I’m a stand up comedian doing a half hour slot on a West End stage. I’m living the dream at the moment but I’m bloody knackered. Okay, the Rob Brydon show finishes tomorrow at the Apollo, so I’ve only got one more day of playing to a massive crowd and having my own snug little dressing room to spend the afternoon dozing in, but I’m trying to savour the moment as much as possible. The host of celebrities who’ve been to Rob’s show is amazing – Billy Connolly, Dawn French, James Corden, Ronnie Corbett (he loved me apparently – I love you too Ronnie, could you put in a word for me at the beeb), David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Sienna Miller, Eddie Izzard, Frank Skinner, Lee Byrne (Wales and Ireland fullback – okay he’s just for rugby fans). I’m an appalling name dropper and was showing off about the people who’d come to see Rob’s show at the Orwell rehearsal today when Alan Cox (superb actor playing O’Brien in ‘Orwell A Celebration’) commented that on his recent US theatre tour of ‘Frost/Nixon‘ (he played Frost), George Bush senior was in the audience. I was completely trumped by that. You can’t top an ex-US president in a name-dropping contest. In fact, if you’re wise, it’s best to never get into a name-dropping contest with an established British actor – they know all the other great actors and are often dinner party guests of Prince Charles.
Rehearsals for the Orwell are hotting up. I’ve forgotten how exhausting it is doing a monologue. It’s been calculated that an hour of performing ‘Coming Up For Air’ is apparently the equivalent of putting in a sixteen hour shift in a Siberian salt mine! Of course that’s rubbish but I did once hear a well known performer say that the pressure that an actor suffers on a first night is apparently the same as an astronaut being blasted into space (honestly someone actually said this with a straight face) which does prove unequivocally that many actors are not of this world. Seriously though, I’d forgotten how tough it is getting my head round this piece. I’d also forgotten how much I relied on my director, Gene David Kirk. In the nicest possible way he’s leading me back into a performance that I hope will do this piece justice. Gene’s the opposite of me – with very few words he can impart great wisdom whereas I speak a lot of words that are usually bollocks. It’s getting near curtain up so I’d better go now. Goodbye darlings! Don’t worry I will be back to earth with a bump once this play finishes in July.
