On life as a wandering player

Today, St George's Day, was a jolly affair as the sun was on loan from Spain and builders flew red and white flags from their vans. Every park sports little dandelion stars. I have just surfaced after a frantic week of rehearsals for the show I shall be doing for the next three months, The Starry Messenger. I've never rehearsed a show in fourteen days before, and certainly not one that requires me to run the lights and sound in between my nineteen costume changes. What a sheltered life I've led... The past week was a combination of frustration and panic, as I attempted to get my head around a new set of skills but now that I've been doing it for the past two days, and I don't come running off stage in blind panic thinking 'What am I supposed to be now, the Cockney dog or the Cornish pirate...', I realise that I'm enjoying it and its certainly a great challenge. Getting up in front of a hundred kids dressed as a dog is very good for the soul, on so many levels. Not even I can take myself seriously when jumping around in a dog suit, sweating to death. And how they love it! All those gleaming faces, upturned and expectant. They don't want drama. They haven't seen it all before. They just want someone to fall over and leap about dressed as a dog. And the sound of their laughter, the instant united giggle, is pure delight.

My co-actor, Chris, a very likeable boy who is tall and eager like a great dane puppy, is the second half of the cast and crew. We drive to each school, put up the set, do the show, dismantle the set and go on to the next one. After two shows each day, I am dazed and wrung out. I have fantasies that we are a travelling troupe in Elizabeth the First's England, wandering from town to town, living on the whims of our audiences, and dodging fruit. It is a wonderful treat to be able sit in a park and eat an al fresco lunch in between shows. Poor Chris doesn't know how many picnics he's in for! I'm looking forward to the schools that we have to travel to in exotic places like Hampshire and the Midlands (alright, exotic to me).

Luckily all this doesn't leave me much time to question life, the universe and everything, but I feel like I've lost my firm footing and am floating in a little bubble of a world that comprises me , my fellow actor and a little red van. My aim is to get to regular acting and dance classes, and not lose sight of my goals of working on screen and tv and on the stages in the West End. Although, I doubt any audience could ever match these for sheer reward.