I have officially finished work for 15 days!

After the thunderstorm that is currently happening I am going to theatre to do another dress rehearsal and cement all the work we have been putting into the rehearsals over the last three months.

Phil xxx

Two more dress rehearsals of Anna Karenina to go and we are on from Monday 3rd April for a week! All looking good so far. It should be a very exciting production to be involved in and to watch.

I am at the stage where I am very confident with my lines and complex character depiction and yet still find myself chuntering to myself repeating bits of the lines and reactions in all manner of odd places; my bathroom; as I lock my door coming to work; in the supermarket; under my breath on the bus to work and even whilst blogging!

I should have some pictures from the actual production in a couple of weeks as the official photographs get taken tomorrow night during the second to last dress rehearsal. We have another stab at it Sunday afternoon on the 'final dress' and then attempt to rest up until the first night. No doubt I will be going through all the lines and re-playing the scenes in my head on Monday daytime too. Only 74 pages to remember - easy peasey.

Next season (September 2006 to July 2007) there are some good plays to audition for and I have thoughts about playing Alan Bennett in The Lady In the Van. I will need a sandy coloured wig but can do the voice very well. "As I said to Miss Shepard...."

Well comrades (sorry, all this Russian stuff has gone to my head) wish me luck for next week and I will let you know how it is all going through some regular blogs.

Phil

Hi there all my blogging friends. Sorry for the gap in blogging but life has been very busy of late. Work, Art and stuff.

So, what has been happening in my 'oh so busy' life?

For the last three months I have been out most nights reheasing Anna Karenina in which I am playing Kostya Levin (the male lead) and have had to learn approx 60 pages worth of dialogue and we go live from 3rd to 8th of April! Yahooo! can't wait to perform in front of a live audience and thrill them with our production. It has been a good experie with a super cast of established and new actors here in Nottingham.

I was a bit concerned last week when I managed to put my hip out and had three days off work and a visit to an oestopath. Although I have a few aches and minor discomfort I think I shall be fine.

I confess a small obsession with eBay and have been flogging some of my unwanted dvds and such to pay for some of the nostalgic items I have been tempted to purchase.

Work has been busy too and I am enjoying a coaching role which I recently put myself forward for. I like working with people and seing the direct results of me listening and passing on my own experiences.

The week after the play, our theatre group (The Lace Market Theatre) are hosting a visit of thirty German actors from Karlsruhe. This is a twinning agreement we have where we go over to Germany every two years and perform there and they come over to us to perform two plays here over a period of a week. I have been helping to organise this and am looking forward to seeing them.

I am off work for the whole fortnight leading into Easter and this will give me a good break and more opportunities to read bloggs and to submit my own.

Here is a picture of me in my Levin gear and a drawing I did for fun of the set showing AK, Death and Levin. The three naughty girls are Alison as AK, Antonia as Dolly and Amanda as Kitty.

Two glasses of white wine in La Tasca.... lovely meal at Bistro Pierre with work mate/ fun person Clair and Flickr buddies/ good friends Rick and Jeanette. So far so good. At least three glasses of wine with meal.Nice cards and pressents. Good food and company. Meal finishes - pay bill - very happy. Clair suggests 'night not over yet' and we all hit the town... go across to St James Street pub where invited to try my first zambooca and another glass of wine. Rick and Jeanette leave.. Time has flown as it is nearly kicking out time (11.0'clock) so we search for another bar and have a quick drink in one by the market place and then leave for a taxi back to her place. I forgot my bag and ran back in a wavy line to the pub, grab bag and run back to her. Fall over big time on the pavement. Clair nearly wets herself laughing. Pick myself up and go to taxi and back to my friend's house. I meet her brother and her cat TJ and have a few more drinks. Over time her brother is suprised to hear Clair and I speaking fluent German(well in our befuddled brains it sounds so) and suddenly it is four in the morning. Clair goes to bed and I doss down on the sofa. TJ sniffs my incumbant hand at about seven o'clock. Clair's 10 year old daughter is up and about and getting herself ready for school as well as making me a much needed cup of tea. At 9 o'clock Clair is now late for work and we get a taxi into town. She goes into work with a massive hangover and I crawl home on the bus and sleep in my own bed until four that afternoon. I have discovered that I smashed my glasses case when I fell and chipped a lump out of my camera and my knee. Good time was had by all. I am so glad I took the day off work to recover!