(Touring) Life Begins

I am now 40 years old, and 18 years in to my theatrical career, having started touring with my first show in 2004. I think this is my 14th circuit of the UK (someone in the cast asked me to try and count them) and Girl From The North Country is my 37th professional show. I think that’s enough numbers for now, though!

Dublin is not a bad city at all to celebrate such a big milestone, and to be able to spend it with so many new mates from my new company made it pretty special. My parents even took the time to pop over to Ireland to spoil me rotten, and a perfectly-timed show watch on my actual birthday was made possibly by original Musical Director Alan Berry agreeing to fly over to cover the conducting responsibilities. All in all it made for a fabulous birthday!

The show itself played all 41 performances, even though it was faced with a severe covid outbreak, tummy bugs, a power outage and even a fire next door one night, and the audiences were on their feet at the end of every performance. Although understudies were thrown on at short notice left, right and centre, we managed a fair amount of regular cover rehearsals before the run ended. Socially, we aimed to ‘discover’ as many nearby pubs and bars as we could, and Sundays were the perfect opportunity to explore the farther reaches of Dublin and the surrounding hills and coasts.

The show is now on a welcome two-week hiatus. After a pretty intense rehearsal and tech period, the show itself has its own beautiful intensity, and the whole company have become heavily invested in delivering what is a pretty super show each time. It was pretty clear on the flight home, though, that R&R and catch-ups with friends & family were now at the forefront of most people’s minds! We will all be back later this month, fully refreshed, ready to show the United Kingdom this rather brilliant piece of theatre. For now, though, I have a few days seeing friends in London before a few days back in Cheshire with the family.

Meet The Band

I am now officially part of a band called The Howlin’ Winds. Chosen (very democratically) from a list of suggestions put forward by the rest of the company of Girl From The North Country, our name was officially announced just before our press night in Dublin yesterday evening. Tradition dictates that each production of GFTNC names its band, and we are very happy with ours, being (as it turns out) a lyric from the title song!

So for the first time since the pandemic hit and abruptly paused by theatrical career, I am back on track as Musical Director for my own show. I have really landed on my feet with this one, looking forward every day to the rehearsals, enjoying a stress-free production period (even though the start of technical rehearsals was delayed by 18 hours due to customs issues) and a proper feeling of honing the show through previews ready for a pitch-perfect press night. Even after celebrating until 4am, I can’t wait to get back there tonight to continue our run.

The support I receive is one of the greatest aspects of this show, from a trusting band of musicians, an onstage company who look out for each other, the incredible ovations from audiences each night, a really thoughtful production company, and the truly lovely words of wisdom from Conor, Simon and the rest of the most ridiculously talented creative team to have worked with.

We stay in Dublin for the rest of July, where I have family flying out due to a rather important (40th!) birthday that I have this month. This is certainly a great city to celebrate such a milestone!

(North) Country Life

Last month, it felt like my two worlds of work bumped up against each other.

The current semester at Edge Hill University came to an end with various assessments across the Musical Theatre course. Most of my time was spent with the second years, who rounded out this part of their course with a sing-through of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, a presentation of popular musicals (this year’s were Rocky Horror Show, Half a Sixpence and Heathers) and debuts of their own musical theatre creations. The students stepped up brilliantly and are well set-up for what will no doubt be a fabulous final year.

I took some time at my parent’s house in the Cheshire countryside to finish up my marking commitments and ready myself for the next adventure, both packing, prepping and simply resting up after a rather full-on few months of freelancing & tutoring. As great as it was to be so busy, the reset was very welcome!

And on May 16th, rehearsals began for Girl From The North Country. A play by Conor Macpherson, it has songs by Bob Dylan peppered throughout. This is its third UK outing and the sixth worldwide, and will mark the first time the show has played Dublin (as well as the rest of the UK outside of London). The production is less remounted each time, more rebuilt around the performers involved, and it makes for a fascinating process. I have the absolute pleasure of working alongside Simon Hale, the music supervisor and orchestrator/arranger of the music throughout the show. I try to learn something new from every production I am involved in, and on this one I have felt like a 6 foot tall sponge every day, taking in as much information about the piece as I can. The cast are already stupendous - they need to be seen & heard to be believed - and the support and belief in the room every minute of each day is palpable.

We are now on a Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday pause (another welcome rest), and on our return have two more weeks in our London rehearsal venue, the second of which involves the rest of the musicians (who join the action on stage throughout). We then head to Dublin for a week of tech and previews before our official opening later this month. See you soon, Ireland!

Jet-Setting

April was quite the city-hopping month, as I visited London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin (to name the slightly more glamorous ones). It was my first time back on a plane since the pandemic began, and although the likes of pre-departure tests and passenger locator forms are largely a thing of the past, mask-wearing was still a requirement on the trips. It was lovely to see cities that I hadn’t visited in years, as the Dreamgirls tour visited Edinburgh and I was sent across to Ireland for an appearance on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show to promo my next show (watch the YouTube clip here). It was just lovely to enjoy some haggis and whisky in the former, and a pint or two of the black stuff in the latter!

At Edge Hill University, the students are deep into their practical assessments. The third years got to perform a showcase at the Liverpool Everyman - a gorgeous evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein music arranged for two pianos - while the second years still have Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens to work towards in May. I am winding up my regular involvement on the course as the university prepares for its long summer break, although I certainly hope I am allowed back on occasion whenever my schedule allows!

Finally I took the opportunity to return to my am dram routes, playing on a production of Calendar Girls at The Met in Bury, Lancashire. It’s always so lovely seeing so many familiar faces and to appreciate the sheer strength of talent on show.

I have a couple more weeks of assessments at Edge Hill before heading south mid-May to start rehearsals - I’ll finally be back working on my own show!

More of the Same

Another month juggling six shows and university commitments, forcing me to really make the most of any free time I have left - active relaxing, perhaps? Things were complicated mid-March somewhat by various shows being hit with covid-positive incidents, and I helped to cover where I could. At one point I seemed to be a close contact almost every day, but thankfully it seems my recent bout of Omicron has meant I have stayed negative and able to work.

I am trying to be more mindful of spreading myself too thinly, while still committing as regular as I can to the shows I actively deputise on, although it seems the biggest energy drain is the sheer distances needed to travel, and the long days the create. Last week involved a 20-hour day, for example! Not exactly sustainable. There is an end in sight, though, as Edge Hill University reaches its assessment period post-Easter, before hitting the summer break. Thankfully, though, each day I have spent either covering at Matilda, another show, or at Edge Hill has been a real joy and well worth the commitment!

As seems regular for me now, I am using the Easter holiday break from university to cram in some more shows, including a visit to Edinburgh for the first time in a long while. But my hope is I can chill out a little more between each performance. I am also hoping to start making plans for a show of my own, slated for later in the year! Stay tuned…

Here, There, Everywhere

While Edge Hill university has a reading week, meaning I’m not required in-person on campus, I have decided to “holiday” back at my old job, playing Bedknobs & Broomsticks in Liverpool, conducting Matilda over the weekend, popping up to play Dreamgirls in Sunderland, across to Cheltenham to hammer out the piano part for Chicago and returning back to London to familiarise myself with the keyboards of Mary Poppins, before another weekend of Matilda fun. Until theatre wants me back full-time, I will make my own full-time work out of all of this, thank-you-very-much.

In a “regular” week (whatever that’s meant to mean) I am settling into a pattern of tutoring at Edge Hill in Lancashire in the week and playing on Matilda the Musical in London every weekend. So far it’s going well, even with the 6am starts for university and 11:30pm home-times from the show, but I am trying to be mindful of not overdoing it. It has meant less chance to pop out for a walk or a run, and my list of TV programmes and films to watch is getting ridiculous (time to start sacrificing some of those, unfortunately!). My parents have moved “Sunday roasts” to a Monday (my day “off”) and I am missing my niece’s 3rd birthday today due to work commitments. I keep reminding myself of the weeks and months on-end of sitting at home through lockdowns and am very thankful to be busy once again, but perhaps this rather fast-paced start to post-pandemic life needs to calm down a little as we head into spring!

Indeed, March sees the pattern of weekday university work and weekend theatre work remain, with the final year Musical Theatre students preparing for a showcase in just over a month’s time. I also hope to start planning for the months ahead, as more and more theatre productions are remounted across the UK.

Different Hats

Thankfully my work diary wasn’t as up-ended this month as it was over Christmas, and everything went ahead as expected, with the odd covid-related dash to cover a show thrown in here or there for good measure. Notably, I played my first performance on the Keys 2 chair at Dreamgirls - a show that I have wanted to play for YEARS - as well as Keys 1 of Bedknobs & Broomsticks, returned to the Chicago tour in Birmingham to fill in on the piano chair for a week, and revisited the score of Matilda the Musical in preparation to play/conduct the West End run on occasion from February onwards. Pretty much every week has involved some “first show nerves” somewhere, somehow, and I feel as though I have been practising for one very very very long musical these past few months! But I really wouldn’t have it any other way right now, especially as I get to play some beautiful scores, with great musicians and singers, and see loads of friends & familiar faces for the first time since the pandemic hit.

Much of the month, though, was dedicated to rehearsing and workshopping a brand new musical by creative duo Ollie Hancock & Ed Payne. They had tasked the third year cohort at Edge Hill University with a script and score for The Girl In The Hat, a passion project of theirs over the past few years that had never been staged before. The true story of fashion icon Isabella Blow and her demise, it was a fascinating process brought to life with incredible costumes and hats by the in-house wardrobe department helmed by the fabulous Dawn Summerlin. The photo below is one of several designs used throughout the performance:

The students lapped up the entire process, and I think surprised themselves with what they were all truly capable of. It will be fascinating to see what happens with the piece in the future, especially as musicals about the fashion industry are few and far between.

February sees the students back to earth with a bump as a new semester full of new modules, lectures and assessments gets underway. I am dividing my time largely between Edge Hill in Lancashire and the Cambridge Theatre in London as my involvement at Matilda the Musical increases somewhat. Thankfully I have found a lovely place to stay just north of London to ease the ‘commute’ across the country for these next few weeks/months! Hopefully the M6 will be kind and my little BMW stays in one piece.

Christm-isolation

Well, December didn’t really happen as initially planned. I have never known my diary to fluctuate so much, with last-minute SOS calls as musicians are forced to isolate, phone calls to say shows are cancelled all over the place, even while en route to the theatre on more than one occasion, and the greatest plot twist when I contracted Covid-19 myself just before Christmas, emptying my diary for the week in a flash and forcing me into one room for pretty much the entire holiday. What times we live in! Thankfully I was asymptomatic, if rather bored.

I managed to play a grand total of one-and-a-half performances in the whole of the month, as I returned to deputising on Mary Poppins in London and a night of Bedknobs & Broomsticks was curtailed due to a technical fault. Thankfully, Edge Hill University had enough going on to keep me amused as students worked towards assessment deadlines. I even had time to see my sister in pantomime, play piano for a lovely choral Christmas concert and catch Back To The Future in London and Dreamgirls UK Tour in Liverpool, both of which were brilliant spectacles of live theatre.

But here we are, 2022, and we’re all desperately hoping that we can turn a corner in this pandemic and have more guarantee of work as we edge through the year. It’s notable how few “new show” announcements there have been recently, as producers maybe wait for the right moment, but for now I do at least have a handful of shows to freelance on, as well as my continuing part-time work at Edge Hill. I’m looking at my diary for January and just hoping the majority of what is in there goes ahead! A very Happy New Year to you all.

Matilda 10 & Remembering André

Jitters within the industry returned in the last few days as a new virus variant started doing the rounds. An increasing number of theatres have decided to make masks mandatory, and the university I tutor at is all set to bring back similar requirements should the government announce it. However, all is still going to plan on campus and on the various shows I freelance on, for now!

November was the now-usual mixture of deputising on various shows - with the addition of the utterly brilliant Addams Family tour to my diary - and continuing to work with Edge Hill students on their various degree modules. The third years are making decent progress with rehearsals for a workshop of The Girl In The Hat, with the composer and lyricist making a special visit to see it all coming together for themselves. It’s a fascinating process which everyone is enjoying, with a presentation of the show in Edge Hill University’s very own Rose Theatre slated for later next month.

I also had a trip to London to reunite with my extended Matilda The Musical family, as the West End run celebrated 10 years with a special gala performance. The day was tinged with sadness due to the death last year of one of its producers, André Ptaszynski. André also looked after our UK Tour a few years back, and it was always a delight to have him visit as he was always so friendly and calming. There was a special memorial concert earlier in the day at which friends & family spoke, the cast of Matilda sang and the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Minchin performed special material. It was lovely to share memories of both André and Matilda with great friends who I hadn’t seen in a while. I even found time to catch another West End show, slipping into the back of the stalls to see what all the (well-deserved) fuss was all about with Frozen!

December looks to be more of the same. While both Chicago and Addams Family take Christmas breaks, Bedknobs & Broomsticks takes up residency in Leeds Grand Theatre for the month, so I will be popping in there on occasion. Edge Hill University will also wind up for the Christmas break eventually, so there’s the real danger of me having a second relaxing Christmas holiday in a row!

How Does This Work Again?

On the 14th of March, 2020, I played my 4,349th professional performance of a musical. 572 days later was my 4,350th, as I played the piano chair on the tour of Chicago the Musical to allow the Assistant MD to have a show watch. This month I have joined the production in Northampton, Bradford, Nottingham & Wolverhampton, and it has been great being back on stage playing with such a fabulous band and cast!

I was also called up to start helping out on the tour of Bedknobs & Broomsticks, a brand new production that has just got underway. My first show on keyboard ended up being rather short notice, giving me just over 48 hours to listen to the show, practice the music and get to grips with all the magical sounds and effects! Thankfully I appeared to get away with it, as I was invited back to learn the other keyboard chair.

As well as the above, work at Edge Hill has really ramped up. Now that the students are back full time, there is a noticeable change for me compared to last year as many more of my hours there are practical-based, whether it is helping students learn songs, perfect their warm-up routines, note bash harmonies and generally help create exciting performances. They’re all really appreciative of any advice I can give, and patient when I end up waffling on about some anecdote or another in the process! The first years continue to work towards an assessed 10-minute performance in December while the third years are hard at work on a workshop of The Girl In The Hat, an exciting new musical that is still in its earliest stages. I am sure the second years are also busy, but I am not timetabled with them this semester!

I have also continued to help out on the music front on an exciting digital project, Frisky & Mannish: PopCorn, which you can get streaming tickets for throughout November. Starring my sister, with excellent technical work done by my brother-in-law (amongst other people, of course), I am very excited to see the final result!

November sees me popping briefly to London to celebrate Matilda the Musical’s 10th Birthday, helping out on a local charity showcase concert, more depping and of course plenty more trips to the Edge Hill campus. Great to have a busy diary once again!

Back to the Edge

Today marked my first day back on campus at Edge Hill University, welcoming the 1st Years to the Musical Theatre course! This semester will feel very different to the last, all being well, as much more practical work can be done in person. This includes full concerts, showcases, and productions, with the 3rd Years helping to workshop a brand new musical currently in development, which should be an exciting process!

September obviously involved prep for the forthcoming semester, as well as helping my dad demo a song that he reckons is a potential entry for a future Eurovision Song Contest. I also began my work on the Musical Director Mentorship Scheme, a brand new endeavour that sees current MDs paired up with aspiring ones. I have actually been given two people to mentor, with the scheme running for nine months.

Away from the Edge Hill tutoring, October sees me back in an actual theatre, deputising on the UK Tour of Chicago. I have also decided to train for another half marathon (again, not a real race, just the distance) as the extra free time this summer saw me get back to being much more active than I usually am! The only thing now will be to see if I can fit all the long training runs into my schedule…!

Laid-Back Summer

My plans for August have shifted so often over the past few months. At one time I looked likely to be deep in rehearsal, before unfortunately the production was pulled. Other possibilities came and went, before in the end it became a rather welcome summer break, catching up socially with friends with the odd spot of freelancing. I saw my first couple of live shows, witnessing NYMT’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Manchester Cathedral (albeit from within the orchestra due to being there in an assessment role) - a glorious sound from singers and musicians alike - and Heathers at Liverpool Empire as the new UK Tour of this production gets going. I think everyone has had a similar overwhelming experience stepping back into our main proscenium arch theatres, with audiences bustling about and the band warming up. If you know, you know, and if you are yet to make a return to see a show… you’ll see what I mean when you do!

September will see my finally emerge, blinking, from my summer recess, as I start preparations for a busy autumn. Music needs practising, projects continue to build and the diary slots into place. Still some “I”s to dot and “T”s to cross, but looking forward to what’s ahead!

On With The Show!

Back in a theatre! Well, I say “in”, when in fact we were very much “out”doors for this, my first show back since we were all locked down. Annie Get Your Gun took place on a farmers field on the county border of Cheshire & Staffordshire, with the aims being to bring top-class theatre to this area, utilise the regional talent and bring work and future prospects to those involved. This followed a small outdoor concert last year, which I wasn’t involved with, but the ambitious plans to expand this to a full week of musical performances with a full cast and 7-piece band were duly realised.

As you may expect, much of my July was spent rehearsing. We had two weeks in a rehearsal venue in Crewe before moving into our marquees on Betley Court Farm. We were very lucky with covid, with no positive tests recorded across the whole run, and even luckier you might say with the weather, with all 8 performances taking place and not a drop of rain to delay proceedings. The only problem was the heat, with my thermometer closing in on 36C at one point in the band tent as the sun bore down! But it was a nice problem to have rather than worrying about cancelled performances for other reasons.

On our opening day, I assured the company that we would work steadily, expecting “match fitness” to be an issue after such a long lay-off for everyone. In fact, although we ensured to keep the pressure off, the process was so enjoyable that no-one ever seemed tired, even when working flat out. I think we were all just so delighted to be back doing what we love.

In the end, the production seems to have been a success with the audiences, most intent on returning for whatever Betley Court Farm do next year, and the company finished heartened at being part of this small corner of the restart of the theatre industry. Now I have some time off, largely to enjoy some Olympics, before more work beckons in a couple of months time! More news soon…

Betley Mere (L), Betley Court Farm and its temporary theatre (R) at sunset.

...Like Show Business

I am a little later than usual updating the website as I actually went on a real-life holiday for a week. Only to Wales, mind, but I treated myself to days of scenic drives, beautiful walks, great food and drink and catch-ups with friends I hadn’t seen in real life for quite some time. All very much needed!

Before the holiday began, the phone rang with a bit of work for July, so I got as much prepped before packing the suitcase. I will be MD-ing Annie Get Your Gun - a one-act outdoor version - at Betley Court Farm near Crewe, and tickets are available here. It’s my first bit of live theatre since lockdowns began, and I can’t wait to get started, with rehearsals getting underway tomorrow!

Covid protocols are still very much in place, after the government delayed the final part of their roadmap by four weeks, with the aim (as I write) to remove all legal restrictions on July 19th, which also happens to be my 39th birthday. What a day of celebration that will be for us all! I am keeping all fingers crossed that theatres can reopen their auditoriums fully, and that self-isolation rules which are currently crippling productions are eased somewhat. Of course, with variants circulating, I just hope everyone stays as safe as possible.

Jabbed

Spring has been a bit backwards, weather-wise, with a relatively warm & sunny March, a drought-inducing April, followed by one of the wettest coldest Mays on record. Selfishly, I have been quite glad of the inclement weather these past few weeks as I have been holed up in the home office, working through various essays, portfolios, dissertations and videoed performances submitted by Edge Hill students on the Musical Theatre course, giving each one a mark and feedback as I go. There are some seriously talented people about to graduate from this course - the industry had better watch out!

The wet weather went against the public health guidelines at the start of the month, which only allowed outdoor hospitality in England. It will be strange to look back on this time at images of people desperately clutching a pint during a hailstorm, or tucking into scallops in gale-force winds. I certainly experienced this a couple of times - I don’t think I have ever left home for a pub lunch with a bag containing so many items, from sun lotion right through to woolly hat and gloves! Today, at least, the warm sunshine has turned up ready for what is hopefully a warmer June.

As lockdown eased further, it was heartening to see live music returning to the airwaves, with The BRIT Awards & The Eurovision Song Contest a couple of examples that included a live audience. Theatre productions have also restarted, although hopes of full auditoriums later in June are dwindling somewhat. I had quite the experience earlier in the month when attending a concert recital in Huddersfield, hearing a full band playing live for the first time since March 2020. What was especially nice was how ‘normal’ it felt, thankfully. Here’s to hearing much more live music in person over the next few months and years!

This month also saw my 1st dose of the vaccine - Pfizer, and a sore arm, if you must know - and the first few meetings and availability checks for potential projects over the next few months. It’s a great feeling to have the phone ringing and emails pinging once more. I hope we can get everyone in our industry back to work in the not-too-distant future.

These Boots Are Made For Running 400km, Then You Must Buy New Ones

An air of optimism seems to be growing, day after day, after week, after month… cases still haven’t risen here in the UK, having been falling since January, and with virus mutations currently kept at bay (as far as we are aware) the “great unlock” continues. Pubs are finally open! I had a haircut! You can shop for things other than groceries! It’s the little things, isn’t it…

One of my little lockdown projects to tide me over was to run a half marathon distance. Starting the programme four months ago, today was “race day” and was happy to run under 2 hours on my first attempt, clocking 1 hour 56 minutes 45 seconds today. It’s quite easy to train when you have the stunning Delamere Forest a couple of kilometres from your doorstep!

News of more shows reopening have been coming in, with some of the big West End productions setting summer reopening dates, as confidence builds that they can operate at full capacity. Test events are taking place at the moment, including a club night in Liverpool and 100% attendance at the snooker in Sheffield, to see if the science is on our side when it comes to getting back to large events, and normality as a whole.

Work-wise, my tutoring at Edge Hill is approaching its climax as assessment deadlines near. We waved goodbye to the 3rd years this week and soon will have plenty of their dissertations to mark! A lot of them have been working on creating performance projects, which this year have to be filmed beforehand, and I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with.

As for the month of May, we have “Roadmap Step 3” to look forward to, if all continues to go well. I wave goodbye to Edge Hill for now and I am hoping that the increasingly warmer weather will mean more countryside walks (with the occasional stop at a pub, of course). Now I think it’s time to put my feet up for the rest of the weekend!

The Great Unlock

With practical university courses prioritised for face-to-face learning, I found myself back on campus at Edge Hill on the first day of “Roadmap Step 1a” on Monday 8th March. Schoolchildren and students have had a particularly raw deal these past 12 months, and the eagerness to start learning once again without inevitable “Zoom lag” was palpable. I am helping a group of 1st years who are on a Musical Theatre songwriting course and seeing the 3rd years through to the end of their course, which in part involved teaching chorus numbers (socially distanced etc) in the on-campus theatre. It felt good to be note-bashing once again after so many months!

“Roadmap Step 1b” on 29th March, coupled with glorious weather, has brought about a big collective gulp of fresh air to the English populous. This unlocking schedule, while tediously slow but ultimately cautious, is at the very least allowing theatre producers to plan accordingly, and the slew of announced re-openings over the next few months is heartening to see, and it really feels like we will have (at least) a busy summer season of theatre. Ultimately the canniness of commercial producers, coupled with financial help such as the Culture Recovery Fund, appears to have salvaged much of this industry from a situation where it was felt many of our big theatrical institutions and buildings would disappear.

This month sees me take a proper Easter break from university work (I could get used to these “normal person” holidays!) before getting straight back into business there. All being well, there will be the odd pub garden to visit, a long-awaited haircut and more friends to catch up with. And - who knows - maybe news about some forthcoming theatre work? We’ll see… Happy Easter, everyone!

WFH

So, we have a roadmap. All being well, and numbers continue their downward momentum, we should see the first theatres reopening in May, a few bigger shows operating from June/July, and undoubtedly a whole raft of outdoor events that have been planned over the past few months to take advantage of the warm-ish summer evenings.

With schools going back next Monday, I will also begin commuting for work once again, as Edge Hill University reopens its campus and the work I do with the 1st years resumes as face-to-face teaching immediately on March 8th. Aside from the odd drive to our nearby forest to exercise, I haven’t left my immediate area, so I hope to not be too shell-shocked by unfamiliar surroundings!

Again, the university kept me nice and busy through another month of lockdown. I have been tasked with guiding a big group of 3rd years through their dissertations, and I had my first pair of lectures with the 1st years who had to sit there whilst I waffled on about some shows I had done pre-pandemic. At least the remote learning allowed them to go off and do some hoovering, or something, without me noticing! It has all been good fun, though, and (while I miss theatre terribly) I have definitely got into my working-from-home routine now.

The vaccine programming has been quite the success so far. My mum has had her 1st dose already, with dad booked in next week. At this rate I could be fully vaccinated before I even step foot back in a theatre! Let’s just hope everything stays on track.

Wet January

The pandemic entered its new chapter with gusto this month as vaccinations became the daily headline news. As January ends, there are the most tentative of signs that numbers are beginning to drop, certainly in terms of cases, but daily deaths remain high and everyone took stock as the United Kingdom’s total number of deaths ticked over into six figures. The decline in numbers is expected to be slow, with the expectation being that those numbers need to be much, much lower (perhaps 10% of what they are today) before restrictions are eased in such a way to allow a semblance of normal life to continue.

A winter lockdown has been particularly hard, stuck inside with incessant cold and rainy weather hitting the country. We were impacted further here when a flash flood caused by Storm Christoph took out half the floors in our bungalow. We’re still drying the ground out and I have moved onto the sofa bed until such a time as we can get new flooring down! Warmer and dryer weather cannot come soon enough, but I fear February will be much like January, in terms of temperature at least.

On the plus side, my part-time job for Edge Hill University has kept me pretty busy, even though work is now fully remote. Much of January involved looking over recorded assessments and marking essays, very much a new venture for me! It was good to have the spare hours available to consider each submission, as I expected this to be slow-going. The next semester is now underway, which includes helping the 3rd years with a performance portfolio and a separate practical dissertation, as well as helping out on a 1st year songwriting course. The hope is that we can be back on campus at the same time that schools reopen, but in the meantime at least all this work can be done satisfactorally online - as long as the broadband holds up!

I hope everyone is hanging in there. Keep looking forward to the spring, and I will see you in a theatre before we even know it.

Covid '21

As expected, much of my December was spent at home, either working online or preparing for the festivities. We were fortunate to be together as a family over this period, at a time when so many remain apart. As expected, the Christmas period was a relatively chilled affair - I sought out as many unseen 5-star films as I could to pad out the rainy December afternoons! Ben-Hur and Spartacus certainly whiled away a good few hours.

In-person work at Edge Hill university ended with what should have been a full musical production, but instead ended up being a half-hour filmed section for the purposes of a final-year assessment. Even so, it felt like old times being back in a dark theatre, at a keyboard, with full lighting and costumes in front of me. It was like slipping on an old comfortable pair of gloves! The students have been brilliantly adaptive this semester under such difficult circumstances, and all really pulled it out of the bag for the performance. Inevitably, the return to campus this month has been delayed by a few weeks, so there will be a bit more working from home. At least it means more time to get back to some degree of fitness!

It’s safe to say that few people will be looking back on 2020 with a great degree of fondness. I’m sure there are elements of it, such as weighing up career vs finance vs family; a better focus on health & happiness; finally getting a home task done, a new skill learnt, or just getting that box set finished. These are qualities we have been forced to consider, if simply to prevent most of us going doolally! But I hope some of these can change me for the better once we begin to emerge from the other side of this pandemic.

2021 should see a degree of normality return, but it’s so hard to know exactly what or when. The big shows are planning a full return by late spring and summer, which is a possibility but nowhere near a certainty. If the pandemic isn’t under control, restrictions could easily return for Christmas next year. My hope is that the level of restrictions we begin this year under will end up being as strict as they get, with a slow relaxation over the next 6 months. I certainly hope to be sat in a theatre once again by then!

Whatever it brings, I hope you have a Happy New Year. Keep taking each day as it comes, and before we know it we will be back doing the things we love.