Thick as Thieves - no spoilers (I promise)

As some of you may know I'm currently starring in a two-hander at the McQueens Theatre in Wood Green, North London. It's not the most convenient place to get to, I'm aware (I mean, it takes ME an hour, and I have one of the shortest commutes out of all the cast and crew!). In fact, we worked out that we're all in our various modes of transport for significantly longer than the duration of the play itself, coming in at 71 mins (pretty exactly). And so, I suppose that's a roundabout way of saying if it takes you less than an hour to get to, what's your excuse for not being there, eh?

I jest, of course, but with an audience of 7 last night, we're hoping for a bumper two last nights (tonight and tomorrow) to really pay dividends to all the hard work that helped make this play happen. It's a beautiful - if rather heart-breaking - script and a story that I think is painfully relatable and believable, and therefore vital to be told. Myself and my co-stars (it may only be a two-hander but I use the plural 'co-stars' here because we have an incredible understudy who knows the lines to BOTH parts, and who pulled a stellar performance out of the bag last night) I think are probably quite proud of what we've managed to pull off. And that is, of course, due in large part to the time, energy and creativity of Cassie and her theatre company - Everything's Rosie Theatre https://www.everythingsrosieshows.com/

Not only is there an exploration of the themes of love, family and care (with both a capital and a lowercase 'c') in the play itself, but I think the journey that brought this particular production to the stage also speaks volumes about these topics. The theatre company itself was set up in honour of an Auntie who left in her will the instruction to do "something not entirely sensible" with the money she left to her nieces. So Cassie thought, what better way to honour her Aunt's wishes than setting up a theatre company? Then, to top it off, we have Cassie's boyfriend and family helping out throughout the run, moving furniture, ushering, acting as (very protective) health & safety managers, and helping out with the post-show debriefs (in the bar!). So a story that dissects a complex and ultimately tragic family set-up is brought to the stage by wholesome familial love and support. I just thought that was kind of beautiful.

Anyway, enough musings and mopings, as I have to begin getting into character (and Kate Taylor - Head of Children's Services - would never have the time or inclination for such distracting displays of emotion). But I do hope some of you manage to get to see this production, which - if by no means perfect - has a lot of love and energy behind it.

As ever, the support of the Evie fan club always astounds me, so thank you thank you thank you all for just being bloody brilliant. It's more often than not your love and support that brings me back to the stage every time, no matter how long and arduous the journey xxx