Hayfever

I’m in a play. A play named Hayfever written by Noël Coward. It was written in 1924. That was a while ago.

The play is not about being allergic to flowers.

(which is a bit of a shame, because I am very good at that)

Hayfever follows a family of artists who have all invited someone over to their big house for the weekend, but haven’t told each other. What follows is chaos, arguments, and a surprising amount of romantic encounters*. It’s silly, it’s funny, and I get to play Simon, the lazy artist son – a role that I feel I have been practicing for my entire life.

*insert eyebrow wiggle here.

It’s not the first play I’ve been in, and it probably won’t be the last. I’ve been acting since I was 8 (in an amateur, non-professional, once was going to audition for a Burger King advert, but my parents couldn’t afford to take me, sort of way).

It’s actually the second ‘play’ I’ve been in – if you don’t count musicals as plays. I guess that’s a slippery slope when it comes to definitions. My first ‘play on stage without singing and dancing’ was for an acting competition and I played a PE teacher – I was a long haired, 19-year-old who did not look the part at all – we did not win. So it’s the second ‘play’ I’ve been in, but not the second stage-related-activity I have been involved with. Maybe that’s too vague. Okay, I’ve lost complete control of this paragraph now. Let’s move on.

Here’s a shot of me in the musical ‘Betty Blue Eyes’ which had to cancel half its run because of that annoying pandemic (I’m the dancer in the top hat on the far left):

As always, when I’m handed a script, I find myself examining my relationship with the stage. I love big roles that involve a lot of shouting and jumping, I love comedic roles, and I love roles which have me stand in the centre of the stage and sing a big song.

Basically, I love roles that are almost completely different to how I act in normal life.

More than once I have finished acting a scene, or singing a song, and have had people express surprise at how different I am on-stage (loud, singing, attention-demanding) and how I am off-stage (quiet, shivering, wide-eyed, hiding behind chairs, trying not to make eye contact).

I have a love-hate relationship with the stage. My anxious brain haaaates it, but the rest of me loves it. Go figure. I shouldn’t listen to my anxious brain anyway – it’s such a bore.

Anyway, come along and see the play if you are nearby. It’s in Penarth, South Wales on the 27th- 30th September.

More details here: http://www.concept-players.com/index.html