Do The Show...

Tonight, I was onstage in front of one of those audiences all performers pray for. They laughed at every joke, sighed at every poignant moment and clapped with never ending enthusiasm. It was one of those "I remember why I started all of this" evenings. It got me thinking about our role as the "performer" and the relationship we have with our audience.

The film "Alegria", directed by Franco dragone, has an amazing speech about the performer's role in society. The speech takes place in a sad scene when the Ringmaster of a dying and failing circus rouses his performers for one final show. He Says:

'We do the show. We do the show for the people in the dark... They need us. You know life is very tough, life is very hard and it's very cruel. When you step over the line into the light, you have a certain responsibility to the people in the dark. You've got to be strong. You've got to take all your pain and you have to bury it inside your costume. For 22 hours you can be just like them... You can moan and worry and cry and sleep and eat and drink and make love and suffer and grow old and die, just like everybody else. But, for two hours of every night, you're not allowed to let life in. So what are you going to do now?... Do the show! Do the show for the people sitting in the dark. The show is for them... Not for you...'

With only four performances left before our West End transfer, I am filled with great anticipation and excitement. My agent saw the show this evening and I was genuinely worried about what he might think. To my delight he told me he thought the show was "liberating and inspiring."

I'm very thankful for the chance to be one of the people in the light, baring all for the people sitting in the dark.

x

Miranda...

It's incredible how quickly something can take hold and become a global phenomenon. If you had asked me two months ago about "Miranda sings" I would have had no clue what you were talking about. Now, she is internationally famous through something as simple as Youtube and word of mouth and I (and everyone else it seems) can't stop watching her. I love the guerilla style of it all. Well done lady! 

Colleen (Miranda) is in London and performing with us this evening in a Naked Boys/Miranda double bill and I could not be more excited. She is the loveliest person and completely beautiful. 

Rehearsals were so strange. She'd stand there looking lovely and then switch into Miranda mode and her whole face would change... I felt completely girly giggly that she was there with us.

This is going to be a day to remember I feel!

The 'N' Word

Nudity...

Talk about a good way to begin a new chapter of self discovery. I have just opened in a nude review show in London, so I thought I'd spare a few words on the subject of baring one's body to a scrutinising audience.

The most notable of occurrences on the night we first stood naked before a crowd was the "What will the audience think?" wall that hit you in the face right before you undressed. It's an inevitable part of the human psyche I guess, to be concerned about the judgement of others.

There were the obvious worries. ie. "Am I too fat, am i too thin, am I ugly, is my manhood the right size/shape/colour?"

But, something brilliant happens right in the split second before all comes off and you are left with nothing to hide behind. It's not so much that you scale the "What will the audience think?" wall, it's that you abandon all hope of ever getting over it. It's way too high and there's barbed wire across the top... So I'm told. 

Instead, you settle at the foot of that great, big wall and cast yourself adrift on the notion of "There's nothing in the world that I can do about it... So I don't care!"

It's the most liberating feeling. Down the line, I've come to massively enjoy the nudity in the show. I actually look forward to it. The audience, through some strange osmosis, seems to absorb our discomfort. Instead of us, it's them worrying "Am I looking too closely, what if they catch me sneaking a peek Southwards, am I enjoying this a little too much?"

I was always a bit of a secret nudist, opting to spend much of my alone time at home in my birthday suit, but I thoroughly recommend it. Public nudity has made me feel more at ease with myself than I have ever felt. It allows you to see your own strengths and weaknesses and deal with them through accepting the universal truth that you can't stop people judging or disliking or opposing, you can only accept that they do and let them continue. With or without their consent, we are quite simply... us!

That's enough from me! x