With the show now up & running it’s getting like I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, as every day we seem to bid an emotional farewell to another departing & much loved member of our team. I’m pleased to say all the actors are still alive & well but with their work done, we’ve had to say good bye to members of our production team including Lighting Guru & all round top bloke Alex. Next it was the turn of set builder Rob Hill. Rob isn’t just wise & greatly talented he’s also a real calming influence; it’s like being in the company of a Zen Master, a sort of Yoda-like figure if you can imagine Yoda with dreadlocks & smoking roll-ups. Perhaps the biggest loss for us was saying goodbye to Associate Director Kate Budgen. Together with our brilliant Director Orla, Kate has helped shape this play into a production to be proud of. Anyway, with regular blogster Kate gone off to the big smoke I thought I’d better write this blog. Until the other week I’d never written a blog before, I wasn’t entirely sure what a blog was. I only started emailing a few years ago & until recently I thought Modem & Hard Drive were adult magazines.

Back to the play; well to rewind a bit, after a very tiring few days teching & doing dress rehearsals, we opened at the Severn Theatre, Shrewsbury & what a wonderful new venue it was. We were sold out for this opening night weeks ago which made it all the more exciting & we were Lyn Gardener’s Pick of the Week in The Guardian newspaper which is quite an honour in itself so no pressure there! It seemed to be a very successful first night, the audience were very warm & receptive & once we got out there on stage I personally had a great time & absolutely loved doing the show. Actors often get asked “Why do you do it?” I suppose that’s why, because we love it. Sorry to name drop but Derek Jacobi once said to me, “It’s a calling, a vocation & if it’s not then you’re in it for the wrong reasons.”

After opening at the Severn Theatre we then embarked on the community leg of the tour, taking the show to village halls across Shropshire & Herefordshire before returning to theatre venues later in the tour. The village halls are wonderful places to play; you really are in the heart of the community & will always be welcomed so warmly it really is quite touching. Such was the case in Clee St. Margaret’s & Clun where we enjoyed some wonderful hospitality, lovely food & great audiences.

Having had a few days off it’s been lovely to return to Wales, spend some time with the family & enjoy the sunshine. Tomorrow we play Farlow & Oreton Hall & although it’s lovely being home I can’t wait to get back to the show; that’s got to be a good sign. There’s nothing worse than doing a show where you can’t wait for it to be over, but I really do love this play. Let’s just hope the sun keeps shining.

Sean Carlsen – Owen in Tales of the Country