There's no business
It sounds silly, but I enjoy my job. I mean, I really do like it. Someone recently asked me what I wanted to do 'when I grew up' and maybe I'm just not imaginative enough, but I really just want to stay in theatre. So despite the difficult hours, the endless risk that a show will close and leave you unemployed, and having to deal with the occasional divas in the cast, somehow, every curtain call is worth it. Even if it is half an hour later than usual because there were automation problems or because a prop rolled offstage and knocked someone out.
So here is my ode (in photos) to the thing that I love, as recorded through the years.
Chandelier at the Wyndham's Theatre, Charring Cross Road.
Door sign at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. & Oliver! SM prop sign that always makes me smile (translation: 2 dead rabbits for "Consider Yourself" number)
The auditorium at TRDL as seen from the stage. & Sykes death scene chimneys in Oliver! viewed from behind stage-right vistas.
Interval order at the Novello Theatre, Ivor's Bar.
The Novello Theatre viewed from Alwych during the get-out of the RSC Season and the get-in of The Drowsy Chaperone. & Placido Domingo and the cast of Simon Boccanegra take their final bow at the BBC Proms.
Harriet Walters, Patrick Stewart and the cast of Antony and Cleopatra at the Novello Theatre during the RSC season.
The Fortune Theatre, featuring The Woman in Black, as seen from the roof of TRDL.
Carlos Acosta and Marianela Nunez take a bow at the end of La Fille Mal Gardee at the Royal Opera House.
The set of Into the Woods at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
The entrance to Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Priscilla is the name of the bus). & Suzie and I pose on Priscilla on my last day.
A view from the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
Covent Garden Piazza and the Royal Opera House as seen from the roof of TRDL.
The Queen from Spitting Image, as played by Louise Goold makes an appearance at the end of a performance of Oliver! at TRDL.
Followspot beams as seen from the Balcony at TRDL between matinee and evening shows of Oliver!.