The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Learning Lines part 1 This is an occupational hazard for actors and one that people not in "the biz" often ask about - "How did you learn all those lines?" they marvel. And honestly sometimes I don't know. If something is well written, it is definitely easier to learn.  Believe it or not, Shakespeare is relatively easy to commit to memory for this very reason - it flows. The biggest thing I've ever had to learn was something I wrote myself.  In 2017 I took my solo show "Awake" to the Edinburgh and Sydney Fringe festivals.  It was 45 solid minutes of me talking.  That's a lot of lines.  And it was particuarly irritating when I got any lines wrong because I'd written them! If you'd like to read about my adventures, I wrote a couple of blogs about them:  Awake: Part 1 - The Road to Edinburgh   Awake: Part 2 - The North and the South

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I love to walk as I've mentioned before and to accompany my walk, I enjoy a good podcast.  But I've also taken to listening while I cook or clean. My regular ones include: Make Me Smart  - Usually weekly, now daily, American.  Looks at news, economy and tech, really interesting and fun. The Chickpeeps  - This is a podcast about all elements of veganism.  It's much more accessible and fun than it sounds and will answer any questions as they have loads of experts as guests. Serial  - the first series was a huge talking point worldwide, featuring the case of Adnan Syed.  I would also recommend the following series, very interesting. The Teachers Pet  - about the disappearance of Lynnette Dawson in Sydney, Australia in 1982.  Fascinating and quite frankly, horrifying. Slow Burn  - series 1 is all about Watergate which I am currently listening to....

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I didn't go out at all today.  This was an error.  It seems that I need some kind of actual daylight during the day otherwise my body is utterly confused.  The result was a very wide awake person for much of the night. I have suffered a lot with sleep issues / insomnia over the years.  So much so that I wrote a one woman show about it. I'm curious to know if our new found circumstances have alleviated or exacerbated symptoms of other sufferers.  It could be either - a person is more relaxed working from home, no commute, more time to stay in bed.  Or, a person could fall into unhelpful habits and "sleep hygiene" as they call it, is all but forgotten, so there is no pattern at all, making sleep even more elusive. Any fellow sufferers out there, let me know how you are getting on! Lovely and hopefuly video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAGbxKfNMuE