Up Out O' The Sea: Do Well Bo'

The first week of rehearsals has been fantastic. Each day brought something new. We have been working this week with the writer Andrew Holland which is such a gift for an actor as you are able to iron out any kinks in the sense of what you are saying.

On Tuesday we went to Dunwich Beach and talked to a REAL LIFE fisherman, who turned out to be my old neighbour from Leiston, Chris. He told us about what was biting and the lack of it. His ideas about the fish stocks spurred me to watch HughFearnley-Whittingstall's fish face on 4OD, which did a pretty good job of highlighting the reasons for the decline in beach trawling, which is the type of fishing Tweedy (played by me!) and Dolphie (Mike Aherne) do. The EU quotas on fishing are nodded to in the play and I think it helps to inform our characters to understand the difficulties faced by modern fishermen.

From Dunwich we moved on to Aldeburgh which is where I feel the play is set (though it could feasibly be any East Anglian fishing/tourist town). In Aldeburgh we combed the beach, looked at boats, walked down the shingle as the sun set, had fish and chips and sat in the Cross Keys for a pint (or two) and some cheesy moments (read into that what you will) - all in the name of research of course! When I got back to my digs that night I couldn't help thinking "is this really my job!?"

Having spent the last three and a half years in London training and working, it is quite a surreal experience being back home for what is essentially my first "proper" theatre work. I really feel at home here and I am really proud that our audiences will contain a familiar face or two.

The rest of the week was spent going over the play scene by scene, deciphering the Suffolk accent and making a fair few sea-based jokes and puns. I tried to get these into an interview I did with Cad Taylor on ICR fm on Thursday, getting people to text in fishy song titles, these were the best examples (some from the cast and some from the listeners) :

I'm Breaming of a Whitebait Christmas

Sitting on Haddock of the Bay

Never Mind the Pollocks

D-Bream's Things Can Only Get Batter

Cod Save The Queen...

the list goes on... (must it? - Ed.)

All in all I am feeling really positive about the play, it is so cleverly and beautifully written by Andrew and I feel a real community vibe at Eastern Angles, with the cast and the crew. I can't wait to begin working on the amazing set, designed by Ian Teague.

I think i'm going to try and end each blog entry with a made up joke... prepare to cringe.

Why won't a Suffolk fisherman give anything away?

'Cos 'e sell fish...

Sorry.