Up Out O' The Sea: The Only Way Is...eastern Angles.

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!

No Get In or Get Out for a week????

OH.MY.GOD.

Yes that's exactly what we said when the penny dropped (not Penny Griffin of course!) but the realisation that performing on our home turf aka the Sir John Mills Theatre meant no early starts, no heavy lifting and the certainty that WE WILL MAKE THE PUB!!!!

Opening night was a treat, the audience spoiled us with their generous laughs and being back in the SJM brought back memories of rehearsals for all of us. We've come a long way baby.  After ‘Show One' in Ipswich we had wine, pork pies, cocktail sausages, posh crisps....oh they do know how to spoil you at Eastern Angles .Then we scurried over to The Greyhound (our favourite haunt! Sorry St Jude's- you come a very close second!) and had a few pints with the Guys and Dolls cast who were on the last leg of their Ipswich performances.

I have never drunk so much Aspall Cider as I have on this tour! For those of you who would like to know , when getting a ‘round in' for the Up Out O' the Sea company the following must be adhered to:

1.       Francis's drink should be bought first because he gets VERY thirsty and by the time we have ordered the full round he is usually still at the bar with his wallet open ordering his second. For those adoring fans: Francis drinks Ale. REAL ALE. And he's quite fussy too!

2.       The purchaser must do their utmost to ensure Penny has  a ‘purple' J2O and a packet of ‘red' crisps.

3.       The Snack Run must include a suitable variety for everyone's pallet, e.g: 

            -Red crisps for Pen,

            - Scampi fries for Francis

            -  Blue crisps for Tremontin

            - Spicy nuts for Mike

            - Something without meat for Laura

            - Pork Scratchings AND green crisps for me pretty please.

(AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET INTO OUR GOOD BOOKS: TWO WORDS.....CHEESY MOMENTS!)

Mornings before shows are usually spent either A: sleeping, B: sleeping, C: sleeping or D: going to ‘Boxercise' as myself and Laura took it upon us to do. Never again. For those of you who have seen the show, you'll know my character Emily does quite a lot of climbing. Well never again shall I go to ‘Boxercise‘! My entire body was so stiff I couldn't even raise my arm, and laughing was a miserable painful mission for my stomach muscles.  We did ‘Zumba' the next week instead! Amazing! Although it was a bit odd when we had to pretend we were cowboys and start lassoing?! I was pretty grateful my boyfriend couldn't see me in my very unflattering, flustered, sweaty cowgirl state.

Easter brought days off and much needed rest. I spent it in Leeds with my gorgeous boyfriend and it was 4 fun packed days of: neon rave ice cream, walks in the park, wine, shopping, wine, great food, wine, visiting my dad and grandma, playing on the trampoline with my boyfriend's beautiful niece Erin, eating Chinese food, wine and generally resting in the sunshine. Easter also brought the now infamous red leather hot pants!

Essex was an eye opener. We strolled through Brentwood and got lots of funny stares for not having fake tan or heels on. I love Brentwood! I let out a huge SHHHRRIEEEKKKK when I spotted ‘The Sugar Hut' and Laura and I raced over to have our photo taken outside it "SHUTTTUPPPPP!". I then started getting excited and declared that if we found ‘Minnie's Boutique' then it would have been a successful day! We spotted it, albeit quite far in the distance, but we saw it alright so shut up just shut up, shut up! And so I bid you farewell....I'm off to Lake Windermere for a wedding this weekend with my amazing friends........Oh I guess life ain't that bad, eh?!