What I’ve Been Up To: Princess Ida

Right, it’s been a month and a half since my last post so I think it’s about time to get back on it again! Things got so hectic towards the end of rehearsals and the performances I was in during March and April, so unfortunately the blog had to take a back seat. So, I figure it might be nice to actually fill you in on exactly what it is that had taken over my life for 8 weeks!

I was in an operetta (like an opera/musical) called Princess Ida by Gilbert and Sullivan at the Finborough Theatre, London. Gilbert and Sullivan operettas have a major following so it was very exciting for me to get to be in another one 7 years after my first G&S, the very well-known Pirates of Penzance, up in NE Scotland. There had not been a professional production of Princess Ida in London for over 20 years, so Phil Willmott – very established theatre director and former artistic director of the Finborough – revised the libretto (all the dialogue and song lyrics basically), characters and general storyline to work for a modern audience (the show having not been that successful when it first came out).

Taken from the Finborough Theatre website, a very quick summary of our version of Princess Ida went like this:

Containing some of Sullivan's catchiest melodies and Gilbert's wittiest salvoes in the battle of the sexes, this sunny, funny musical comedy concerns the marriage of two royal babies.

It's twenty years later and Prince Hilarion is keen to be reunited with his now adult wife, the Princess Ida. Unfortunately her quarrelsome father has hidden her away in a women's only university where even the morning cock crow is managed by a talented hen.

So Hilarion is forced to don a dress and even wield a sword to win his wife.

Revising a G&S is dangerous in itself as there is such a following of G&S ‘traditionalists’ who like it done exactly how it was written, so we expected there to be very split feedback. To be honest, there were only a couple of reviews that were clear on the point that they didn’t like the revisions, but other than those, the feedback we got was incredible. All my friends who came loved it of course (they are slightly biased though!), and the reviews we got were mainly 4 stars, from even national papers like The Express and top theatre magazines like WhatsOnStage. As well as that, we’ve been nominated for 2 Off West-End Awards (a.k.a. ‘Offies’, which is the biggest off West-End awards in the country): Best Ensemble Acting and Best Choreographer. So that’s super exciting as well!

The best thing about this experience, however, was the group of people I got to work with. I don’t even know where to start… I made some fantastic relationships: life-long friends. It was like working with family or a group of best friends who I’d known for years. The show finished a week and a half ago (though it feels like a lot longer!) and I still speak to them every day. I feel so lucky and privileged to have gotten to work with such a lovely, talented group of people and to have had the wonderful experience I had. I sometimes have to remind myself that this is my job. What?! When you have so much fun, that’s very hard to remember.

Anyway, here are a few professional shots of the show. Credit to Scott Rylander.

The female characters started the show as Victorian servants (I'm on the left - very attractive ha!)

The formidable Simon Butteriss as Lord Gama

One of my favourite scenes: our first scene as the ladies united in a female university (I'm on the right)

When a few of the men first enter the university

Solo shot of me as Lady Beatrice, woop woop!

These men are going to be killed for trespassing, but I'm in love with one of them and another is my brother... hence the expression!

We will defend ourselves against the other men who come to fight us, but the prospect isn't tempting...

Defiance! We WILL fight them!! (Another favourite scene of mine.)

Of course it all works out well, we all pair up and enjoy a happy ending :)

And some photos from off-stage...

Photobomb = success.

The girls backstage.

Bridget (Ida), me (Beatrice), Georgi (Ada).

The servants and Ida!

They made me feel so special on my birthday (though I couldn't actually eat any cake until 2 days later because of Lent!) :)

Cast and MD's. The most wonderful people.

And that's it! What a random post. I hope you've enjoyed reading :) Do let me know if you'd like to read more about future productions etc - it's not really something I thought I'd ever go into detail on here, but I've quite enjoyed writing about it!

Wendy x

Get Fit Log #8

Happy Mother’s Day! (I will be Skyping my mum this afternoon, yay!) Apologies for the lack of posts this week: it has been the busiest week yet as the show starts to really come together. And this week is going to be even busier as we open a week on Tuesday. I am absolutely loving it though: I’m getting to do what I love in a great show with some truly wonderful people. Life is pretty good right now! So in terms of keeping fit, I’ve been pretty good at keeping up the gentle exercise but not so much the stretching and cardio stuff. I’m not worried though, as his show works me out better than probably anything I could do myself! I might start posting these logs every 2 weeks now as it’ll be getting pretty boring for everyone to just read log after log when I don’t have time to write other posts in between! :)

Sunday

Activity: 10-minute workout

Stretched: Yes

Monday

Activity: Walked 2.7 miles

Stretched: Yes

Tuesday

Activity: Walked 3.1 miles

Stretched: No

Wednesday

Activity: Walked 3.2 miles

Stretched: No

Thursday

Activity: Walked 2.8 miles

Stretched: No

Friday

Activity: Full-day dance rehearsal and walked 3 miles

Stretched: Yes

Saturday

Day off.

Hope you’ve all had a great week!

Wendy x

Get Fit Log #7

Another busy week for me, but I’m fairly happy with my efforts! I only went for a mixed run/walk once, but I’ve been finding that my shins have started to hurt a bit during and afterwards. My friend Lucia (a.k.a. Twinny) mentioned Shin Splints to me yesterday so I’ve just researched it and I am certain I have the beginnings of shin splints. So I think I’m going to try and swap the running for another cardio exercise until I get new (i.e. the correct) trainers and have a soft surface to train on. (I got these tips from NHS Online.) I may have to join a gym after all, but at least if I’m paying for it that should make me keep it up more regularly?! Hmmm, will need to have a think about it. Until then, I think I might try and turn my stretching into proper yoga sessions. (I know there will be tonnes of tutorials on YouTube I can follow!) So the format of my Get Fit Log will probably change from now on.

Sunday

Activity: Walked 2 miles

Stretched: Yes

Monday

Activity: Ran/Walked for 11.5 minutes and walked 2.8 miles later on

Stretched: Yes

Tuesday

Activity: Walked 2.6 miles

Stretched: Yes

Wednesday

Activity: Walked 1.7 miles (not bad considering I was on a 12-hour shoot most of the day!)

Stretched: No

Thursday

Activity: Walked 2.5 miles

Stretched: No

Friday

Activity: Walked 2.8 miles

Stretched: No

Saturday

Day off.

I hope you’ve all had an active and happy week! :)

Wendy x

My ‘Twinny’ Necklace

*Cue mushiness*

Real best friends are like family: no matter how often you speak to them or see them, things never change and when you do see or speak to them, it’s like you only just saw them yesterday and you pick up from where you left off. That’s how it feels for me with my bestie, Lucia. Even though we’re 2 years apart in age, we call each other our ‘Twinny’ as we’re so similar. (I’ve written about Lucia in this post from ages ago if you want to know more.) I got a set of ‘Twinny’ necklaces made and gave one to Lucia for Christmas, a bit like a grown-up version of those ‘Best Friends’ matching necklaces that everyone had at school! The necklaces are sturdy silver chains each with 3 sterling silver polished textured charms, all of which I chose personally. You can see that one charm has engraved a heart, one charm has an initial and the large charm in the middle has ‘Twinny’. (I'm not going to mention where I got them from or how much they were as I know Lucia reads my blog, but if you really want to know, you can ask me on twitter!) I wear this necklace almost every day and it reminds me that, far or near, my best friend is never really too far away.

Sorry for such a mushy post: you know when you just randomly get overwhelmed by how much you appreciate someone and just have to share it?! (Love you Twinster xx)

Wendy x

Get Fit Log #6

I’ve been busy with rehearsals and learning music for most of this week, so I’ve really had to push myself to do any kind of activity and stretching, but with that considered, I think I haven’t done too badly! When I have been out for run, I’ve really tried to push myself, so I think that as long as I can make each run really count – even if they are few and far between – that should be fine.

Sunday

Activity: Walked 1 mile (not great!)

Stretched: No

Monday

Activity: Walked/Ran for 8 minutes

Stretched: Yes

Tuesday

Activity: Walked 3 miles

Stretched: Yes (for a whole hour!)

Wednesday

Activity: Walked 4 miles

Stretched: No

Thursday

Activity: Walked 1.5 miles

Stretched: No

Friday

Activity: Walked 3 miles

Stretched: No

Saturday

Activity: Walked/Ran for 12 minutes!! (Including putting out the rubbish, so probably closer to 11 minutes)

Stretched: Yes

In general, I'm happy and pretty proud of the place I'm currently at. :)

Wendy x

Easy and Delicious Roast Veg Recipe

I’ve been super busy this week as I’ve just started rehearsals for a new show I’m in, so I haven’t had much time to dedicate to blogging (writing or reading!). I had planned to write a February Favourites post today, but I’ve realised that most of my favourites are the same as last month’s, and if they’re not the same, I’ve probably already mentioned them in a previous post, so I didn’t see the point. Instead, I thought I’d write a quick post on my favourite roast veg recipe at the moment.

I personally find it difficult to make veg really tasty and interesting, so this is great as a side or on toast or even to freeze as individual portions and use when I haven’t the time to cook from scratch. Amounts of each ingredient vary, depending on what you like, but this is generally how I do it.

Ingredients

2 small onions

3 peppers (I get the multipacks which have 1 green, 1 red and 1 yellow/orange)

1 standard box of cherry plum tomatoes

½ standard box of mushrooms

6 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp dried oregano

Method:

Preheat oven to 190°C.

Thickly dice all veg (I make each piece around 2cm x 2cm, and only cut the tomatoes in half) and put into a big mixing bowl.

Add all the other ingredients and mix until each piece of veg is coated.

Put into deep oven tray and put onto middle shelf of oven.

Roast for between 1 and 1.5 hours, occasionally taking the tray out to stir: by the end, the mix should be very juicy, the veg having shrunk somewhat and clearly much softer, but with a few crispy (almost burnt) edges.

Enjoy.

I hope you like this recipe – let me know if you try it out! It’s so yummy.

Wendy x

Get Fit Log #5

I had more auditions this week which makes it harder to go for runs etc (not only time-wise, but also because running affects my throat and chest which obviously has an effect on my voice too, so I need to be careful), so again this week hasn’t been wonderful activity or stretching-wise. I start rehearsals for a new role tomorrow, so it’ll will only get harder to keep it up. But I think that as long as I make sure to stretch regularly, I won’t mind so much if I can keep as active, as I’ll be active in rehearsals anyway!

Sunday

Activity: Walked 3.3 miles

Stretched: No

Monday

Activity: Walked/Ran for 5 minutes and 35 seconds

Stretched: A little

Tuesday

Activity: Walked/Ran for 5 minutes and 55 seconds and later walked 2.5 miles

Stretched: Yes

Wednesday

Activity: Walked 3.5 miles

Stretched: No

Thursday

Day off.

Friday

Day off again!

Saturday

Activity: Walked/Ran for 8.5 minutes!! And also walked 1.7 miles

Stretched: Yes

Note for this week: stay motivated and don’t let yourself become any more complacent, Wendy!

x

5 Shades of Grey

As we’re in those few weeks which can’t really decide whether they’re in winter or in spring, I’ve found myself struggling to decide which nail colour I feel really suits this time of year. I’m over the whole red or glittery nail-look of the festive period, but I don’t feel like it is nice enough weather to start forking out the pastels to match the inevitable floral trends coming up in spring. SO, more often than not, I’ve been using my trusty old grey shades which often tend to get neglected throughout the rest of the year, so I thought I’d share my favourites with you.

Nails Inc FOIL Range: Chelsea Bridge Road

I actually do tend to wear this polish a bit less than others as it’s pretty blinding, but I do enjoy it on nights out and days when I’m feeling more adventurous. Nails Inc is definitely my favourite nail polish brand, and this formula is fab. I have found with other similar polishes that it can crack and have an almost aged look, but this one just glides on and looks like it could actually be nail foils as opposed to polish. It does have that warm tone in it so, depending on the way you look at it, it could be classed as gold as opposed to the greyer silver, but from experience I know that it can go with both gold and silver jewellery so everyone’s happy!

Barry M Magnetic Range: Dark Silver

Magnetic pattern nails seem to have been on the way out for a while, which I think is a shame as they can be so pretty! This one is lovely and understated: you can only just see that there’s a pattern there. I usually prefer the Nails Inc polishes but in this case I actually think that the slightly thinner formula of this Barry M one works better for the magnetic pattern.

Nails Inc: The Thames

The Thames is the perfect name for this shade I think! Like the muggy water of the river, this is a lovely opaque, almost gel-like polish which goes on and stays on a dream! This is possibly my fave out of the 5: I definitely wear this one the most. Works for everyday-wear, but I have also put a little glitter on top which jazzes it up and works for a night out too!

Nails Inc: Pelham Street

I think this one looks almost mystical. Maybe it’s the shimmer in it. Anyway, another great formula and shade from Nails Inc. Not much else to say about it really!

Nails Inc ‘Colour & Care’ Range: Brook St Mews

I really like this one. It is grey, but I love how it is almost black, but not quite as harsh as proper black can look (I think anyway). I think it has the same formula as The Thames shade, as it’s really pigmented (you only really need one coat) and stays on for ages. Really fab.

What kind of shades are you wearing at the moment?

Wendy x