mostly david ephgrave

Much as I’m loath to admit it, the time may have come to retire the envelope I keep my Edinburgh setlist in. The problem is I’m a strange balance between being slightly obsessive-compulsive and gently superstitious, and once I’ve started doing things a certain way, I hate to change them. It’s not so bad that I can’t leave the house without flicking my bedroom lightswitch off and on twenty-seven times while singing Mad Dogs and Englishman in a Glaswegian accent - I managed to knock that on the head - but altering things at this stage still makes me a little uneasy. I didn’t have any problems with last year’s envelope as it was made by Tyvek (which is probably the dullest sentence I’ve ever written on my blog in its four-year history). Tyvek envelopes are far more sturdy than conventional envelopes as they’re technically not made of paper (which is my second dullest sentence); they consist of high-density polythene fibres that have been flash-spun, or at least that...

Yesterday, I visited my mum for Christmas - and while I was there, I spotted something that drove my OCD through the roof.  I noticed it when I popped upstairs to use her bathroom (I won't share too many details). Whilst using the facilities, I looked down to see an ornament sitting next to the toilet with 'STARBOARD' written on it.  My problem was the ornament was situated on the port -side of the room. (I know: I'm pathetic.)  If I'm honest, I wasn't certain - but being the sort of person I am, I looked it up (thank God for Wikipedia). I was right: 'port' is left and 'starboard' is right; meanwhile, my mum's objet d'art was sitting in the port position, burning a hole into my retina.  I don't know why it bothered me so much. It must be the seaman in me (...steady). My grandfather was in the navy; if he'd ever used my mum's bathroom, he never would have stood for it (u...

I’m a little bit obsessive-compulsive. It’s not debilitating – I haven’t washed my hands once since starting this sentence - but it definitely plays a part in my everyday life. Incidentally, OCD would scan a lot better alphabetically. Part of it probably comes with being an actor. It’s quite common to go through a series of little rituals before a performance; partly out of superstition, partly out of the necessity to warm up. I definitely do this - though sometimes it’s hard to tell whether my little pre-show routines fall more into the former or the latter category.   Sometimes it’s just about clearing your mind. When you’re onstage in a play, it’s very easy for your personal thoughts to intrude; the last thing you want when you’re trying to concentrate on what your character should be thinking. This is particularly common if you’ve been doing the same show night after night; I remember Hugh Laurie once describing this in an inter...