Growing up in Swansea it was impossible to ignore the draw of the Grand Theatre. That epic frontage in the heart of the city became the beacon for everything I would go on to become. I had been introduced to the world of musicals from quite a young age (I remember first dressing up to the The Rocky Horror Show when I was 12, not knowing that 20 years on I would be working on the show) and the yearly Frank Vickery comedy had been a staple visit with my mother, I had even performed on the stage but who would have known the importance it would play. Since leaving the city, I have become a professional director, lucky enough to work in theatres all around the UK and Europe and that spark that lit the way started there. I had been to London and Cardiff many times but there is something more accessible about a place where you could watch a large scale touring production one week and watch the friends perform in a local production the next, something that tells you that it’s possible, it’s not just a magical world you can never be a part of but you can do it.
12 years after moving away I was back directing a local production of Thoroughly Modern Millie down the road in Port Talbot with my partner (another Dan) who had designed the costumes and on stage on the last night, before the audience arrived, I proposed. It felt fitting, to ask the man I loved to marry me on the stage, it was the theatre that had brought us together and as planning for the wedding began, there was only one place of worship grand enough for us. Planning a wedding is rather like producing a musical, we had to cast it, design the costumes, lights, sound and finally get an audience there. The team at the theatre were fantastic and became so involved, working tirelessly to make sure the show came together and I will never forget, sitting in separate dressing rooms with our mothers (who were giving us away) drinking prosecco getting that beginners call as the choir started “This is Me”, and out of all the shows I have opened, I have never been as nervous as I was in that moment.
Now that we are about to celebrate our second wedding anniversary, we are taken back to that day, singing our ‘hims’ in the stalls (all from musicals of course) whilst the star cloth glistened, looking longingly into the eyes of the man I wanted to spend my life with, and I am thankful that growing up I had such a great place of entertainment and education that will now and forever be the single most important place in my life.
