Waiters are like actors waiting in the wings, bantering whenever we passed each other on the restaurant floor, shouting at each other backstage in the kitchen and winking and corpsing above the heads of our audience, the unsuspecting customers.

All good actors are very bright. You can't be stupid and a good actor. You may be inarticulate, you may not be highly educated, but all good actors are quick-witted, some of them dazzlingly so. All you do is guide them.

Backstage life is terrific training for an actor, seeing shows from the wings.

You make me wanna la-la, ... make la-la in the kitchen on the floor.

I'm reaping the rewards now and enjoying every minute of it - even when I'm on the floor waiting to be carted off for more stitches. I wouldn't swap it for anything, and, whether this proves to be my last season at this level or not, I'm determined to make the most of it.

I have a worm's eye view and a bird's eye view simultaneously and it's immensely helpful to understand what is happening on the shop floor when you are harnessing many talents and telling an intimate story on a large scale.