“Anna is an absolute life-saver.”

Over my almost forty years as an actor I’ve had bouts of stage fright. I don’t get it with every play - in fact I don’t get it all that often, and I don’t get it with filming. Over the years I’ve learned how to manage it. But when it comes, it’s like being hit by wave after wave of fear. And it can come out of nowhere.

This autumn I was offered a a new play. It was a great part, but the rehearsal period was short and it was a big learn with lots of tricky repetition. Plus I knew there’d be changes during previews. From out of nowhere I felt the fear. The easy choice would have been to turn it down. I accepted. But the day before rehearsals began I told an actor friend I was freaking out. She said, “Do you have to do it on your own?” That evening I found Anna.

Despite being incredibly busy she got me an appointment that week and I saw her early one morning before rehearsal. She is the most amazingly warm, smart, funny, empathetic, present person. And she was like, “Yeah, we can do something about this.”

It felt like a curse had been lifted. The following Sunday she saw me for a long hypnotherapy session via Zoom. It was like therapy on jet fuel. By the end of it I had a headache and a recording to listen to. All this by the second week of rehearsal. So I listened to the recording. Often. Religiously. And Anna checked in with me. When we opened, I had the smoothest, most confident first preview I’ve ever had.

It would be disingenuous to say I never had a bad show. I had moments, sometimes moments that went on for half the play, that weren’t exactly comfortable, but I got through them until I could start enjoying the performance again. That, as Anna said, was a victory - to know I could ride it out.

I also had other nights when it was like being back in the rehearsal room with the complete freedom to try new things. That was beyond a victory, it was beyond my wildest dreams.

In the end, the play and the cast, including me, have been nominated for awards. So, as I said to Anna, what I did must have been okay. But through the whole thing she was there, checking-in to see how I was, supporting me. I don’t think I could have done it otherwise. And if I had, I certainly don’t think the outcome would have been the same.

Anna not only changed the way I think about performance, she changed the way I think about life.