As I sat on a plane heading to Minneapolis for a concert, I stared down at the CD of Martin Guerre I had bought in duty-free and wondered if I had made the right decision.

I had been offered two jobs at the same time, which for an actor is both a curse and a blessing, and I had to decide whether to accept the lead in Aristophanes' The Birds at the very reputable Gate Theatre in Notting Hill for no money, or to play Father Dominic in Martin Guerre in the West End for considerably more money.

I rang my agent from the airport, bought the aforementioned CD and, somehow believing that this was a pivotal moment in my professional life, believed that I was saying goodbye forever to a straight acting career.

I had seen the show in preview and, along with the air steward who saw me studying the liner notes in the CD, thought that it had some great music but was a narrative mess. I had also heard through the grapevine that it had been an exhausting and frustrating process. And as I sat next to a Japanese 6 year-old playing with his gameboy with the sound fully on I contemplated being in a show that I really didnt believe in. But I had been poor for too long and, assuming the role of the responsible adult, I decided it was time to pay off some of those debts.

One major solace would be the chance to work with Declan Donellan whose productions with Cheek By Jowl at the old Donmar Warehouse had inspired me as a drama student.

Day to day rehearsals are a bit of a blur now but I do remember Declan's intensity and passion. Like Robert Wilson he is as accomplished and inspiring a teacher as he is a director.

We spent many hours using his technique called 'targeting'. To gain a true insight into this I would suggest reading his book on the subject. Rehearsals would be spent pointing to the person or thing to which you were singing to (or about) in order that one's focus, objective and intention were clear.

What I found most insightful was how he would talk about emotion. He believed that emotion comes from without not within. When recalling a memory we physically search the air around us with our eyes in order to receive the historic image. And with that capture comes the emotional response to that image. It does work. This process would help me years later when, in Floyd Collins, I would conjure up the image of my late mother during the end song.

On a lighter 'note', I remember one day at the Urdang studios very clearly. I hadn't been used in the rehearsal for about 4 hours and had quickly become tired of trying to catch the eye of any nubile young dance student that passed the glass of the rehearsal room door. So I started writing notes to the already mischievous pianist called Seann. Over the ensuing hours of boredom we managed to swap quite a few notes and scribbles on the torn-out corners of our scripts. This is not a rehearsal attitude I condone of course, but it did set in motion a wonderful friendship which lasts to the present day. Indeed, Seann is now Musical Supervisor of Mamma Mia in Europe and three years after Martin Guerre he would hire me for a workshop of Napoleon and its subsequent West End run.

By the time we opened at the Prince Edward Theatre we were on the seventh version of the ninth rewrite and I still contest that had the show opened with that script and that cast, Martin Guerre would have had a considerably longer run.

Martin Guerre provided me with my only West End award to date. On the closing night party I received (by the cast and crew) 'the most dreadful rewrite due to the forgetting of lyrics' award for the complete gobbledygook which sprang from my lips during a particularly empty matinee: 'The bishop is prepar..prepor..prupree..to let you be granted.. married at last!'

The true lyric?...

'the bishop is prepared to grant an annulment to your marriage at last'.

... well I ask you...could you remember that lyric eight times a week for seven months?!!!!