John Griffiths

Brentford actor turns to writing to escape Covid nightmare

by Áine McGinty Life was turned upside down for all of us in March 2020 when we were ordered to stay at home to help stop the spread of Covid-19. Some were saving lives, some were key to keeping society running, some were able to work from home, and some were forced into the unknown, with their income and identity ripped away from them. One of those was actor John Griffiths.

Born and raised in Swansea, John has lived in west London since 1970 moving from Ealing to Brentford ten years ago. ‘‘It’s been such a brilliant move. It must be one of the friendliest streets in west London!’’ John couldn’t praise his community more, telling me all about their impromptu socially distanced parties and his neighbours coming out to clap every Thursday. ‘‘It’s true what they say, Brentford is brilliant.’’

Thanks to the pandemic, John went from an actor to an author, having taken to writing to document the unusual, although familiar to many, situation he found himself in when the curtains closed on his livelihood. He went from being out of work thanks to Covid-19 to being a part of the Chiswick Book Festival 2021 Local Authors’ Party.

But how does an actor turn to such a different creative outlet? It all started with the three P’s, John explains, prayer, poem and psalms. ‘‘I decided early on I needed some creative focus,’’ he tells me. But like many of us, John couldn’t settle and was so preoccupied with

what was happening around him that he needed something short, he couldn’t read a novel, so the 150 psalms was the answer. Originally a chapel boy from the Valleys, John is religious but had never read the psalms from beginning to end. Starting his day with the three P’s became a form of meditation for John and he quite quickly started to write himself. This then evolved into a daily blog which was met with rave reviews and requests for it to be turned into a book. John eventually succumbed to the flattery and The Write Escape: How One Actor Coped with Covid was born.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a book solely about the coronavirus pandemic. ‘‘Although Covid inspired the book, it’s not really about Covid. That would be too depressing for words,’’ John says. The Write Escape: How One Actor Coped with Covid explores the triple loss this actor experienced last year, the loss of his livelihood, the loss of his colleagues and the loss of his identity. With acting, John explains, ‘‘You are your business, you are the product. You do take loss of work very personally.’’

The book looks at John’s daily routine, the change of seasons, good days and bad as well as chance meetings on daily walks. However, that’s not all. Readers meet a whole host of characters, there’s lots of local history, sports reports and even recipes. It’s a real mixed bag.

The Write Escape: How One Actor Coped with Covid promises to cover the good and the bad, with humour and sadness and most importantly, it makes an uplifting read, a story of the human ability to adapt and survive.

It’s nice to hear about something positive that has come out of the dreadful times we’ve all been through, and for John this book has almost saved his year, ‘‘As I held the book in my hand, I thought last year wasn’t a complete write off.’’