![Donna Air is currently performing in 2:22 A Ghost Story at London's Gielgud Theatre](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/theatre/2024/07/10/TELEMMGLPICT000385101116_17206259916910_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqntiPghVZtEKfDiOXwR9JYWQnZJIETfWB_fUbKb77n0w.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Donna Air: ‘I’m a professional, I’ve never peed myself on stage’
The actor, 44, on Russian saunas, being Stacey Dooley’s dressing-roommate, and avoiding accidents onstage
![Donna Air is currently performing in 2:22 A Ghost Story at London's Gielgud Theatre](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/theatre/2024/07/10/TELEMMGLPICT000385101116_17206259916910_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqntiPghVZtEKfDiOXwR9JYWQnZJIETfWB_fUbKb77n0w.jpeg?imwidth=680)
How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Donna Air
6.30am
I’m a bit of an early bird, even on a Saturday, but I won’t set an alarm at the weekend as I like to take things a bit easier. My Lhasa Apso dog Molly sleeps in very late – she’s an old girl now – so I enjoy uninterrupted peace first thing. My daughter Freya, who’ll be 21 in September, often spends the weekends in the country with her dad [Damian Aspinall]. She likes to be with the animals [at his wildlife sanctuaries in Kent].
7.30am
If I’m in London, I’ll sit on the balcony and listen to some music. If I’m in the Cotswolds, the first thing I do is make green tea.
8.30am
I don’t eat breakfast as I love a big lunch and dinner at the weekend. I’ll go for an 8k run around Hyde Park, or I’ll run around the Great Tew Estate if I’m in the country.
10am
I love a banya, which is a very intense Russian sauna followed by a cold plunge, then you’re beaten with leaves or scrubbed. It’s great for releasing tension from your muscles if you run or walk a lot. My skin also feels bright and clean, my eyes feel clear, and my thinking is crystal clear.
12pm
I grab brunch, maybe at the Ham Yard Hotel, on the way to the Gielgud Theatre before the matinee warm-up, led by James Buckley [Air is in 2:22 A Ghost Story until 4 August]. If I wasn’t working, I’d have a lazy lunch with friends at the River Cafe or Dean Street Townhouse, or in the Cotswolds at The Bull in Charlbury.
2pm
My dressing room adjoins Stacey Dooley’s, so we’re like roommates. It’s like living together on a gap year. I love doing the play, as compared to normal life where I’m juggling so many things, it’s a chance to focus on one thing. It’s been like medicine to me.
![Dooley and Air onstage at the Gielgud Theatre performing in 2:22 A Ghost Story](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/films/2024/07/10/TELEMMGLPICT000385101107_17206260651930_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=350)
4.30pm
In between shows I might have a coffee at Bocca di Lupo in Soho with Stacey, or even a little snooze. In the Cotswolds I’d go home, lie on the sofa in front of the fire or get into bed, and read something like Have You Got Anything Stronger? by Imogen Edwards-Jones. If I’m with Freya and Damian at Howletts [wildlife sanctuary], we feed the monkeys or gorillas, then settle in for a big Aspinall tea of a crumpet with cheese and Marmite and a cup of tea, which might then blend into dinner.
5pm
Because of the play, dinner is around five, a couple of hours before the evening show, and I have to be careful how much I drink.
7.30pm
My character gets through two or three bottles of wine so there’s a lot of running to the loo in the interval. I just about get through the last scene as I’m so full of [non-alcoholic] liquid; but obviously I’m a professional, and so far I’ve never actually peed myself on stage. I’d like to think I’m too young for that, but I’ll be very lucky if I’m still on stage at an age where I do pee myself.
10.30pm
It takes a few hours for the post-show adrenalin to fade so there’s no chance of going to sleep straight away, but as we get Mondays off, we’re more likely to go out on a Sunday than a Saturday. Either way, you won’t find any of us dancing on tables. We’re all quite boring.
11.30pm
I love watching TV in bed, so before I go to sleep I might binge watch a drama – I enjoyed Eric with Benedict Cumberbatch recently. Before I know it, I’ve watched all six episodes and it’s the middle of the night.
As told to Nick McGrath