These are a few of our favourite theatre things: Or how David Tennant's newspaper inspired @_faeriequeen
05/03/2012
Written by @_faeriequeen
To anyone who has got to know me in the last five years or so, it could come as a surprise that there was a time where I wasn’t particularly obsessed with going to the theatre and wasn’t determined to make a career in the industry!
My object – part of a prop newspaper – is from the Tribute to Look Back in Anger that was held at the Royal Court on 8 May 2006 as part of its 50th Birthday Celebrations; an event which helped precipitate what has now become a lasting passion for theatre and, it could be argued, helped shape how my life has now turned out.
At that time I was probably at the height of my David Tennant ‘appreciation’ (I liked him before Doctor Who, I’ll have you know) and it was his involvement in this event that really spurred me into buying a ticket, along with a group of other fans from the forum on his fansite that I used to frequent.
My ticket was supposed to be for a seat at the back of the stalls somewhere, but fate would have it that one of the other girls wasn’t able to make it at the last minute, so I took the spare seat, which happened to be bang in the centre
of the front row!
I hadn’t read the play and knew the bare minimum about its historical significance, and significance in terms of the Royal Court’s history, but was completely blown away by the performance. It was technically more of a rehearsed reading of some extended extracts from the play, but that didn’t diminish its impact at all.
Tennant seemed completely word perfect – never once having to check the script he had stuck in the back pocket of his jeans, and at one point his Jimmy Porter – prowling the stage with pent-up venom – picked up a newspaper and flung it about in anger, and it so happened that the front page of the paper separated from the rest and flew off the stage into the front row – landing on me and the girl next to me! We shared a conspiratorial look and, after the deservedly effusive curtain call, agreed to rip it in half vertically so we could both have a memento of the occasion.
There was something electrifying about seeing a live performance like that up close (as well as Mr Tennant, the cast also included Anne Marie Duff as Alison and Helen McCrory) that I’m sure the seed of something was planted in my brain.
When I went off to university that September and had some ‘disposable’ income for the first time, I found myself spending more and more of it on going to the theatre. It wasn’t a complete coup de foudre, but then I think sometimes the best things in life sneak up on you without realising it.
I am now working towards a career in casting, which would never have happened if I hadn’t found this passion and decided that I wanted a job doing something I loved as well.
These are a few of our favourite theatre things is a series of guest posts written by fellow theatre fans about an theatre related object that has special meaning for them. So far we've had:
Pockeful's not so Trivial Pursuit
If you have an interesting object you'd like to tell us about drop me a line: rightrevstan@gmail.com