Lockdown London theatre walks: Soho Theatre and the Ben Whishaw and Phoebe Waller-Bridge connection
01/02/2021
Headed into town for my weekend lockdown exercise and visited the Soho Theatre - we go back a long way, to pre-blog days and pre-fame days for two notable names.
It was at the Soho Theatre I first saw Ben Whishaw on stage. He'd just come to my notice in the film Perfume and when I saw that he was doing a play I bought a ticket out of curiosity to see what he'd be like on stage.
The play was Leaves of Glass, by Philip Ridley and he co-starred with Maxine Peake.
I actually saw him in person the week before, passed him on the stairs at the theatre as I was heading to see some comedy (Soho has more than one performance space).
Whenever I'm walking up those stairs with @polyg I point out the spot where we passed - it never wears thin. For me, anyway. Poly is very good at humouring me.
Seeing Leaves of Glass cemented my opinion of Mr W, and I've tried to see everything he's done on stage and screen ever since.
But this wasn't the only 'early in their career' spot at the Soho Theatre.
I saw Mydidae; an early Jack Thorne play starring one Phoebe Waller-Bridge pre-Fleabag fame.
And then I saw Fleabag there the following year, long before it went on to become a smash TV series and introduced the world to the hot priest. Something I remain smug about to this day.
I've seen so many great plays at the Soho Theatre; there are too many to mention individually. Do you have a Soho Theatre story or favourite production? Please share in the comments.
If you want to read more, the Soho Theatre highlights reviews:
Leaves of Glass - review includes mention of an incident with Ben Whishaw's watch.