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John Simm and Elling
May. 8th, 2007 10:39 pmLast night I went to see John Simm in a play called Elling at The Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush.
The play is an adaptation of a Norwegian play in which John Simm plays the title character Elling, a mummy's boy who gets committed to an asylum after his mother dies. After two years there he and his friend Kjell Barne are released and placed in an apartment together where they have to learn to live like normal people. Granted -that might not be the most exciting synopsis ever but it was one of the best plays I have seen in a long time. It was incredibly funny - I literally spent 2 hours laughing my ass off. But it was also very sweet - the two main characters were both clearly very damaged people clinging to their sanity by a thread but they were also incredibly endearing and you desperately wanted them to be happy and for their odd little friendship to succeed.
All the actors were good but John Simm was absolutely brilliant. He had fantastic stage presence and he really stole the show.
I've never been to a theatre quite like The Bush Theatre before. Firstly its absolutely tiny. I think you could only probably fit about 150 audience members in. It doesn't even have a stage - just a floor-boarded performance space about the size of my living room while the audience sits on elevated benches around it. We got there early as we had been warned that the seating is unreserved and we managed to get seats on the second row. The whole performance the actors were never more than a couple of feet away from us and they walked on and off stage through the audience entrance. It really did make for a very intimate theatrical experience.
As I tend to go to the theatre to see actors rather than the plays themselves I usually wait at the stage door afterwards. Only The Bush Theatre doesn't have a stage door so my friend and I spoke to the stage manager before the performance and said that we were hoping to catch John for a quick autograph after the show. He said that they came out of the front entrance and that John normally left quite quickly after the performance (I think he has a very young baby). So after the show we waited patiently with about 5 others in the lobby for John to come down. There follows one of the most awkward stage door experiences of my life!
So after about 5 minutes the stage manager tells us all to leave and says that he has to lock up. Considering that he'd told us all the actors left by the front we were a bit baffled but we left as requested. Deciding that the only way the actors could leave with the front door locked was by the side entrance which leads into the O'Neills pub next door we rather self-consciously went in there and waited by the entrance. Because heaven knows nothing says "conspicuous" quite like a bunch of people standing in the corner of a faux Irish pub nervously clutching their programmes and sharpies and not drinking. There were four elderly (and freakishly intense) Americans with us who worked out with a speed that kind of astounded me that the stage manager locking the front door had been a charade for our benefit and the door was now as un-locked as ever it was. So figuring that they did indeed leave by the front and that the stage manager (who had gone from helpful to irritating in the blink of an eye) was just trying to get rid of us we went back to waiting at the front entrance. How foolish we were!
Because of course actors just like the rest of us quite like a drink after work so we stood there and watched as every one of them including John Simm left by the side entrance into the pub next door. Rather hoping that noone was paying any attention to us at this stage we all very sheepishly traipsed after John into the pub. So the poor guy is standing there talking to the other two main actors in the show and some random guy whilst the autograph hunters hover nearby.
Well I say nearby - what I actually mean is "next to". Despite being actually quite shy and self-conscious in person I do seem to turn into a bloodhound at these things. So I am now standing right next to John Simm to the extent that anyone looking at us would think we are together and also next to the other guy who played Elling's social worker with whom I traded slightly awkward smiles which said:
Actor - "Oh god this girl has just joined us as if she's part of our group. What the fuck does she want?"
Me - "Yes I know this is awkward. Yes I do want his autograph. No I don't want yours. But look at it this way - get a couple of decent roles under your belt and someday some random girl will be haranguing you in a pub for your autograph."
Deciding that it was far too embarrassing to stand there for much longer at his elbow in the hope that he would notice me stood there I did the thing I hate doing and actually interrupted him by touching him on the arm and very very politely asked him if he'd mind signing my programme. Thankfully like everyone else that they seem to hire for Doctor Who and Torchwood he was beyond wonderfully nice. He signed (and personalised) my programme and I told him how much I was really looking forward to seeing him in Doctor Who (especially after the awesome trailer on Saturday). He said he hadn't seen any of the episodes yet but he was really excited about seeing them and that he hoped he didn't disappoint!
So I left very happy if a tad embarassed! I think the show might be sold out now (as it was only on for a month in the first place) but if you can get a return I would definitely recommend going - it was the best play I have seen in a very long time.
The play is an adaptation of a Norwegian play in which John Simm plays the title character Elling, a mummy's boy who gets committed to an asylum after his mother dies. After two years there he and his friend Kjell Barne are released and placed in an apartment together where they have to learn to live like normal people. Granted -that might not be the most exciting synopsis ever but it was one of the best plays I have seen in a long time. It was incredibly funny - I literally spent 2 hours laughing my ass off. But it was also very sweet - the two main characters were both clearly very damaged people clinging to their sanity by a thread but they were also incredibly endearing and you desperately wanted them to be happy and for their odd little friendship to succeed.
All the actors were good but John Simm was absolutely brilliant. He had fantastic stage presence and he really stole the show.
I've never been to a theatre quite like The Bush Theatre before. Firstly its absolutely tiny. I think you could only probably fit about 150 audience members in. It doesn't even have a stage - just a floor-boarded performance space about the size of my living room while the audience sits on elevated benches around it. We got there early as we had been warned that the seating is unreserved and we managed to get seats on the second row. The whole performance the actors were never more than a couple of feet away from us and they walked on and off stage through the audience entrance. It really did make for a very intimate theatrical experience.
As I tend to go to the theatre to see actors rather than the plays themselves I usually wait at the stage door afterwards. Only The Bush Theatre doesn't have a stage door so my friend and I spoke to the stage manager before the performance and said that we were hoping to catch John for a quick autograph after the show. He said that they came out of the front entrance and that John normally left quite quickly after the performance (I think he has a very young baby). So after the show we waited patiently with about 5 others in the lobby for John to come down. There follows one of the most awkward stage door experiences of my life!
So after about 5 minutes the stage manager tells us all to leave and says that he has to lock up. Considering that he'd told us all the actors left by the front we were a bit baffled but we left as requested. Deciding that the only way the actors could leave with the front door locked was by the side entrance which leads into the O'Neills pub next door we rather self-consciously went in there and waited by the entrance. Because heaven knows nothing says "conspicuous" quite like a bunch of people standing in the corner of a faux Irish pub nervously clutching their programmes and sharpies and not drinking. There were four elderly (and freakishly intense) Americans with us who worked out with a speed that kind of astounded me that the stage manager locking the front door had been a charade for our benefit and the door was now as un-locked as ever it was. So figuring that they did indeed leave by the front and that the stage manager (who had gone from helpful to irritating in the blink of an eye) was just trying to get rid of us we went back to waiting at the front entrance. How foolish we were!
Because of course actors just like the rest of us quite like a drink after work so we stood there and watched as every one of them including John Simm left by the side entrance into the pub next door. Rather hoping that noone was paying any attention to us at this stage we all very sheepishly traipsed after John into the pub. So the poor guy is standing there talking to the other two main actors in the show and some random guy whilst the autograph hunters hover nearby.
Well I say nearby - what I actually mean is "next to". Despite being actually quite shy and self-conscious in person I do seem to turn into a bloodhound at these things. So I am now standing right next to John Simm to the extent that anyone looking at us would think we are together and also next to the other guy who played Elling's social worker with whom I traded slightly awkward smiles which said:
Actor - "Oh god this girl has just joined us as if she's part of our group. What the fuck does she want?"
Me - "Yes I know this is awkward. Yes I do want his autograph. No I don't want yours. But look at it this way - get a couple of decent roles under your belt and someday some random girl will be haranguing you in a pub for your autograph."
Deciding that it was far too embarrassing to stand there for much longer at his elbow in the hope that he would notice me stood there I did the thing I hate doing and actually interrupted him by touching him on the arm and very very politely asked him if he'd mind signing my programme. Thankfully like everyone else that they seem to hire for Doctor Who and Torchwood he was beyond wonderfully nice. He signed (and personalised) my programme and I told him how much I was really looking forward to seeing him in Doctor Who (especially after the awesome trailer on Saturday). He said he hadn't seen any of the episodes yet but he was really excited about seeing them and that he hoped he didn't disappoint!
So I left very happy if a tad embarassed! I think the show might be sold out now (as it was only on for a month in the first place) but if you can get a return I would definitely recommend going - it was the best play I have seen in a very long time.
