Those of you who are members of the RA fandom and blogosphere will no doubt have heard of RA's participation in the "Old Vic 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala" on November 21st 2010. I admit that given my circumstances I was on heightened alert for the fan behaviours I have described ad nauseum in previous posts but it seems it all went OK and RA was surprisingly generous when it came to giving fans who had tickets, his time. I have to say I love the story written by the girl on the bus - those kind of encounters that are unplanned and unorchestrated I find are the best ones. Things that happen when you least expect them to ... . A totally random happening. (How many will try to emulate it though? Sorry .... I hope readers understand why it is that I have these skeptical thoughts.
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Before I go on to the real reason for this post, I have to soul search to ask myself: If this was a local event (well, if it was an event staged in the city 34 degrees South of the equator and 2hrs drive from me), would I go? I went to the SOH to see Sir Ian McKellan in "Waiting for Godot" earlier this year. It was totally awesome. We even saw him outside the venue on his own, obviously enjoying a little bit of solitude pre-performance. It would have been too easy to have gone up to him, but something stopped us. Perhaps this was because we have a student actor in our family and we were given harsh reminders never to approach an actor pre-performance when they often go through a ritual in order to get into character. Would I go to see RA on stage if it was close by? Quite possibly I might, but I would not try to hang around to try to meet him. I've been to a few post show drinks affairs as we actually do have a friend in theatre and while it's nice to chat to him, I generally find that most of his actor colleagues, particularly the bigger names just want some downtime over a quick drink and head home to bed. They don't want the in depth social chit chat. Sure, I could have asked for an autograph or two but there usually doesn't seem much point. I listen to the conversations they have with our friend but never have much to contribute. So I don't really feel there would be much point in attending a post theatre "do" with a lot of expensively dressed people vying for an actor's attention. (Aside: I was pleased to see RA in jeans ...lol.... nice and casual after a hard day's work!! Check out some of the photos - I thought he looked tired ....well he would after that adrenalin rush). When all is said and done, I've decided the following:
1. That a totally random chance encounter is what I would like the most (it won't ever happen!!) OR
2. A totally planned official visit to a certain children's hospital I work at - in my comfort zone (that won't happen either ...lol!)
So now I've got that off my chest, I was interested in exploring the charity behind the Old Vic celebrity Gala, namely the "Old Vic New Voices". To quote:
Old Vic New Voices (OVNV) aims to support emerging talent, inspire young people and open up The Old Vic Theatre to new and diverse audiences.
I was having a chat to my daughter's friend (this is my other daughter) as he waited to give her a lift to acting school. Here is this lovely tall young man, very talented with aspirations to succeed in the performing arts. Ditto for my daughter who appears to be heading for roles in comedy. Both have talent, both are auditioning for all sorts of shows. Both have been told by their tutors to yet again audition for places in the better know performing arts schools even though they have now studied for 2 years. Will they ever get a chance to show off their talent along with all the other young performers around?
How fantastic to have writers and actors come back to the stage as RA and his colleagues did the other night to raise money to support a cause like the OVNV!! All credit to the organisers and it is great to see actors who are now enjoying their success remember the tough days and contribute time to support the new talent who are just starting out!