I had one of the most fun afternoons ever the other day. Tom Stoppard’s memorial perf at the National.
What an immense privilege to be in that cast. We weren’t all superstars, but we were all Stoppardians. Huge fans of the man both on and off-stage. It was great to be re-united with some of my ol’ suckers. Glenn Close, Steven Dillanie, from Hamlet. Sinead Cusack and Jeremy Irons, from my first year as a pro at Stratford. People like Tom Hollander, Rufus Sewell, who I did my main scene with, and Benedict Cumberbatch, & the amazing Toby Jones, who were like old friends but had never worked with, were all so happy to see each other and work together on this incredible day. Wow.
And giving speeches were Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn, Mick Jagger, and in the audience, any director you care to name, including Steven Spielberg, and the King & Queen. And all my lovely cast from Rock n Roll. Nancy was on stage with me too, which is always Heaven! I think she is one of the greats. Will be a Dame, like Harriet Walter, who was also a big part of the day. Talk about Rock N Roll!!!!!!
I was so proud to be part of this. Patrick Marber put it together, and no one could have done it better.
One last note about it was that as we came off at the end, I was speaking with the adorable Ed Stoppard, and remarked how the last piece of footage of Tom on our big screen he quoted the end of The Waste Land. He said how kindness "shored against his ruins". Ed said, "Yes, he stole everything!" Well, who better to steal from but TS Eliot, (who of course stole from EVERYONE, including Blake!)
And I head off to Australia in 2 weeks. So looking forward to it. My main fear, apart from singing infant of so many people, is that they want me clean-shaven! I think a wee bit of stubble, like on my Instagrams now, not a full beard, but like now, gives just the right amount of definition, rather than the clean-shaven fat faced fool! We shall see who wins that battle, but I am pretty sure it'll be them!
I will keep you all abreast of Sydney travails. SO EXCITED!