It’s quite a rare situation with the ensemble, it’s unusual for a theatre company to be together for a year, let alone two and a half – it seems to have made them incredibly close, as well as meaning they’ve run the complete gamut of human experience together – births, deaths and marriage. It’s an odd experience as an audience member as well, and particularly as one who lived for over a year in Stratford alongside them. I’ve ended up with the illusion that I know them in a way that I rarely feel about casts and I’ve also ended up being ridiculously fond of them all, especially as that year in Stratford was a particularly hard one and the RSC was one of the few reliable sources of joy available for me.
Plus it’s not often you get to see people do such a variety of roles, see them going outside their comfort zones, seeing new talents you didn’t know they had, feel proud watching an understudy be amazing... I will never be able to be completely objective about them and I suspect there will be some among them who I follow (in the slightly-less stalkery way) for as long as I keep going to the theatre. All things considered I think I would have truly regretted it if I’d missed this, if nothing else I think I need the closure of having seen it (difficult to explain that one).
I think it’d be true to say that as much as this was for James Gale, and it truly was, this was also for the ensemble as a whole. Their contracts are coming to an end soon and they needed the closure as well, a celebration, almost a final hurrah. And what an excellent way to do it. The sense of excitement and fun and affection infused the whole building and it was hard not to feel included in it – a feeling heightened by the fact so many of my own friends were in the audience. It was impossible not to have a fab time.
Even before we had got into the auditorium we were confronted with actors wielding buckets, Brian Doherty in the form of Autolycus trying to flog us his dodgy RSC wares and my personal favourite, Sophie Russell as Abbess Amelia listening to our confessions and tapping away our sins.
Once inside the auditorium it got even better as we got to enjoy a wide range of talents – it’s almost impossible to pick out favourites as they were all excellent. Whether it was beautiful singing from Larrington Walker with Dig Deep or Simone Saunders with Destiny. Laughter inspired by Paul Hamilton or the dangerously funny Christine Entwisle (with a one off appearance as Lady Witherslack, Performance Poet and Horselover). Powerfully moving moments from Brian Doherty. Beautiful poetry by EE Cummings read by Patrick Romer, Hannah Young and Greg Hicks. Organised silliness from Sandy Neilson with his party piece or Richard Katz with mind-bending and escapology (so like Derren Brown it was almost scary ;) ). And superb self-mockery from the likes of boy band No More Lonely Knights (James Howard, Joe Arkley and Jonjo O’Neill) and Gruffudd Glyn with an American folk song all about their time with the ensemble (which worked precisely because it was crammed full of in-jokes). And then there was Klauss...
Tying it together throughout were the surprisingly good house band The Gales (any jokes about them being friends of Dorothy, have already been made) formed of Pete Peverly, John Mackay, James Trahearne, David Rubin and Darrell Da Silva. With Noma Dumezweni acting as a compere and Katy Stephens appearing at regular intervals to chair the auction and to torture her legend of a son, Louis (what’s a charity event without a bit of child torture).
An amazing evening all round and one it’s impossible to do justice to. My photos of the event are available here, whilst a book of even better photos can be purchased here.
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