"Bring Me Sunshine" – Wyndham’s Theatre, Wednesday 19th December 2001

Well, where does one start?! Thanks to Denise, who organised it all, the three of us (Denise, Emma and I) had an absolutely brilliant evening…..

I will let Denise tell the story of how it all came about, but suffice it to say that until Monday evening I was jogging along, embroiled in Xmas preparations, finishing my SAGE course and looking for a job. Then an email popped up on my screen from Denise titled "URGENT!" . … after that, it was a whirl of excitement and nerves, more so for Denise I think – but she needn’t have worried!

Denise managed to book three balcony seats for the Wednesday evening performance when, thanks to REG’s email to Dominique giving the dates of his December appearances, we knew he would be performing. Lots of emails and "Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three" type phone calls flew back and forth, to ensure we could all keep in touch and enable us to find each other in London. This wasn’t helped by my Talk Time running out on Monday evening, with no time to replace it before we were due to chat!

I know Denise didn’t sleep too well on Monday and Tuesday, nor did I, as I was on tenterhooks once Denise said that she had a plan…. Which worked! I was waiting at Ash Vale railway station for the connection to Waterloo (having almost killed myself walking-very fast!-from home to the railway station in just under 35 minutes….) when Denise’s message came through – Richard had left a message on her mobile telling us to come to the stage door after the show!!!!! I bet I must have been grinning from ear to ear. I wondered why people on the platform looked at me oddly …

Eventually I got to Waterloo and met Denise in Covent Garden where she had been stringing out a meal of starters in order to hang on to the table for my arrival! (she was a bit mortified that I recognised her from the scanned Birthday Book photo she sent me via email; but honestly Denise, it was a nice photo, don’t know what you were worried about!) I managed to make a few dents in a massive hamburger (too excited to want much). Then Emma rang to say she was in London, and Denise and I hurried round to Wyndham’s Theatre to meet her and get the tickets. I thought Emma seemed very calm and collected, all things considered! Were you, Emma?!?

The seats were centre stage, and although high up, we had an excellent view of everything that was going on. Emma suggested it might be a good idea not to stand up and lean over, though. … instant vertigo!

What can I say about the play itself, except that it was two hours of sheer fun! Anyone who has grown up with Morcambe and Wise on the box will delight in it. I won’t give too much away about the script, as it might spoil it for anyone who has yet to see it (if anyone wants more details, email me and I will come back to your private email addy with details) but I can say that the second half follows the format of a typical Morcambe and Wise show….with Richard as the special guest. It really is a laugh a minute, with Richard first being mistaken for an intruder and told to "Clear off!", then the two comics groveling and calling him "Sir Richard E" when they realise their mistake…. The theme of "The Play What I Wrote" in which Richard is the guest, will be familiar to REG fans, but as I have no idea whether this is changed according to which guest star is appearing or if it is the same throughout, I won’t say anymore here, in case it spoils the surprise!

Suffice to say that Richard delivers the often grammatically awful lines (as in the title of the play!) with great skill, dignity and pained expressions … the look on his face as he delivers them is just so funny….Given Richard’s beautiful pronunciation of the English language, it is even funnier to hear him say things like "What is what happened, too, too" (the inference being that the same word is in the script twice by accident, but the guest is told to follow the script come what may!)… There is singing as well, and dancing, and old jokes that make you groan but are still funny! I think Richard is brilliant at comedy!

He is excellent as the poor beleaguered guest who is famous yet is treated by the two main comics as the supporting artist … well, anyone who has seen a Morcambe and Wise TV show will know exactly what I mean! I think the most famous TV show must be the one where Glenda Jackson was the guest… I think Richard mentioned in one of his emails to Dominique that he gets to wear a dress – I hoped he wouldn’t be wearing it all the way through and he didn’t…. he looked fab, anyway.

It was terrific to see how the audience reacted when learning the name of the guest star – the applause was deafening! Denise rang beforehand to see if the Theatre would tell her but apparently the management keep it quiet, to add to the surprise I guess. As I said to Denise and Emma, "I bet we are the only members of the audience who know who is appearing tonight!"

After two or three encores, the curtain went down and THE moment had arrived…. We went round to the stage door as instructed, Denise announced us and the young lady rang through to Richard to tell him we had arrived….We were told "Dressing Room 8" and went through a rabbit warren of narrow corridors until….there he was!

He must be a master at the quick change, as it could have been not much more than five minutes since the curtain went down and us arriving at the open door… he was just towelling his face dry as we went in, and he seemed really delighted to see us, shook our hands, thanked Denise for her home made mince pies which she had left earlier with the request for a meet! I think I said something like "You worked hard!" which he grinned at (because he did; it was a very action-packed show, lots of running about and some falling over….!).

Richard was amazed that we three girls had not met before, he asked how we got to know each other and when we said "The Regiment!" he gave the widest grin you’ve ever seen and said that he "Must email Dom and tell her that it works"! Then he spotted Denise’s "Hamleys" bag and asked if she had children, and if she was the only one who did, I said that I had one too, when it came to Emma he asked "How about you?" and she replied that she was too young. I got the impression that he was quite bowled over to have a teenage fan!

If this is a bit disjointed, by the way, sorry – I am typing it as I recall it, I’ve probably missed bits but hopefully between the three of us we will have remembered it all!

There was then some conversation about Father Christmas and Richard asked whether our kids still believed in Father Xmas. Denise said that her oldest boy doesn’t, but the younger one does, I said mine still does, and Richard said that Olivia is not quite convinced anymore, or words to that effect, I can’t quite recall the exact words.

He asked us where we all lived, again seemed impressed that we had come all that way to see him, and said that he thought the audience that night had been terrific, asked us if we thought we were good! I remember saying, "Well, we had a lot of fun!" He was pleased, said again that the audience was excellent, and that the matinee performance that day had seemed to consist mainly of 95 year old ladies … and he looked a bit downcast, which I took to mean that perhaps they were hard work….!

Richard then had a phone call, and another guest was coming to see him, and it turned out to be an actress he worked with on "Gosford Park",which is due for release in February apparently. Richard introduced us all to Geraldine (I’m sorry, I can’t recall her surname, I meant to look it up on the link on the web before starting this but my brain is not working too well today!),and we shook hands with her. Richard said that "Geraldine plays ‘Posh Upstairs’ and I’m …." something I didn’t catch. (might have been "not so posh"? Help, Denise, Emma?!) "… downstairs!" He then told us some of the awards it had won or been nominated for, not sure which; Best Director, Best Actress (which wasn’t Geraldine if I recall, so I gave her what I hoped was a commiserating look, which I think she understood, as I got a little smile back!) best several other things, he was ticking them off in his fingers but I couldn’t keep up with him!

Richard asked us we all knew of Morcambe and Wise, to which we all said "Oh, yes, grew up with them" apart from Emma, who knows them from the repeats! (Oh, what it is to be young!) Even Geraldine said she grew up with them, which I was surprised at, as I thought she seemed quite a bit younger than me! (Repeats, maybe) It turned out that Richard didn’t know of them beforehand, only having arrived here in the ’80’s, as he put it, and had to watch a tape to see what they were all about.

As to how he looked, well … younger than he appears in photographs, I would definitely say. Slim … he was wearing a red, white and (blue?) rugby style shirt, cream chinos or may have been cords, and brown boots. Slightly tanned, too – not at all pale. I think I remember him asking Denise where we were seated and when she replied "balcony" I thought he said something about "receding" which I didn’t quite catch! Could have been something to do with his hair, but he must have a thing about it as I can’t say I particularly noticed….he was just . … scrumptious! After signing some autographs for us, Richard gave us each a hug and a kiss on each cheek, wished us all a happy Xmas, and we sort of reeled out; nearly lost our way so Richard showed us which door to go through. I think we said something along the lines of "Goodbye Richard" and I am pretty sure he (or someone!) said "Sir Richard E….!" which caused much laughter. Then we were outside, looking at each other, and I’m sure I speak for Denise and Emma, thinking, WOW! We looked at our autographs, wandered around to the front of the theatre where were approached by a drunk man asking for money and a young man who asked "Who was the guest tonight?" and we chorused "Richard E Grant!"

We made our respective phone calls for lifts and so on, and waited for Emma’s Dad to arrive. Hope your Dad was impressed with his autograph, Emma! My husband was still on the M3 so Denise, bless her, who was, I know, shattered by then, offered to stay with me for a while, so we went across the road to the coffee bar, and sort of tried to recover our wits; talked about lots of things half of which I’m sure neither of us can now recall!!! Denise told me that Geraldine had come into the coffee bar shortly after us, for a minute I thought "Don’t say Richard is there as well!!!" Unfortunately not! One coffee and one tea later and I could see Denise was flagging, so off she went, with thanks from me for having the idea and doing it all, and at such short notice too! Shortly after that, my dear husband turned up to collect me. I kissed him told him that I had shaken hands with and been kissed by Richard E Grant and was never going to wash those bits again (well not for a while, anyway…!!!) – with which Graham touched his face and said he wouldn’t wash that bit either then!!! He had great difficulty finding his way out of central London with me chattering nineteen to the dozen in his left ear (its his slightly deaf one, too, wonder why!!!). What a great evening it was.

To anyone who ever has the opportunity to meet Richard but is worried that they might be disappointed, go for it, because, believe me, YOU WON’T BE! I must admit that the thought had crossed my mind beforehand, I thought "Omigod, supposing I’m disappointed, or make a twit of myself!" I was fairly certain that I wouldn’t be, though – you only have to read the Waterford Diaries on the Temple, to know that other members of the Regiment have met him and been bowled over by his charm and friendliness. He is very good at putting people at their ease, too. Thanks, Richard!

I hope to find out what dates Richard may be doing in January, my excuse is that my husband says he wants to see the show too…..!

Lastly, thanks again Denise, it was great to meet you and Emma. Lets do it again!

Elaine Jackson.