There was a standing ovation - the man in the seat next to me was in tears - and a crowd gathered afterwards at the stage door, hoping to see Dame Judi (although on such a damp night, my guess would be that she'd have her driver pull up at the front).
I found Peter and Alice extraordinarily moving. Alice Liddell Hargreaves, the real Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Llewelyn Davies, who was JM Barrie's Peter Pan, really did meet briefly in 1932, when she was 80 and he was 35, at the Bumpus bookshop on Oxford Street.
The play is magnificent, superbly acted by Dame Judi and Ben Whishaw as the bruised, forlorn boy who eventually had to grow up.
It's about loss and growing old and resilience and loneliness and obsessive love and I can't imagine that there was a person in the theatre who didn't find a line that spoke to them.
Oh, I would so love to see that!
ReplyDeleteMy son has tickets for that this evening. Lucky chap. Meanwhile we are off to ferret out the Blackbird Tearooms.
ReplyDeleteEven the set was a booklover's delight, Cornflower.
ReplyDeleteI know Booksnob has tickets so maybe she'll write a fuller review later.
I hope he enjoys it, Lucille. Lucky all of us who have tickets - there was a long queue for returns. And have a lovely day in Brighton. The Blacakbird is top of my list for next time.
I love Judie Dench, lucky you to see this play.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever seen her a couple of times on stage, Janet; saw her as Cleopatra once, and she was brilliant, as you can imagine. Ben Whishaw was terrific too.
ReplyDeleteI could weep just sitting here, picturing how utterly magnificent that play would be. You are so, so lucky, Mary.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed it will come to us over here, shown in one of those cinema broadcasts. Live would be the ultimate though, I adore both actors.
Darlene, you would have loved it. Now I'm wishing I had tickets for Helen Mirren as the Queen.
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