The last two days have been notable for many reasons but not least because of spittle-spray.
First there was Tim Booth, lead singer of James and then, last night, thespian and the only man credited with putting a twinkle in the eye of my spinster A-level English teacher, Derek Jacobi.
The Tim Booth incident or claim to fame as I’m now calling it occurred at the Brixton Academy. Decided to go down the front not expecting it to get too raucous and it wasn’t for the main part, a bit of space to dance about and some jumping up and down.
I was about three people away from front when Booth decided to stand on the barrier to get closer to the fans while singing. A surge forward inevitably resulted positioning me right under Mr B and thus in the line of fire. Was still marvellous though.
Booth is turning into the spit (if you’ll excuse the pun) of Michael Stipes – no hair, wiry frame with a suit that looks like it was the closest fit in the charity shop and a propensity to just lose himself completely in the music and dance like no one is watching. Entertaining from the start which saw him walk through the audience with one guitarist singing the first song to the impromptu second encore that confused the hell out of the lighting technicians.
Gig overall was fantastic, there is a part of me that wanted just a few more of the greatest hits but it certainly whet my appetite for exploring outside the albums I already have in my collection.
And then there was Mr Jacobi, Mr I Claudius, Cadfael and the object of Miss Egan’s affection.
He too was on stage, this time playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night and doing it with such skill and superb comic timing he drew spontaneous applause from the audience. But there is always a danger when you are sat on the front row at the theatre of coming in the line of fire. Now I’m not sure if I definitely got spat on by Jacobi but if not it was certainly close.
Jacobi headed a marvellous cast with particular note going to Zubin Varla (last seen in Little Dorrit) who played Feste the fool and whom sang and played beautifully.
The only teeny fly in the ointment was the casting of Victoria Hamilton as Viola. She is a superb actress and did a sterling job but, and this is going to make me sound ageist, she is too old to play that part, a fact that was all the more obvious when she is finally reunited with her twin brother at the end of the play who was played by a far younger actor, Alex Waldmann.
Maybe it was just the lighting and the fact that I was looking up at her rather than across or down like the majority of the audience but she certainly didn’t have the looks of a young woman.
Didn’t spoilt the enjoyment though.