Ralph Fiennes Fan Stories and Reviews of Julius Caesar- pg 5

Eternal Sunshine's View 05-10-05                                                  Back Page 4< | Next Page>6

Right, my two cents - for what they are worth…

First of all, it was absolutely wonderful meeting Birgit! We got along great and had lots to talk about. It was really sweet of her to take me to Leicester Square and Myddelton Square, after having been there already. I only wish that I could have taken the photograph on Thursday night for her, but I had to meet my friend at the B&B.

It really seems that Birgit and I caught a bad night on Wednesday, it was quite lukewarm. And the audience reacted accordingly. Saturday was much better, there seemed to be much more positive energy in the air, the audience went along, there were laughs and comments during the performance and warm applause at the end.

I was very fortunate to be accompanied by an old and dear friend on Saturday who is a theatre professional and was able to answer a few questions of mine.

First of all, she confirmed my feeling that JC is a difficult play to stage. She said that she hoped that she would never have to do it.

Then there was my expectation as for Birgit that I would feel some energy from the actors. I guess I was expecting something to happen like when I saw Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet on stage (also at the Barbican) about 12 years ago. In the opening scene, he stood absolutely motionless with his back turned to the audience. We were sitting way at the back, but I could physically feel him. It was breathtaking. But there was little of this in JC, a little more on Saturday evening than on Wednesday.
My friend pointed out to me that they were using the whole space of the stage, i. e. the whole length and the whole depth of it. This is a great challenge fort he actors voices because a lot of the sound gets swallowed by this huge space. Our actors thus had to speak very loudly to be heard at the back. This makes it harder to differentiate between soft and loud, and therefore the linguistic subtleties of the Shakespearian text got lost in the process to some extent. And the actors also seemed very small in this huge space.

I also think that Deborah Warner wanted to have a Marc Antony who quite differed from the heavy-weight performances by Marlon Brando for example. Thus, she portrayed a weaker and more light-weight picture of him, which is quite a good idea. I think however that this conception of the character was not entirely adapted to RF tremendous capabilities as an actor. If he did not entirely convince me as Marc Antony, it had probably more to do with where Warner wanted to go with the character. But I am sure that he did what she wanted him to do, and he did it very well. But IMO it was not a role that really did him entire justice.

And yes, I adored Simon Russell Beale. Even with this huge space he managed to move and to make you think about his motives and so on. I am really looking forward to seeing him again in Paris. I also liked Lesser, he gained much strength in the second part. I especially loved the quarrel between him and Cassius.

Another highlight of the week was the play "If Destroyed True" performed by the Dundee Rep Ensemble we saw on Friday at the Menier Chocolate Factory. It was excellent. The play almost entirely rests on the shoulders of Paul Thomas Hickey, who did a fantastic job (We were almost sitting on the stage, and this time, I could really feel the actor's energy.) The play has a very powerful start and grips you from the first minute. If you have time and are in London, go and see it, it is really very, very good. I just loved their Scottish accent. And the place alone is well worth a visit.

www.thestage.co.uk/images/pics/7667.jpg

When in London, I always am like a little girl in front of the Christmas tree, which was the case this time round too. I had a fantastic time and can't wait to return.

Bronte Babe's Story 05-07-05

Good evening fellow Ralph worshippers, let me introduce myself.My name is Leonie and i have finally managed to get registered onto this wonderful site.
I have been surfing this site for a little while now and finally plucked up the courage to come on board!
I have had the most wonderful day today, why you ask?Well I met the man himself! It was a dream come true- I travelled up to the Barbican (husband in tow!) and watched the matinee performance of JC and was absolutley enthralled by the not only Ralphs' perforformance ,but of the whole production itself.
After the performance I made my way (poor hubby again dragged along!) to the stage door, where a few fans were gathered waiting for a glimpse of our idol.I then started chatting to some of these lovely people and who should I encounter, none other than Luscious Lenny (Doulla, hope i've spelt it right) and her delightful daughter!
We got chatting about the man himself, his works etc, then
Anton Lesser appears and we ask for his autograph, which he gracefully gave (such a charming man!).
I then asked Mr.Lesser if Ralph would be coming out ,and do you know what this gallant gent did? He only went back inside
and gave Ralph the message that some die hard fans were waiting to see him!
About 15 minutes passed, we are still chatting and anticipating Ralphs' appearance, then lo and behold HE came through those stage doors like a GOD!
My dears, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven! This was the moment we had all been waiting for;he then signed his autograph for us and allowed pictures to be taken ( i will post mine once i know how to master the technicalities).He was very charming, but seemed quite tired and looks like he's lost some weight.He also seems much smaller in the flesh than he does on the screen, but those EYES, they are truly beautiful, you just melt into them! Suffice to say, I'm still on an incredible high and I don't think I shall sleep much tonight I hope you have enjoyed my account of meeting Ralph and i look forward to meeting you wonderful people again real soon.Until then Goodnight Leonie x
p.s also met Simon Russell Beale, lovely chap also.

Doulla's Second Time Around 05-07-05

So glad you made it Brontebabe!! Welcome to the forum!

It was lovely meeting you at the stage door...I still haven't come down off cloud nine having met The Divine One at last! I was on such a high on the journey home I got half way to Waterloo then realised I was supposed to be going to Paddington!!

It's all thanks to you and that lovely, lovely man Anton Lesser that we got to meet Ralph at all so my daughter and I are eternally grateful to you.

He did look very tired and pale and a bit bemused when he came out but at least there weren't too many people there so he was quite friendly. Did you notice his orange tee shirt which said "Fashion Stinks". We loved that!

He was so sweet to my 8 year old daughter when I introduced her to him because she wanted to show him her teddy bears. When she told him they were called Oscar and Lucinda he laughed and said "That's nice". I also told him that we'd seen the play twice and he said to her "What even you??". She was too shy to have a photo taken so mum very nobley stepped in (almost tripping over her feet in the rush to get to him) and he put his arm across my shoulder and I couldn't resist putting mine around his waist...sigh...

The day was just perfect from beginning to end; my daughter and I met a lovely bunch of forumers from all over the globe (including Wolverhampton!!) for lunch at Leicester Square...so nice to put faces to names and, being relatively new on the forum, they made me feel very welcome.

We had to leave early as we were going to the matinee and when we got in, who should be sitting in our row but Sir Ian Mckellan! Another of my favourite actors. The play was slightly shorter by about 15 mins, some of the opening scene was cut I think but can't remember what else. In the Lupercal scene Rf wasn't quite as suggestive as he'd been last time we saw it but he was still wet

The funeral scene was even better if that's possible - he seemed much more confident and powerful...awesome to watch.

At the stage door apart from the charmingly sweet Anton Lesser we also saw SRB (who was superb again as Cassius). He was very gracious and friendly and quite happy to chat to us...even more respect for the Commander, Nell and Mickeldore.

So the icing on the cake of a wonderful day for us was to meet RF himself. My daughter said to me "Is this the happiest day of your life, mum?" and I said "No, that was when you and your sister were born...that's happiness that really lasts" (corny I know but true). And she said to me "Yeah, you're right I guess, but this was pretty close wasn't it?"...YEP!

Doulla xx

Dearrrhh's Stage Door Visit 05-07-05

I'm a new here and I couldn’t keep myself from joining you anymore! It’s been for a while that I’m following your discussions on Ralph and I have really enjoyed it by now. Now that I’ve returned from London yesterday after having seen him in JC on Friday evening I feel like sharing my experience with you. It was the first time for me to see him in flesh and blood and I was absolutely thrilled!

I had the chance to see him pass by from the stage door to the taxi, he seemed quite in a hurry, as I’ve understood that he often does. But I think it was ok, the poor guy must have been exhausted. I didn’t even approach him, firstly because I’m a bit shy myself and secondly because it was quite obvious that he was uncomfortable with all those people around, and it was late too. It was more than enough for me to see him first of all on stage, and after to have just a glimpse of him at the stage door, with his backpack and training shoes.. so sweet!

I agree with those who have already mentioned here that he actually looks a bit smaller in “real life” than on stage. I think he’s not taller than 183 cm (I don’t know how do you say that in feet…). But I was absolutely stunned about his beauty and his fit on stage ! He looks so much younger than he really is and in particular I loved his reddish-blond hair, now that he’s not so bald anymore, though I didn’t mind the bald look either! I really enjoyed this modern production, it was something different and much lighter that it could have been, I imagine, for someone like me who’s English is certainly not at the Shakespeare level! Nevertheless, I think Ralph gave his best only in the second half, his “partyboy-Mark Anthony” didn’t convince me so much, because I think that’s just not his thing to do, as well as a film like Maid in Manhattan, in my opinion, was definitely not his stuff. The "lupercal scene" though, was funny to look at and HE was absolutely gorgeous to look at, kissing the extra ! (I was so jealous to her!!!). But I think he was at his best during his passionate speech after the funeral, that was the moment when you could really see his talent.
To tell you something about myself, I’ve been attracted by Ralph Fiennes since I was in high school, back in the Nineties, after having seen his performance in Schindler’s List. I was hypnotized by this gorgeous Evil. Then of course I saw The English Patient and I couldn’t get rid of him anymore, I was NAILED (if you can say that in English) by his charisma, talent, beauty and sensibility.
Happy to get to know you and to share with you!

 

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