Ralph Fiennes Fan Encounters

Ralph Fiennes fans meet Ralph Fiennes during Coriolanus and Richard II plays

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Many members of the Ralph Fiennes fan community had the opportunity to meet Mr. Fiennes after his performances of Richard II and Coriolanus during Summer and Fall of 2000. On this page you'll find pictures and accounts of fans who met Mr. Fiennes. If you have a Ralph encounter you'd like to share, email it to fiennesite@yahoo.com, and I'll add it to the fan encounters pages.

(photos sprinkied throughout this page are courtesy of Mareska...thanks a bunch:-)

Bridget's Ralph Encounter

Ralph Fiennes ....as a crestfallen king richard gazed into a small,precious,looking glass,he spoke in a voice just above a whisper,words forever burned into my memory........"is this a face,that like the sun,causes all that look upon it to grow weak???".....i reached for valerie's hand in the darkness,grasped it gently and said,ever so softly ....yes,oh yes!.......that line from richard the second,defined the whole entire experiance of seeing him for me.......one does grow weak from looking at his face.....weak from the sheer realization that the person who has portrayed all those emotions and characters in so eloquently a fashion, is standing just six inches away from you and is smiling at you directly while he is gently and delibertly signing his name on paper you are holding,feeling the weight of his hand upon it..........weak at seeing his actual physical person....beautiful,flawless skin,eyes capable of looking right through you into your very soul....delicate hands that held a pen lightly as one who was sketching with pen and ink,the sound of the pen,scratching across the paper......a shy,introverted,hesitant manner about him......a voice that could be classified as a deadly weapon...... weak in the realization that i have made in my mind,the connection between the ralph of photo images(film,photo,television)to ralph in the flesh....now he is a real person to me...he has flesh,bone,grace of movement,a voice,a physical presence...i have a sense,ever so small,of him in reality.do i know him? no,not at all.........i "know" him in the sense that i have connected with the emotions he has portrayed in all his characters,recognized my own anger,jealousy,love,inadequacy and human fraility in them.the whole experiance grounded him to me,crystalized it into something tangible.......it was wonderful... and i will write all the actual,factual details from my perspective soon...it will take me a while to do it. i thought about the whole experiance,all the way home on the plane,and there is much to tell......but i must take a little time to recover as one who has gazed into the sun too long........

Ralph Fiennes giving autographs now that i have had a few days to gather my wits about me...and i can think clearly enough to give my impressions of the 16th....but first i want to say how fun it was to meet all you forumers that were there!!!what a great group of intelligent,educated,accomplished women you all are! the kind that i would love to count as friends....may i?? everyone was just about as i expected.....and the husbands,they were so patient to endure our gushing!!!!!a special thank-you to mary k,whom without her dedication to the quality of the forum,there would have been no gathering....to katherine for all your hard work in coordinating the whole logistics of the event,we are forever grateful....and to valerie,my roomate and sightseeing bud,with whom i shared more than one hairy cab ride through the streets of new york,thank-you.........now to the play......"ah,the play's the thing!"......the day started with valerie and i meeting markesa and her charming daughter at grand central station.we then traveled to brooklyn by subway,lead by our crackerjack tour guide,katherine.......we finally reached our destination...BAM,harvey theater,interesting space,inner city renovation...we entered the darkened lobby,heart beating a little faster,i thought "he's in this theater right now"......we then took our seats and valerie and i engaged in nervous conversation before the curtain rose......the house lights dimmed.....ralph emerged on the stage,in profile....byronic cape caressing his shoulders,underneath a blindingly white shirt revealing an expanse of alabaster neck,adam's apple exposed.....i reached for valerie's hand in the darkness and gave it a squeeze,she squeezed back and glanced at me,beaming....we felt just like two schoolgirls who had just secretly come upon the object of their infatuation...and now,the whole play stretched out deliciously before us.........i tell myself "you must remember everything....every word,every sound you hear,every color you Ralph Fiennes meets his fans see...every emotion you feel"......sword fight....exciting...all i could think of was ralph cutting his hand and thinking "oh fuck! it hurts!".....i note that linus and ralph are wearing leather gloves while handling the swords,i note that no other cast members are wearing gloves while handling swords.......ralph covered in blood.....disturbs me....i cannot wait to see him washed clean......the scene between ralph and his mother,her begging him to not destroy the city....almost brings me to tears.....instead, ralph breaks down at her feet and does the crying for me.....tragic ending.....the curtain call,a smiling cast,a second bow for ralph,standing ovation.......we exit the theater and head for the stage door.....a crowd has already gathered....i'm beginning to have second thoughts....i don't want to bother him,i only want to get a good look at him in reality,in the flesh....i move to the outer fringe of the crowd.....live grass for tonights performance of richard the second blocks the exit.....a man emerges and says "he will meet you around at the front door"...is this the truth? or a clever ruse to clear the exit of a crowd?....i start to walk to the front door,people still lingering......i approach the large glass door...how heavy it feels!...everything from this point on is in slow motion......as i enter the darkened lobby i look up ...i say to myself in a very oscar like fashion.... "oh, oh dearie me..."what do i see before me but ralph finishing up talking with the only other 3 people in the lobby......he looks up,staight at me....those eyes....i feel like superman exposed to kryptonite.......he's walking over to me...."oh ,hello!" ....i manage to say rather cheerily...how supid i must sound....he smiles...i feel my strenghth slowly ebbing away........"will you please sign my program?"...he moves over closer to my left side....he sems very shy,introverted.....i hand him my pen,he takes it and looks at me,that same faint smile,lingering at the corners of his mouth....he pauses,waiting for me to say my name,to personalize the autograph....i can say absolutely nothing.....i watch how his hand is gently holding the pen,only 3 of his 5 fingers touching the barrel...he starts to form the letters,but the pen point is retracted into the pen,he looks up at me...."you have to twist the barrel"......i say to him,he corrects the problem and begins writing....i can feel the weight of his hand against the paper i am holding,realizing that the paper is the only thing keeping his hand from resting on mine....i am grateful for the paper......i am thinking to myself "he looks like oscar....not amon,not almashy,not even like bendrix,really......but oscar".......i watch him write his name,rather slowly, actually delibertly....."the scene between you and your mother in the play was wonderful...." "she's very good,isn't she?" he replies.....he hands me my pen and smiles once more,looking straight at me.....i'm glad it's over.....for now, it was all i think i could bear....he turns away and goes to meet the group that has now gathered outside the theater....i stare at the nape of his neck and the soft fringe of hair covering it....everything in me wants just to touch it.......i study the line of his shoulders and try to get a sense of his frame beneath the clothes.....he turns and starts to step outside...he is now in the doorway,in full sunlight,facing me,talking to valerie....she's smiling...he's looking straight at her.......i think to myself "how really beautiful he is.....blue eyes that could look right though you,perfect skin....i wanted to ask him what soap and moisturizer he uses but i know soap has nothing to do with it........i take,secretly a photo of valerie talking to him......he smiles to everyone and turns to go back into the darkened lobby,i watch him walk away.........i look at valerie....she's beaming....i look at katherine,she squeezes my arm....i say nothing.......

Ralph Fiennes..close-up a group of giddy women,high on their encounter with the divine one,proceeded up the street to fortify themselves with food and calm their spinning heads with drink.....we arrived at the resturant,right on time,and met the other gathered forum members...it was like a family reunion/blind date rolled into one....all i remember is a flurry of smiles,hugs and hand shaking......posed for a group photo...we substituted the word "ralph" to coax a smile for "cheese"..... we got seated and got on with coversation.....the time seemed to race by!!!we shared family photos,swapped stories and traded business cards....toasted katherine,for all the arrangements...and of course,the man of the hour,ralph......we were finishing up just in time to head to the theater for the curtain,when the waiter approached our table and asked "would anyone care for dessert?"....."i think we are all having our dessert somewhere else..." i chimed in....(that is except for markesa and laurie....but that's on another thread!) we made our way back to BAM....heads dizzy from wine and from the prospect of seeing him again......i relished the thought.......i wondered what had i done to deserve such good fortune?had i believed in karhma,i would be collecting some very good pieces of it right at that very moment....i thought of oscar saying,arms folded around his frail frame,face beaming..."i am extraordinarily happy!!!".....i felt like oscar.........this evening had a different energy.....more friends for support......valerie and i took our seats.....the stage was covered with real grass.....soft,green grass....i remembered a line from "the leaves of grass"....."i imagine the grass to be the long,uncut hair of graves".......how little did i know how right i was........i could smell the soil that lay beneath....the setting was stark,yet beautiful to me....small meadow flowers dotted the landscape....a single tree,off to the right,stood alone as a suggestion of an orchard behind it....the tree seemed most curious...it seemed to bear 3 colors and kinds of fruit...i decided to think about that later........the actors took their places......the lights dimmed.......they rose again.....ralph was carried out on a pure white,gothic throne....he seemed to float,in kingly fashion, above the rest of the cast....he was clothed in white,his hair spiked,appeared reddish...a slender,simple crown adorned his head......his character as richard was strangely familiar....he held up his hands in front of his face...wasn't that oscar?.........he peared in the small looking glass at his countenance...."i pardon you"...crossed my brain........i saw more of him in richard,that i had seen before....in corialanus,he was someone completely different......proud,arrogant in a foul way,bloody and millitant......in richard,he was almost the exact opposite......i pitied him.......just before the end,he looked so small Ralph Fiennes greeting fans and pathetic covered with the thin,green blanket,a shackel tied to his leg,not at all like the shining,radiant king from the opening scene.......as his lifeless body lay on it's funeral pyre....i thought "how ordinary he looks,so human....every king is really,in the end,just a man....stripped of his crown,stripped of his robes,stripped of his honor...all kings are just men".......house lights up....curtain call,blanket around his shoulders.....not smiling as much as this afternoon...fatigued perhaps,Lord knows i would be.......off to the stage door...again.....this time i would not even try to speak to him ...that would be greedy of me...so many others wanted to meet him......i really just wanted to look at him,study him,anyway......it was dark now...the only light was the light from a few scattered streetlamps,and a small light outside the stage door...after all i had seen him in full sunlight...all his lovely coloring easily discernable......i moved with katherine and valerie to the edge of the crowd.....all the other cast members were loading directly onto a bus.....were they secretly hiding ralph among them?i,in a jovial mood,blow a kiss to the bus,a few of the actors laugh and blow one back ...the bus pulls away from the street....our eyes scanned the passengers......is ralph among them?...linus emerged,said hello to the people at the door,then headed up the street....he passed just to the right of the crowd....he smiled and waved to everyone and was intercepted by two men directly behind me....he was so different from ralph...an extrovert....he looked directly at everyone he spoke to....lots of chatting....he was not getting too much attention,as all eyes were on the door....i walked up to linus and said "hello! would you please sign my program?"...same line i used on ralph....for all the talking i do you would think i could come up with something more original!....he said "what should i write?"......."how about to bridget for starters.....how do you spell that?...the irish way"i replied...."the play was wonderful(original again)you were such a bastard!"...i couldn't believe i said that! he laughed and looked at me surprised....."thank you"i said,then he put out his hand.....i shook it...he smiled again,turned and disappeared into the night.......that was interesting.....he's definitly an extrovert.......good grip too!!!!.......just then out the door comes ralph,identical outfit as before,he looks tired,but lovely......he shakes hands and signs autographs quietly,shyly......that semi-smile,....it makes me bite my bottom lip so hard,i'm afraid i will make it bleed.......i just want to look at him,and i didn't want him to see me doing it either...i hold my program up in front of my lips...i am smiling so broadly i don't want to appear goofy,should he look up....i see him talking to film freak....she's smiling too! a car,a rather paintworn one at that,is waiting for him....his sleeves are partially rolled up,those slender arms exposed...no hair on his forearms......smooth skin.....he's aware of us standing to his left,not to be rude,he glances up at us...,smiles,waves and says good-bye....i so want to blow him a kiss too,but i can't...i would feel so stupid if i did......he turns,enters the car and drives away into the night.....i suddenly know how cinderella felt at 11:45..........

Mareska's Weekend w/Ralph

Hi! Just got home from the Sunday matinee. Didn't write last night after Sat. matinee- too tired.

First, thank you again, Katherine, for EVERYTHING! You are a warm, generous person whom it was a delight to meet. I also enjoyed meeting and talking with the 9/16 Gang; really, you are such a wonderful group of people.

L & I took the train yesterday to NYC & back home again, since staying overnight in the City is too pricey. So we didn't join the group for the evening performance.

I was true to form after the matinee when RF walked out to sign autographs. In other words, my well-laid plan to take a picture of Laura as she asked for an autograph went awry as I became so flustered that I took a picture of my own face, instead. Then he moved on to other fans and I didn't get a chance to speak to him. Later, it turned out everybody had an autograph (Valerie was level-headed enough to ask for her name on hers) and I'm thinking, tomorrow is my last chance!

Got home late as we rode the subway to the terminus in Brooklyn rather than back into NYC. This is one of the many reasons why I need Katherine in NYC. So we spent almost as much time on the subway as on the train ride. When we finally got back to Grand Central Station, we'd missed the 8:54 train by about 3 minutes. So we made calls on L's cell phone until the 9:54 train.

Raced to get to BAM on time today. Stood outside the doors at 1:00 wondering when they would be unlocked. Learned from someone in the unticketed line (quite long, BTW) that the show started at 3:00. I looked at the ticket. 3:00 it was, indeed. Made more calls on L's cell phone.

Saw play. Fell asleep sitting up during a long non-Ralph scene. L, seeing that I wasn't snoring, decided not to interfere. Woke up in time for Ralph. (Will give thoughts about both plays later, maybe in separate posting: supposed to be in school extra early tomorrow for a meeting.)

Play ends. Standing O, just as there was yesterday afternoon.

Okay! I had three goals:
1. autograph with my name on it
2. picture of L with RF
3. eye contact and words exchanged with RF

Sent L ahead to race to stage door with Richard II book and instructions to have it autographed with my name. Didn't know how many autographs he'd stay for.

Big crowd behind police barriers. Cast starts loading onto the bus, Linus walks out as FF described. Talks to fans and signs autographs. I don't want to move from my spot, so much as I'd have liked to talk to him, didn't. Oliver Ford Davies comes out and talks to people. Emilia Fox comes out in fire-engine red dress but walks toward the group of cast friends that FF noted.

RF comes out. Pale, delicate, thin. L asks him to sign my book & I take picture. Then I say, "The play was wonderful, Mr. Fiennes." He says "Thank you." Eye contact? Not sure.

He makes his way around the police barricade signing, answering, smiling. I see a woman touch his arm. D-mn! I think. Should have had Goal #4: Physical contact! What to do? Decide to risk utter humiliation should he refuse my request: "May I shake your hand, Mr. Fiennes?" (I think there's a song title in that one.) He shakes my hand. I seem to have reacted like a teenager. I'm told by L that I became quite giddy and the surrounding fans said, "Awwwh."
RF: very quiet, very kind. Energy on stage: amazing. Gotta go. Gotta tuck the kid into bed.

A couple of short comments about the plays:

We read in the program that T.S. Eliot regarded Coriolanus as a better play than Hamlet. L agrees with Eliot. She loved Cory, more so than R2. We were both surprised at all the laughs in it. That shows the director's ability to interpret moments and lines to engage an audience.

R2 does indeed seem more "suited" to RF. R2 is a bit like Oscar's brown-haired evil twin. Tho Barbara Jefford's stage time is limited in this one, she's wonderful. Great comic relief for Richard's downward spiral.

I was looking for the bald spot, BTW, and from my seat, didn't really think RF has a hair crisis yet. Then I read Shiza's remarks about the lighting, and that makes sense.

I'll have to check my photos, which may or may not be clear enough to show if RF wore the denim shirt afterwards. To me (visually challenged) it looked like an untucked blue corduroy shirt over a green shirt on Sunday afternoon. Made his eyes look quite blue.