#belleville

Paris city view - eos 7d -f7-1/60

Eiffel Tower . 7d 10mm f12 iso 100

Part 2. Meeting with James Norton

We exited the auditorium and spent some time in a bar cause we thought we had a time before actors came out of  a dressing room and went down in lobby. I took a place near the exit, auditorium entrance, passage to wc and a door marked No admittance.

And then the door opened, Malachi and Faith got out of the room. I couldn’t believe my eyes, just stayed and glazed at them for a moment. Only 10 minutes after the play left, nobody was there except a couple of people behind me at the bar, some other viewers were in lobby, waiting for actors. I went up to them and we had a nice talk. I said I saw them on TV, complimented their play and underline the high points.

When Malachi and Faith left, we decided not to hurry and stayed in the bar. Just in a minute the door with No admittance opened again, and James with Imogen entered the room.

James was in a coat and glasses, with a sharp look in the eye. I unrolled a handmade poster and looked above it at James (with eyes like the cat from Shrek). The look on the James face changed and he went up to me with words “Oh, it’s you?” and hugged me.

After that moment the most interesting part began.  I gave a small gift to James, then we observed my poster.

I reproved him a little with a smile about the fact that he didn’t pay any attention to a one-year anniversary of our Twitter group. James became very serious and said that it’s a shame on him and disgusting, but, take it easy, he is pretty far along from all that social media, just logging in, pressing some buttons and logging out. So all that I expected it to be, not perfect, but that’s not my rules in a game.

Then all of us went up to bar, James dropped off his coat on the floor (exactly that herringbone black-and-white coat from Saint Petersburg, he said that), I breathed out and did the same with my puffy coat.

James became clear there was no way back when I asked him to sign autographs for many of his fans and to shoot a short video for Russian speaking fans.

There was a funny incident during signing autographs. James began to write and said it’s uncomfortable because the marker dried up. I was in a step from panic but James offered to bring another marker, and ran away. I shared a look with my friend, our thoughts was the same: he wouldn’t come back. But a few minutes later James returned with a new marker in his hand! We kept things going. What a guy! 

Next step was to shoot a video. I asked James to tell whatever he wants, HelloorHappy New Year. He concentrated fast and said a proper text. There was a mess around, it wasn’t so easy, I got a bit hacked off, you can see how I’ve trying to make thought together and to listen to my “perfect” English… The one thing I asked him about was to say this letter is for Russian speaking fans, but he uttered it like “for Russian fans”. I don’t want to nitpick, he already remembered and did enough. So this short video is for all of you who understands Russian language.

After we’ve shot the first video James asked me – why I announced it in English if the video is for Russian speaking people? Just because of this we shot one more part.

I flatter myself that James spent so much time with me also because I told to him I read the script on the play. I complained on 4 stars, but he said it’s nothing, don’t care about it. I supposed that it’s connected with a no large-scale of the performance. It’s not a Shakespeare but a modern small play. He just nodded “yes, maybe”. I complimented the cast and the play and he was listening to it very carefully.

It’s not a surprise I was very nervous. But in that 10 minutes (or just about it) I could collect my thoughts to talk calmly and to do a maximum of the important things. Some of them went out of my mind though I was prepared. For example, I didn’t asked about a few screen caps from behind the scenes “War and peace”. Just, just… the way we are.

What else I can say? James Norton is a very nice and charming person. He is attentive and sincere, laughs openly and playful, with his head back. 

You feel like he talks to you not for advertising, for you can be useful as a fan, but just to make you feel pleasant. I believe he is kind of a person who just loves people.

Thanks to the Donmar theater, to the director and all of the cast for giving me a pleasure. I had a great time with the play Belleville. Thanks to James personally for his time, I’ll never forget it. I want him to have a luck – those, who makes people happy deserves all the best.

Have a good year, all of you. I want your dreams come true – sometimes it actually happens.

Part 1 of my story is here