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

Filming begins on final series of Happy Valley, as new and returning cast are announced

As previously announced, James Norton and Siobhan Finneran will also return for series three - as Catherine’s nemesis, the murderer and sex offender Tommy Lee Royce, and Catherine’s sister, the recovering addict Clare Cartwright, respectively.

Announced today, Con O’Neill will reprise his role as Clare’s recovering alcoholic boyfriend Neil Ackroyd. George Costigan will return as Nevison Gallagher, with Charlie Murphy as his daughter and Catherine’s police colleague Ann. They will be joined by other Happy Valley returning favourites including Derek Riddell as Richard Cawood, Karl Davies as Daniel Cawood, Susan Lynch as Alison Garrs, Rick Warden as Mike Taylor, Vincent Franklin as Andy Shepherd and Rhys Connah as Catherine’s grandson Ryan Cawood.

Amit Shah (The Other One, The Long Call), Mark Stanley (The Girl Before, White House Farm) and Mollie Winnard (All Creatures Great And Small, Four Lives) join the cast for series three, and will play pivotal roles in Happy Valley’s final chapter.

When Catherine discovers the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir it sparks a chain of events that unwittingly leads her straight back to Tommy Lee Royce. Her grandson Ryan is now 16 and still living with Catherine, but he has ideas of his own about what kind of relationship he wants to have with the man Catherine refuses to acknowledge as his father. Still battling the seemingly never-ending problem of drugs in the valley and those who supply them, Catherine is on the cusp of retirement.

heartsways:

fic: running back through the fire when there’s nothing left to save - part 3

So, here’s another bit of that Rachel/Kirsten fic. I’ll be honest with you: there’s absolutely no plot to this. But this section should fit with the middle two gifs that @maiagaru put into my eyeballs and started this entire bloody thing. Oh well. Have some more.

***

Kirsten answers after the second ring, when Rachel’s barely had enough time to put a light to her cigarette and inhale a whole lungful of instant calm. She can hear the laugh in Kirsten’s voice, like she’s just been joking around with someone and a frown digs between Rachel’s brows because she could do with a bit of that herself. Or a lot, as it were, considering the day she’s had. Kirsten always greets her with a smile that’s genuine and Rachel finds herself needing it more than ever right now.

She’s more than a bit faffed off at the thought Kirsten’s on her jollies with someone else, though. That she’s been having fun with someone else and - 

“You interrupted me right in the middle of a bravura performance,” Kirsten tells her, and giggles in a way that makes Rachel smile fondly before letting her head fall back until it bumps gently against the seat. “I was singing my heart out when you popped up on the display.”

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heartsways:

fic: running back through the fire when there’s nothing left to save - part 2

@maiagaru created an entire universe’s worth of ideas with her SWCU gifsets. And I’m VERY easily persuaded by pretty northern ladies, so here’s some more of that fic thing based on this gifset

Part 2 based on the top two gifs. More to come (if and when I get my large but comfortable arse in gear)!

***

Kirsten’s hand is shaking as she takes the papers from Rachel’s papers and puts them onto the bar in front of her. She flattens her palm on top of them, spreading her fingers out so they’re pressed onto the bar top. It steadies her, somehow. It feels solid when nothing - not her mum or her job or her little flat and car - else does. Suddenly, from the second she slit open the top of the envelope and saw the black and white ink of transfer papers, the name of the syndicate, the rush of nausea that burst fresh in her belly…from that moment on, Kirsten hasn’t been able to get her feet properly under her.

And now, she thinks wearily, there’s Rachel. Sitting next to her on a barstool and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. Kirsten’s gaze drops to Rachel’s fingers, twisting her glass round on the bar, the other tapping a forefinger on the metal rail with alarming rapidity. She’s agitated - more so than usual - and it doesn’t look or feel good. She probably wants to smoke. One thing Kirsten’s learned about Rachel Bailey is that she’s never far from needing a cigarette to tamp down on the stress. Or let it out. Or whatever the excuse for not giving up is this week, anyway.

A nasty feeling starts to churn in Kirsten’s stomach. This week, it’s probably her.

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heartsways:

fic: running back through the fire when there’s nothing left to save - part 4

Blame the entirety of this on @maiagaru who made me believe in the Sally Wainwright Cinematic Universe and that it was open to my meddling ways. Anyway, remember that time Kirsten McAskill almost got stabbed with a broken bottle? And how Rachel Bailey was like, beside herself? No? Well, this bit of fic isn’t about that. It’s about what happened afterwards. Under a cut because it’s a tad steamy. You’ve been warned, filthmongers.

Just a quick note: I’ve really enjoyed writing this so if none of it rings true for you, that’s fine! Nobody needs to know. Least of all me. Also, the ending to this is totes indulgent. I know it. I see it. I wrote it. But I don’t care. :)

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Just a reminder: yes, Tommy Lee Royce was a really bad guy—like in a Kim Ki-Duk way —but James still made him weirdly attractive. He can get it all day err'day

frankysbraid:

watching a sally wainwright show is me just sitting and pointing at every actor that’s been in all of her shows and acting shocked every time

From the Penguin Classics Cover Generator