Well I finally got to see Tobias on stage today when I attended the Cherry Orchard at the Sheffield’s Crucible and I’m still coming down from the excitement. This isn’t going to be a “worthy” review – there are enough excellent newspaper reviews for that - I’ll cut to the chase and answer the important question. YES he is that gorgeous in the flesh. Picture him in dark trousers, dark blue buttoned jacket, ruffled hair (especially adorable); small glasses and a Russian trenchcoat and you get the idea (not forgetting the cute little Russian wool hat at the end of the play). He has to look rather under nourished and battered but I find that look very attractive - well it works for me anyway. His features were much softer in the flesh and he looked very handsome. It looked like the short patchy beard he was meant to have was mainly makeup (unless my eyes were deceiving me) and I wondered if that was because he was filming something at the moment and wasnt allowed any facial hair.
He seemed tall compared to other cast members (he must be around 6 foot) and was as slim as you’d expect. The voice was also wonderful, deep and warm as expected. I could have listened to him all day. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see him appear on stage. I found it hard to look away and concentrate on the rest of the cast. I was nearly going cross-eyed trying to look at him and follow the action.
At one point he had to dance with Joanna Lumley and the young actress Annabel Scholey (Jane Eyre) and showed he’s a wonderful dancer. I was extremely envious of Annabel as he spun her around the floor. He also had to lift and carry Annabel quite a bit and even carry her piggyback (whirling her round and round on his back) so to say I was turning green with envy was an understatement. I had visions of them falling over but he was too strong and nimble for that.
Also at one point he has to smoke a cigar and I found it very sexy (even though I'm not fussed on smoking). I had very high expectations as he’s a brilliant actor and I wasn’t disappointed. Admittedly his role in the play is not a favourite of mine (an impassioned left-wing political commentator) I’d have much preferred to see him in his wonderful Hamlet, but its good to know first hand that he’s as good a stage actor as he is a film/television actor. Confident with oodles of stage presence.
Reading the play recently I wasn’t very taken with it but the cast were wonderful and really brought it to life. They drew out the humour from the text brilliantly. I was moved to tears on a number of occasions (I’m an old cry baby at the best of times but was still surprised how it got under my skin). It really was a top-notch cast from start to finish. A true ensemble working perfectly together.
It’s hard to pick out an actor for special mention as they were all fantastic but I was particularly taken with Lisa Dillon (Varya) and Tom Mannion (Lopakhin) who gave very touching performances.
I was very near the front but one grumble I had was that from the side you did miss some of the background action, which was set back behind a screen. This annoyed me as the theatre (which has seating on three sides) stresses that productions are designed to make full use of the stage so everyone gets a good view. Well the production designer of this play couldn’t have read the small print! Still the seats did come right down virtually onto the stage so you do feel very involved in the production.
A number of old age pensioners attended the matinee and at one point I had to bite my tongue to stop laughing as there were so many hearing aides whistling all round me. Still it was an appreciative audience. I took my camera with me and if anyone else had taken a photo of the curtain call I would have too but not one person took a shot so I felt too embarrassed to do so. Very frustrating though as Tobias was so near. They all took the curtain call in a sort of chess set style sprinkled across the stage and all turned in unison to bow to the three sides of the stage. Joanna Lumley is as classy and beautiful as you’d expect. Her smile when she took the curtain call was enchanting. If only I had that charisma!