Part 1 of Judit’s “Crucible” Odyssey: A Hungarian RA Fan ‘Seizes the Day’

Dear friend Judit, aka the Hungarian Honey, was lucky enough to not only see RA perform live as John Proctor in “The Crucible”–she saw him three times, and once from the front row!  Now that she has pretty much regained her equilibrium after meeting HIM she is sharing her experience with us here at TAE in installments.  Now, Part I of Judit’s own “Crucible” story . . . with lots more to come!  Thank you, Judit, for dishing all about your experiences with us. You rock!

 

I know RA had talked about going back to theatre often, but when he moved to NYC I had given up hope that it would happen (yeah, my usual optimistic self taking charge again!), and I thought if it were to happen it would happen on Broadway…

So, I was very sceptical when the rumour first surfaced about him being in talks to star in a play in LONDON!  Especially as the source was the Daily Mail and we all know how reliable they normally are.

 

In any case, a few days after I first read about the rumour, I joined the Old Vic’s “friends” circle (there’s a yearly membership fee in exchange for which you get a tiny discount from ticket prices, you don’t get charged booking fee when booking online, plus you get newsletters and, as it turned out, I also got a Crucible flyer in the post some weeks later). I thought, “I had better be prepared IF the rumours indeed turn out to be true!”

 

And then…all of a sudden there it was–a confirmation of Richard being cast as John Proctor on the Old Vic’s website! Needless to say, the Armitage Army “fell upon the online booking system of the Old Vic like an ocean” (to paraphrase John Proctor!).

 

 

For the first time ever in my life, I found myself in a virtual/online queue!! I think I was about 300th when I first logged into my account and clicked on ’book a ticket’. Luckily, I had someone to share the excitement with – I phoned Helen in London, so we basically “queued” together, she in London and I in Budapest, watching our respective numbers go down to zero.. There was an awful lot of OMG-ing and exclamations along the lines of “can you believe this is happening??” (all this was made more awkward by the fact that I was at work, and this whole scene was witnessed by our accountant and a student who was doing her work experience with us – good job neither of them speak English!).

Helen and myself decided to go for an early date in the run, as we were afraid that RA might miss some dates later on in the run due to Comic Con in July or ITS premiere in August…

And, we were very lucky to score first row tickets for the 30th June…!

Later on, when I booked my flight tickets to London, I was more and more tempted by the idea that if I was going to spend five days in London, why not go for more than just one performance??

In the end I just couldn’t resist;  I booked a ticket for 27th June and then, yet another for the evening performance of the 28th..

I know it sounds excessive but I was thinking, who knows if I’ll ever have the chance to see RA perform live on stage again?? Why not make the most of my time in London??

Yes, of course he might do another play in a few years’ time- but who knows where I will be then? Whether I’ll still have a job by then? And my health?

 

So I decided to just seize the day–and I went for it!!! Boy am I glad that I did!!!

 

Next chapter:  preparations!  (coming up soon!)

 

Judit, Helen & Richard: “My hands were shaking . . . Helen *did* go a bit gooey”

 

Our long-time reader and devoted Armitage admirer Judit has now seen “The Crucible” three times–and says she is still wrapping her head around it all now that she’s back home in Hungary.  Here are a few things she has shared with me, along with photos from her visit to the Old Vic and meeting with the lovely Richard Armitage at the stage door. The photos were taken by another long-time reader and fan, Helen, who shared her thoughts about RA and the performance in a previous post.  Fedoralady just had to do some playing . . . 😉 Oh, and Helen’s back, too. 😀

Judit in front of one of the posters at the Old Vic holding a program for The Crucible.

 

BELIEVE IT OR NOT . . .

“The weather in London was BEAUTIFUL!! With the exception of Saturday. But even then, the rain stopped by the time we got to the stage door, so we were VERY, VERY lucky. (Even though I read that RA  did stage door on a day when it was raining – bless this man!)”  

ON MEETING RICHARD:

“We may not have been in the presence of true greatness but we certainly were in the presence of genuine, unaffected kindness and sweetness. And he certainly makes me go gooey all over! My hands were shaking for minutes after we left the stage door!  And yes, the poor fellow almost had to double up to fit into the frame with me. And I was wearing heels!!! LOL (which I NEVER do!! Can’t walk in them).  I hope Helen will not mind me saying that she *did* go a bit gooey (maybe not all over! ;)) when he said “bless you” to her in that honey voice of his.”

To which Helen replied:

“Ha ha, Judit, you’ve caught me in my lie! And there I was thinking that I came across as a cool, calm and collected ice maiden!

As already said, in my heart I was convinced that one day I would meet Rich, and it wasn’t just wishful thinking but based on a logic of sorts: he’s always said he wanted to return to the theatre; if he did it was likely that he’d be in a London-based play; if he was in a London-based play there would be a stage door opportunity. And so it happened.

Thus, Monday night was the culmination of six-odd years of anticipation and hope and envy of all those that had already met him. And the “bless you” in honey, with shoulders touching, was electrifying, especially when I fully expected a hoarse raspy voice so soon after the bellowing.

So… six years… so I had a sort-of out-of-body, wtf?, what just happened?? reaction. Poor old Judit had to take me by the elbow and gently guide me to wherever we were supposed to be going – couldn’t tell you, but I think it involved getting some water from somewhere and getting the train from somewhere else.

But by the time we were on the train and body and mind had reunited, I saw the episode for what it was: a charming encounter with a warm-hearted, but very normal gentleman.

And Judit’s hands WERE shaking like you wouldn’t believe!!”

We can believe it, Helen, we can believe it. Thank you for sharing, ladies!