London!! (See, told you I'd get there eventually - so to speak!)
Sometime last year, it was announced that Harry Lloyd was going to be in a new play, The Little Dog Laughed. I mentally shrugged, because I was pregnant and new babies and trips to London don't exactly mix.
And then I read what the play was about, and that there would be rather a lot of flesh on display (goodly, Harry Lloyd manflesh), and some mankissing (goodly, Harry Lloyd kissing Rupert Friend mankissing), and did I mention the goodly manflesh already?
And there was the not inconsequential matter of Tamsin Greig's presence in said play also.
So I did my maths (much finger counting and grunting involved) and worked out that, as long as forthcoming baby was healthy and happy, I might just make it.
I've been to London a few times in the last few years, with an increasing number of friends each time, and I've been increasingly happy to go (I usually 'suffer' from an intense fear of large cities, don't like trains and am not fond of travel).
However, whether it was the intense anticipation (which was a blast to share with misswed, roh_wyn and lankyguy, my fellow LJ play watchers), or because I was leaving Little R all day for the first time, or because I've not been anywhere much since last October, by the time I got to Leicester Square, I was a wreck!
Luckily, Misswed and Lankyguy were already waiting with restorative hugs and a bench seat, and once Roh_Wyn had joined us we repaired to a cafe for food, which always helps!
See, here's the thing: I do adore our Harry Lloyd, he's very pretty as we know and his acting rocks, but the main thing I like him for is the way he's brought me into contact with some of the warmest, nicest, most kick-ass people I've ever met. It was the first time I've seen roh_wyn, and for the record, she's quite as ace as you already think she is, only more so. And her hair was great!! (;D)
And so to the play!
It. Was. Amazing.
Honestly; no bias!
Much funnier than I'd been led to believe from on-line paper reviews, and very engaging. I hadn't expected to care very much about the plight of a spoilt, Holywood actor or his circle, but it was really well done. The humour kept it the right side of sympathetic.
I'd read one review which suggested Gemma Arterton's character, Ellen, was underwritten and the character mistreated, but I didn't see that at all. She was great, and hardly the innocent little lady she could have been written as.
It was also good to see a play later on in its run than I've managed with previous HL plays (though not TOO late, as with The Sea - when I went to see that, I really felt Harry had given up on it - in one scene he was practically picking his nose when the action wasn't focusing on him. Lovely, not.) Here, the actors were all so seated in their characters and completely at one with each other. They were enjoying themselves, and that spilled into the audience.
Tamsin Greig stole the show as Diane. I quite like the whole 'talking to the audience' device (don't know the technical term!) anyway, but she was brilliant. At one point, Lankyguy, next to me, said, 'I love her!', and since Tamsin was up 'our end' of the stage, I'd swear she paused a tiny bit before her next line - hee!
I think Roh_wyn mentioned her wardrobe, which was beautiful (and who wouldn't want to look THAT good in high-waisted trousers? and omg, I've just read she has three children AND a figure like that), but I will make a special mention of her matching shoes (especially the dove grey satin ones), which I was feeling very lusty towards :D
Come to think of it, I think Tamsin Greig also stole my heart - *bows low, if only for a closer look at her shoes*
What's a gal to do?
But come, come, you don't really care about that, do you? You want to know about Harry Lloyd's nudey bod (or you should, trust me, you should.)
Well, we all knew it was coming, and even the false start (when he only takes his top off) was exactly what I'd pay £37 for all over again. Oh, yes.
It's funny; afterwards, when talking to misswed, we were laughing at how we spent two series of Robin Hood and more than one play trying to catch glimpses of his chest, and now: BLAM! "Here's my body, ladies and gents!"
Misswed: Back then we would say, 'is that a chest hair we saw?'
Lankyguy: And now you've seen all five of them.
Bwahahahaha!!
Our fandom has come of age :D
Oh, people. Harry Lloyd's body IS quite as attractive as his face.
I've no idea if all that axe-wielding/horse riding/hot sex scenes with Allan had a very long-lasting effect, or whether he's been down the gym every night since getting the part, but it looked wonderful.
Lean, defined without that overworked look, and quite, quite lickable.
When he leant over to retrieve something from the floor, his latissimus dorsi quite caught my eye. I should love to know if he's ticklish there.
;D
Now, call me fussy, or a connoisseur, but I have seen nicer bottoms. I mean, that's not to say it wasn't delightful (and I was certainly delighted to see it), but then I have been lucky enough in life to see many, many excellent bottoms, and IM(subjective)O, am married to a most excellent arse. (*snigger*)
However, our happy moment of physical contemplation was short-lived (and that in itself would be a good enough reason to book another ticket as someone did!) as it was swiftly followed by a much longer moment of high-farce, which necessitated Harry's character leaping into bed and under the covers. No idea if there was a glimpse of anything more - I was too busy laughing my socks off!
Rupert Friend got more than an eyeful of what we did not (and I do prefer the maintenance of SOME mystery!) since he was on eye-level with H's groin. From where we were sitting, we could see quite clearly the fierce eye-contact maintained between the two men, hahaha!
In the Radio One interview, the cast joked that Harry had written his name (or maybe Rupert's - there was a lot of giggling to interpret) on it one night - wonder if all the letters fitted vertically??
The mankissing was also a sight to behold. It helped that the characters had held back from intimacy, so it was more of a desperate/hot, hot, hot/must kiss you NOW snog than a gentle meeting of the lips.
A frighteningly hot moment
When I commented on my enjoyment of the play (and H's body) on my Facebook page, my friend Ryan replied, 'Destiny fulfilled?' As I said there, I'd like to think there's more to my life than oggling 26 y/os on stage, but it ranks pretty high.
And let's face it, if anyone had asked me, back in 2007, if I would one day be seeing that creepy alien/grubby carpenter in the buff, not ten feet away from me, snogging another (not unattractive fella), I'd have laughed and said, 'In my dreams!'
Hold that thought, people: Dreams Can Come True!!
In conclusion, then, Harry just gets better and better looking - and I mean that in the normal, clothed sense, since I can only assume (dream) he maintains himself well in other departments.
He's also a great comic actor, and I now want to see him in more of those roles. If he can be naked while he's at it, so much the better ;)
Yeah, I am pretty cute, aren't I?
Yes, Hazza. Yes you are.
Afterwards, we tried the stage-door-johnny act, but alas, slim pickings, except a bonus sighting of Richard E. Grant (who I personally don't rate, but then, he wasn't looking for my opinion, and scuttled off as fast as his skinny legs could carry him.) Wonder who he's friends with at the theatre? I'd guess at Rupert Friend *shrugs*
It was a matinee performance, so the actors probably had more interest in grabbing some food/downtime than signing our programmes, but I don't mind. It wasn't raining at that point, and it was a good chance to catch up on some chat with the Fans of Fans of Harry Lloyd.
Then it was off to a Tapas restaurant to spend time with yet more splendid Robin Hood people - wastingyourgum, applebeing and robinfanatic; lovely people all.
I didn't get as much chance to chat with everyone as I'd have liked; at the risk of sounding silly, I was tired after all the travelling and excitement (and dithering about being on the Tube/in London) and thinking about getting back home and having heaving bosoms as a result of not feeding Little R all day (sorry!) and some overly dramatic RL stuff just before the trip. I like to think I'm normally more ebullient than I was that evening!
Hopefully I will get to make up for it another time *g*
And that was that. Time to go back home, happy, sated, and a little melancholy that it will be a while before I see everyone again.
Thank you so much to everyone for making it such a brilliant experience. I couldn't have observed so much of Harry Lloyd with a better bunch of people (although a larger one with our couldn't-be-there friends would have been even better!)
Hope I've done the write-up a good service - the floor is now open to questions!!
p.s. I've reread this, and I'm not impressed with my own writing - however, it's taken forever as it is - so a small edit will have to suffice!! Hope you get the gist, anyhow. It's hard to convey HOW AMAZING it was to see all of Harry :D
p.s. My eye-for-the-tall-guy Lankyguy now puts Harry at a pleasing 6'1"
Nice work, my love ;D
And then I read what the play was about, and that there would be rather a lot of flesh on display (goodly, Harry Lloyd manflesh), and some mankissing (goodly, Harry Lloyd kissing Rupert Friend mankissing), and did I mention the goodly manflesh already?
And there was the not inconsequential matter of Tamsin Greig's presence in said play also.
So I did my maths (much finger counting and grunting involved) and worked out that, as long as forthcoming baby was healthy and happy, I might just make it.
I've been to London a few times in the last few years, with an increasing number of friends each time, and I've been increasingly happy to go (I usually 'suffer' from an intense fear of large cities, don't like trains and am not fond of travel).
However, whether it was the intense anticipation (which was a blast to share with misswed, roh_wyn and lankyguy, my fellow LJ play watchers), or because I was leaving Little R all day for the first time, or because I've not been anywhere much since last October, by the time I got to Leicester Square, I was a wreck!
Luckily, Misswed and Lankyguy were already waiting with restorative hugs and a bench seat, and once Roh_Wyn had joined us we repaired to a cafe for food, which always helps!
See, here's the thing: I do adore our Harry Lloyd, he's very pretty as we know and his acting rocks, but the main thing I like him for is the way he's brought me into contact with some of the warmest, nicest, most kick-ass people I've ever met. It was the first time I've seen roh_wyn, and for the record, she's quite as ace as you already think she is, only more so. And her hair was great!! (;D)
And so to the play!
It. Was. Amazing.
Honestly; no bias!
Much funnier than I'd been led to believe from on-line paper reviews, and very engaging. I hadn't expected to care very much about the plight of a spoilt, Holywood actor or his circle, but it was really well done. The humour kept it the right side of sympathetic.
I'd read one review which suggested Gemma Arterton's character, Ellen, was underwritten and the character mistreated, but I didn't see that at all. She was great, and hardly the innocent little lady she could have been written as.
It was also good to see a play later on in its run than I've managed with previous HL plays (though not TOO late, as with The Sea - when I went to see that, I really felt Harry had given up on it - in one scene he was practically picking his nose when the action wasn't focusing on him. Lovely, not.) Here, the actors were all so seated in their characters and completely at one with each other. They were enjoying themselves, and that spilled into the audience.
Tamsin Greig stole the show as Diane. I quite like the whole 'talking to the audience' device (don't know the technical term!) anyway, but she was brilliant. At one point, Lankyguy, next to me, said, 'I love her!', and since Tamsin was up 'our end' of the stage, I'd swear she paused a tiny bit before her next line - hee!
I think Roh_wyn mentioned her wardrobe, which was beautiful (and who wouldn't want to look THAT good in high-waisted trousers? and omg, I've just read she has three children AND a figure like that), but I will make a special mention of her matching shoes (especially the dove grey satin ones), which I was feeling very lusty towards :D
Come to think of it, I think Tamsin Greig also stole my heart - *bows low, if only for a closer look at her shoes*
What's a gal to do?
But come, come, you don't really care about that, do you? You want to know about Harry Lloyd's nudey bod (or you should, trust me, you should.)
Well, we all knew it was coming, and even the false start (when he only takes his top off) was exactly what I'd pay £37 for all over again. Oh, yes.
It's funny; afterwards, when talking to misswed, we were laughing at how we spent two series of Robin Hood and more than one play trying to catch glimpses of his chest, and now: BLAM! "Here's my body, ladies and gents!"
Misswed: Back then we would say, 'is that a chest hair we saw?'
Lankyguy: And now you've seen all five of them.
Bwahahahaha!!
Our fandom has come of age :D
Oh, people. Harry Lloyd's body IS quite as attractive as his face.
I've no idea if all that axe-wielding/horse riding/hot sex scenes with Allan had a very long-lasting effect, or whether he's been down the gym every night since getting the part, but it looked wonderful.
Lean, defined without that overworked look, and quite, quite lickable.
When he leant over to retrieve something from the floor, his latissimus dorsi quite caught my eye. I should love to know if he's ticklish there.
;D
Now, call me fussy, or a connoisseur, but I have seen nicer bottoms. I mean, that's not to say it wasn't delightful (and I was certainly delighted to see it), but then I have been lucky enough in life to see many, many excellent bottoms, and IM(subjective)O, am married to a most excellent arse. (*snigger*)
However, our happy moment of physical contemplation was short-lived (and that in itself would be a good enough reason to book another ticket as someone did!) as it was swiftly followed by a much longer moment of high-farce, which necessitated Harry's character leaping into bed and under the covers. No idea if there was a glimpse of anything more - I was too busy laughing my socks off!
Rupert Friend got more than an eyeful of what we did not (and I do prefer the maintenance of SOME mystery!) since he was on eye-level with H's groin. From where we were sitting, we could see quite clearly the fierce eye-contact maintained between the two men, hahaha!
In the Radio One interview, the cast joked that Harry had written his name (or maybe Rupert's - there was a lot of giggling to interpret) on it one night - wonder if all the letters fitted vertically??
The mankissing was also a sight to behold. It helped that the characters had held back from intimacy, so it was more of a desperate/hot, hot, hot/must kiss you NOW snog than a gentle meeting of the lips.
A frighteningly hot moment
When I commented on my enjoyment of the play (and H's body) on my Facebook page, my friend Ryan replied, 'Destiny fulfilled?' As I said there, I'd like to think there's more to my life than oggling 26 y/os on stage, but it ranks pretty high.
And let's face it, if anyone had asked me, back in 2007, if I would one day be seeing that creepy alien/grubby carpenter in the buff, not ten feet away from me, snogging another (not unattractive fella), I'd have laughed and said, 'In my dreams!'
Hold that thought, people: Dreams Can Come True!!
In conclusion, then, Harry just gets better and better looking - and I mean that in the normal, clothed sense, since I can only assume (dream) he maintains himself well in other departments.
He's also a great comic actor, and I now want to see him in more of those roles. If he can be naked while he's at it, so much the better ;)
Yeah, I am pretty cute, aren't I?
Yes, Hazza. Yes you are.
Afterwards, we tried the stage-door-johnny act, but alas, slim pickings, except a bonus sighting of Richard E. Grant (who I personally don't rate, but then, he wasn't looking for my opinion, and scuttled off as fast as his skinny legs could carry him.) Wonder who he's friends with at the theatre? I'd guess at Rupert Friend *shrugs*
It was a matinee performance, so the actors probably had more interest in grabbing some food/downtime than signing our programmes, but I don't mind. It wasn't raining at that point, and it was a good chance to catch up on some chat with the Fans of Fans of Harry Lloyd.
Then it was off to a Tapas restaurant to spend time with yet more splendid Robin Hood people - wastingyourgum, applebeing and robinfanatic; lovely people all.
I didn't get as much chance to chat with everyone as I'd have liked; at the risk of sounding silly, I was tired after all the travelling and excitement (and dithering about being on the Tube/in London) and thinking about getting back home and having heaving bosoms as a result of not feeding Little R all day (sorry!) and some overly dramatic RL stuff just before the trip. I like to think I'm normally more ebullient than I was that evening!
Hopefully I will get to make up for it another time *g*
And that was that. Time to go back home, happy, sated, and a little melancholy that it will be a while before I see everyone again.
Thank you so much to everyone for making it such a brilliant experience. I couldn't have observed so much of Harry Lloyd with a better bunch of people (although a larger one with our couldn't-be-there friends would have been even better!)
Hope I've done the write-up a good service - the floor is now open to questions!!
p.s. I've reread this, and I'm not impressed with my own writing - however, it's taken forever as it is - so a small edit will have to suffice!! Hope you get the gist, anyhow. It's hard to convey HOW AMAZING it was to see all of Harry :D
p.s. My eye-for-the-tall-guy Lankyguy now puts Harry at a pleasing 6'1"
Nice work, my love ;D