Tom Conti, Naked (Romantic Comedy)

for my birthday, Bulbgirl took me to see romantic comedy, a play directed by, and starring one of scotland's best loved actors, Tom Conti. she surprised me on the way there, as we were supposed to be going to the cinema. calling her bluff i said aww, i was looking forward to american gangster. her face dropped, and i smiled saying only kidding. she's easily fooled that way. i was fooled too, but should with hindsight, have guessed: not once, but twice, in the preceding week did she mention Tom Conti, apparently to find out if i thought he was a good actor. Bulbgirl also told me that she had a secret she wanted to tell me, she's not very good at keeping secrets.

after a quick hot chocolate at starbucks and a detour to the Theatre Royale, instead of cineworld, we found our seats and settled in. no trailers like the cinema, but there was someone in the balcony above rustling sweetie wrappers. at least popcorn wasn't allowed in.

it's been ages since i saw a play, being more used to jumping in to the cinema. what struck me was the american accents, done by all the cast. one or two slipped during the performance, but on the whole were pretty good. it brought back memories of staging end of year musicals at school when everyone had to do an american accent (with varying degrees of success). i think that the play would have been fine with just scottish accents. it must take a fair amount of concentration to keep up an accent when that energy could be directed into the performance, Bulbgirl disagrees.

pretty early on Conti, playing a playwright, makes a naked appearance, but he happened to be carrying a massage table, convering his bits. whether he was really naked, only he and the people in the right hand balcony will know. he later revealed his pasty white legs near the end , and while his body isn't quite as athletic as a tennis player, an in-joke in the play, he's in not too bad shape for a 66 year old.

there was only a cast of 6, and the leading lady, Kate Atkinson did a great job. she is actually australian but i didn't guess. Eleanor David, who plays Blanche, had the best american accent.

unaccustomed as i am to theatre going, it was great that the play was slightly self referential, centred on two playwrights, unsynchronised passion, and what it takes to make a play successful. there was even a line where Conti says that ushers tend not to watch play but just talk loudly in the lobby. i wonder if the ushers at the Theatre Royale will watch the show.

at one point, it seemed that Conti had doubled over in an unplanned fit of the giggles, and it was contagious, the audience started laughing not knowing if he was acting or doing it for real. unless you're watching a documentary, that's not something you can get at the cinema.

which do you prefer?