1009 replies to this topic

[VDCNI]

Honoured Guest, on 10 February 2013 - 10:55 AM, said:

Ha ha, Armadillo, very funny. What I, of course, meant was to wonder if anyone could suggest why Salman Rushdie would have an interest to attend this particular show. I can't think of any possible reason he might have had, unless perhaps he was accompanying someone who did have a personal reason.

Maybe he's a fan of Antony Sher. Anyway unless you know him personally why would you have any idea what plays he would or would not want to see.

[Honoured Guest]

VDCNI, on 10 February 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:

Maybe he's a fan of Antony Sher.

Yes, that is indeed a possible explanation.

[armadillo]

I don't know Salman Rushdie personally (or indeed any other celebs) so I can't tell you why he was there. Maybe he wanted to see the play? I have never understood why people in this thread so often say that they saw X in the audience and they must have been there to see person Y. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen someone I know on the professional stage and yet I go to the theatre at least 50 times  a year. Why do people think celebs have completely different motivation from the rest of us?   I go because I like an actor or the seats are cheap or I like the author or a friend wants to go or there's a special offer or it sounds interesting or has had good reviews. Much like everyone else I imagine...

[craftymiss]

Do famous people only go to shows if there is a connection for them? Dont they perhaps also go because they just, fancy a night out or actually just like the play?
Only a thought

[xanderl]

Given Salman Rushdie had several years of quiet nights in who are we to begrudge him a night out.

[Honoured Guest]

craftymiss, on 10 February 2013 - 07:05 PM, said:

Do famous people only go to shows if there is a connection for them? Dont they perhaps also go because they just, fancy a night out or actually just like the play?
Only a thought

Now we're almost getting somewhere. Can anyone hypothesise why Salman Rushdie might have an especial interest in The Captain of Kopenick? Yes, it's possible that it was a random choice of play, as Armadillo suggests, but he'd be more likely to have deliberately chosen. And of course few of us know him personally, as VDCNI observes, but we know a lot about him and his interests from his fiction, essays and interviews, and it would be quite enlightening to know the nature of his relationship to this play. I personally have been scratching my head and can't really see why the NT thought that anyone at all would have any interest in it. So I'd be fascinated to read of its great attraction for someone I respect. I was hoping that one of you would say "Well, uniforms are the key to Midnight's Children" or some such other guess.

I still put my money on it being Alan Yentob...

[craftymiss]

Well having read some of Rushdie's work I can only think it was so he could see how a good writer does it and manages to keep people interested

[armadillo]

Honoured Guest, on 10 February 2013 - 09:33 PM, said:

I still put my money on it being Alan Yentob...

Yes, dear

[mallardo]

Two more facts.  Rushdie ( as I shall call him) was with an attractive age-appropriate woman and was met by a somewhat younger man in the stalls foyer with, I think, the tickets in his hand. So Rushdie and his lady were, perhaps, gifted with the tickets.  Make of this what you will.

[Honoured Guest]

armadillo, on 11 February 2013 - 08:25 AM, said:

Yes, dear

Okay, a tv producer would have recognised Alan Yentob but he dents his credibility by his inability to spell Antony.