Orlando Bloom ‘Blessed’ at WOS Q&A???

We had a tremendous turnout – both on stage and off – for last night’s post-show Q&A as part of our sold-out Whatonstage.com Outing to Anna Mackmin’s revival of David Storey’s 1969 play In Celebration at the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre. The stalls were filled with what seemed like all of our 215 theatregoers, while those taking questions were director Anna Mackmin with assistant director Kate Lonergan and the entire company – Tim Healy, Lynda Baron, Dearbhla Molloy, Paul Hilton, Gareth Farr, Ciaran McIntyre and, of course, Orlando Bloom, who made his stage debut in the production, which opened earlier this month (See 1st Night Photos, 17 Jul 2007). We had a fascinating discussion in which Mackmin and the cast all shared thoughtful personal insights on their approaches to their characters, dealings with the playwright, the nature of family relationships, 1960s nostalgia, the mining industry and much more.

Unfortunately, we were unable to record this event and thus can’t give you more News coverage highlights as we normally do – so if you missed out on this one, you really missed out and may want to reconsider joining our Theatregoers' Club in order to get advance booking on all Outings! There were some ardent Orlando Bloom fans in attendance, one of whom, Rosemarie Blanshard, has filed her own in-depth report on her fan site, Click! Orlando!. It’s heavily focused on Bloom, of course, but it makes for an interesting read.

It's worth noting that, in all of his responses, Bloom was extremely generous and deferential towards his theatrically accomplished co-stars, in particular Paul Hilton and Gareth Farr who play his brothers. He said he felt “blessed” to work with such a company who have shown him “so much patience” and made him “feel so safe” on stage. He described his character Steven, the silent brother, as “an emotional sponge” who quietly absorbs all that’s going on around him. "I think learning to listen, really listen, and concentrating is one of the lessons I will take away from this experience," said the actor.

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