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I had two good opportunities to meet comedian Jason Manford this week. His company made the short film I was in (and apparently he was on set on the same day as I was) and he was on the bill of the Slapstick Festival gig in Bristol last night. He tweeted today to say "Have managed to avoid @Herring1967 by about an hour twice in one week! Or maybe he's avoiding me…..” I wasn’t avoiding him. Maybe he was avoiding me.
We then managed to score some last minute tickets to Groundhog Day the Musical. I love the film and I am in love with Tim Minchin and hope to marry him and so was delighted to get a chance to see this, even though I was powerfully exhausted all day.
We had to head more or less straight out the door to make it to the Old Vic if we wanted a spot of food first. It all worked out: we picked up our tickets and then had a curry nearby and then headed back to the theatre five minutes before show time.
In the foyer someone called out my name and I thought it was probably another fan bothering me on my night off and wanting an autograph and a photo. That last happened in 2004 and it literally wasted 90 seconds of my day, but us celebrities have to pretend to love it so I turned around with a forced smile on my face.
Standing in front of me was Jason Manford. I had missed him on Monday and Wednesday, but tonight, we had turned up at the same theatre at the same time, by total chance and were getting to say hello. What were the chances? Even if we’d happened to both come to the same play it was pretty unlikely we’d have bumped into each other, but after his earlier tweet (and the fact that this was a totally unplanned evening out for me) it seemed a bit spooky. His partner laughed and pointed out that we were both wearing the free Slapstick T-shirt that we’d been given last night. So the spooky coincidence became a moment of embarrassment as we realised that we were both so excited about getting free clothes that we’d both put on last night’s T-shirt gift and worn it straight away. You could not really have constructed a more brilliant and deflating take down of the sad lives we both lead. We knew that the other was the same as ourself. We took a photo of our humiliation and moved on with our lives.
What a strange turn of events.
The musical was great and in some ways superior to the film. My only problem with Groundhog Day, the film (which I see as in many ways the perfect comedy movie) is that Bill Murray is probably more likeable at the start than at the end. He’s funny and cool and you’d rather seem him misbehaving than changing into a better man. But the lead in the musical is a bit more handsome and a bit more up himself and his journey to redemption makes some kind of sense. The journey through confusion, delight, making the most of the opportunities before turning despair, suicide and then acceptance of his lot, is very similar to the film version, but maybe a little better explored. There were lots of bits that were the same as in the film, but the new bits were more enjoyable, with Minchin’s wit and thoughtfulness seeping into it all, some fourth wall breaking and some great misdirection and magic. Tim promised on the podcast to give me my money back if I didn’t enjoy it, but alas he will have to keep my cash. I look forward to the day he fails miserably, but it is not today.
I think I preferred Matilda over all, but this was still a barn storming night of entertainment, with added supernatural coincidence in the foyer.
