March 11, 2002
By Beate Herrmann

Since people had talked about going back to Sheffield for the last performances, I had an urge to go again but thought I was crazy for feeling that way (and yeah, it IS crazy, but hey, you live but once!) I agonized over it for days and then on Tuesday asked my boss for the Friday off. Miraculously he said yes and I managed to get a good flight from Munich on short notice, so I could tell my friend Susanne that I would join her that weekend (March 30-31, 2001) in Sheffield.

I was the first to arrive in Sheffield on Friday and went to the Crucible around 2 pm to ask for tickets. I guess the woman at the counter thought I was mad "No, there aren't any returns, and I don't think there will be, maybe in the evening, but I doubt it." I said I didn't care, I would just stay and queue right there. "Well, that could be a long wait." she told me. Really encouraging. ;) While I was waiting I spotted Stella McCabe, the marketing manager who also sometimes acted like Joe's bodyguard, shielding him from fans in the bar. I went to her and asked her about the red Edward II poster I had seen before and which I couldn't get anywhere. She told me to go to the stage door and ask a woman which she named to me. I did that, telling the ticket counter people I would be right back.

I was a bit hesitant when I approached the stage door, but was waved right in by a woman - wow, didn't know you could just go in like that! She got this other marketing woman on the phone for me and while I was discussing with her and she told me to leave my address so she could send me spares, should there be any - who walked in the stage door? Alex Avery and the man who played Lancaster - David Mallinson. I said Hi and Alex remembered me saying "Hi, have you come back?!" And I told them I was looking for tickets. "Oh, I have two for the matinee tomorrow to give back", David told me. "But I will have to give them back through the proper channel." He wrote down my name and said he would see what he could do. Also, Alex told me that every day standby tickets were being sold at 10 am. I then returned to the box office counter where I was joined by Susanne around 3 pm who immediately inquired about the standby tickets and was told that around 20 tickets were sold each morning, each person was allowed to buy 2, and people would queue from 8.45. We then decided to come there around 8 am. ;) Around 4 pm, just when she was about to head out the door to go to the hotel, I was called by the woman at the ticket counter who then told us that she had two tickets for Friday evening if we wanted them. Well, of course we wanted them! Mission accomplished, we returned to the hotel to get ourselves ready for the evening. We were later joined by Barbara from Italy who managed to get a last minute ticket around 7.25!

We noticed this old man who really looked like Spencer the Elder in the play, long white beard and in a black religious outfit with big cross - he looked like he was Greek Orthodox, really remarkable, and we were wondering that he got tickets so quickly - as if someone had left tickets for him at the box office.

The performance was good, but Joe's voice was really hoarse which affected his modulation of words of course. The only one being even hoarser was the little boy playing Prince Edward - I feared he would go mute any minute. We went into the bar afterwards, and there was the old man again, warmly greeted and hugged by Joe. Joe was behind the barrier with him and others almost immediately, and I saw that someone - one of his friends - took pics of him and another guy behind the barrier. But these were private pics and he didn't allow any fans to photograph him. (There was one guy on Saturday asking Joe for a photo, but Joe politley refused, saying "I am not good at this".) Susanne then approached Mortimer (Lloyd Owen) who was happy to tell her that this was Joe's uncle. Nice was that when Joe left he hugged his uncle again and exclaimed theatrically "Welcome old man!" like in the play to Spencer the Elder - only that he was saying good bye, so I found it funny.

The marketing manager shielded him off from fans - but only watching the females. So one guy went with his girlfriend's programme to Joe who stood behind the barrier, facing the window, and this guy just slapped Joe on the back who turned - and signed.

The next day Susanne, Barbara and I queued for tickets around 7.40 am already - and it was bitter cold! But we were the first ones in the line so we knew we would get tickets in any case. We took turns to fetch something to eat or hot coffees to keep us warm, and I struck up a conversation with the girl behind us in the queue who is living in Sheffield and told us she has seen cast members many times around Sheffield.

When they finally let us deep-frozen people in (my immune system must be good, I didn't catch a cold) they offered us either seats back up in the wheelchair area or "restricted view" seats in Row C and D. We took restricted view and that was the best decision we could make for those were the best seats we had ever had! Those seats were on the left side of the stage, close to the back of the stage, and don't ask me what they meant by restricted - we saw some scenes clearer and nearer than before so we were perfectly happy. The matinee was really the absolutely best performance of that weekend, somehow all voices had recovered, and Prince Edward was played by the elder boy who I really liked to see again (had only seen him once before, at the dress rehearsal). We even had better seats than Joe's father and his second wife, whom I had spotted near the box office counter right before the matinee, coming out of a door which leads to the actors rooms. Mark Fiennes was way up somewhere in the centre of the audience. I think the play was stronger than the weeks before, and the scene where Edward mourns Gaveston was moving - Joe was really crying and wiping away tears.

The bar was closed after the matinee but - except for Joe who I guess was with his father then - almost every cast member was standing around in front of the audience doors near the bar.

In the bar after the evening performance they were all there, even the little Prince Edward so my autograph list was completed. :) Joe was there only briefly, but he recognized us and smiled. The marketing manager tried to shield people away from him, but he saw us standing there and was like "no, no, you deserve it" (I guess he meant because he had remembered having seen us before, identifying ourselves as loyal fans ;) so Susanne held out a poster for him to sign (and I a leaflet) and I mustered up my courage and asked him about the Mallory project.

The marketing manager was in a very good mood, apparently happy it was over, so she allowed anybody who wanted it to take the Edward II posters down. They closed the bar early on Saturday, or maybe we just thought it was early, because we didn't want it to end. The cast didn't seem to have plans for a party afterwards, they were all trodding off in different directions. When we went out, Mortimer passed us pushing a bike. We threw one last longing look back to the Crucible and walked back to the hotel where - despite of having to get up early - we kept talking about the performances and the differences we had seen - some very subtle, some more obvious.

Seeing Joe live on stage and afterwards in the bar was the best I have ever done. No movie can substitute that. And I am clearly more a fan than ever of this brilliant actor and totally sweet man.