"A Doll's House" stage door

 by Hanna 

As promised yesterday - stage door memoirs today.

The stage door took place after the play. Downstairs in the theatre's hall. Since it is not the most spacious place on Earth it was always packed with fans. There were, however, ways of getting yourself at the very begining of the line...

You must be aware of is the fact that when the play finished all the actors were already gone from the stage but they came back after a very short while. The theatre itself, the actual stage is on the first floor, the circle (the upstair seats) are on the second floor. The actors' dressing room was also located on the first floor and they used the same entrance from the hallways to the theatre room which was used by the audience. 

The first time we went there we did not know that the actors would return. We left the room couple of minutes earlier to wait downstairs. While climbing down we almost hit with the actors in the hallway. 

On the third floor there is a bar. One day our friend, Eva, pretended to be sick. After the break in between te acts we did not go inside the room but to the bar. There was a TV showing wat was going on on the stage so we did not miss a thing from the play. Some minutes before the audience left the room we had gone downstairs and waited for the stage door to start. Then Malwi came with our other friends and took their positions. ha. 

While writing this a thought hit me. If we had seen the play on a tv screen then they must have recorded it somehow. Why won't they release it as a DVD???

The hallways of DW on the ground floor. There is nothing special really downstairs. Just a cash desk and stairs. There are, however, huge photos on the walls from the theatre's plays. 

On our first day in London we all went to see the theatre's location and to check how does the stage door look like. We simply stood outside and here are the photos taken by us. This little gentleman could perfectly find himself in the role of giving autographs. Though maybe for him it was more of a fun than a job duty. 

And he truly was a lovely boy. ("was" because I am describing events from 2009 and I do not know whether this boy is still lovely. LOL. ;)))

Here is another photo taken from the outside. You can clearly see there is already little space inside to put a needle. 

Mind you - THE flip flops. How many pairs does she exactly have of this particular design? She has already auctioned some of them and still has other pairs...

GA signing photos, books, etc. The only thing she did not sign were photos and stuff X Files realated. So whenever you meet her and want an autograph, try to have something about her new project, the one you came to see. 

Our friend, Eva, had one very shameful moment in her stage door career. While GA was going from one fan to another Eva's mobile phone rang. Such an embarassement because her ringone was the opening motive from XF. You can imagine the panic in her eyes while trying to switch the damn phone off. Someone even told her "this is so embarassing" LOL

GA in her pinky coat during one of the stage door. The hairdo is what I call "an artistic mess":)

Another stage door photo. Us already waiting in a line and GA coming downstairs with the theatre worker who was collecting all the gifts from fans to Gillian. Can you actually see in this photo how small GA is? 

You can see here how tired GA must have been after the plays. And on some days she did 2 plays. One in the afternoon around 2PM and the second one in the evening.

This is a moment when me and my friend, Eva were giving GA a gift. And if I asked you here if you have any idea on what we had given her, I am pretty sure many of you would be wrong. I do not remember all the gifts we managed to bring. I will tell you about the two most important. The first one was a scrapbook with crazy photos from the Polish fanbase. The second gift was a total under the moment gift, however as we learnt the following days GA liked it. In a nicely decorated bag she could find Polish Vodka.

Gillian's reaction after having the bag inspected. ;)

 One of the funniest moments of the stage door. Everytime after it, Mark G. came to pick GA up from the theatre. Here she had to take a small break in order to answer his call and suddenly everybody went so quiet, except me, of course. I said something like: "such a private convo in the public" and all gathered there laughed. By the way, the bag you are seeing in this photo is, as all Xphiles assume, one of Gillian's favourites. She has travelled with her on numerous occasions.

Here, GA signing our friend Em's copy of A Doll's House. And Malwi waiting for her turn. I know Malwi also brought a Polish version of Bleak House DVD. The title "Samotnia" in translation means A Lonely Place and GA tried to pronounce that. It was not like she did not sign any other stuff, not connected with the play. She did. Bleak House DVD? Not a problem. However, X Files related? Sorry, no autograph. 

Hey Malwi you know what? I have just realized that foreigners perfectly know how to spell your name. Because you all reading this must know that Malwi was not able to spell her full name "MALWINA" but somehow Gillian knew how to write it and spelled it for Malwi who had asked our friend "spell it!" ha ha. 

Hmm... and Mal later you will know another person who perfectly knew how to spell your name upon meeting you, right? 

Stage door was a real fun and we have plenty of memories to cherish. GA is a really cool person, however, only when you are OK and not overreacting. I am sure every fan knows her favourite word is "fuck". 

While in London we were told a story that one fan wanted to have GA's autograph so badly she ran after her  car! Then the car stopped, GA came out and just well let's just say that GA had a really dirty tongue at that particular moment. ;) Yeah, always remember celebs are also people. Treat them nice, huh? Not as objects. 

Thanks for reading and stopping by.