‘An Evening with Richard E. Grant’ Review
I remember exactly where I was when tickets for this event went on sale. Thankfully on a break at Uni, scrolling through Twitter to see Richard E. Grant has 1) written a book and 2) is going on tour with it. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a ticket for anything faster in my life. This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and I didn’t care how much it would cost me. I just wanted to see my beloved REG with my own two eyes.
Without seeing ‘Withnail And I’ on New Years Day 2021, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I can’t begin to express how much life and inspiration it injected into me. But I can tell you I watched it five times that year, including on Valentine’s Day and my own birthday, and have never seen a film so many times in such a short timespan in my life. Obviously being a ‘Doctor Who’ fan has REG crop up a few times between 1999 and 2013, but I’d also seen and loved him in ‘Rise of Skywalker’, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ and tuned into ‘Loki’ to watch him as Classic Loki. Safe to say I’m now a Marvel fan all because of REG.
Another thing I remember exactly is where I was when the news broke that Joan Washington, Richard E. Grant’s wife of 35 years, had passed away. We were on a family holiday, just coming back from me — a massive, gothic fan of ‘Dracula’ — seeing Whitby Abbey for the first time and being all emotional about it. I flicked on my mobile data to share pictures, only to be met with the heartbreaking news. What made it worse was her cause of death being the same illness that killed my dad and impacted my nan, his mother, so I could sadly relate all too well. To have a loved one taken too soon by sickness.
In preparation for the Big Day, I had a certain expectation as to how it would unfold. Usually these ‘Evening With’ events consist of two people sat in comfy armchairs on stage with a massive crowd listening to every word, followed by a string of audience questions at the end. Mentally I was set and ready, but fast forward to the Big Day and I’m sat looking at an empty stage all confused. Where are the chairs!? The curtain comes down, a sigh of relief from me, as they’re bringing out the chairs. Curtain rises again, and the stage is still empty with nothing but a laptop and projector on the back wall. It’s safe to say my expectations were about to be broken, and shattered they were!
Clock strikes 07:30pm, showtime! The house lights go down, the stage is dark, and an all too familiar song fills the room — ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ by King Kurtis, the same song which opens ‘Withnail And I’. Onto stage walks the man himself, wearing the exact same coat he wore in 1987 as his breakout character. All at once I was seeing Dr Who, the Great Intelligence, Classic Loki, Loco Channel and Withnail himself. The crowd around me erupted into cheers, screams and claps as he rolled off some classic Withnail lines: “Scrubbers!” and “I’ll buy the place and install a fucking jukebox to liven all you stiffs up a bit.” It’s been 35 years and Withnail is still going strong.
My expectations were again broken once he started rattling off life events. Perhaps I was wrong in assuming this show would be a tribute to his late wife with various career highlights, so I sat down wanting/expecting stories from ‘Withnail And I’, the secrecy of ‘Star Wars’ and how he played the Doctor twice before trying to kill him as another character. Maybe even a ‘Dracula’ story as it was the night before Halloween? He was up until 5am that morning throwing his own Halloween party, as we came to learn. We instead began with an introduction to a ten-year-old Richard. E Grant catching his mother having hanky panky with his dad’s best friend in the back of a car. What an opener! And a reassuring one at that, because as the night unfolded, he was able to mix humour in perfectly with emotion. You’d be wiping your eyes one second, only to be sat cackling your head off almost immediately after. I didn’t expect him to be so witty, charismatic and hilarious in person. Don’t get me wrong, you watch something like ‘Hotel Secrets’ and see just how barmy and energetic he is as a person, but seeing that for real, in the flesh, was incredible. I have no doubt that Richard E. Grant on screen is the same as he is in person: so funny, so kind and so warm.
Progressing through the show took us to so many stories, many of which I’d never heard before. Like how he had a panic attack the first time he saw spaghetti, or how his father almost shot him in a drunken rage. Other stories were very familiar, such as his falling in love with Barbra Streisand, who became a recurring figure in the show. You can tell how much he loves her, and every story of their many encounters was delivered with so much visible joy and enthusiasm. Having around half an hour of the show about her was not something I expected, but was definitely welcome to as she’s such an important person in his life, and the crowd were reliving these moments together with him.
Hearing about the beginning of his relationship with Joan, his late wife, going from a cold winter’s night of private voice coaching classes to 35 years of marriage and their daughter Olivia was a beautiful tribute. Alongside hearing the foundations of his life, from immigrating to England from Swaziland in hopes of being an actor to being nominated for an Oscar, the greatest time and care was spent talking about Joan. Again, he was able to beautifully weave between comedy and emotion, but there were a few moments which required so much bravery to perform.
His book ‘A Pocketful of Happiness’ gives us such raw and honest peeks into the last few days of his wife but reading excerpts from it to us understandably caused him to be emotional. Seeing him try to collect himself and not break down made you want to run onstage and give him a hug. But everyone in the crowd was patient and empathetic — you could really feel the love and understanding in the room. One girl even shouted out “we love you!” for some extra words of encouragement. We do love him, and being able to witness him open the doors of grief and discuss them so honestly before the London Palladium was incredibly special. To be able to do that, just over a year after it all happened, is so brave and admirable.
Another incredible thing he did last night was able to work the stage by himself. The London Palladium can seat 2,286 people, and if it wasn’t sold out last night, it was very close to being so. Every one of those people were there to see one man tell his life story, of love and loss, grief and success. Which he did all alone, standing on stage the entire time, talking and bantering perfectly with the crowd — I can tell all my friends Richard E. Grant called me a “fucker” and kept shouting “SCRUBBERS!” the entire night. But seeing one man work a crowd from the exact same spot, with no props bar an old tatty coat and a slideshow of memories, was equally impressive and amazing. This show was labelled as ‘An Evening with Richard E. Grant’ and that is exactly what you get. Pure, 100% Richard E. Grant.
Finally, there were a loads of perfect full circle moments. Like the story from when he was 12 years old, seeing Max Bygraves perform at the London Palladium in 1969, to now being on the same stage all by himself. Another was various teachers and authority figures telling him how, because of being so tall and “tombstone featured”, he would never find work as an actor. Fast forward to here and now, and he’s been nominated for an Oscar and starred in three of the biggest media franchises across the globe. I couldn’t be prouder of him or love him more. And I’m so thankful and honoured to have witnessed such a hilarious, moving and emotional show. Richard, I love you.
Read my other reviews/articles:
Scream Of The Shalka / Rise of Skywalker / A Very Yorkshire Weekend
Follow me on Instagram: (@)vickyxleigh
