hiatus | Tomiwa in Lionboy

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

This evening (well, yesterday evening by now!) I went to see the play Lionboy with two of my favourite peeps, asifidletyou and her son. (Thank you for the lovely company, my darlings! ♥) The Lionboy himself, Charlie Ashanti, who can talk the language of cats, is - as I'm sure you all know by now - played by our own Adetomiwa Edun (Sir Elyan).

The play has been touring Bristol, Liverpool, Oxford, Warwick, Leeds, Cardiff - and is now in London, though only until this Sunday, 21 July. It is based on the books by Zizou Corder, the pen name for a mother-and-daughter team of writers.

We were well impressed by the creativity of the production. Settings included London, Paris and Morocco, with ships and circuses and laboratories created from a few props, costumes and a great deal of imagination. The seven actors, other than Tomiwa, played several roles, with many of the transformations happening on stage. Wonderful use was made of costume, movement and the casting of shadows.

The music and percussion was provided on stage by Stephen Hiscock, and was wonderfully effective. The mood he could evoke from playing a one-stringed whatever-it-was, percussively hitting the string to sound a variety of notes and tones, was awesome.

Tomiwa, of course, was also awesome. ♥ He was playing a twelve-year-old boy, and while he obviously has a man's body (I mean, he's not even boyishly skinny, but nicely muscular) his body language and his expressions were wonderful. His transformations from boy into lion and back to boy again as he acted out both sides of a conversation, were very impressive indeed. It was a great physical role, and utterly charming.

Another lovely aspect of the production was listening to recordings of Adrian Lester and Emma Thompson as the voices of Charlie's parents.

All of that, and you can colour in the large drawing to be found within the program! What more could you want...?



Well, we were lucky enough to have more! We did the stage door thing, and Tomiwa was as friendly and obliging as I knew he would be. He's such a lovely guy! He recognised me, and even remembered my name - which takes some doing, as I've hardly had the chance to interact with him for more than a few moments on two occasions. I know actors need to have good memories, but I would have thought all the lines he's learned since would have crowded such minor details out a long time ago. Bless him!

I asked him if he had any other work in the pipeline, and he said there were a couple of possibilities, but nothing for sure yet. He said one of the good things about being an actor was never quite knowing what was just around the corner. He seems to find this exciting rather than stressful!

He asked if we'd seen The Tempest, and of course we told him it was very good. :-)

He had a friend there waiting, so we said our farewells. He took the opportunity to teach our young companion a cool dude handshake. :-D

You couldn't get a play more diametrically opposed to but i cd only whisper, in which Tomiwa starred last year. He was and is great in both, and I suspect has a long and varied career ahead of him. I shall be watching with delight.

Comments

[sallyna-smile.livejournal.com]

He said one of the good things about being an actor was never quite knowing what was just around the corner. He seems to find this exciting rather than stressful!

I always wondered... I'd be terrified of that, but it's nice to see actors may see it in another way.
Ade is way too adorable with fans: it's so nice!

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

It was indeed nice to be so reassured! Looking from the outside in, I feel that Tomiwa is so talented he doesn't need to worry much about 'the next job' - but I'm sure it doesn't feel that way to him! So it's great that he genuinely seems to enjoy the excitement of it all. :-D

[kathyh]

It sounds such an interesting production. I wish I was able to see it.

Lovely of Tomiwa to remember your name and I'm glad he finds the uncertainty of acting exciting because I'd be terrified!

Many thanks for sharing the experience ♥

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

It was indeed an interesting production in all kinds of ways. Fascinating to see the staging of an almost bewildering variety of scenarios!

And oh my yes, I was astonished and delighted by Tomiwa himself. I knew he'd be lovely. I had no idea he would have even taken in my name so very long ago, let alone remembered it!

And there was genuine enjoyment in him when he said that about not knowing what was around the next corner... He certainly seems to have not only the talent and lovely looks but the right attitude for that long career! :-D

Thank you for commenting! ♥

[asifidletyou.livejournal.com]

We enjoyed this so very much, hon! ♥

Tomiwa was absolutely awesome, as was the production itself - your summation of the show is eloquent and perfect, and your description of the stage door experience is lovely :-) He's such a nice guy and I was so stoked that he took the time to have that cool interaction with my young dude ♥

I'll definitely be there next time he's on stage :-)

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

My sweet, it was so cool to share such a lovely evening with you both. ♥ I'm so happy to know you enjoyed it, too!

I don't think I'll ever miss anything that Tomiwa is in... It's great to know you'll be sitting at my side.

[wanderlust48.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I'm in London till this weekend and was just wondering if I should try to catch this- maybe I should give it a go, then. I wasn't sure if I could appreciate a children's play' excellent though it is.

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

Of course we all have our own tastes, but I would happily go see anything that Tomiwa is in. And let's face it, plays for children need to also cater for their parents, and so on! :-) In this particular case, I think most people would at least find the inventiveness and 'spectacle' worth watching and hearing, too.

Which is a long way of saying: Recommended! :-D

[wanderlust48.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that, I went to see it and it was GREAT!!! :)
Will try to post about it at some point...

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! I'm so glad to hear that, hon! I'm delighted that you went, and that you enjoyed it so much. {{{hugs}}}

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

He always seemed a good actor when he was in Merlin and allowed to do more than fill in space. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

[merlocmod.livejournal.com]

Belated thanks for your comment, hon! I'm glad you enjoyed Tomiwa when he was allowed to do his stuff in Merlin... Here's hoping he'll have many more opportunities! ♥