Theatre Deep Dive: David Tennant in 'For One Night Only' at the RSC Fringe Festival (1998)
....and one other thing he probably didn’t do!
For today’s post in “obscure things David Tennant did way back when,” we’ll need to travel back in time to the late 1990s.
It was a busy time for David. By May 1997, he’d just wrapped up his first Royal Shakespeare Company repertory season (in which he simultaneously played Touchstone in As You Like It, Jack Lane in The Herbal Bed, and Alexander Hamilton in The General From America). This set of three plays had begun their runs in Stratford in early to mid 1996; they then transferred over to London’s Barbican Theatre, where they had ended their runs by mid-1997.
Next on David’s theatre agenda was the role of Mickey in Hurlyburly (more here):
…which ran at the Queen’s Theatre in London from August to November 1997. He then performed a one-off staged reading of Derek Jarman’s Blue at the Chelsea Arts Theare on 16 November 1997 (which, by the way, is another little-known DT performance I want to explore!)
That was it for 1997, theatre-wise.
Then, beginning in March of 1998, he began his run as Moon and Brindsley Miller in The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy. More here:
This double bill ran first at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Surrey and then in London, first at the Richmond Theatre and then at the Comedy Theatre. That play finally wrapped in August 1998.
But a month before wrapping The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy, David had popped over to Stratford to do something interesting, something that’s the focus of this thread. It was called For One Night Only, and - as it says on the tin - it was, indeed, for one night only!
First, though? A little history!
Around 1990, the RSC began to hold an annual summer festival called the Royal Shakespeare Company Fringe Festival. Intended as a showcase for RSC talent, it included a mix of events: short plays, devised pieces, stand-up comedy, concerts, etc., as well as new works making their Stratford debut. The festival lasted two weeks and saw actors, directors, stage managers, musicians and staff all taking part in more than 25 events. All the events were either on Sundays, or timed around RSC productions, so audiences could go see fringe shows after seeing the actors perform in their usual RSC roles.
Most of the events for 1998’s festival took place in a specially adapted 100-seat rehearsal room at the RSC’s ‘alternative’ theatre, The Other Place. But not all of them. Their opening night event - on Sunday, 19 July - was to take place at the Swan Theatre.
That opening night event? For One Night Only!
Starring Desmond Barrit, Emma Handy, and Amanda Harris as well as David, the launch event cost £4-£12 and began at 7:30 pm. It was called a “curtain raiser” as well as “aptly-named.”
And just what was it about? Well, um, I know it was organized and compiled by its star, Desmond Barrit, and that it was supposed to take its audience on a journey through the theatre. These articles say so.
I also think it’s extremely likely David got involved in this in the first place because at the time he and Barrit were co-starring together in The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy.
I can picture it clearly: Barrit says to David something like, “I’ve got this thing I’ve been planning in Stratford, want to come along and co-host it with me and a few others?” How could David resist?
But that’s about all I know. I wish I had more details.
I am, however, supremely lucky to own a piece of ephemera about this one night only event.
Here’s the front and back of my For One Night Only flyer, and as I’m sure you’ll notice, it promises “an evening of theatrical prose and poetry…and a little gossip!”
Great. Could you tell us a bit more, thanks?
While researching For One Night Only, I came across something else of interest, which I thought for a moment David might have been involved in - an event staged nine days before For One Night Only. But after researching this event in more detail, I don’t think he was involved, after all. Such a shame, really. He would’ve been perfect!
On Friday, 10 July 1998, at 1 pm in the afternoon, some Royal Shakespeare Company members got together to do a fund raiser and preview of the upcoming Fringe in the forecourt of the Other Place. Called a Sonnetathon, this three-hour event featured various RSC members reading all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets!
Now a Sonnetathon would’ve been right up David’s alley, am I right? He’d have loved it! But I’m about 99% certain he wasn’t there - and here’s why. That Friday night at 7:30 pm, David was onstage in The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy at the Comedy Theatre in London, that’s why!
But here’s why I say 99%. It’s not impossible to imagine he got up early that Friday (after doing a show the night before) and took the train to Stratford to do the Sonnetathon - wrapped it up by 4pm, then hopped on another train back to London in time to make the 7:30 curtain up for The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy.
But you have to admit, it seems unlikely.
But The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy wasn’t showing on Sunday, 19 July 1998, so David (and Barrit!) were able to get to Stratford and go onstage as part of For One Night Only to open the Fringe…and then get back to London in time to go onstage once more the following night.
So now you know what I know about For One Night Only.
Of course I’ll keep looking for more!