Mr Bean Almost Made Me Cry

One of the many advantages of living in London is the wide array of entertainment options available in the West End. There is so much to see, from longstanding musicals to one-off performances. And of course, if you are lucky enough to hear about rare appearances in time to get tickets, you may have the chance to see amazing performers.

That’s what happened to me and my family a couple of weeks ago. My husband had seen reviews of Quartermaine’s Term in the newspaper, starring Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr Bean), and decided to get tickets, without knowing much else about the play.  So off we headed to the West End, I was thrilled to be going to see Mr Bean live!

It turns out that this play touched me on several levels. It is set in the staff room of an English-language school for foreigners in Cambridge in the early Sixties. To start with, I used to be a teacher before leaving my country years ago (although not that long ago!) so it was nice to be ‘back in the teachers’ room’. That’s where we used to talk about weekend plans, our ups and downs, and even share our anxieties, during the short interval between lessons.  Abruptly interrupted conversations were sometimes triggered by comments by or about our own pupils.

Second, and that’s what gave me the idea of writing this blog, was to laugh at the way so many stereotypes are still so current. But on that front, there are very nice passages in the play which started with “We, the English...” in a very sarcastic (obviously) and surprisingly negative way indicating how the posh English teachers at Cambridge regarded themselves. Mind you, it is not a comedy, it is a tragic-comic play portraying real life snapshots, sarcastically and dramatically. 

I guess what really interested us to go and see Rowan Atkinson live on stage was how someone who has made us all laugh for so long, can bring out feelings that you would never associate with Mr Bean. In the very first scene when the curtain went up, the sight of HIM on stage, sitting in an old armchair staring into space, not making faces or gestures, made most of the audience at least giggle. Of course, the first glimpse of that familiar face can only create that kind of reaction. But as the play went on, you realized how his expressionless face can portray so much more than a caricature of a clumsy lonely man.

For me and I can even say for most part of the audience, last Saturday triggered a feeling of nostalgia and of middle life crisis... Not easy to achieve by many actors, much less that familiar funny face...

By Valeria Fleury