Bowl cuts, coffee, parades and skipping; it’s all in a day in the life of Steven Webb. Well, at least while he’s performing in the National Theatre’s hit family offering I Want My Hat Back that is.
Featuring music penned by Doctor Who star and National Theatre regular Arthur Darvill, and a book and lyrics by witty playwright Joel Horwood, this new brilliantly eccentric stage adaptation of Jon Klassen’s hugely popular children’s book has taken the stage by storm, and by the looks of how much fun Webb is having, we’re not surprised.
To take a peek behind the scenes, we asked Webb to take a photo diary of an average day performing in a show that’s anything but, judging by those sparkly antlers at least…
Our first two show day starts with a strong coffee and a stroll along the South Bank to our gorgeous theatre…
After signing in at Stage Door, I skip down the famous Yellow Brick Road to the dressing rooms.
And I’m VERY happy with my dressing room number…
Once I’ve finished my coffee and read a chapter of my book it’s 09:00 and time for warm up on stage.
So that any bum notes I hit are amplified, I have my head mic fitted…
And then my favourite part of the day… Watching Caroline fit Adam [into his bowl cut wig and sparkly antlers]. Not sure it’s Adam’s favourite part of the day however…
Once we’re all in costume and had various wigs and microphones fitted we gather in the backstage corridor leading to the foyer, ready for our pre-show parade!
First stop on the parade? The Bookshop!
Then to the Temporary Theatre foyer to meet the audience.
After the pre-show parade, Marek and I shove our respective animal hoods on!
An hour later, we’re done! And exhausted. So it’s time for a cup of tea and a lie down before we do it all again. In just over an hour!
