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Report about Jasons acting debut at London's King's Head Theatre - April 1999
Finally Marion met Jason....
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Thursday, 8.4.99

My friend Uschi and me flew from Düsseldorf to London to finally see Jay live on stage. In the plane we dreamt about the things we would like to achieve: an autograph, a posing pic with Jay and, maybe, a small talk.

In the late afternoon we went to the King's Head and were delighted to see that it was a normal pub, no backstage area, no barriers, nothing to keep us away from meeting Jay.

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The play began at 8 p.m. and the so called box office (a lady at a pub table) "opened" at 7. So we sat down in the pub waiting when we suddenly saw a familiar face outside: another German friend has decided on a short-term that she and a friend also had to see Jay.

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So we were now 4 German girls waiting. At 7 Uschi and me went to the table to grap our tickets and Mena and Eva went outside to call someone on their mobile phone. When we met again, the two were totally excited: Eva had been busy with her phone and didn't look where she was going so she nearly crushed into Jay when he was about to enter the pub!!! It was unbelievable but Jay was walking alone to the pub, without any bodyguard in sight! But Mena and Eva were too surprised to be able to talk to him. And he must have passed us behind our backs and we didn't see him. But there was hope for the evening.

At 8 we were allowed to go into the theatre and we were surprised to see how small it is. Very intimate and you can see well from every seat. So we sat down on the left side of the stage and then the play began.

It's hard to describe what GOB was about. It was very funny but you had to watch it to get the jokes and funny moves. There were 3 guys on stage: Jason, Tom and DJ Spike. He was responsible for all the sounds so he was standing behind a table full of technical equipment. Jay and Tom each played different roles, you could recognize which role they were playing by a small change in the dressing and a change of accent.

Jay's main role was "The Liberator", he also played a street kid at Leicester Square and the mad American poet Mike Nietzsche. Tom's main role was "Hard Man Les" (with a Scottish accent), another street kid at Leicester Square and the homosexual English poet Darling Boy.

The idea was that The Liberator convinced HMLes to start a revolution, but not with weapons but with their gobs, "the weapon of the weaponless"! For this they chose the Royal Festival Hall in London where an official poetry competition took place. After a few adventures in the streets of London they sat down in the audience, dressed up in a jacket, and listened to Mike N. and the Darling Boy. In the internal they went to their dressing rooms and fettered them. They went on stage then and tried to convince the audience that a revolution was needed. But Mike N. and D. Boy freed themselves and wanted their stage back. The Liberator said they had to win a duel with words and then the gob war started. But the police finished the whole thing after a heat discussion and The Liberator and HMLes found themselves in the streets again. The Liberator was very sad because he thought he didn't deserve his name any longer because he hadn't liberated anyone lately. But HMLes convinced him that they didn't start a public revolution but a private one. Les has finally got his confidence to speak in front of many people and so The Liberator has liberated M! And this was the end.

I know it may sound strange but when you have seen it live, it was hilarious. Jay and Tom are both really good actors, Tom, of course, a little bit more professional. When Jay started his solo poem you could see that he was a little bit nervous, he took a deep breath and concentrated very much. But he was very convincing as the Liberator. He has definitely topped my expectations to him as an actor.

Being Germans it was first a little bit difficult to understand Hard Man Les because we don't learn Scottish at school. But we laughed about Jay's pronunciation of the German name Nietzsche. (One of the roles he played was this Mike Nietzsche guy). He said "Nietzschee" and for us it sounds like "lychee" (Chinese fruit) first.

Before having seen it we weren't sure if we would really be able to follow the play but we had no big problems and really enjoyed it. It was sooo funny and Jay has topped all our expectations: he is really a very talented actor. His partner Tom is also great, especially playing the poet "Darling boy", we nearly rolled over the floor laughing.

After the show we waited in the pub for Jason to come out. There we finally met Emma and her friend and we had a nice chat till Jay appeared at about 11 p.m.!

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We went to him and said hello and he was very friendly and smiling all over his face. We accompanied him on his way out of the pub and there I told him that we are from Germany and would love to get an autograph. He gave me his hand saying that he was in a hurry now but tomorrow we would get it, no prob. Then we said "goodnight" to each other and we walked on air to the tube station. After 3 years I have finally seen him on stage and also met him .... I guess you all know how we felt.

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• Friday, 9.4.99:
On Friday we went shopping in the morning and in the late afternoon again to the pub. There we met another German fan named Bine. We decided to leave Jay alone when he arrived and so we stood at the "box office" when he passed us on his way into the theatre. He smiled at us and said hello and we smiled back.

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The show was great again and this time we understood more than yesterday.

Afterwards we left the theatre and the pub because it was Friday night and a lot of people were in the pub so the air etc. was terrible. Outside it was cold but fresh air. We hoped that Jay would leave soon but it got later and later and no Jay appeared. Two security guys stood at the pub entrance and one of them was a very funny giant. He asked us what we were doing there and we told him that we were waiting for someone. After an hour he asked us for whom we were waiting and we showed him Jason on the newspaper articles hanging in the pub window because he didn't know him!! "Oh, well", he said, "why don't you go inside and ask him for the autographs?" I told him that we couldn't because we were not allowed to go into the theatre room for a drink. "That's rubbish, come on!" and on he went inside. We followed him with mixed emotions.

In the theatre he asked me whether I could see Jay somewhere. Oh yes, he was sitting at a table, back to us, talking to some women. "Well, then go and ask him!" the nice giant said and disappeared.

Easy said but we weren't brave enough to disturb Jay. But Tom (Hard Man Les) was standing only 2 metres away from Jay in the aisle. So I decided to ask him first for an autograph. I really liked his performance and he also seemed to be a nice guy.

Tom smiled at us and I asked him for an autograph telling him how much we have liked the play. He said no prob to sign but I warned him that we were from Germany and that our names may sound strange. No prob. Okay, so we started with my name as the easiest one. Eva was also easy but Mena, Bine and especially Uschi were harder. But he was really nice and put a lot of effort into his writing so the names all came out fine. After the last autograph he grinned at us saying that we would surely also want an autograph from Jay? Yeah, but I told him that we didn't want to disturb him. "No prob". He took the programme of Uschi, tipped Jay on his shoulder, held it under his nose and said, "Time to work"! Jay, disturbed in his talk with some women, looked puzzled but then he recognized us and smiled. Tom made it easier for him, he copied out what Tom has written so our names looked a little bit funny. But we were very happy to have our autographs so we thanked the guys and went away a few metres. Mena and Eva then decided to leave to get the last tube, but Bine, Uschi and me sat down at the table next to Jason's. We could only see his back but this was enough.

Opposite to us sat DJ Spike and two girls and one seat was obviously occupied because a glass of beer stood there. So I took the second seat from the aisle. After a few minutes Tom arrived and sat down beside me. It has been S glass of beer!!! He smiled and started talking to us. He is a really nice guy and we had a lot of fun talking about various subjects during the next 30 minutes or so. He told me that he has a wife and 3 kids but I doubted it. Then we talked about that Nietzsche guy and I told him how the name was really pronounced. We talked about the different accents they used in the play and that we Germans had some problems to understand his Scottish. And that Jay's American accent wasn't perfect. We joked about from which part of the States Jay/Mike Nietzsche comes. He suggested Philadelphia and finally we went for Boston. You see, it was a lot of rubbish.

The two girls sitting opposite to us were in their 20's and really nice and funny. One of them, Dany, is a Jay fan from Birmingham. She asked me if we managed to talk to Jay but I said not really. Oh, she felt sorry for us and asked if we would want to. Of course! "Okay, I'll ask him!", she turned around and talked to Jay who just sat back to back to her. We couldn't hear what they were saying. Then she turned back to me and repeated what he has said. He was too tired to talk to us tonight but he would do it tomorrow. I thanked her and went on speaking with Tom. Dany's friend joined in and we really had fun laughing loud from time to time. Jay got more and more interested in our conversation, turning his head and finally turning around on his seat listening to our jokes.

Dany left the table and suddenly Jay decided that he had enough talks with women saying that he needed a chat with his male friends now. He sat down beside Spike, opposite to Tom, looked at me, put his two hands up in front of him and let them slowely fall down as if they were a curtain. I grinned at him and said, "No prob", turned to my friends and started talking to them. In German, of course.

It lasted not more than 2 or 3 minutes and I heard the guys grumbling words like "German" and "rude". So I turned around again, looked Jay in the eyes and asked with a smile, if there were any problems? Yeah, we shouldn't speak German, it would be very rude because they don't understand a word. "That's why we do it! It's really nice to talk about you and you don't understand a thing!" I confess that I'm a beast sometimes. They discussed amongst them if they like Germans or not then. Finally Jay mentioned that we are human, too! "Oh, thanks, that’s too kind!"

Jay said he would feel so sorry for us. Why? Because Bayern Munich lost 3:0. Erm??????? Thank God, I remember just in time that he was talking about the Champions League match Bayern vs. Kiew. I said, "Really" and Jay nodded, looked down on his hands and held out 3 fingers of his right hand saying "Bayern Munich", making a fist of his left hand saying "Kiev". He looked puzzled and I said, "Well, then Bayern hasn't lost but won!!!" He looked at me and said, "Well, but they will play against Manchester United next and then they will lose!" I replied, "Never". "Oh, yes, they will!" I offer him my hand and said, "Bet?" He hesitated a second but then he took my hand, shook it and said, "Okay, but only a player's bet. No money!" "Of course, not!" I’m not interested in money at all!

At home I discovered that he did get something wrong: Bayern vs. Kiew ended 3:3 and Manchester played only 1:1, so it isn't sure that Bayern and Manchester will reach the final ...... But it was late and they have had some beer ...

Tom grinned and said that Bayern Munich is at least far better than Manchester City! You should have seen Jay's face now!!! We all had to laugh but he looked as if he would kill Tom for this! Eyes wide open and lips tight. I told Tom to be careful now about what to say. But he continued to tease Jay.

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Then Tom asked Bine who hasn’t said a word so far whether she was able to understand English? Yes, she is speaking English and this started a conversation about our different education systems/schools and that Germans used to learn some languages at school. He asked around and we found out that we 3 girls have learned English, French, Latin, Italian and Russian. They asked us to say something in every language and we did.

Which reminded me of the Nietzsche stuff. I told Jay that the name is pronounced right NIEtzsche, not NietzschEE. He starred at me asking for forgiveness and pointed his finger towards Tom, "Tom has told me that an American would say Nietzschee!" It looked so cute I had to smile. Dany came back so Jay had to move a seat and sat now directly opposite to me. Oh, Lord. These eyes only one or two inches away.....

Jay asked me if I have read something from Nietzsche. "No", I replied, "but do you know his most famous sentence?" "No, tell me!" "Wenn du zum Weibe gehst, vergiß die Peitsche nicht!" A lot of boooos around me so I asked with a cheeky grin, "Do you want a translation?" "Yes, of course!" "When you are visiting a woman, don't forget to bring a whip with you!" Jay starred at me and repeated, "Whip?" "Yes, he was a coward!" Jay couldn't believe it and obviously he found no joy in picture this. Tom asked if I would know some other German philosophers but this is not a subject I'm really interested in so I could remember only Kant.

I asked Tom about the names of his kids and he said, "Sandra and Stephen". "And the third one?" "Which third one?" "Oh, Tom, you told me you have 3 kids!" Jay was looking very puzzled so I explained to him, "Tom told me he is married and has 3 kids!" "Can't be, he is homosexual and we have a relationship!" was Jay's cool reply. I laughed, "Sorry, but I don't believe this." "But I love Tom!" "And I love you, too, Jay!" They started to tell each other that they love them and hugged, too. I grinned and said that we in Germany have this sentence about real love existing only amongst men (Wahre Liebe gibt es nur unter Männern). Protest from both: now they don't think of this kind of love! ))) I can tell you, it was sooo funny.

Between our jokes, Jay sometimes sat quietly and closed his eyes. I told him he looked tired and should go to bed. It was about 1 in the morning now. But Dany wanted a pic with Jay. Tom got the camera and instructed them to move close. No need to tell Dany! ) Jay didn't look too happy about her sitting nearly on his lap.

At 1.20 the staff of the pub came in and asked us all to leave immediately. They even switched off the lights for a few seconds. So we got up in a hurry and couldn't even say a proper good-bye because the guys had to go backstage to grap some things.

We went to the nightbus on cloud no. 9! When we arrived at our hotel at 2.30 we couldn't sleep. I always saw these eyes when I closed mine.

• Saturday, 10.4.99:
We woke up early and went shopping. This time we had to go to the pub early because there was also an afternoon show! Uschi and me hoped to get a picture with Jay today.

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When we arrived Mena and Eva were already waiting for us and we told them about last night. When we queued for the tickets Jay passed us smiling all over his face and saying "Hello, how are you?" 5 minutes later he left again through the other door of the theatre and went down the road. He came back passing us again grinning all over his face wearing a bag with a can and two big bars of chocolate in it!!!! Goodbye diet .... )

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The show wasn't sold out but the audience was in a very good mood today. We had very good seats directly at the stage and Tom and Jay looked at us a lot during the performance. We were now familiar with the play and clapped, laughed and sang at the right places. We had a lot of fun!!

After the show we waited inside the pub. Tom and Spike came first and we asked them for a posing picture. No prob. I put my arms around these guys who are both a little bit smaller than me and Tom gave me a big smack on my cheek. The pic is funny. He said they would go for a pizza now.

Then Jay appeared and we asked him for a pic, too. Yes, no prob, but outside would be better. We agreed and went outside. There he posed with everyone but I didn't think he was too happy about this. Maybe he doesn't like it to be pictured? Then we went in different directions to get something to eat. On our way back we passed a bookshop. We had already thought about a present for Jay and now Emma suggested a book. Good idea so we both went inside. We weren't sure what to take and I said that a book about Nietzsche would be best. So I had a look and found the perfect book: a cartoon called "Nietzsche for beginners"! I laughed loud in the shop when I discovered it. In front of the pub my friends were waiting and I showed the book to them. We all agreed that it was perfect. We wanted to see Jay's face when I gave it to him and Eva wanted to take a pic of it as well so we waited outside.

Jay arrived with his friends and I stopped him saying that I found the perfect present for him. He looked sceptical and asked, "What is it?" I pulled the book out of the bag and showed him the title and when he read it he laughed loud. I told him he should study it and he said he would. With a big grin on his face he went inside and we followed him queueing again for the tickets for the evening show. This time some of the seats were reserved for friends of Tom and Jay. But we found good seats near the stage. It was sold out again but the audience wasn't as good as in the afternoon.

After the show we had to leave the theatre except the personal guests of Tom and Jay. Mena, Eva and Bine were in a hurry because their bus back to Germany was going at 10.30 from Paddington/Victoria Station so they left us at once. Uschi and me waited right behind the theatre door because we planned to go into this restricted area again. We knew that we wouldn't be able to repeat the last night but we wanted to give it a try.

Between the pub and the theatre there was a small hole in the wall through which they can give drinks and plates for the dinner shows. This hole was open and Jay and his friends stood right there on the theatre side! I was the only one who could see Jay in whole and I first thought it was a fluke. So I carefully watched him. He looked great, clean and sexy in blue jeans and a beige cotton sweater. Suddenly he turned his head a little and gave me a smile. Ooops. He did know that I was there. I tried but I couldn't resist to look at him from time to time. We stood there for about 20 minutes and he looked and grinned to me about 3 or 4 times. So close and yet so far away ....

Then our friendly bodyguard appeared again and he took us inside! We sat down at the same table and Dany and her friend did the same. We joked around with them watching Jay and Tom talking to their friends in different corners of the theatre. We sat there for about an hour chatting and joking but then Uschi and me decided that we didn't want to miss the last tube again. We were also really tired and had to go up at 4.30 in the morning to catch our plane. So we first went to Tom to say good-bye. He was really nice and we said a proper goodbye wishing him all the best in the future.

Then I took a deep breathe and went to Jay's group. He stood with the back to us so I tipped him slightly on his shoulder. he turned round, recognised us and smiled. I told him that we didn't want to disturb him but say goodbye because we were leaving for Germany the next morning. He smiled and said he hoped we had enjoyed the play and then he hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks! Phew, this came totally unexpected and his stubbles scratched my cheeks but it was wonderful to hold him. I managed somehow to let him go.

Uschi got a hug and kiss as well and then he smiled at us and said, "I'm sorry about the Nietzschee!" I told him to study the book and he said he will. I let him then know that we hope to see him again soon on stage but he didn't say what he is planning next. I told him that he would need a fanclub then because actors use to have them, too. He looked at me totally seriously and asked me, "Would you run my fanclub?" I guess I have looked very stupid at this moment because this wasn't what I had in mind. So I only replied, "Why not!" I had my experiences running a fanclub. Then we finally said good-bye and left walking on cloud no. 10!!!

Uschi and me agreed that we had the best time and everything has been perfect. I have waited so many years to see Jay but it was really worth it.

He is a really talented actor and a gorgeous guy off stage. Don't forget Tom who is also great on stage and very nice off stage. It would be great if they would tour with GOB. We'll be there then for sure.

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