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Fabulous examination of a fabulous play I was lucky enough to see in both of its runs - in 2013 in London, and in 2016 in New York.

Well, it's been 0 days since David Tennant made me ugly cry.

My birthday is coming up, and I've treated myself to a month of Marquee TV as a little gift. I was particularly looking forward to David's Richard II. I've never seen a production of it, nor read it. So, I was going in fairly blind. But, I'd seen clips of The Kiss on youtube, and even an interview or two about it. So I thought I was ready for the level of heartache it would evoke.

I was wrong.

Y'all. That scene within the greater context of the story ripped my queer little heart right out of my chest. First of all, David's delivery of

I live with bread like you, feel want, Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus, How can you say to me, I am a king?

in a previous scene floored me. Here is a individual struggling with the isolation and loneliness that comes with power. They have the natural human need to be seen, to have honest emotional connections, to have a safe space in which to be vulnerable. But, they are at the top of a social structure that does not reward vulnerability with safety. In order to be king, they have had to sacrifice a measure of their humanity.

It's only when Richard comes to accept that the end of his reign will also mean the end of his life, that he affords himself the freedom to reach out to someone he obviously cares deeply for. I mean, he's asking the man if he can lay by his side in death. There's no mention of wanting to be with his wife for all of eternity. It's Aumerle that he trusts to witness his anger and fear about his impending death, and it's Aumerle that he turns to for comfort.

And, The Kiss is lovely. It really is. The longing on Richard's face, the hesitation as he decides whether or not he's really going to go through with it, the tenderness of it all. It's beautiful.

It was what Richard did after The Kiss that opened up the ugly cry flood gates for me, though. It's when he places the crown on Aumerle's head. It's played for a little laugh, to break the tension of The Kiss. And again, I'd seen it done on youtube, but it hadn't made sense to me. It had seemed like an odd gesture, and I didn't understand the motivation behind it. This time, the meaning of it came crashing down on me.

In this play, the crown is the focus of everyone's love, devotion, and desire. The one who wears it is the most powerful, the most precious person in the land. And for one brief moment, Richard crowns Aumerle. Richard cannot say aloud that Aumerle is the king of his heart. But, that almost playful exchange says it for him.

And then Richard begins to fold all of that back inside of himself. The crown returns on his own head. His face starts to set into the stony mask of the divinely appointed ruler. But before it's done, there's The Look. It's all there: pining, hope, confession, regret, grief. A wistful sigh and brief brush of fingers against Aumerle's face and he walks away, not human but king once more. It broke me.

If this isn't an analogy for the closeted experience, then I don't know what is. Historically, if someone wanted financial and social stability, then they had better act straight. Their true feelings were a real danger to themselves and to those they loved.* Add the fact that David has said in an interview that they were going for a "slightly androgynous quality" just piles a whole 'nother layer of gender stuff on top of the sexuality stuff. Like, I could write a paper on this.

*I wrote that in the past tense, but it is still true for the majority of the people on the planet.

I know I'm a million years late to this play, and there's probably already a ton of analysis from the queer perspective floating around out there. But, I just had to get all these feelings out somewhere. Thanks for reading.

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You join the dots 😈

David Tennant @ Heroes Dutch Comic Con (HDCC)

Sunday, June 22nd 2025

[Original Source]: ourflagmeetsgoodomens post on IG

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#dorothy zbornak my relatable queen

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It's been a while. Here's why:

Hello, everyone.

My apologies for my lengthy absence. At the beginning of this month I’d been happily working on a couple of interesting topics about David Tennant's early career to share with you all, but suddenly life decided once again it wasn’t yet done with me. So I find myself here again, begging your forgiveness.

What started a week or so ago as what I thought was a run-of-the-mill kidney stone didn’t end the way I thought at all. After a visit to the ER in the middle of the night, they discharged me with pain medication…and I thought that was that. But what I didn’t know was that the stone had became obstructed. By the next afternoon I was confused, shivering uncontrollably, and throwing up. My mom (who’s just moved in with me after my dad’s death and as of today has only been here a few weeks) said my eyes were dilated and as a retired nurse, she said something was wrong and I didn’t need to wait. Boy, was she right.

I wasn’t making enough sense to drive myself back to the ER, so I got a trip via ambulance. Once there, I went downhill pretty fast. Diagnosis? Sepsis (blood poisoning) caused by an e coli bacterial infection due to the obstruction. I ended up remaining for four days in ICU, followed by another two days in the hospital before I was well enough to be discharged. Doctors have told me it was lucky the confusion, vomiting and chills of sepsis (which my mom and I had interpreted as a possible ruptured appendix) triggered me to go to the hospital, and that if I’d waited only one more day, the sepsis might’ve taken over and I might very well not have come out of it alive.

I am as weak as a kitten and am just now able to put my thoughts together well enough to write this post and let everyone know I’m okay and I intend to keep on writing once I’m able to build my strength back. I’ve still got to face another surgery to remove the stent and/or break up the kidney stone, but that’s doable. I’m okay, and grateful as hell to still be here.

Take your kidney stones seriously, people.

--FROM:

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Pinstripes, plaid, and paisley, oh my!

Throw all the patterns at him and he will still look good

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fiends :D <3

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His beauty is nothing to sneeze at

"Hay Fever" (1991)

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Ncuti Gatwa at the 2025 Met Gala

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And I sort of tried to dare myself every night to kind of find it. But that particular moment sort of afresh each time. Obviously, that's what you're always trying to do. It's easier with something like Shakespeare because the words are pretty bottomless and they have lots of different available meanings. And that's why actors love doing it so much because on performance 150, you can suddenly hear a line that you thought you knew inside out. You can sort of hear it in a brand-new way. And that's - obviously, that's a thrill and also a bit frustrating 'cause you're going to go, oh, that's how I should have done that.

www.shakespearenews.com

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David Tennant + Shakespeare

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just when you think the main episode was enough, you then sit through the extra episode where they happily chat about nits, shit, and vomit. im fucking fascinated by the two of them but god im so happy they're married, they can't and shouldn't be inflicted on anyone else

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Here at A Tennantcy To Act, I'm ~finally~ beginning to write the epic saga behind David Tennant's 1989 play, The Ghost Of Benjy O'Neil! In March 2024, I wrote about how David performed a scene from the play in front of the Queen. He absolutely did, and you can read about that here:

But there's a LOT more to this incredible play that I can't wait to share. I'll be gone for the next few weeks wrapping up the final chapter to my dad's death in January (I have to go back to my home state, pack up the house for a sale, and help my elderly mom pack so she can come and live with me). It's a new period in my life, so my writing may be a bit spotty for a short while. Bear with me...I hope to debut it as soon as I possibly can!

-

In the meantime, subscribe to A Tennantcy To Act at Substack. It's an in-depth compendium of David's growth from a sharp kid to the greatest live stage actor of his generation. I've done over ten years' worth of research into David's early career, and I've already written so much to read and learn and be amazed by. I hope it's a resource you'll find yourself going back to again and again.

So go subscribe (for free - click "Let me preview it first! - or go free for a while and if you like what you read and want to help me with my continued research costs, hit "paid" to donate!) You'll find nothing else like it on the internet!

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Early Theatre Deep Dive Part 3: David Tennant in 'Twelve Angry Men' (1991)

Today at A Tennantcy To Act, I'm dropping the last installment of my three-part deep dive into David Tennant and his 1991 role as Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men!

In the last two installments I explored the production's first April 1990 run at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow, and its second July 1990 run at the Arches in Glasgow.

Today, I go deeper into the production's surprise April 1991 final run at the Cumbernauld Theatre in Cumbernauld.

Plus, I explore how this production may have helped put David in a good position right out of drama school!

-

A Tennantcy To Act is an in-depth compendium of David's growth from a sharp kid to the greatest live stage actor of his generation.

There's so much to read and learn and be amazed by, and a resource you'll find yourself going back to again and again. You'll find nothing else like it on the internet, as it's been expertly curated and compiled over many years of professional research. There's also a resource page if you want to know how to find and watch David's stuff.

Subscribe for free or click "Let me preview it first! (or if you like what you've read and want to help me with my continued research costs, hit "paid" to donate!) to get notifications whenever a new article is posted; you won't be disappointed!

And feel free to chat with me there - you can message me directly if you have any thoughts, questions, or info to add!

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Early Theatre Deep Dive Part 3: David Tennant in 'Twelve Angry Men' (1991)

Today at A Tennantcy To Act, I'm dropping the last installment of my three-part deep dive into David Tennant and his 1991 role as Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men!

In the last two installments I explored the production's first April 1990 run at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow, and its second July 1990 run at the Arches in Glasgow.

Today, I go deeper into the production's surprise April 1991 final run at the Cumbernauld Theatre in Cumbernauld.

Plus, I explore how this production may have helped put David in a good position right out of drama school!

-

A Tennantcy To Act is an in-depth compendium of David's growth from a sharp kid to the greatest live stage actor of his generation.

There's so much to read and learn and be amazed by, and a resource you'll find yourself going back to again and again. You'll find nothing else like it on the internet, as it's been expertly curated and compiled over many years of professional research. There's also a resource page if you want to know how to find and watch David's stuff.

Subscribe for free or click "Let me preview it first! (or if you like what you've read and want to help me with my continued research costs, hit "paid" to donate!) to get notifications whenever a new article is posted; you won't be disappointed!

And feel free to chat with me there - you can message me directly if you have any thoughts, questions, or info to add!

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A David Tennant Does a Podcast With... Episode becomes One of my Faves!

After listening to the latest episode of David Tennant Does a Podcast With...

you know the one, where David is interviewed by his wife Georgia:

I have to say it's moved into my Top 3 of his best interviews!

The amount of background detail on his early life and his experiences with drama is amazing. I adore interviews which touch on this part of his career because...well....I mean, if you've read any of my work at A Tennantcy To Act, the correct answer can only be DUH!

The granular detail of this particular episode thrills me, because it's not just your average everyday, "tell us again about Doctor Who" rigamarole most interviewers who don't actually know David tend to dwell on. You can tell Georgia's focus on his early years is of interest to her, which I adore - and because she's the one who's asking, the normally reticent DT is willing to answer in more depth than with anyone else before her.

No one else could've done this interview like her, and I've never liked her more than I did when I was listening to it. It was damn near perfect (it just needed a few more hours of dwelling on the details of his drama school years, and it would've been perfect LOL!)

Anyway, there's a lot for me to parse from the interview that I won't be able to get to for a while, as I'm writing about other things at the moment. But I'll get to it, for sure.

As to my two other favorite interviews with David? They are:

1) SAG-AFTRA w/Richard Ridge (2016) 2) Creative Conversation w/Andy Dougan (2016)

I've got a few runner-up interviews, too. They are:

1) Off Camera w/Sam Jones (2019) 2) Interval Drinks w/Mark Quartley (2022) 3) Acting For Others w/Paapa Essiedu (2022) 4) Putting It Together w/Brian O'Sullivan (2023)

--

If you're interested in listening/watching these (some are video, some audio) you can find most of them fairly easily.

The only one you won't be able to find is the Creative Conversation with Andy Dougan. That one was an in-house interview that David did with an audience of Royal Conservatoire student actors during the time he was at the RCS in Glasgow receiving his Honorary Doctorate in 2016. The interview is archived in the RCS Archives, and is available for in-person viewing by appointment only.

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I interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

to make you aware of a SCAM which may come from my @Tennantcy_2_Act Twitter account and to be wary...

TL;DR: If you get a DM which appears to be from me about how I need you to contact Twitter (or more unlikely, Bluesky) support to fix an issue with a “misreported account” - NONE OF IT IS REAL. It is NOT me. It’s a SCAM, and stay away. If you need to contact me to ask me about anything that seems suspicious, leave me a comment here or contact me on chat or at my email.

Starting now, my Twitter account (@Tennantcy_2_Act) is NO LONGER MINE.

Do not engage with it. —

Late last evening I fell victim to a scam circulating on Twitter and (I hear, though I haven’t seen it firsthand) on Bluesky. It’s one that started with a DM I received on Twitter (which I rarely use, I’m on Bluesky about 95% of the time) from someone I’d communicated with before:

At the outset nothing seemed suspicious…only rather annoying. It seemed I needed to fix it with Twitter support guy named Cameron Vafaey:

I’m just warning everyone that NONE OF THIS IS REAL.

-

I got taken....not for very much, it certainly won’t injure anything but my pride. So lesson learned, but I will do everything I can to spread the word.

So that’s what this is. Heads up, everyone!

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I interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

to make you aware of a SCAM which may come from my @Tennantcy_2_Act Twitter account and to be wary...

TL;DR: If you get a DM which appears to be from me about how I need you to contact Twitter (or more unlikely, Bluesky) support to fix an issue with a “misreported account” - NONE OF IT IS REAL. It is NOT me. It’s a SCAM, and stay away. If you need to contact me to ask me about anything that seems suspicious, leave me a comment here or contact me on chat or at my email.

Starting now, my Twitter account (@Tennantcy_2_Act) is NO LONGER MINE.

Do not engage with it. —

Late last evening I fell victim to a scam circulating on Twitter and (I hear, though I haven’t seen it firsthand) on Bluesky. It’s one that started with a DM I received on Twitter (which I rarely use, I’m on Bluesky about 95% of the time) from someone I’d communicated with before:

At the outset nothing seemed suspicious…only rather annoying. It seemed I needed to fix it with Twitter support guy named Cameron Vafaey:

I’m just warning everyone that NONE OF THIS IS REAL.

-

I got taken....not for very much, it certainly won’t injure anything but my pride. So lesson learned, but I will do everything I can to spread the word.

So that’s what this is. Heads up, everyone!