National Theatre boss Rufus Norris steps in for ailing lead actor 30 mins before play started

'I had to give a decent reading of the script. You make sure you’re heard and that you’re going at the right pace'

(Getty Images)

National Theatre boss Rufus Norris stepped in to save the day when his latest production's leading man was taken ill just before the show was due to start.

Norris was informed only 30 minutes before Friday's sell-out performance of Home, I'm Darling that Richard Harrington would be unable to take to the stage, and with no understudy in place, stepped up to the plate.

He admitted to having a "vague" understanding of the play, written by Laura Wade, having only seen it twice.

“It’s a last-resort situation,” he told the Evening Standard. “But it was only a few days before the show finishes and we couldn’t add an extra date. We had a full house who wouldn’t be able to see it again.”

He took on the role of Johnny, the husband of Judy, played by The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson. The play sees Judy give up her career in the finance industry to become a full-time, 1950s-style housewife.

Norris, who trained as an actor at Rada in 1989, said he spent the 30 minutes before the performance frantically preparing with Parkinson.

"I had to give a decent reading of the script. You make sure you’re heard and that you’re going at the right pace. When those things happen and you only have one option, you think, ‘Right let’s get our heads down and do it’.”

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