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Last week I went to the press night Out of the shadows . This is an exhibition currently on display at Nuffield Southampton Theatre (NST)....

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Meeting Tom at the Nuffield Theatre (Southampton, February 22 - 2015)

The meeting / interview withTom Hiddleston at the Nuffield Theatre of the Southampton University starts with a slight delay. Beforestarting, the theatre director, Sam Hodges, recalls the ban on pictures and videos, just to make the atmosphere of the meeting as relaxed as possible.

What follows are the memories in any order of your admins Marina and Francesca who took part in this exciting event.

- Speaking about a production he saw at the National Theatre when he was 14, Tom told of how the theatre has changed the way he sees the world, saying: “I believe in the power of cinema. I believe in the power of theatre to change the world! Because it changed mine.”

- He explained how the cinema and the theatre have changed his perception of family, love and daily life. He said that the skeptical audience was in tears at the end of the show. A magic indeed. He said: "Whoever you are, wherever you come from, if you believe in a told story, just join the story."

- Some thoughts about the purity of the craft of the actor which he still makes the old way "As an actor you still have to learn your lines, show up on time and tell the truth" quoting his teacher "Acting is being truthful in imaginary circumstances"

Then he talked about the modesty of his colleagues and various differences between the talents, citing, among other names as natural talents: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Patrick Stewart. And also his spiritual masters like Daniel Day Lewis and Lawrence Olivier.

- In the same speech, he talked about when a girl has sung for the first time in public at RADA, revealing and discovering her amazing talent for singing, now she is a great famous singer (he didn't reveal the name).

- Tom spoke about the benefits that, in the 90s, allowed him to study at Cambridge and RADA paying only 1100 pounds a year but now the cost is five times higher. He considers himself lucky to have had this opportunity and considering a tragedy the fact that now there is no more this opportunity.

- A mention to his experience with the “Cheek By Jowl” and when he traveled with them from Milan to Madrid, also speaking about the intimacy that you can reach with the public in small theaters, as has happened at the Donmar with Othelo and Coriolanus. He talked about the chemistry with the audience and then, citing his mentor to the Rada, he tells us: "Put your brain to one side, now it comes from your balls."

- About War Horse, he compared the scene of the charge on horseback of War Horse with 100 stuntmen around with the one with wooden horses of the National Theater. This to explain the big difference between cinema and theater, confirming the absolute magic of both. He loved playing Captain Nicholls, a deeply good man, as opposed to the role of Loki who Tom defined a complicated soul ("a very messed up kid") as unpredictable as a box of cats.

- Hodges asked him the difference between shooting an intimate film as those of Joanna Hogg and a blockbuster Marvel. Tom took as reference the scene of Archipelago where he’s frightened for the firing of live lobsters, explaining that they were in a real kitchen, with real lobsters, with a real impression. While, when Loki gets banged by the Hulk, his expression was filmed separately and then placed on a maquette puppet, then they have mixed it all with his real stunts on the rubber mattresses.

- Talking about his success, Tom quoted Caius Martius in Coriolanus, when soldiers fill him with praise and he replies: "No more, I say! For that I have not wash'd my nose bled That, or some foil'd debile wretch, Which, without notes, here's many else have done" Reiterating that what he does is just his job, as many others do. Speaking about the success of Loki, Tom hinted at an anecdote told by Anthony Hopkins (imitating a bit his voice and his accent). Anthony said: "I've played every role possible, fathers, sons, butlers, kings and commoners, but eventually people remind me just for one role." Then Tom stopped, smiled and, while a general laugh crossed the room, he concluded with the obvious "Hannibal Lecter". Tom explained that "People are attracted by darkness, attracted by the bad. They do not want to meet them in real life but they want to see them at the cinema" and this explains the success of Loki.

- He talked about the importance of being sober before going on stage, unable to understand how certain actors are able to get drunk before going on stage "You wanna get drunk, go somewhere else, I never understood wanting to be in a lesser state of awareness in a theatre"

- Connecting to the importance of continuing to keep alive the tradition of the theater in a so automated and technologic world, he talked about High Rise, set in the mid-70s in a dystopian reality that goes into decline, confirming his love for the book written by Ballard. He also said he doesn't watch television and he does everything possible to be with his family in every important occasion despite his commitments.

- At the question about his future plans he said he will start in March to work on the BBC series HBO's "The Night Manager". He will play the night manager of a Swiss hotel. A former soldier, who is hired MI6 to frame a trafficker, a terrible man who dwells in his hotel.

This summer he'll start shooting "Kong: Skull Island", reiterating that the director has in mind a film quite different from all previous King Kong. The interviewer then imagined that the film was a blockbuster in green screen but Tom revealed that the intention is really to go shooting in the middle of the jungle. He joked: "We won't have a real King Kong and other creatures, but all the rest will be real. "

- About Hank Williams, Tom explained that for Americans the songs of Williams are "those who you listened in the car with your father in your travels childhood" as for him could be the Beatles. Shooting "I Saw The Light" was an incredible experience and a huge responsibility. He said he had never considered himself a singer and that sung performance in "Cymbeline" was terrible. Tom is very grateful to his coach Rodney Crowell who did him study at the point of being able to sing and play by himself for the film and also in public. He said that once, on the coach, Rodney told him "Tommy Boy, there's a festival in Wheatland country and I want you to sing in public" and that was a kind of baptism. He talked about Hank Williams' hard life and his problem with alcohol, saying he had finished so recently to work on the film, to still feel almost in his shoes

- Tom said also something about the importance of the campaign of the gender equality "He for She", promoted by his friend Emma Watson with a speech to the United Nations. Tom reminds us that he grew up in a family of women in absolute equality of rights and that "equality was just my way of thinking anyway".

In the few minutes left, the audience asked some questions.

A girl asked: "What female role would you like to play?" and Tom replied: "There is a production of Henry IV at the Donmar, it's all-female. I think women should have more opportunities to do male roles."

A boy asked him if he would have stopped to sign autographs and Tom's answer was "No, excuse me, but I have to go, my schedule compels me."

This thing had been repeated a million times by the staff of the theater. Sincerely the question appeared really out of place.

Another girl asked "How did you do? Did you tell your mother: tomorrow I want to be an actor? "And he said: " Rome wasn’t built in a day ". The last question asked by a girl: she asked Tom if he finds easier playing roles similar to his character. Tom answered that in every role he plays there is a part of himself - his goodness is expressed in Captain Nicholls, his playfulness in Loki and the seriousness with himself in Coriolanus. Only alcoholism of Hank Williams is totally foreign to his character, because "I love my life too much."

Among the “shallow and unimportant” anecdotes: - A girl coughed in the front row and he offered her some water. - A boy went under the stage, bent, to go out of the room and Tom laughs waiting him to pass. - Tom was wearing the same vest he had in Rome at the photocall for The Avengers, the tie was bordeaux and the shirt was white, wrapped with its sleeves to the elbows. - Tom asked the audience if anyone needs to know the story of Michael Grandage (former artistic director of the Donmar) to which they referred before. He explained that Grandage says that "The English theater is famous for giving his best in the spring and go down the drain in the fall." No mention of Crimson Peak. At the end Tom thanked from the bottom of his heart all the people in the room. It was a very informal meeting of an hour and a half.