Toby or not to be ... Richard Schiff (right) in The West Wing. Photograph: Channel 4
I do hope you have no idea what a Wingnut is. I'm sure it has some technical definition, probably involving engines, but in this context it is a peculiar sub-sect of enthusiastic nerds who are slightly obsessed with The West Wing. The worst thing about Wingnuts is that we kid ourselves that we are somehow superior to, say, Trekkies or Whovians because the West Wing is about politics rather than sci-fi. We are not.
I met a fellow Wingnut the other day. I'd been told by a mutual friend that I'd recognize him (at a conference we were both attending), "because you'll think, 'God, that's Toby from The West Wing'". Even with the advance warning, I was shocked and a little bit thrilled to see someone who looked so like one of my heroes. Imagine my delight when, my having remarked on this to him, he proceeded to be thrilled and quote huge chunks of dialogue from the show. Happy hours ensued, let me tell you.
It is, then, with even greater delight that I read that Richard Schiff (who actually is Toby from The West Wing) is coming to town next year to appear in a play called Underneath the Lintel (Duchess theatre, from February). According to the New York paper, the Village Voice, it's even quite a good play. The New York Times is more verbose but generally in agreement. Schiff will be playing a small-town librarian who sets off on a quest across half the world to track down a mysterious individual who returns a book 113 years late.
I should already have my tickets. What could possibly be the problem? I imagine it's the same problem Trekkies face with Patrick (RSC) Stewart taking on Prospero. Though I know Schiff to be a very talented actor, I will only be wondering what Toby's doing pretending to be a librarian. And suspension of disbelief in a theatre is tough enough already.
