As we launched Bush BEE last week with two distinguished guests (Kaspars Gorkss and Gediminas Adomaitis), mince pies, wine and a panel discussion, audiences admired the Library space, browsing the plays in the collection, meeting one another and sharing stories about their own BEE connections.
In an extremely busy week for QPR, Kaspars spoke casually and openly about his family life, his first contract in Sweden and how at 19, he found himself alone, in a foreign country, not speaking the language, learning English and getting used to a whole new life. While Gediminas, preparing to shoot a documentary in the Ukraine, in between trips back to Lithuania, joined us to assess his father's influence on his choice of career ( the son of Regimantas Adomaitis, a renowned theatre and film actor) and what it's like acting in a second or third language. A tool of the trade, the language took a while to pick up, especially English, and we spoke about this initial hurdle both have had to face, sometimes using Russian to communicate with others from ex-Soviet states ...either players, actors on a shoot, or as Kaspars often does: having tea and a chat with a Lithuanian lady working at the club's training grounds. While on the pitch, he summed up the need for language in two words: ' Left! Right!'.
Similarities between their professions emerged, their public nature being the most prominent one, alongside differences too: Gediminas chose a new beginning in England, while Kaspars was signed to a club, making their paths towards West London rather different...but while these two tall young men born in the USSR saw independence finally come to their respective countries, joining the EU and the new ease of travel and relocation this ushered in, they also laughed at everything being different in England, missing 'zeppelins' ( Lithuanian potato dumplings stuffed with meatballs) or people back home, and as we chatted informally into the night about their expectations for the future - and how quickly Christmas will blend into New Year, with all the games to be played, and filming to be done in the next few months - their energy and love of life in London lingered among the plays and players of the Bush's own history, where the entire QPR team saw a show in the seventies, making news in an entirely different way.