An inspirational drama teacher who travelled from Gisborne to Bristol to see his hero, Oscar winning actor Jeremy Irons, perform in a play had a welcome surprise at its conclusion.
Unbeknown to former Gisborne Boys' High School teacher Gary File, his son, Kiernan, had organised for Irons to meet him after the show - and the pair shared a dram of whisky and a chat in the star's dressing room.
Irons, who won an Academy Award in 1990 for his role in Reversal of Fortune, and will be well-known to many as the voice of Scar in the Lion King, is performing in Long Day's Journey into Night, a three-hours-and-20-minutes-long play in the English city.
Ahead of his visit, his son, Kiernan, secretly wrote to Irons to tell him of his father's visit, the Post reported.