by Nova Weetman
Argh! Opening night. The thought made me hurry. I still needed to check that the props had all been set up.
There were people everywhere backstage. It looked so crazy, it was hard to believe we’d be putting on a play anytime soon, let alone tonight! Angus was running down the corridor in half his costume. I jumped out of the way as he hurried past.
‘Sorry, Edie,’ he called. ‘I’ve lost my top!’
‘Try the boys’ dressing room!’ I called back.
I squeezed past a couple of cast members who were huddled together, nervously running lines.
‘Break a leg,’ I said as I passed them.
As I made it to the stage area I saw Freddy and Zoe in the wings, warming up their voices and giggling. They were already in costume and they both looked incredible. I started to walk past them, then stopped and headed back.
‘You two look amazing,’ I said. Freddy looked at me and smiled. I think it was the first time he’d really noticed me since I’d pulled out of the play. As cute as he was, I didn’t feel all jittery and nervous around him anymore. ‘Knock ‘em dead,’ I said with a smile.
Zoe turned to me. ‘Thanks, Edie. I’m so nervous I think I might be sick.’
I laughed. ‘You’ll be fine.’
As I started to walk off, I heard Freddy yell behind me,‘The set looks amazing!’
And it did. It looked better than Mel and I could’ve hoped for.
Mel! I had to get back and help her check the props. Dodging half-dressed actors and anxious looking stagehands, I rushed to the maintenance shed where we had all our props stored.
Mel had beaten me to it. She was already there, ticking off the props.
‘Hey, Edie. Nervous?’
‘Yeah. Totally.’
‘Me too. Didn’t expect it back here, but I had these crazy dreams that the bottles of poison had disappeared and the play was ruined,’ she said, her eyes wide.
I laughed. ‘In mine, the sets fell down and crushed everybody.’
‘Ew, gruesome.’ She showed me the list of props. There were red ticks next to almost all of them. ‘I’ve nearly finished. Everything’s where it should be. I’ll just check the last few then we can start moving the first set on stage.’
Mel had been awesome. She’d worked as hard as I had getting it all finished, and we’d become really good friends. It was nice to have someone to hang out with when Tess was off doing netball stuff. Plus, Mel was cool and funny, and she liked being backstage nearly as much as I did.
I started moving the parts of the set for the first scene out onto the stage. Then Mel and I lifted the backdrop and carefully manoeuvred it into place. We stood back to admire our work. It was a huge picture of a beautiful large Italian square with a fountain in it. One of the older art students at school had drawn it, then Mel and I had painted in the colour.
‘Wow!’ said Mel.
‘Yeah. Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?’ I said, amazed at how professional it seemed.
‘Certainly does,’ said Kerry from behind us. ‘Well done, you two. You’ve created a whole world. Now let’s hope the actors do it justice!’ she said, smiling.
As she hurried off to get the cast ready, I whispered to Mel,‘Promise me the sets aren’t going to fall down.’
‘I promise,’ she said, then, sounding worried, added, ‘And the poison isn’t going to disappear. Right?’
‘No way. It’s right where it should be,’ I told her.
‘Well, let’s go and take our positions.’
With a crazy nervous feeling in my tummy, just like the one I’d had before trying out for state netball, I stood in the wings next to Mel and waited. We watched as the cast made their way on stage. I could hear the audience settling in their seats. Mel reached across and grabbed my hand, giving it a nervous squeeze. I squeezed back.
Everyone was ready. The curtain opened and the lights dimmed. The play had begun.
It was strange watching the play from the side of the stage, particularly as I had to keep concentrating on set changes. Everything seemed to be happening faster than it did in rehearsals, but I think that was just because everyone was so focused. I did manage to watch all of Jackson’s scenes. Each time he came on stage, I’d smile secretly to myself, remembering his kiss.
‘Balcony scene next,’ I whispered to Mel. ‘You ready?’
She nodded. As the lights dimmed on stage, we switched the backdrops as quickly as we could, sliding the ladder up behind the balcony drop so that Zoe could peep out the open window.
Even from the wings, the set looked incredible. The ivy was straight and draped right down across the pale pink wall. Zoe leant out of the window and delivered my favourite speech in the whole play, and just for a second, I wished it was me.
But then we were on to the next scene, and the next, and before I knew it, it was time for the death scene, where Mel nervously checked and rechecked that the bottles of poison were in place. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. ‘Good job, Edie.’
I squeezed back. ‘You too.’
‘Glad it’s almost over,’ she whispered, as Freddy kissed Zoe on stage and then lay down to die.
But that was the weird thing. I didn’t want the play to finish. I’d loved working backstage and building things and being part of something amazing with an amazing group of people. And then there was Jackson.
As the curtain came up and the audience started cheering madly, I watched the cast take their bows. Zoe and Freddy were presented with huge bunches of roses, and then suddenly Mel and I were being dragged out to join the others. Somehow I ended up in the front row, standing next to Jackson. He took my hand and we all bowed. As I stood up, I looked down into the audience and saw Mum and Dad and Jean, and Tess, standing there grinning at me, holding out a bunch of daffodils. She’d brought me flowers, even though I wasn’t in the cast. I grinned back at her. I was the happiest set-builder in the world.
I sat in the foyer, trying to get my head around being the Nurse. Okay, so it wasn’t the part I wanted, but it was better than nothing, right? I wanted to be an actor, and actors were cast in all sorts of roles – including some they didn’t want.
‘Edie?’ someone said. ‘You okay?’
I glanced up to see Jackson looking down at me with a concerned expression. I wondered if Kerry had sent him to check on me. How embarrassing. They’d probably already started doing a read-through while I was sitting out in the foyer feeling sorry for myself. I managed to shrug as he sat down next to me.
‘I’m fine,’ I said, trying to keep it together.
He eyed me suspiciously. ‘You’re not exactly jumping with joy.’
I shrugged again. ‘I just really wanted to play Juliet. I turned down state netball with my best friend for this. And now I’m just the stupid Nurse.’
‘Are you kidding? The Nurse is an awesome part. Okay, it might not be the lead, but it’s great.’
‘You think?’ I said, surprised. I hadn’t even noticed the Nurse when I was reading the play. Then again, I’d been totally focused on Juliet.
‘How many movies have you seen where the character that makes the biggest impact on you isn’t the lead?’ asked Jackson. I thought about it for a second and realised he was right. Heaps of my favourite characters weren’t major parts.
Then Jackson nudged me. ‘That little girl in E.T.? The witches in Macbeth? They totally steal it from the leads. Juliet isn’t everything, you know.’
‘I guess. The witches are pretty amazing. But I haven’t seen E.T.’
Jackson looked horrified. ‘What? That’s one of the best films ever made!’
I laughed at his reaction. ‘Okay, okay, I’ll go home and watch it, I promise.’
‘I’ve got it at h
ome. You can borrow it if you like,’ he said, smiling at me. ‘Now, are you coming in?’
Just because I’d agreed to play the Nurse didn’t mean I wanted to face Belle or Freddy right now. I still felt like Belle had been given my part.
As if he was reading my mind, Jackson said quietly, ‘You know I auditioned for Romeo even though I knew Freddy would probably get it?’
‘Really?’I said, wondering if he felt the same way I did. ‘But you don’t seem upset.’
He shook his head, and that cute floppy fringe dropped down over his eye.
‘It’s okay. I’m playing Friar Lawrence. Another great “not lead” role. It looks like you and I will be spending a lot of time together,’ he said, laughing. Then he blushed and added, ‘You know, because they’re in lots of scenes together.’
I smiled. He was really nice, and really cute, and I liked that he understood how bad I felt about it all. Even the fact that he blushed was sweet.
‘I can’t wait to see how old they make you look, Nurse,’ said Jackson, grinning at me.
‘My sister won’t be happy. She thought she was going to get the chance to play hairdresser on Juliet. Now I’ll be some ancient old crone.’
Jackson laughed. ‘You’ll make a great crone.’
‘Hey!’ I said, hitting him playfully on the arm and feeling more like myself again. I stood up. ‘Come on, let’s go and upstage those star-crossed lovers!’
Jackson held the door open for me and we walked into the theatre together. My stomach was all nervy. I took a deep breath. Acting classes came in handy for all sorts of things, and this was going to be one of those times. I had to pretend I was fine with not playing Juliet. My hurt and disappointment would just have to wait until I got home.
The rest of the cast was already sitting in a circle on stage doing a read-through. They stopped reading as Jackson jumped up onto the stage and held out his hand to pull me up. It felt weird holding his hand in front of everyone, and as soon as I was on the stage, I let go and found a spare seat. Jackson squeezed an extra chair in beside me, and I wondered if he was trying to look after me.
‘Edie, just in time for your first big speech,’ said Kerry warmly. The girl next to me passed me a photocopied version of the script and I held it across so Jackson and I could share it. His arm bumped against mine and for a second I imagined I wasn’t on stage, but just hanging out with Jackson.
Then I made myself stop thinking, looked down at the speech on the page and started to read. I stumbled over quite a few of the words because they were old and unfamiliar.
‘Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.
Susan and she – God rest all Christian souls! –
Were of an age: well, Susan is with God;
She was too good for me: but, as I said,
On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.’
Even though I knew Jackson was right about smaller parts being amazing and memorable, I really loved some of Juliet’s speeches, and I couldn’t shake that thought from my head. Then Belle started reading and I realised how closely we would have to work together – my part was all about supporting her character. Great.
After the read-through, Kerry told us she wanted us to have our lines down by week three. Belle started complaining about how many lines she had to learn compared to everyone else, and Jackson shot me a look, checking in to see if I was okay. I was sort of touched that he was looking out for me.
As I was packing up my stuff, trying to escape before I had to talk to anyone, Freddy came up behind me.
‘Edie, you happy with your part?’
‘Yeah, I guess. Congratulations on playing Romeo,’ I said.
Before Freddy could reply, Belle flounced over, touching him on the arm. ‘You ready to go?’
He looked at me and then at Belle. He seemed a little embarrassed as he nodded at her. ‘Yeah.’
I watched as they walked off together, and felt even more miserable than I had a couple of hours ago.
‘Edie?’ said Jackson quietly. He was looking at me funny – I must have been staring after Freddy.
‘Yeah?’
‘You okay?’
I nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
Jackson didn’t leave straight away. He looked like he wanted to say something, but I was distracted by my thoughts about Freddy as I grabbed my bag and left the theatre.
Usually after a day like that, I’d ride straight to Tess’s for a debrief over ice-cream, but since she still wasn’t talking to me, I had no choice but to go home. To Jean and a bowl of reheated macaroni and cheese. Bleuch.
‘Hey, Juliet,’ Jean said, moving her feet so I could sit down.
I’d totally forgotten I was going to have to tell her that I wasn’t playing Juliet after all. ‘Um, about that …’ I said.
‘Didn’t get the part?’
‘How do you know?’ Oh god, what if everyone knows? But nobody really knew how much I’d wanted the role, and Tess and Jean were the only ones I’d told about it.
‘It happened to me once. I thought the director was telling me I had the lead, and I told everyone. At least you were smart enough not to tell everyone,’ she said, looking sympathetic.
‘Yeah, but I did pull out of the state netball team because I thought I was Juliet. That wasn’t very smart,’ I said, relieved that I could be honest with Jean, and that she understood.
She made a face. ‘Yeah. That’s rough. But you can still make something of this, you know. Sometimes the smaller parts are easier to make yours, and even though you don’t realise it at the time, it’s an awesome role and you can make it incredible,’ she said, smiling. ‘That’s what I did that year. I blew the lead girl off the stage!’
I laughed. I’d seen Jean act a few times, and she’d been amazing. That’s why it was so weird when she stopped.
‘Huh. Not sure I can do much with the Nurse,’ I sighed.
‘Edie, the Nurse is a great character,’ Jean said knowingly.
I frowned at her. I wasn’t quite ready to celebrate yet. ‘No, she’s old. And – not Juliet.’
‘I can get this amazing stage make-up that will make you look all wrinkly. And we can make your hair look grey. You’ll look awesome,’ she said enthusiastically.
‘I don’t think awesome is quite the right word.’
Jean shrugged. ‘You want to be an actor, right? So, you’ll be playing someone totally different to you. Isn’t that kind of the point?’
‘Yeah, I suppose so,’ I said begrudgingly.
‘You see, I’m older than you. And wiser. So what I say always makes sense,’ she said.
As much as it had helped hearing Jean’s take on it, I wasn’t up to any more advice, so I left her on the couch with her trashy TV and escaped upstairs to my room. I slumped on my bed and started going through my script, marking all my lines. But two pages in, I stopped. I kept getting distracted by Juliet’s lines, imagining how I would deliver them. Okay, so the Nurse wasn’t a small part, and she was kind of important to the story, but I still couldn’t get excited about playing her. Not yet.
I looked out at the faces of some of the cast members in the audience and suddenly felt really shy. I had this huge speech to get out, but I couldn’t remember how it started. I stared at the theatre lights, wishing they’d swallow me up. I’d never felt like this before on stage, but then, I guess I’d never played such a meaty character before. Some of the Nurse’s speeches were pretty huge, and I was still getting used to the language.
I heard Belle cough, waiting for me to speak. She could have prompted me, instead of making me feel awkward and shy, but it was Jackson who came to my rescue. I heard
him say the first three words of my speech really quietly behind me, and suddenly I remembered it. Well, I thought I did. Halfway through I dried again. This time Kerry called for a break and told me to get a drink of water and to try and relax. Of course, that just made me feel worse.
As I went to find my drink bottle, hoping to avoid the rest of the cast, I found Jackson backstage, sitting on the ground eating a bag of grapes.
‘You hiding?’
He shook his head, then stopped and nodded. I laughed. ‘I totally get it. Thanks for before, by the way,’ I said.
Offering me a grape, he said,‘Happens to us all.’
‘I guess.’ I sighed. ‘This part is so hard. I thought I wanted a leading role but then I keep getting all nervous whenever I have to give one of those long speeches.’
‘It’s probably just the language. It’s pretty hard to understand. It’s nothing like the plays we usually do.’
I sat down next to him, realising how much I liked being back here, away from the stage. It was dusty and quiet and all about the promise of a play, without the stress. Maybe I should have gone for a backstage role like Mel. Jackson held out the grapes again and I took a handful, just as Kerry called us back.
‘Already?’ I groaned.
‘You’ll be fine. Just imagine everyone else is nude.’
‘Ergh,’ I said, thinking about Belle. ‘Not helpful!’
Jackson laughed at the face I was pulling. ‘Just forget about them. That’s what I meant. Just focus on you and your lines. Everything else will come.’
And he was right. As long as I didn’t look out at the audience, I was fine. I managed a couple of big speeches, until Kerry cut me off.
‘You’re not projecting, Edie. You’re delivering your lines into the floor. We need to hear you out here in the audience. Doesn’t matter if the lines aren’t perfect, but you need to act them.’
I looked out into the audience. Even though the stage lights were shining in my eyes, making it hard to see faces, I felt shy. I struggled through my speech and was totally relieved when the scene ended and I could join the rest of the cast in the audience.