Chapter 17 #2
‘Do you think Brandon and Candy will come?’ said Gail, referring to Kayleigh’s elder brother and his wife.
‘No, they’re out tonight, Mum and Dad are babysitting Jayden and India, it’s why they’re not here. Uncle Larry was furious when Mum told him.’
Caitlin watched Gillian, wondering how she would react to the meeting. Her sister had left the Junior Players when she was fifteen years old and had refused to take part in any form of performance ever since. The one exception was when she sang at their mother’s funeral.
It’s a shame, thought Caitlin, because Gillian is the most talented of us all and could have made acting her career.
It had been her ambition when she was younger, but when she stormed out of rehearsal one night, she dropped all her interest in anything to do with theatre and threw herself into her studies, determined instead to follow her father into the world of business.
As though sensing Caitlin’s eyes upon her, Gillian turned and acknowledged Caitlin with a nod.
In her tailored, dark-rose-coloured dress with matching jacket, which was thrown over her arm, and her stiletto heels, she looked out of place among the casual summer clothes of the other villagers.
Alan’s lightweight blue suit and white shirt were more informal and he smiled and waved at a few people as he ushered Gillian towards two vacant seats in the front row.
Gillian’s lips were pressed into a thin line as she allowed herself to be swept along by her husband.
It was not until he turned to hang his jacket on the back of the chair that he saw Caitlin and Lee.
He blew a kiss to Caitlin and saluted Lee, then waved to Kayleigh and Gail, but there was strain around his eyes.
Gillian sat rigid in her seat, facing the stage.
‘What’s going on?’ whispered Kayleigh. ‘Rachel and Pete are here too.’
Rachel looked neither left nor right as she walked down the centre aisle, dropping into a seat several rows behind Gillian, glaring at the back of her sister’s head. Pete said hello to a few people and sat beside Rachel, both looked unnerved.
On the other side of the auditorium, Kayleigh and Gail looked at Caitlin and Lee, bemused.
‘Did you know they were coming?’ asked Kayleigh.
‘Yes,’ Caitlin admitted, then, trying to lighten her tone, added, ‘although if Edward arrives, we’ll know there’s dark magic in the air.’
‘Surprise,’ murmured Lee as a tall, good-looking man wearing sunglasses, dark jeans and a blue shirt entered.
‘You are kidding me,’ giggled Gail.
‘What’s going on?’ whispered Caitlin to Lee.
‘Dad insisted he come for moral support,’ said Lee.
‘For whom?’
‘Not sure,’ Lee admitted. ‘Slick’s not known for his reassuring manner.’
Edward removed his Ray-Bans and stared around the hall.
Caitlin noticed a number of the women giving him an appraising glance.
She had always been immune to his charms, preferring Lee’s gentler, less flashy good looks to those of his older brother, but she could understand why women were drawn to Edward’s charisma.
He saw them in the back row, raised a hand in greeting and began shuffling along to take the empty seat beside Lee.
Kayleigh winked before she and Gail turned to face the front again, their shoulders shaking with suppressed giggles.
‘Hey,’ Edward said to Lee as acknowledgement. ‘Caitlin, you’re looking as gorgeous as ever. Why are the dynamic businesswoman Gillian and the beauteous Rachel lowering themselves to attend a meeting of the Goldenwych Players? Neither of them has been anywhere near this place for years.’
‘Dad’s orders,’ said Caitlin. ‘You’re not exactly a regular yourself.’
Edward put his hand on his heart as though her comment had wounded him. ‘Harsh,’ he said. ‘Dad asked me to pop in. Where’s the vicar?’
‘He’s away, interviewing potential curates,’ she replied.
‘It must be a tough life working one day a week,’ said Edward, echoing Lee’s snide comment from earlier.
When Lee had said it, Caitlin had found it faintly amusing, but Edward’s delivery was offensive.
However, before Caitlin could verbally swipe back, the lights dimmed and the low hum of chatter faded away.
She shot Edward a filthy look as the room fell silent.
Aware of her irritation, Lee nudged her with his shoulder and offered her a Fruit Pastille from the packet he had pulled out of his pocket.
It was what they had done since childhood and she allowed her annoyance with Edward to float away as Lee unwrapped the tube until he found her an orange sweet, which was her favourite.
She whispered her thanks as she popped it in her mouth.
There was a swishing sound and the curtains opened.
A spotlight picked out a man, centre stage, with his back to the audience.
He was dressed in the full motley of a playing-card Joker, complete with Elizabethan ruff and belled stick.
He hummed ‘Greensleeves’ before, with great theatricality, turning to face the audience.
His exaggerated double-take at finding people there elicited a ripple of laughter.
‘Dad,’ groaned Edward as he and Lee exchanged a pained look.
Dr George Glossop, the Jester, capered around, accompanying himself in a dance to his continued la-ing of ‘Greensleeves’ and the tinkle of bells. He finished to the right of the stage and bowed, waiting for the last ripples of laughter to die away.
‘My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,’ he said, shaking the belled stick as though it was a drum roll and bowing from the waist. ‘I give you: The King.’
There was a crackle of static, then music began to play.
‘Elvis Presley?’ whispered Lee.
‘This is one of Dad’s favourites – “It’s Now or Never”,’ said Caitlin. ‘Oh no…’
Larry was rising through a trapdoor in the centre of the stage wearing a white spangled Elizabethan doublet and hose with a gold crown perched at a jaunty angle on his head. Caitlin thought he looked thin but his usual excitement at being on stage radiated from him.
The audience erupted into laughter as, from the wings, Larry and George were joined by Annie, Barbara and Linus. They were also dressed in the sparkling, Elvis-inspired, faux-Mediaeval attire, and as Larry sang, the others shimmied their way around the stage in a low-key rumba.
Despite themselves, Caitlin and Lee looked at each other and began to laugh; Edward had his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking.
When she glanced at her sisters, Caitlin saw they both remained rigid in their seats: Gillian had her eyes tight shut, while Rachel and Pete looked appalled.
In contrast, Alan was entering into the spirit of the performance and was cheering along with the rest of the audience.
As the number ended to tumultuous applause, Larry stepped down from his podium.
‘Thank you very much,’ he said, curling his lip and wriggling his hips, then his eyes swept the audience, pausing on each of his daughters.
Caitlin was about to wave at him, but there was a strange expression on her father’s face which she could not read.
He held her gaze a few seconds more, then turned away and with great deliberation said, ‘“Meantime we shall express our darker purpose…”’
A gasp fluttered through the auditorium and those who recognised the line, whispered, ‘King Lear,’ to each other until the words hummed around the audience like bees.
On stage, Larry waited for the muttering to desist. He was flanked by George and Linus, with Barbara and Annie on the outside.
The five friends gazed out and Caitlin had a flash of an image as they had been when they were teenagers with a shared love of performing, the five who had created the Goldenwych Players.
‘King Lear!’ boomed Larry from the stage. ‘Yes, my friends, this year, we are returning to the Bard. The man himself, the great writer from Stratford-upon-Avon, Mr William Shakespeare and one of his finest works.’
A few people clapped but Larry held up his hand for silence.
‘The time has come for the Goldenwych Players to finally be acknowledged for the brilliance of its extraordinary performers and this is the production I believe will put us on the map. The combining of a classic work of literature with a classic stage genre. Using music selected from across the years, bringing to life the Tragedy of King Lear in a unique way. A magnificent production of beautiful words, superb music, song and dance – my masterpiece: King Lear – The Musical.’
There was a stunned silence.
‘But first,’ said Barbara, stepping forward with a radiant smile, ‘we have a performance from the Junior Players and Judy’s Signet Tappers.’
She ushered the others off stage and as the clapping faded, to Caitlin’s surprise, Annie Jefferson appeared at her elbow.
‘Caitlin, love, could you come with me a moment, please?’ she whispered.
‘Of course,’ Caitlin replied.
‘Leave your stuff,’ said Lee. ‘I’ll look after it.’
Caitlin followed Annie around the edge of the auditorium and through the side door that led backstage.
‘Is there something wrong?’ she asked.
‘No, your dad asked me to fetch you. Barbara and George are collecting Gillian and Rachel…’
And then, Caitlin heard it. The music from earlier, the song.
‘No,’ she said.
Three little girls ran onto the stage in pink dresses with large white Peter Pan collars, mouse ears on their heads and whiskers painted on their cheeks.
The room rang with applause from the audience as Caitlin stared across the stage to where Gillian and Rachel stood in the wings opposite her.
Horror filled all their faces as a very old song began: ‘A Windmill in Old Amsterdam’ by Ronnie Hilton.
It had been their grandfather Reggie King’s favourite and he had played it whenever they visited.