Chapter 47
By late afternoon, the painting was finished, the cleaning done, and someone from a local shop had stocked the foyer with refreshments.
A brand new coffee machine had appeared from a local business also wanting to do their bit.
Hot drinks were being passed around, along with sandwiches someone had supplied from the local Co-op.
They had cleared the shelves of all their sandwiches to feed the hungry volunteers, who seemed to have grown in number.
Bridie hadn’t seen Oliver yet, and a little part of her was relieved. The other part was disappointed.
Bridie sidled up to Hannah. ‘Where have all these people come from?’
‘I don’t know. Can’t be all Mabel and Marjorie’s doing.’
‘It was me.’
Bridie turned around.
Layla said, ‘I posted on social media. I overheard you and Hannah talking about auditions, so more people have come, and all my drama class with their parents – and Oliver.’
Bridie turned around to see Oliver surrounded by a group of schoolchildren, all looking eager to star in a production on that very stage.
Bridie got out of her seat and walked over to join them. ‘Oliver? I didn’t think you’d come.’
‘I’d do anything for you. You know that, right?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘He’s not here, is he?’
Bridie sighed. She knew who he was talking about. ‘No. In fact, his workmen were meant to be finish this next week. I think he might not be happy about us taking over.’
‘Good.’
Bridie had expected that reaction. She wondered what Oliver’s reaction would be when he found out Jack wasn’t the bad guy – he was the one who’d gifted her the theatre.
‘So, we’re going to get down to rehearsals.’
Bridie looked about her. They’d cleared away the paint pots, paintbrushes and rollers, and the hoovers and cleaning materials. Dozens of people were now seated in the velvet chairs, eating sandwiches, drinking tea, coffee and squash, and staring about them in hushed silence.
Oliver said, ‘I’ll hand it to Jack, I did not expect him to come up trumps and restore this theatre to its former glory – probably better than its former glory.’
‘I have to be honest, Oliver, we butted heads over his plans, to begin with. He wanted to totally modernise it, but I wasn’t having any of it.’
‘You stood your ground – good for you.’
Someone Bridie didn’t know passed sandwiches and hot coffees to her and Oliver.
Oliver said, ‘So, are you ready to start the auditions?’
‘This is crazy, isn’t it?’ said Bridie. She had not expected it all to get done in one day and then to start holding auditions for a play. ‘Wait – how can I hold auditions when I don’t even know what production I’m going to stage?’
‘Would you like a suggestion?’
Bridie knew exactly what Oliver was about to say. ‘The school production?’
‘Yes.’
Bridie frowned. What if she wanted to be in the production? Wasn’t that the idea, that she invited a producer from London so she could make her comeback? She said, ‘But what about the adults here who might want roles in it too?’
‘There are adult roles in the play. You’re the producer – you call the shots.’
‘I’m the producer,’ Bridie repeated, finding it hard to believe. ‘You’re right, I do call the shots.’ Her smile faded. ‘What do I do now?’
‘Here. I brought the play with me, just in case.’ Oliver handed her the manuscript. Bridie thumbed through to the title. ‘This is perfect.’
‘Isn’t it?’
Bridie said, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
‘Let’s get this show on the road, as they say.’
‘Hear, hear!’ Reggie said.
They both turned in their seat to look at him sitting behind them. ‘Isn’t this just marvellous?’ he said, looking around the theatre auditorium.
Bridie thought the theatre now looked just like it did in the photos she’d found in the Reggie’s shoebox. ‘Reggie, does it take you back, seeing it looking like this, just as it was years ago?’
‘No.’
‘Oh.’ Bridie exchanged a glance with Oliver. It wasn’t what he’d expected to hear either.
Reggie leaned forward in his seat. ‘It’s better!’ he chuckled.
Bridie grinned. ‘You had me there.’ She looked at him. ‘I hope you’ll be in my show.’
‘I haven’t acted for years, Bridie.’
‘I know, but will you give a try?’
‘I’ll audition. How’s about that?’
‘And if I pick you …?’
‘Then I shall be honoured to tread the boards in The Little Theatre by the Sea once more.’
Bridie managed to give him an awkward hug across the seats.
‘So, who is going to be your director?’ Reggie asked.
Bridie looked at the manuscript, her gaze then settling on Oliver. ‘I think someone who has experience.’
‘Who – me? But I only run a drama club.’
‘Yes, exactly. You’ve got experience. You shall be my artistic director, if you want to be.’
‘Ah, I overheard you’re making appointments already,’ Mabel said, her sister following her down the row to where they were seated.
Bridie nodded. ‘Would you like an appointment?’ she asked.
‘Oh, yes. We were thinking that you’d need a financial secretary to balance the books.’
‘Or two,’ said Bridie looking at Marjorie.
Marjorie said, ‘Yes, there’s always room for an understudy.’
Reggie said, ‘So, are the auditions taking place after lunch?’
Bridie nodded.
‘Then you better get up on stage and announce it. Also, I think you should move to sit nearer the stage, to judge the auditions – don’t you?’
She looked at Mabel and Marjorie, along with Reggie, Hannah, Lili, Thea and Joss; her little tribe from Cobblers Yard had joined her. ‘Will you all sit with me and help? I don’t want to do this alone.’
Hannah reached for her hand. ‘Bridie – you’re not alone. Just look around you.’
Bridie cast her gaze around at the many people sitting eating sandwiches. She didn’t know these people who’d volunteered their time on a Sunday morning.
‘They are all here to make sure the play gets put on in the hope the theatre will stay open and that this will be the first of many.’
Bridie swallowed, thinking of her plan to return to the London stage. It would mean abandoning all these lovely people who had come to support her and the theatre – and all her friends in Cobblers Yard. Could she really do that? She felt a tear roll down her cheek at the thought.
‘Oh, Bridie,’ Thea said softly, ‘I know it’s overwhelming, but it’s really happening. You’re going to stage a play, and we just know it’s going to be a success.’
‘Thanks to all of you – and them.’
Oliver took her hand. ‘Come on.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Up on the stage to introduce yourself and start the auditions.’
‘But they don’t know me.’
‘They soon will, and I will be by your side. They know me. Everyone knows me, obviously, because I work at the school.’
As Bridie rose from her seat, she said, ‘Jack should be here.’
Oliver frowned. ‘Why? Because he sent in some guys to fix the roof and the electrics?’
No, because he was the one who gave me the theatre, thought Bridie. But without him there to corroborate it, she knew nobody would believe her.
A moment later she was standing on the stage with Oliver, the colour rising in her cheeks, suddenly remembering the last time she’d stood on a stage. How many of them would remember her from that embarrassing episode posted all over social media?
‘Oh, god – I can’t do this.’
Oliver grabbed her hand as she backed away and whispered, ‘If you’re thinking about what happened in London.
Don’t. Nobody cares about that now. Actually, maybe they do, because if that hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be here now in this theatre, putting on a production.
It all led here, Bridie, to this moment. ’
Bridie stared at Oliver. She’d never thought about it that way.
‘Head high, Bridie. This is your theatre, and your show.’ Oliver introduced the new owner of the theatre and stepped to one side to give her the limelight.
Bridie stood there silently for a moment before she found her voice.
‘You may know me, or you may not …’ She looked around the audience.
‘But I’m going to put on the show of a lifetime here, and this just wouldn’t have been possible without all your hard work and now you can all be part of the next stage, everyone here.
I need actors, and ushers, and stage managers, and crew to shift props, and costume designers, and …
’ Bridie reeled of the endless list that she remembered from years of theatre work that went into staging a production. ‘Now, who wants to play a part?’
Every hand went up in the audience.
‘Right let’s get this show on the road. We’ll start with auditions for the acting troupe and orchestra, then everyone else can register an interest in the backstage work. Just as important. Without you there will be no production.’
An hour in, when they were making real headway, the lights suddenly went out. There were gasps around the auditorium as they were plunged into darkness.
Mobile phone lights illuminated the darkness.
‘Everyone all right?’ Oliver shouted out.
People waved their mobiles in answer.
‘Sorry,’ Bridie apologised when the lights did not miraculously come on few minutes later. Someone shouted out, ‘There isn’t a power cut in Aldeburgh, so it must just be the theatre.’
‘Oh, bother,’ Bridie said. She’d been sitting in the front row watching the auditions from a surprisingly talented pool of local people, including the schoolchildren in Oliver’s drama group.
She thought they could give the London productions a run for their money.
There she had been, wondering how she would find any talent for her production, and now she had quite the opposite problem – there was too much to choose from.
The last one she’d seen was Layla, and just as Bridie had expected, she looked as though she was born to act on the stage. Bridie had turned to Kate, seated next to her, wondering what her reaction would be.
‘I never knew she was so talented,’ Kate had said tearfully. ‘And to think I was trying to stop her doing what she was born to do.’
Bridie could have cried too. But she didn’t have time for that. The electrics had blown, and she needed to find out why. She had no idea how long it would take. She had no choice but to abandon the auditions for the day.
She stood up, turned around and was just announcing the continuation of auditions the next weekend when William came running out on the stage, breathless, the green exit signs still lit over doorways and casting sufficient glow for William to see to run on stage.
William was there with his stepmum, Hannah’s friend, Lili, who ran The Potting Shed. Bridie had rarely seen her – she was very busy with her landscaping business. Lili said, ‘William – where have you been? I thought I told you to stay with your sister?’
‘Yes, but Maisie was busy painting the props and I got bored with a capital B.’
There was a ripple of laughter from the audience.
William smiled shyly. He seemed to have forgotten he was on the stage in front of everyone.
That didn’t deter him from adding. ‘I went exploring …’ He had an old trilby hat in his hands and a costume he must have found in a dressing room.
The outfit was too big for him, but it was definitely something she imagined an explorer from the 1920s would wear.
He put the hat on his head and made a show of putting a hand to his forehead looking left and right, like he was in some silent movie.
Everyone was shining their mobile phone lights in his direction so he could be seen.
Bridie smiled at Lili’s young stepson. She knew he didn’t have Maisie’s talent as an artist, but had anyone ever told his stepmum and his dad that he was a born entertainer?
‘And there it was …’ William pointed to an imaginary spot on the stage, holding everyone’s attention as they wondered what he was going to say next. ‘Or should I say there she was. The woman. I saw her! The one who haunts the theatre – Isobel Raine.’
There were gasps from the audience and suddenly everyone was out of their seats and rushing for the door.
‘No, wait. Please don’t go. William was just making it up!’ Lili exclaimed.
‘I wasn’t. I saw her,’ William shouted from the stage.
‘William! What did I tell you about telling fibs?’ his father, Nate, called out.
‘But I’m not!’