Chapter 3
Sive spent Sunday morning catching up on all the household chores and admin she’d let slide while she was filming.
She washed and ironed clothes, answered emails and worked on the theatre’s social media, then spent a happy couple of hours in the warm fug of the kitchen, listening to actor interviews on the Backstage podcast while she did some batch cooking for the freezer.
Aoife had spent the night at Jonathan’s but came home mid-morning while he went to play five-a-side with some of his workmates.
She busied herself printing out agendas and compiling budgets and financial reports for the afternoon meeting of the theatre board, while Sive began making bread for dinner later.
Halfpenny Lane was very much a family affair, and the board meeting would take place at the dining room table.
Even though Jonathan, their fourth director, wasn’t a blood relative, he was their great-aunt Detta’s godson and now Aoife’s boyfriend, so he was as good as.
Detta had left the theatre to the four of them and Jonathan had still wanted to be involved after the three sisters had bought out his share.
They were glad to have him. While their natural inclination was to focus more on the artistic direction of the theatre, they welcomed Jonathan’s more practical perspective, bringing a commercial mindset that the sisters lacked – although they were learning fast, and Mimi in particular was proving to have a good head for business.
Mimi joined them after lunch and Jonathan arrived as they were setting up the table in the dining room for the meeting. Cool outside air clung to his skin and his cheeks glowed with good health.
‘Good match?’ Aoife asked him.
‘Great.’ He grinned. ‘We thrashed them.’
‘My hero!’ Aoife sighed dramatically, clutching her hands to her heart.
Mimi and Sive went to the kitchen to give them a moment alone together while they made coffee.
‘Right, let’s get started.’ Jonathan rubbed his hands together when they were all settled around the table. He ran his eyes over the printed agenda. ‘A Christmas Carol is completely cast now?’ He glanced around at the sisters, who nodded.
Aoife handed him a cast list she’d printed out and he ran his eyes down it. ‘Little Fan will be played by Andrea Long? Really?’ He knew that Mimi had found it very trying working with Andrea in Private Lives and had been looking forward to getting shot of her.
Mimi sighed, nodding. ‘We could hardly bar her from auditioning. And Alan picked her, so what could we do? The woman’s a pill, but she’s good.’
‘And I’m playing Belle,’ Sive told him. She’d got the call from her agent the day after her audition.
‘Congratulations.’ Jonathan smiled at her. ‘Sam will be pleased.’ He frowned slightly and cleared his throat. ‘About Sam…’
‘Yes?’ Aoife prompted.
‘He didn’t … I mean, you haven’t given him this part as a favour, have you?’
Sive gasped. ‘No! Of course not.’
‘That’s not the sort of operation we run,’ Mimi said. ‘But even if it was, it’s not our decision to make. We put him up for it, but it’s the director’s call and Alan was obviously pleased with what he saw. Sam got the part fair and square.’
‘And there were a couple of much more experienced actors up for the role,’ Sive said. ‘So he should be proud of himself. Why? I hope Sam doesn’t think that?’
‘No.’ Jonathan shook his head. ‘Not at all. I don’t think it would have occurred to him.’
‘Well, you should have more faith in your brother,’ Sive said. ‘He’s really good.’
‘Sorry. I just wanted to be sure. I mean, we don’t want to be accused of nepotism.’
‘It wouldn’t be nepotism anyway,’ Mimi pointed out, ‘since we’re not related to Sam.’
‘Favouritism, then,’ Jonathan said. ‘You know what I mean.’
‘It’s just how small theatres like ours tend to work,’ Mimi said with a shrug. ‘I mean, at least one of the three of us have been in all our productions so far.’
‘And we had to audition like everyone else,’ Sive said.
‘That’s different, though. You’re all actors. Sam’s not.’
‘But he will be after this. I’d never acted professionally before Three Sisters,’ Aoife reminded him. ‘If we could ever be accused of nepotism, it was then.’
‘Exactly,’ Mimi said. ‘Everyone has to start somewhere.’
Sive was pleased Mimi was defending Sam’s right to be in the show.
It had taken her the longest time of all of them to warm to him and forgive him for his part in their almost losing Halfpenny Lane.
But his unswerving devotion to the theatre and his cheery workhorse mentality had won her over eventually, and once Mimi had decided she was on your side, you couldn’t hope for a stauncher ally.
‘There’s certainly nothing dodgy about it,’ Mimi said. ‘Sam’s there because he deserves to be.’
‘Good to know,’ Jonathan said, ‘because I haven’t seen him this excited since Pokémon Go came out.’ He took a sip of coffee. ‘What about understudies?’
‘Shay, who’s playing Fezziwig, will understudy for Scrooge,’ Mimi told him. ‘Otherwise, swings can come from the ensemble.’ The show would use a group of actors playing the minor roles who would also act as a sort of Greek chorus, narrating parts of the play and singing carols.
‘Sorry, swings?’
‘They’re members of the company who understudy for several roles,’ Aoife explained to him.
‘Okay, great. So now we can get down to the nitty-gritty. We’ll get a cast announcement out.’
‘I’m on it,’ Sive said, making a note on her pad. She managed most of the theatre’s social media.
‘And I’ll do the press release,’ Aoife said.
‘When do rehearsals start?’
‘Tomorrow week,’ Aoife told him.
‘And we still have – what – a week of Private Lives to run?’
‘Two weeks,’ Mimi said. ‘Fourteen performances. Not that I’m counting.’
Jonathan frowned. ‘So you’ll be starting rehearsals while you’re still doing Private Lives. How will that work?’
‘Rehearsals will happen during the day. And we only have a matinee on Saturdays, so there’ll be no clash with the show.’
‘Yes, I know that but … When will you sleep?’
‘When I’m dead,’ Mimi said with a carefree laugh.
‘It’s perfectly normal to be rehearsing one show while you’re performing in another,’ Sive said.
‘If you’re lucky,’ Mimi said, and Aoife and Sive nodded in agreement. It was a nice problem to have as an actor.
‘That must be exhausting.’
Mimi shrugged. ‘That’s just how it goes in this business.’
‘If you say so. This is still all pretty new to me.’
‘It’s a learning curve,’ Aoife said, smiling at him. ‘But you’ll get the hang of it soon enough.’
They sometimes forgot that Jonathan wasn’t theatre folk. He saw it as an inconvenience, whereas Sive knew Mimi thrived on the work and couldn’t be happier.
‘Right. So,’ he said, turning back to the agenda. ‘Private Lives ends in two weeks. Then we’re into the theatre festival and rehearsals. We’ve got a rehearsal space booked?’
Aoife nodded. ‘Just around the corner from Halfpenny Lane.’
They usually rehearsed in the theatre itself, but they were letting it out for touring productions and events during the theatre festival, so they’d have the luxury of a dedicated rehearsal space for A Christmas Carol.
‘We can certainly afford it after Private Lives,’ Jonathan said.
The show had sold out for the length of its run, with queues down the street every night hoping for returns, thanks to Rocco’s star power.
They’d also had a very successful live stream of the show, which had brought in a lot of money.
Halfpenny Lane’s coffers were healthier than they’d ever dreamed possible.
They ran through the various companies and events that were using the theatre during the festival – there was an acclaimed Polish production of Hamlet that would run for a week, a couple of one-off interviews and panels, and an American contemporary dance troupe – before moving on to discuss A Christmas Carol.
In many ways, it would be their most ambitious production yet.
It was a large cast, even with some of the actors doubling up on roles and weaving in and out of the chorus.
Furthermore, it would be an immersive experience.
Actors would pass through the auditorium as the audience gathered, handing out clementines, and in the interval the audience would be invited onto the stage to mingle with actors dressed as Victorian tradesmen, serving mince pies and mulled apple juice that was included in the price of the ticket.
‘Now that casting is complete, I can take everyone’s measurements and get started on the costumes,’ Sive said.
‘We can get someone else to take over on wardrobe for this production,’ Mimi said to her. ‘It’s a lot to take on when you’re in the show as well.’
‘No, I’m happy to do it. I’m looking forward to it.
’ She loved costumery, and sourcing or making the period costumes required would keep her far too busy for brooding over Ben.
‘Besides,’ she added, when Mimi still looked sceptical, ‘we can afford to hire costumes now, so I shouldn’t have to make anything from scratch. ’
‘There’s a healthy allocation for it in the budget,’ Aoife said.
Mimi nodded her agreement.
‘What about the food?’ Jonathan asked. ‘Anything other than mince pies?’
‘I think we should keep it simple,’ Aoife said. ‘Just stick to mince pies.’
‘We’ll have to be careful about allergies,’ Sive said. ‘So no nuts. And I could make some gluten-free ones too.’
Mimi reared back in horror. ‘You will not be doing the baking on top of everything else,’ she told Sive sternly. ‘That would be a ridiculous amount of work. Not to mention that it could get us into serious trouble.’
Jonathan nodded. ‘There are a lot of regulations around providing food for public consumption. You’d have to have your kitchen inspected and approved for starters. Best leave it to the professionals.’
‘I vote we ask Chloe to do it,’ Mimi said.
‘That’s a great idea,’ Aoife agreed. ‘She’ll know all about allergies and stuff, and she has a commercial kitchen. And it’d be nice to give her the business.’