Chapter 22
Sive had never been more relieved to make it through to dress rehearsal.
Tech week had been particularly demanding, with music, dancing and ghostly special effects as well as all the usual disparate elements to pull together.
With such a large cast, the staging of A Christmas Carol was complex and the blocking was particularly challenging in the confined space of Halfpenny Lane.
But by the end of the week they’d ironed out all the kinks, and the show was running smoothly, cast and crew operating as a single organism in perfect control of all its moving parts.
All three Tiny Tims attended for the dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon and would take turns to perform in different scenes, so the rehearsal had an audience of three, with Irene, Maria and Ciara watching from the front row of the stalls.
Alan’s plan was to draw lots for which one of the children would play the part on opening night.
It meant the chance to be seen by the critics and hopefully mentioned in reviews, so it seemed the fairest way to deal with it.
But when Alan proposed this before the rehearsal got underway, James took himself out of the running straight away because he’d worked out that if he performed on opening night, it would be his turn again the first Saturday evening and that would clash with his friend’s birthday party.
He was unusually loquacious on the subject, and it was as if he was afraid of hurting Alan’s feelings by choosing his friend’s party over the play as he went to great lengths to explain that there would be laser tag and pizza, and that Gordon was his best friend.
‘It’s not that I don’t like doing the show, I think the show is brilliant—’
‘I completely understand,’ Alan said solemnly. ‘Of course you mustn’t let your friend down.’
‘Huh! Lacks ambition,’ Andrea whispered to Sive with a shake of her head, glancing down at Irene in the auditorium so it was clear she was including her in the criticism. ‘He won’t last long in this business with that attitude.’ She pursed her lips in disapproval.
‘I think it’s admirable,’ Sive said, smiling because she knew it would annoy Andrea more than giving vent to the outrage she felt. ‘It’s very mature of James to have his priorities sorted at such a young age.’
‘Hm.’ Andrea sniffed. ‘I don’t think I’d call putting laser tag first as having your priorities right.’
‘But not ditching your friend on his birthday? I think it says a lot about James’s character that he’s putting his friend first. There’ll be other parts, other opportunities to be seen.’
‘Chances like this don’t come around often,’ Andrea argued.
‘Maybe not, but good friends aren’t so easy to come by either.
And you need a good support system behind you in this business to get you through the lean times and deal with all the rejection.
Besides, ambition will only take you so far and in my experience, loyalty and being a team player count for a lot more in the long run. ’
‘So that just leaves you two to fight it out,’ Alan was saying to Jack and Alex.
‘You can do it,’ Jack said affably to Alex. ‘I don’t mind.’
‘Oh, for goodness sake!’ Andrea huffed in Sive’s ear. ‘I thought Jack was smarter than that.’
However, Andrea seemed to be the only person unhappy with this turn of events.
Maria was clearly touched by Jack’s gesture, her hand on her heart as she smiled at Ciara, whose eyes shone with pride, and the three boys were laughing together, Jack and James congratulating Alex on his ‘win’ as the rehearsal got underway.
Sive was surprised to find Sam’s movements stiff and jerky as they danced together in the party scene, and he didn’t seem to throw himself into it with his usual exuberance.
‘Is everything okay?’ she asked him when they’d retreated to the wings. Onstage Scrooge was trying to reason with the Ghost of Christmas Past.
He shook his head. ‘I’m just not sure I can do this.’
‘What do you mean? Of course you can. I get that it’s daunting thinking of performing it in front of a live audience, but you’ve done it oodles of times in rehearsals and it’s been fine – more than fine. You’re totally ready.’
He sighed. ‘I guess being here … on the stage with the set and the costumes and everything … it’s different. And it’s brought home to me that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.’
‘Yes, you do.’
‘I mean, I’m not a proper actor like the rest of you. I don’t know all this stagecraft that comes so naturally to all of you.’
‘It doesn’t come naturally. We’ve learned it.’
‘Exactly. And I haven’t.’
‘You’re not letting what bloody Andrea said get to you, are you?’
Sam shrugged. ‘She was kind of right, though, wasn’t she? I’m not trained for this. I don’t belong here.’
‘Of course you do. And no, she wasn’t right!’ Sive said crossly. She could cheerfully strangle Andrea for putting these doubts in Sam’s head. He came across as almost over-confident, but Sive knew now that his self-belief was surprisingly fragile.
‘I screwed up my lines.’
‘One line. It happens to everyone. And you got back into it quickly enough.’
‘But what if that happens when there are paying punters out there?’
‘It won’t. Everything will be all right on the night.’
‘Really?’ Sam asked uncertainly.
‘Absolutely – trust me.’ She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. ‘Now, go and get changed for Act Two.’
The dress rehearsal wasn’t an unmitigated disaster, but there were enough glitches to satisfy even the most superstitious actor.
Sam forgot one of his lines, the chorus bumped into each other as they weaved around the stage singing carols, props went missing and Bob Cratchit’s desk fell over with a crash when Scrooge slammed their office door too hard.
It was early evening by the time Alan and Cara had given their notes on the rehearsal and everyone had changed out of costume. When she was ready, Sive joined Ciara, Maria and Irene in the auditorium as they waited for their charges.
‘Are you all going to the pub?’ she asked them, and they said they were.
‘It’s nice for the boys to have a chance to get together,’ Irene said. ‘And we promised them pizza.’
Alex and James appeared as they spoke, trotting down the steps from the stage.
‘Where’s Jack?’ Ciara asked James.
‘He’s coming,’ James said. ‘He has to go around the long way because Cara won’t let him do the steps on his crutch.’
‘Health and safety,’ Alex elaborated.
‘You go on ahead,’ Ciara said to the other two women. ‘We’ll see you there.’
‘Maybe Mitch’ll carry him to the pub,’ James speculated as they drifted towards the door.
Ciara rolled her eyes. ‘I hope Mitch doesn’t carry him. He’s well able to walk.’ She sighed wearily as the auditorium door opened and Jack came hobbling down the aisle towards them.
‘Well, I just might have the solution,’ Sive whispered to her. ‘That was a really kind thing you did for Alex,’ she said to Jack as he reached them, a little breathless from the exertion.
He shrugged. ‘Ain’t nuffink. James didn’t want to do it and I’ve already been on TV. Seemed only fair.’
‘Well, it was still really nice of you.’
‘It was,’ Ciara said, ruffling his hair. ‘I was very proud of you. You’ve definitely earned your pizza.’
‘Yay!’ Jack grinned, licking his lips. ‘Can’t wait!’
‘Ah, well, I’ve got a surprise for you,’ Sive said with a secretive smile. ‘Something even better than pizza.’
Jack’s eyes widened. ‘What’s better than pizza? Two pizzas?’ His face lit up.
Sive shook her head. ‘You’ll see. I got Chloe at the bakery to make something specially for you.’
‘But I want to go to the pub with James and Alex,’ Jack protested.
‘That’s fine. We’ll pick it up on the way and you can bring it to the pub with you.’
Ciara frowned, intrigued.
‘I’ll just tell Sam I’m going.’ She found him in the wings, chatting to Cara. They were planning to go straight home, but she’d already apprised him of her plan, so she told him that she’d meet him back at the theatre in a few minutes. Then she left with Jack and Ciara.
They called into The Halfpenny Place and Chloe handed over Sive’s order to her. ‘Made specially for you,’ she said to Jack. ‘I hope you enjoy it.’
‘What is it?’ Jack asked excitedly as Sive handed him the parcel wrapped in wax paper. ‘It’s heavy.’ He weighed it in his hands. ‘Is it a deep pan pizza? Or chocolate cake! I bet it’s chocolate cake.’
‘Why don’t we wait to open it until we’re in the pub?’ Ciara took it from him so he could negotiate the door with his crutch.
In the pub they joined Maria, Irene, Alex and James at a long table. Alex and James were in the middle of a conversation about their career ambitions.
‘I’d like to be an Avenger,’ James said. ‘Or Daniel Craig’s son.’
‘Oh? In what?’ Sive asked, joining the conversation.
James shrugged. ‘Some movie where he has a son. I just think he’d be a cool dad.’
‘I’d like to be Tom Cruise’s son,’ Alex said. ‘That would be really cool.’
‘He’s too old for a dad, though,’ Jack said. ‘He could play your grandpa, I suppose,’ he conceded with an air of great generosity.
Alex laughed. ‘Imagine having a granddad who could ride a motorbike off a cliff. That would be so cool.’
‘Don’t give your poor granddad any ideas,’ Maria said with a laugh. ‘His hips are bad enough as it is.’
‘Do you guys want to order?’ Irene passed them a menu.
‘Oh, I’m not staying,’ Sive said.
‘And we don’t need to, do we, Jack? Let’s see what Chloe made you.’ Ciara put the parcel in front of Jack and he tore off the paper excitedly.
‘What’s that?’ Alex peered across the table as a tall shortcrust pie was revealed.
‘I dunno,’ Jack frowned dejectedly, looking at it in dismay.
Ciara appeared as puzzled as her son.
‘It’s an eel pie!’ Sive announced gaily.
‘A what?’ Jack’s face fell.
‘Eel pie.’
‘Eew!’
‘Gross!’
James and Alex were screwing up their faces and making gagging gestures.
‘Like, made out of … eels?’ Jack paled, almost turning green before their eyes.
‘Yes. I know how devoted you are to the Method, and I thought this would really help you get into character. It’s exactly what Tiny Tim would have eaten, back in the day,’ Sive explained.
‘Why?’
‘Because it was cheap and nourishing, and there were plenty of eels floating around in the Thames. Why don’t I ask for a knife and we can cut you a slice?’
Sive felt awful as Jack’s eyes welled with tears, but she pretended not to notice that he was struggling not to cry as she waved at a waitress.
‘That was really nice of Sive, wasn’t it?’ Ciara said to him, playing along. ‘And Chloe. She must have gone to a lot of trouble.’
‘Yeah, thanks a lot, mate,’ Jack said drily.
‘Are you not having pizza?’ James asked Jack in dismay.
‘Can I, Mum?’ He looked pleadingly at Ciara.
‘It’s not very Method, is it?’ Sive said. ‘Though personally, I think this job is much nicer if you can leave it behind at the end of the day and live your normal life.’
‘You can have some of mine,’ Alex said to Jack as two pizzas were delivered to the table and placed in front of him and James. The smell was mouth-watering.
James took a slice and shoved his plate to the centre of the table. ‘Mine too.’
‘Well, I’ll leave you to it,’ Sive said, sharing a conspiratorial smile with Ciara as she got up to leave. ‘I’ll see you all on Monday for opening night.’