The Silent Appeal
Waiting for curtain-up is
You ok, Fran? You’re really quiet.
Trying to forget everything else until after the play.
BORED! So BORING being prompt
7:59 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Really nervous. Gone cold and shaky.
8:00 p.m. Fran wrote:
Wish my head wasn’t pounding. Already taken my tablets, so all I can do is keep hydrated.
8:00 p.m. Fran wrote:
Thank goodness for free Bliss Bubbles.
8:01 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Should’ve started by now
8:02 p.m. Fran wrote:
We always start just after eight. Whose phone is dinging? It’s one of ours, I’ve heard a ding with every message.
8:02 p.m. Georgia wrote:
Mine’s on silent.
8:02 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Mine too.
8:02 p.m. Fran wrote:
Lucas!
8:03 p.m. Amelia wrote:
He’s out the back vaping with Barry. Must’ve left his phone here when he carried me up the stairs. I’ll switch it off.
8:06 p.m. Fran wrote:
Are you ok, Amelia?
8:07 p.m. Georgia wrote:
WTF you doing? If we start late we finish late and I’m so TIRED.
8:10 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Sorry. Lucas’s phone is off now. Celia says she’ll take it to him. She helped me back on the stool.
8:10 p.m. Fran wrote:
Now, phones away—we shouldn’t have them at all. Break a leg!
8:10 p.m. Amelia wrote:
8:11 p.m. Fran wrote:
Ok, not you Amelia
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on June 5, 2025:
8:05 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
What’s the delay?
8:06 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Amelia left her starting position for some reason. She’s meant to be in the middle of sculpting when the curtain goes up.
8:07 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
I can hear talking backstage. Fairway Players do not talk backstage.
8:08 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Amelia is being helped onto her stool. All’s well that ends well.
8:09 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Wrong play.
Message exchange between Amelia and Lucas Stibson on June 5, 2025:
8:32 p.m. Amelia wrote:
Did Celia give you your phone?
8:32 p.m. Lucas wrote:
Got it cheers
8:38 p.m. Amelia wrote:
When I got back to the green room after my first bit, I saw Nicky-Rose slip into the props cupboard. She had all her bags with her. Thought WTF so looked in and there’s a door at the back!
8:38 p.m. Lucas wrote:
So?
8:38 p.m. Amelia wrote:
She was sneaking off.
8:38 p.m. Lucas wrote:
***
8:39 p.m. Amelia wrote:
She looked like shit warmed up. Probably didn’t feel well.
8:40 p.m. Lucas wrote:
Aren’t you due onstage again? Phone?
8:40 p.m. Amelia wrote:
After Doris goes off love you
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on June 5, 2025:
9:23 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Sammy finally settled. How’s the second half going?
9:26 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Storming! Nicky-Rose and I have been trying to wring this degree of eccentricity out of Fran for the last three months. On opening night, she delivers!
9:26 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Hope the rest of the cast aren’t thrown by it.
9:27 p.m. Kevin wrote:
She’s having man trouble apparently. Is that what women say these days?
9:28 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Which man is she having trouble with?
9:30 p.m. Kevin wrote:
She asked to meet me in private before Big Sunday kicked off. Wanted to apologize for not giving the play her all, and assure me she’d be on form this week. I stopped off at Lockley Bois Park after the cash and carry.
9:38 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
I see. A preparative preamble. A gentle revelation.
9:39 p.m. Kevin wrote:
What’s that? A mantra?
9:43 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
We’re adults, Kevin. If you’ve got something to tell me, you can just come out and say it.
9:45 p.m. Kevin wrote:
I have. If you see Nicky-Rose before I do, tell her a dapper gent in the audience was asking after her. Said he’s come from Barbados.
9:45 p.m. Kevin wrote:
And he has the accent so must be true
9:46 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
What’s his name? Should I come back to the hall?
9:46 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
He’s flown halfway across the world to see a Fairways play?
9:47 p.m. Kevin wrote:
OUR play, no less! Celia Halliday can put that in her pipe and smoke it.
9:48 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
How old? Handsome or just wealthy? Was he wearing a wedding ring?
9:50 p.m. Kevin wrote:
Stand down. Too old for a love interest. Said he’d catch up with her after the show. Haven’t seen her since before curtain-up.
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane MacDonald and Nicky-Rose Dearing on June 5, 2025:
9:50 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
There’s an old man from Barbados in the audience looking for you.
9:52 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Thanks. Saw him earlier.
9:52 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
You know him?
9:52 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
No.
9:52 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Yes.
9:53 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
It’s tricky.
9:55 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Where are you? Still at the hall?
9:57 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Had to nip out. Won’t be long.
To: Stuart Kinsella
From: Nicky-Rose Dearing
Date: June 5, 2025
Subject: Re: Hi
At the airport. Long story but I’ve played all my cards and am getting out of the game.
Will tell you later. Flying to Jakarta tonight, but have to transit through Hyderabad via Amsterdam and book another flight once there so it’ll take a few days.
Sorry for the short notice, but can I stay with you?
Got my own funds, etc. but things are up in the air and I could do with seeing a friendly face. Nix x
To: Isla Coole
From: Nicky-Rose Dearing
Date: June 5, 2025
Subject: Re: Warning
Thanks for this warning, Isla. Really appreciated.
Not sure why Tiffany told you her parents were dead.
They’ve been in the news v. much alive. She was dealing coke on the Eclipse so we had to fire her.
I’m in a hurry—leaving the UK and going to stay with Stuart in Jakarta.
As you might have guessed, we split up when he was sent there by the bank.
We’ve reconnected these past few months.
Cool and platonic, so all good, and I’m sure he’s got a spare room, or failing that, a couch.
Thanks again and good luck (Stu saw you on TV the other day, congrats). Nicky-Rose
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Isla Coole
Date: June 5, 2025
Subject: Re: Warning
Hi Nicky-Rose,
Thanks, and yeah, didn’t want to snitch when I wrote before, but the first time we met, Tiffany told me if I wanted coke to see her.
Assumed that was how she got by after her parents died, but now it sounds as if she’s just one of those players.
Say hi to Stu from me, and if you’re ever in Vancouver, look me up. Isla