Olivia's Curtain Call (4 page)

Chapter Six

 Olivia was sitting alone in the kitchen of the
Romeo and Juliet
rehearsal space in Clapham. Jon had picked her up early and driven her to the rehearsal rooms, explaining on the way how the audition would work. She’d been told in advance to prepare the famous balcony scene from the play, and a scene between Juliet and the nurse.

“We’ll do that one first,” said Jon, “even though it comes after the balcony scene, because it’ll give you chance to warm up a little before you really have to hit top form with Romeo.”

“Will the scene with the nurse be with Cassie Usher?” asked Olivia.

Jon shook his head. “I’ve got a stand-in for the morning. Honey. She’s very good and
as nice as her name. She’s going to play one of the ball guests in the production but I reckon that she’s marked out for greater things. She knows that you’re inexperienced and I know she’ll give you all the help she can. I chose her specially.”

“But it will be Kasha in the balcony scene?”

Jon nodded as he pulled into a parking space behind the rehearsal rooms and turned off the engine. “Yep,” he said. “I want to do it the way we’ve done all the Juliet auditions so far. Kasha doesn’t know who his Juliet is until the moment he turns and sees her on the balcony. It adds a bit of uncertainty and spice to the proceedings.”

“But he knows me,” said Olivia. “Won’t he be ever so surprised?”

Jon grinned. “Not if he’s really in character. Though it hasn’t always worked. When Amber Lavelle appeared on the balcony, Kasha was so horrified that he got the giggles and couldn’t carry on. Amber was furious and we had to do lots of ego-stroking. But she must have known she wasn’t in with a chance. I only saw her because I owed her new agent a favour and it will probably do Amber some good when
word gets round that she was even considered for the role.

“Hey, but listen, Livy,” Jon continued. “Don’t worry if the scene stops and you have to start again. It’s an audition, not a performance. Some actors give their best performance at the audition and never get better however long you rehearse them. That’s always disappointing. We’re looking for an ability to speak the verse, the potential to grow and develop the character over the rehearsal period and, of course, knock-out chemistry between you and Romeo. That’s the main thing. I’ve seen far too many productions of this play with perfectly good actors but no real sense that they are deeply and passionately in love with each other. I’m taking a gamble on you, Livy, because I think you can deliver that, along with youth and freshness too.”

Jon showed Olivia the mocked-up set and how to climb up the ladder to the balcony, even encouraging her to stand on the tiny balcony so she could get used to the space. Then he delivered Olivia into the hands of the stage manager, Tish, who had taken her to the kitchen to wait. The sideboard was full of used tea bags, spilled coffee and half-empty bottles of souring
milk. Tish had looked apologetic, then grinned and said it was probably a wise decision when Olivia had shook her head violently at the offer of a drink.

She’d hardly been able to swallow anything at breakfast, despite Alicia insisting that she drink a glass of milk and eat an apple. Olivia could hear her stomach rumbling as she ran over the lines again and again in her head. She felt certain she was about to throw up. Why was she putting herself through this misery? But of course she knew why. She had to prove to herself that she could do it, and because she really wanted to play Juliet. She might never get another chance.

She suddenly thought of her mother and wondered whether she had once sat on a chair in a kitchen like this one, in similar rehearsal rooms, preparing to audition to play Juliet. Then Toni had got the role against all the odds and had gone on to be one of the greatest Juliets the British stage had ever seen. Everyone agreed on that. Olivia swallowed hard and tried to think herself into the character of Juliet. She closed her eyes, but opened them immediately when her phone rang.

“Dad! Hi!” she said, surprised that he was ringing her. She knew he would be in the middle of his technical rehearsal, and there was never a spare second during techs.

“I can only be a minute,” said Jack hurriedly, “but I wanted to wish you good luck for the audition.”

“Oh, Dad, that’s so sweet,” said Olivia, and her throat constricted. She knew that it must be hard for him, knowing that she was auditioning for a major theatre role when it had always been assumed that she would follow him into the circus.

“Whatever happens, Liv, I want you to know that I love you and that your mum loved you very much and that she would be so proud of you.”

Olivia heard the crack in his voice. “Thanks, Dad,” she whispered.

Then he was gone and, as she switched off her phone, Jon poked his head around the kitchen door.

“The moment has arrived, Livy.”

Olivia stood in the middle of the rehearsal room. Five people were sitting behind the long table
while a couple of others were lounging against the high pile of mats at the back of the hall that Olivia guessed would be used to rehearse the fight scenes. One of the women was whispering urgently into her phone.

Olivia was introduced to Honey and then to the people sitting behind the table. They shook her hand, and Olivia was sure they could feel her trembling. She was in such a daze she couldn’t remember any of their names. She had thought that she would be auditioning just for Jon and one or two others, but there were at least eight people in the room. It felt as if they were all examining her very closely. She tried to concentrate on her breathing as she had been taught in voice class, but she still felt short of breath. Her heart was booming so loudly that she could hear it, and she wondered if everyone else in the room could too.

One of the men sitting behind the table, short with a tanned face and a moustache, leaned into another and said a little too loudly, “This is a waste of time. She’s just a kid. She looks about twelve,” and Olivia saw Jon glare furiously at the man. She felt furious too. They weren’t even giving her a chance.

Jon raised his hands for silence. He smiled gently at her. “OK, Livy, whenever you feel ready.”

Olivia stood alone in the middle of the hall. She felt tiny and vulnerable. She tried to think what on earth the first line was that she had to say. It wouldn’t come however hard she fought to recall it. She had been over and over the lines until they’d been as rooted in her brain as her own name. But her mind had gone completely blank. It was as if somebody had taken a cloth and wiped the whiteboard in her head completely clean. Panic began to bubble up like a fountain in her chest and she blushed furiously. She was making a complete fool of herself. Seconds had passed and she’d still said nothing.

She saw the man who’d been so rude about her raise an eyebrow at his colleague. She suddenly felt furious again. She inwardly glared at him before opening her mouth. Astonishingly, miraculously, the words just came, and all her nervousness and the fury she felt at the man became the anxiety and frustration of Juliet as she waited for the nurse to return from her meeting with Romeo to tell her whether or not
his intentions were honourable.

The words bubbled easily from Olivia’s mouth, and then Honey entered, playing the nurse, and the scene continued without a hitch.

The scene came to a close, and as Olivia spoke the words her heart soared and she felt like a reckless young girl on the brink of something truly momentous. There was a short silence. A few people clapped briefly. Olivia looked around in a daze. She had no idea if it had gone well or been a complete disaster. But Jon was smiling at her and that made her think that she couldn’t have completely disgraced herself.

“Thanks, Livy. Let’s move straight on. Climb up on to the balcony, please.” He turned to the stage manager. “Tish, can you get Kasha? Then wait with him outside the door and I’ll shout when we are ready.”

Tish darted away as Olivia reached the top of the ladder and placed her hands on the railing that ran around the balcony.

“Right, Livy, are you ready to go?” asked Jon.

Olivia nodded, although she didn’t feel ready. She tried to think of Kasha’s face, but for some reason the only image that came into her mind was of him dressed as a girl when she’d helped him escape from the hotel where he was staying before his concert. That wasn’t romantic at all; it just made her want to giggle. She was very fond of Kasha, but the thought of kissing him made her feel quite embarrassed. She was just going to have to act her heart out to make people believe that she was in love with his Romeo. She heard Jon call, “OK,” as if from underwater. Then she realised that Kasha was in the room and was speaking with his back to her. He suddenly spun round and saw her. His eyes widened in wonder.

Olivia leaned towards him. She suddenly thought of Kasha and Abbie alone in the middle of the fake forest at the after-show party and the rapturous look on their faces, and all at once she wasn’t Olivia Marvell, aged nearly fourteen, who was feeling a little sick and self-conscious, but she was Juliet having a secret meeting in the middle of the night with the boy who had just swept her off her feet and with whom she had just had her first kiss. All her anxiety melted away. She leaned yearningly over the balcony to be closer to her Romeo. The scene flew by like one of Cupid’s arrows. She and Kasha gazed at each other as if unable to tear their eyes away, and it felt as if the world had stopped turning and they were the only two people left in the entire universe.

Olivia spoke Juliet’s final lines:

She withdrew behind the small curtain draped over the entrance to the balcony and waited for Kasha to speak his final lines. He
did, and the end of the scene was followed by a smattering of applause. Olivia took a deep breath and began to climb down the ladder. She had reached the lower rungs when Kasha lifted her off the ladder and into a bear hug.

“Livy, you were fantastic!” he whispered in her ear. “When I saw you up there, I nearly forgot my lines I was so surprised. But it felt so right. Clever Jon. I’ve found my Juliet.”

Olivia shook her head. “The producers might not think that. I’d be a massive risk. I’ve no experience.”

“They’d have to be completely mad not to let Jon cast you,” said Kasha. “Come on, let’s face the monsters,” and he put his arm around her affectionately and led her round to where Jon and the others were sitting. Everyone was staring at Olivia intently and looking very solemn. It made Olivia think of a firing squad.

Kasha peered at their serious faces, and then he said breezily, “Hey, who died?”

Perhaps it was nerves, but Olivia snorted with laughter and Kasha got the giggles and soon the two of them were in each other’s arms, laughing helplessly. Their laughter was infectious and soon smiles had crept across even
the sternest faces.

“Kids!” said Jon eventually. “Thank you to both of you. You too, Honey. As I hoped, it’s been really interesting. Livy, Tish will call a taxi to take you back to the Swan.”

“I’m going that way,” said Kasha. “I’ll drop Livy off.”

“Thanks for seeing me,” said Olivia shyly, and then Kasha pulled her by the hand and they ran out of the room. The last thing those behind the table heard was the sound of happy conspiratorial laughter as the door closed on Olivia and Kasha.

“I wonder if it’s possible to bottle that,” said the PR woman, Liz, with a smile.

Jon turned to the others, a gleam in his eye. “So was I right? Or was I right?”

“I have to admit, Jon, she was astonishing. But she’s so young and it would be such a risk to take. Artistically and financially,” said the man with the moustache.

“Yes, Howard, but the chemistry between them was extraordinary,” said the casting director.

“I did wonder how much of it was acting,” said Liz. “Afterwards they were like a couple of
puppies together. Irresistible.”

Jon beamed widely.

“Be that as it may, she’s not a name,” said another man. “She will bring nothing to the box office. Whereas Cory Niven has a hundred thousand Twitter followers—”

“And a nasal drone like an aircraft making an emergency landing,” finished Jon brutally.

“Olivia was lovely. So vulnerable and yet so fierce,” said somebody else. “I’d buy her if you’re as keen as you seem, Jon.”

“Yes, but can we sell her, that’s the real question,” said Howard Franks insistently.

“I’ve been doing some research,” said Liz, who had opened her laptop. “I think we could. If we can’t get somebody really hot like Abbie Cardew then—”

“Abbie Cardew! That’s who we need. Why can’t we get Abbie Cardew?” said Howard Franks petulantly.

Jon sighed. “Because Abbie Cardew is about to be Joan of Arc in a movie that starts shooting in three weeks. She’s out of action for four months. We’ve been through this before. If Abbie had been available, we’d have seen her, no question. But she’s not, and there’s no point
hankering after what we can’t have. And in any case, I’m prepared to bet that Abbie would have been hard-pressed to match Olivia today.” He turned to the PR woman. “Liz, what you were you saying about Livy?”