Postscript

Belatedly realise there is more to say about the performance weekend. And, no, not just about me, me, me. (Although there is a bit more of that, too.)

There were, of course, two other plays being performed – one before mine and another after the intermission.

On Saturday, when Catherine was attending, I asked her to save me a seat so I could stay and see the latter.

A couple of years ago my friend Donna stumbled across a one-act play called Life on Mars by Canadian playwright Elliott Hayes, whose very promising career was cut short far too soon by a hit and run driver. The play is a two-hander with two male roles. She cast Joe and an at that time newcomer Scott in the roles. First time actor Scott just loved the whole experience and has been very active since. Loved it so much that back in the winter, when open auditions were being held, he encouraged a friend of his, Tammy, to come out. Much to her surprise, Donna cast her in a new Elliott Hayes two-hander, this time two women.

And those two women were absolutely amazing in Honour Among Thieves. Ably directed by Donna, they turned in two bravura performances. I stood up at the end, knowing that if I did everyone else in the audience would follow my lead, which they did. My favourite moment of the run has nothing to do with my play. It was the look on Tammy’s face and hearing her whisper to her co-star (loudly enough to catch it in the second row), “Oh, my god, they’re standing.” As we should have. When the applause eventually died down, Catherine turned to me and asked who the woman who played Dorothy was and could not believe it when I told her it was her very first go at acting. (I did later have a joking “humph” with Catherine that no one had stood up for Ben and me. She assured me they probably would have if they hadn’t all been so stunned by the ending. Sweet.)

And what about the first play? We’ll see. Or rather I will see.

Some years ago, when Charlie and I were doing An Unhelpful Complication, I decided on the Saturday night that I wanted to see the one-act Donna was doing that year, staged before us, from the audience. Instead of sitting quietly with Charlie in the green room while that play was on, I went into the auditorium to watch the first play. It was great. What wasn’t great was ten minutes after it was over and Charlie and I were making our entrances. My head just was not in the game. Within the first ten minutes I had to call for a line three times. And I wrote the bloody play! Lesson learnt. Never do that again.

So, the first play, The Trouble with Trees, was the first play written (and then directed) by my mate Dave. I did arrange with him to go to one of the rehearsals when people were off book, but the stage and set weren’t up at that point, no stage lights, no sound effects. The rehearsal was a great deal of fun, but obviously not as good as seeing an actual performance. Fortunately, as there are no copyright issues, both Dave’s play and mine were filmed. Very much looking forward to seeing it online, although it’s a poor second best. Still, as I said, lesson learnt. Do Not Repeat That Mistake.

Water the garden, do a bit of puttering, then off to meet Jenn to return the grey wig, which I never want to wear again. She came to the opening night show (fresh back from three weeks in Spain) and acknowledged that, even though Ben and I ignored most of her advice, the two of us had completely nailed my play. Oh, I guess we’re back to me, me, me. (Insert laughing emoji.)