There is Nothing like a Dame A novel by Bronwen Welsh Copyright© 2017 Bronwen Welsh A sequel to 'The Might-Have-Been Girl' and 'All the World's a Stage'

Chapter 17   A crisis

I had a suspicion that I knew where to find Julie. I headed first for the Ladies' Restroom next to the dressing rooms, but all was quiet, so then I headed down to the public restrooms more appropriately termed the 'Ladies' Powder Room' in the era in which the theatre was built. I opened the door quietly and could hear muffled sobbing so I walked through the ornate room with its chairs and mirrors where ladies could repair their makeup and into the cubicle area. Sure enough, there was Julie sitting in one of the cubicles with the door open, her head in her hands and wailing as though her heart was breaking.

“Julie,” I said quietly. She looked up startled, and then seeing me, buried her face again.

I walked up to her. “Julie, I need to talk with you. Will you please come with me to the powder room where we can both sit down? It will be a bit more comfortable there.”

Without speaking a word she stood up, took my offered hand and let me lead her to a sofa where we could sit side by side. It seemed strange; I was only a couple of years older than her, but I felt almost like her mother. When we were seated I put my arm around her.

“Julie, I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have allowed myself to be talked into performing that scene with Richard. It wasn't fair and I regret it now.”

Her tears started to flow again: “When I saw you both I knew what I have to do. I'm going to resign from the company and then they will have to get you play the part. You'll do it so much better than I ever could.”

I felt really worried. When I came to East Devon I never anticipated a situation like this. I decided to try another approach.

“Julie, when you auditioned for the part, how many other young women tried for it too?”

I already knew the answer to this or I wouldn't have asked her.

She dabbed at her eyes and said: “There were four others, two from the company and two answered an advertisement.”

“And yet, you were the one they picked,” I said.

“I must have been the best of a bad bunch,” said Julie.

“That's not true, and you know it. If you were all so bad, they would have advertised for more actresses to audition. No, you were picked because they knew you would play the part well. Miranda thinks so, the company thinks so, and I think so.”

“You are just being kind,” she responded, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

“Well I hope I am kind, but there's no room for sentiment in professional theatre, there's too much at stake. What I'm trying to tell you is that everyone has confidence in your ability to perform the rôle well, everyone that is, except for one person – you. I don't know how important being in the theatre is to you, but if you pull out now, everyone will get to hear about it and you'll have almost no chance of getting another part, anywhere. Is that what you want?”

Julie shook her head.

“I thought not. Now I am prepared to do everything I can to help you but you must have confidence in your ability to perform well because I know it's something you can do.”

I seemed to be getting through to her because she had stopped crying now.

“You really mean that don't you,” she said. It was a statement rather than a question.

“I wouldn't lie to you,” I responded. “There's something else I must tell you; when you choose a career on stage, you will find yourself acting with people who are better than you and also worse than you. Learn from the ones who are better than you, and try to help those who are not as good as you. That is my philosophy, and it's worked pretty well for me so far.

“I'm sure you've heard of Dame Emily Good?” She nodded. “Well, I've had the amazing good luck to have her as my mentor. Mum, my sister Emma and I met her quite by chance on a London train. We got talking and she came to see me perform and thought I had enough potential to try out at the Imperial Shakespeare Company. Now I didn't step straight into a starring rôle, in fact, I was an understudy at first, but I worked hard and now I've reached the stage where they ask me to perform parts. The point I'm trying to make is that if I hadn't been performing when I met her, then none of this would have happened. I can't promise that you will have the same lucky break, but whenever you are performing, you never know who is watching and what it might lead to.”

Julie looked a lot brighter now, but I still had the feeling that something was bothering her.

“Is there something that's worrying you?” I asked.

She hesitated and blushed.

“It's James isn't it,” I said. “You're in love with him and you don't know how he feels about you.”

“We had dinner together the other night,” Julie said. “I nearly told him how I feel but I couldn't get the words out.”

“I'm sure he's fond of you, but he might not feel he's old enough to make a commitment yet,” I said. “That doesn't mean he doesn't care about you, but he's frightened to make that big decision right now. Does that make sense?”

She looked at me and nodded. “You're married,” she said. “Was it you or your husband who first told the other that they loved them?”

I smiled. “Reggie and I first met when we were school children. Somehow it always seemed that we were meant to be together and to be honest I can't remember who said 'I love you' first, but the convention, at least in Britain, is that the man says it first.”

“I envy you,” said Julie. “You must have a dream marriage.”

I decided that to gain her trust I need to reveal some confidences.

“You know that saying from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The course of true love never did run smooth'? Well, it happened to us and I nearly lost Reggie for ever.”

Julie's eyes widened: “Why? What happened?”

“It was when he first went to university. A young woman student called Sophie decided she wanted him, even after he made it quite clear that he wasn't interested. One night in the student bar she slipped a drug in his drink and he woke up in bed next to her next morning with no idea how he got there. About a month later she announced that she was pregnant and he was the father so they had to get married.”

“Couldn't he have insisted that they get a DNA test on the baby if he didn't think it was his?” asked Julie.

“There was an added complication. Her father wasn't a nice man and knew some bad people. Reggie was told that if he didn't agree to marry Sophie, something bad would happen to me to ruin my career, so he sacrificed himself for me. I can tell you that was a really bad time in both our lives, but of course it only made me love him more.”

“Oh my gosh, that's terrible,” said Julie. “But now you're married to him; how did that happen?”

“Well they got married and Sophie had the baby, a pretty little girl she called Stella, but some time later, she and her father were killed in a car crash. I know it sounds like something from a really bad novel, but sometimes these things happen in real life. If it hadn't happened, who knows where we'd be today? You really can't tell what is around the corner.”

“What happened to Stella?” asked Julie.

“She's currently being brought up by my sister Emma who has children of her own. It's only because of Reggie being at university and me being away acting. We couldn't give her a stable home life at present and Emma can.”

“That's very kind of your sister,” she said.

“She's a great person and we were so lucky that she agreed to do it,” I replied.

I still had this niggling feeling that Julie was holding something back. I looked closely at her: “Is there anything else that you're not telling me?” I asked.

She flushed and then whispered “I think I might be pregnant. I take the contraceptive pill, but I'm overdue.”

This wasn't the first time I was thankful that I'm an actress. Sometimes it really pays to be able to mask one's true feelings.

“How late are you?” I asked quietly.

“Only a week, but normally I'm regular as clockwork,” she replied.

“Have you told anyone else?” I asked, specifically meaning James of course.

“Nobody,” she replied, looking miserable.

“Well, my suggestion is that you don't tell anyone yet. Sometimes our bodies play tricks on us, particularly if we're under stress.”

I knew that in the greater scheme of things the play took second place, but I had to give it priority because of my current position, and a premature announcement at this stage could be disastrous.

“Is that what you would do if you were me?” Julie asked.

“Yes I would. It may be a false alarm and if it is, revealing it now will cause a lot of problems unnecessarily. You may think I'm only saying that because of the play, and of course I have to consider it, but your health and happiness is my prime concern. If possible, try to concentrate on the play, and remember that I am here for you if you really are expecting a baby.”

I couldn't help thinking that I might have handled the situation better, but this had all happened without warning, and certainly wasn't something I could have anticipated. Now I would have to pray that Julie wasn't pregnant. Of course, physically there was nothing to prevent her playing Juliet, but mentally, who knew?

“Shall we go back to the rehearsal now? We can say you had a tummy upset,” I suggested. “I will have to tell Miranda the situation but it won't go any further.”

Julie nodded, so that's what we did. Miranda was very sympathetic and suggested that Julie go home early and rest. We said we would see her the following day.

Richard was sitting next to Miranda, so after the rehearsal ended, I asked if he would go ahead and wait for me in the car while I discussed something with Miranda. Then I told her the true story.

“Oh, the silly girl!” she exclaimed.

“We were all young once,” I replied. “It could be a false alarm, indeed I hope it is because James may not be prepared to get married and if so, who knows what will happen?”

Miranda smiled grimly. “Looking on the bright side, if necessary we will have to ask you to play Juliet for the season. I know that's not what you are here for, but it might come to that.”

I had to agree with her of course, but my aim was to get a good performance out of Julie, not take her place.

As I drove us back to Tara, Richard asked what had happened to Julie.

“It was a girl thing,” I said and he nodded wisely.

“I see. The wrong phase of the moon I suppose,” he said, presumably thinking he was putting it delicately.

I smiled. “Something like that,” I said. “So what do you think of the company?”

“They're a mixed bunch,” he replied. “I'm guessing that some are using it as a stepping stone to better things, and some are there because they can't get regular employment anywhere else. Once I got used to hearing Shakespeare with an American accent, I decided they are good enough that it won't ruin my reputation to perform with them.”

“I'm surprised you agreed to the 'gala performance' before you had seen them,” I said.

“Ah, my dear, that's because I couldn't see you wasting your time with them if they had been totally hopeless.”

I didn't know how to respond to that because, to tell the truth, I hadn't known how good they were before I arrived.

“I'll be heading off early in the morning. Henry is driving me to the airport,” said Richard. “I'd like to give him something for his trouble, even though I know it's his job.”

“I thought you might. Please don't give him money as that might offend him. I made discreet enquiries with Blossom his wife and she informs me that he is rather partial to genuine Scotch whisky, especially the single malt variety. You'll be stopping half-way to Boston for a coffee. Henry always stops at the same place and Blossom told me that you can buy something suitable for him there.”

“Thanks, Harriet. You're a star,” he said.

“Not as much a star as you are,” I laughed. “No-one is queuing up to have their photo taken with me, yet.”

“Don't you worry about that, they will I'm sure,” he replied.

As it was Richard's last night, Ellen had put on a special dinner, surpassing even the previous nights' efforts. We had Pancetta Carbonara, linguini with white cream sauce and peas; Caesar salad, and tiramisu for dessert. It was served with Woop Woop vinyards Australian Shiraz wine. I determined that when I returned to England I would eat spaghetti on toast for a week to readjust to the real world! In the meantime however...

The following morning, I got up at seven but Richard and Henry had already left. After breakfast, I drove to the theatre again and we assembled for another rehearsal. When Julie arrived I looked at her and she nodded her head almost imperceptibly and seemed much better in herself. James asked her if she was over her stomach bug, and I could tell that she was really pleased with his concern. I was immensely relieved.

The rehearsal went very well. Miranda had decided against going through the balcony scene again and I was totally in agreement with that. Instead, she decided on Act Two Scene Five with Juliet and her nurse in the Capulet's orchard, and then Scene Six in Friar Lawrence's cell. Julie performed both scenes very well and at least for now, the crisis seemed to be over. James was his usual competent self, and it would be remiss of me not to mention the two older actors, Margaret Smith who played Juliet's nurse and Jeremy Steele who played Friar Lawrence. These are major parts and were performed very well by two experienced players, whom I assumed were in the twilight of their careers and happy to take on parts in a theatre close to where they lived. I was sure that their presence was helping the younger cast members too. I should mention that despite being much more experienced than me, they treated my ideas with respect.

During a break after the rehearsal, I discussed both scenes with Miranda and we agreed that with only a couple of minor adjustments they were now at performance standard.

“Julie seemed much better,” said Miranda. “I don't know what you said to her but it seems to have worked.”

“Apparently the immediate crisis is over,” I replied. “I'm still a bit worried about her relationship with James but we'll just have to see how that progresses.”

Miranda smiled. “Well that's good news, but don't make any plans to leave town, just in case.”

I hoped that Julie had taken my advice to heart about not revealing her feelings for James as I strongly suspected that he wasn't ready to settle down. I also hoped that she was taking birth control more seriously. I would have to have a word with her about that.

To be continued.

Many thanks once again to Louise Ann and Julia Phillips for spotting my 'typos', thus allowing me to correct them before publishing. A special thank-you to Karen Lockhart, a native of New England who has provided me with local knowledge. menus and correct American idioms for this and the following chapters while Harriet visits the United States.