There is Nothing like a Dame A novel by Bronwen Welsh Copyright© 2017, 2018 & 2019 Bronwen Welsh A sequel to 'The Might-Have-Been Girl' and 'All the World's a Stage'

Chapter 49   Dale's dilemma and an enjoyable flight.

I've been neglecting to mention other things going on besides my theatrical life. The Youth Theatre started by Dame Emily, Madge and myself was still going well, and when we held auditions for young aspiring performers to join, we were inundated with applications. We had acquired more teaching staff, since, with my own and Dame Emily's other commitments we were away a lot of the time, putting too much pressure on Madge.

After the school had been running for about nine months, we had persuaded the ISC management to allow us to put on a performance featuring the students when the theatre was free. Rather than a full play, we decided on scenes from a number of plays, both by Shakespeare other playwrights. In this way, we were able to showcase the talents of the students and give them the opportunity to experience performing on a large professional stage.

Naturally enough, with parents and various other relatives and friends coming along, the main theatre was nearly filled to capacity. This was good as even with a modest charge per seat, we were able to raise quite a lot of money. After paying the backstage crew, we had more funds for the various expenses of running the school. Dame Emily, Madge and I gave our services for free, but we had to pay some of the teaching staff who could not afford to work without payment. I was persuaded to introduce the show since Dame Emily was unavailable and I have to say it went very well. The teaching staff had already spotted some students with real potential and the main Company started to use them where possible in some of their productions. It really was a win-win situation.

I was still taking singing lessons from Madam Mussorgsky and in her opinion, I was making good progress. I had it in mind to try for a small part in a West End musical when I felt confident that I wouldn't be making a fool of myself. This had to take second place to my other stage commitments, particularly in Stratford. Also rapidly approaching was my trip to Melbourne, Australia to star in a season of 'Romeo and Juliet', very likely my final time playing this part unless the proposed film became a reality. As time went by this seemed less and less likely.

I didn't spend all my life on stage; I made sure to spend as much time as possible with Reggie and also visit Emma, David and family in Bridchester whenever I could. The Apollo Players where my career had started, was still going well, thanks to David's stewardship and I made a point of attending a performance of all their new productions. David seemed very appreciative of my comments on each production and I always tried to be positive even if as an established professional, I could sometimes see flaws. I was always diplomatic in pointing out anything that I thought could be improved, and David took on board my comments in the spirit in which they were intended and indeed welcomed them.

While the season of 'The Shrew' was in progress, I was staying five or six nights a week in the apartment in Stratford, and it soon became apparent to me that the dynamic of our trio living in the flat had changed since Frank had announced his intention to transition and become Frances. I was inevitably involved in these changes. It was natural for Frances to seek my advice and assistance as she started her journey of transition, and it would have seemed churlish of me to have refused it, especially since I had gone through the same process myself. She asked my advice on everything that would make her 'pass' convincingly as a woman and persuaded me to go clothes shopping with her so that she didn't make the mistakes many new trans-women make.

She was fortunate in that when made up and with her hair styled, she was a naturally pretty woman, and her light tenor voice as Frank morphed very convincingly into a woman's voice. When we were out shopping together, without appearing to do so, I carefully monitored the reactions of people around me, and apart from admiring glances from young and not so young men, there was nothing to suggest that anyone was 'reading' her. Frances noticed many of the admiring glances and blushed prettily in response to them. This got me thinking; as a gay man, she had been attracted to other young men, although once she was in a steady relationship with Dale, I'm sure she was never unfaithful to him. Now, as a woman, she was still attracted to men, which effectively meant she had changed from a gay man to a heterosexual young woman. Well, that's how I saw it.

I started to worry about how Dale was taking this change; he hadn't signed up to be married to a woman, and yet this was what was happening. For the time being, Frances was in the intermediate phase, not wholly man or woman, but she had made clear to me that she intended to take the full path of transition, including surgery. I felt that I needed to talk to Dale about it, but I didn't want to go behind Frances' back, so I told her what I intended to do.

I was a little taken aback when she said rather sharply “Well, of course, it's entirely up to you what you do, I can't stop you.”

She saw the look on my face and blushed hotly. “I'm sorry, Harriet, that didn't come out the way I intended. Of course you should talk to Dale, although I think you'll find that he's fine with the situation, he certainly hasn't indicated to me that there's a problem.”

I couldn't help thinking to myself that perhaps Dale, being the kind man he was, was concealing his true feelings for Frances's sake. I only stood a chance of finding out about his true feelings if I spoke to him alone, so this is what I arranged to do. I phoned him at work and arranged that we would have lunch together on a day when I didn't have a rehearsal or matinée, and it was a few days later that we sat together on the banks of the Avon sharing a picnic lunch which I had put together.

We chatted for a while about this and that and finally I took the plunge.

“I'm sure you've guessed why I asked to see you, Dale, and before I go on, you should know that Frances knows I've arranged to meet with you. I'm hoping you will be totally frank with me about your feelings for Frances, as she now wishes to be. Am I presuming too much upon our friendship to ask that?”

Dale sat staring at the water for nearly a minute, watching the ducks competing for bread thrown by a young mother and her excitable child before he began to talk.

“Harriet, when I first met Frank, I fell instantly in love with him, and it was the happiest day of my life when I proposed marriage to him and he said 'yes'. When the celebrant said 'I now proclaim you to be husband and husband', I felt that my happiness was complete. Of course, I knew right from the start that Frank was going to take on the rôle of 'wife' and I was the 'husband', but we were both fine with that. I also knew that from time to time he liked to dress as a woman for fun, and he did it so well that when we went out together, everyone must have thought we were a straight couple.

“To be honest with you, I just didn't see this coming and I don't think you did either?”

I nodded.

“So where to from here? I honestly don't know. I still love the person I married, no matter how that person dresses or is named. Because I love him...or her, I want what is best for her, and if in the end that means she will want to divorce me and marry a straight man, then that is the sacrifice I have to make to prove that my love is selfless and not selfish.”

He looked bereft as he spoke and I reached out and took his hand. The thought flashed through my mind that anyone seeing us would assume we were a straight couple in love and have no idea of the true circumstances.

“Dale, you are one of the nicest men I've ever met, and I'm proud to have you as a friend,” I said.

A tear coursed its way down his cheek. “Oh Harriet, I'm doing my best to stay upbeat and for Frances' sake, make out it's not affecting me, but I'm not an actor and sometimes it gets very hard.”

I looked at him very seriously. “You know I can't take sides, Dale, but I've known you for a long time now and I count you as one of my closest friends. I just hope that this situation can be sorted out and you will both come out of it living fulfilling and happy lives, although whether together or separately, I just don't know.”

Dale squeezed my hand. “Thank you, Harriet, you are one of my closest friends too, and I'm sure we will always remain that way.”

He suddenly glanced at his watch. “Goodness me, we've been gone over an hour, Pearl will have my guts for garters!”

Pearl was the bright young woman Dale had employed to handle the office side of the business when he took it over from his father and realised that he just couldn't manage everything by himself.

“Tell her you've been having lunch with a glamorous actress; that will really give her food for thought,” I said and was rewarded with a smile.

Naturally, I had discussed what was going on with Reggie, who is very wise. His reply was that there was nothing I could do about it, Dale and Frances would have to sort things out for themselves. “I know you are very fond of them both, Dale especially, As for what will happen, who knows? By the time you come back from Australia, they may have sorted things out.

Soon it was time for my trip to Melbourne. I don't know of anyone who really enjoys long-haul flights and the flight from London to the east coast of Australia is one of the longest. Still, there are ways of making it less of a marathon, and one of these is to travel First Class if you can afford it, and thankfully I could. There were a number of reasons why I chose to do this; for a start, the seats in the First Class cabin of the 747converted into beds which enabled passengers to get more rest than when having to sit more or less upright for the journey. In my case this was important because I would be starting rehearsals the day after I arrived and I didn't want to be suppressing yawns all the way through – it's not a good look! Travelling halfway around the world inevitably leads to jetlag, but this way I could minimise it.

I don't deny that sitting in a cabin with comparatively few fellow passengers gave me more privacy and as my face was starting to become better known, that was an advantage. The food was better quality too, and the pampering from the cabin staff was greatly superior to that given to Economy. In case it has occurred to my readers, yes, my travel costs were tax deductible since they were all part of the expenditure necessary for me to earn a living. Each performer is effectively a 'one-person business' so naturally, I employed an accountant to handle my financial affairs, and no, it wasn't Reggie! I was fastidious about paying my taxes, and Reggie agreed with me that if he had been involved, at some stage the tabloids might suggest that I was shafting the system.

One of the cabin staff showed me to my seat 3E in the centre of the cabin, with 3F adjacent to it. I do prefer a window seat but it seemed these had all been snapped up, mostly by 'captains of industry' from what I could see, who probably valued privacy while they worked away on their laptops. The centre seats are often booked by couples but I was on my own, so I was a little concerned to find out who would be occupying the adjacent seat. I hoped it would be a woman and my wish was granted. A young blonde woman was shown to the seat and immediately introduced herself as 'Amalie'. She really didn't need to tell me her name because even I recognised one of Australia's most famous pop stars who is so well-known that she doesn't even have to use her surname. I introduced myself with my full name, sure that she had never heard of me, but to my surprise, she looked curiously at me and asked if we had met before. This led to me telling her what I did for a living and why I was flying to Melbourne.

“This so cool!” she exclaimed. “I saw you in 'Romeo and Juliet' in Stratford; you were amazing.”

I felt my cheeks turn pink. “You're very kind,” I said. “I'm a great fan of your singing. Are you going on a concert tour in Australia?”

“Yes, I am, but it's also a chance to catch up with my family. They live in Melbourne you know? I spend so much time in London and other places, that its a real treat for us all to catch up whenever we can.”

“If it's not a rude question, how do you manage to go to the theatre and other places without all the paparazzi trailing after you?”

She laughed. “I'm a bit of an actress myself, though not in your league of course. I wear a brunette wig and dress down with minimal makeup. I've got away with it so far. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what the media have done for me, but sometimes it's nice to just blend into the crowd. I'm sure you'll find that as your fame increases.”

I laughed too. “At present, almost all my work is in the theatres, so I'm still fairly low profile, but there is talk of a film and I'm guessing that would make me more easily recognised. I wonder if it's a good move?”

“Of course it is,” Amalie replied. “A relatively small number of people go to the theatre, but millions go to the cinema and also see films when they're released to television. You should let more people see how good you are; don't hide your light under a bushell.”

All this was very flattering of course, but I still had lingering doubts.

We really enjoyed sitting together for the flight to Melbourne; sometimes we chatted, sometimes we watched movies or listened to music and sometimes we slept. Having a flatbed to sleep on was certainly worth the extra money to me. Amalie exchanged mobile numbers with me and offered me a couple of tickets and backstage passes to her concert in Melbourne which, would be held while I was still rehearsing, which meant I'd have the evening free. I immediately thought of Aunt Peggy's daughter Flora who I guessed would be an Amalie fan and would love to accompany me to the concert. In return, I told Amalie that I could get her some tickets for 'Romeo and Juliet' if she thought she could get away with her disguise in her home town.

I remembered something I had read about Amalie visiting the Melbourne Children's Hospital without fanfare, and definitely without reporters and television cameras in tow, just to lift the children's spirits by talking and singing with them. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps our youth theatre is Stratford could do something similar, putting on performances for children who were too sick to go to the theatre. I decided to discuss it with Dame Emily when I returned to England. She knew the right people and could make it happen if anyone could.

All too soon the plane was descending to land in Melbourne. Now that's not something you often say about a long-haul flight! Amalie and I attended to our ablutions, reapplied our makeup and changed our clothes, she to face the media who would be waiting to greet her, and me to look decent for the inspection of the theatre executives and play's director who would be waiting to meet me in Melbourne. With all the attention focussed on Amalie, I would be able to slip through un-noticed. That's exactly what happened, although, in one of her photos in a daily newspaper, I noticed myself in the background doing my 'low-key' exit!

To be continued.