The Actress
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"Ok, that's enough for the day, see you all next week" the director called out from her seat in the front row of the theatre. Paul sighed and made to follow the other actors off the stage. The rehearsals for the play were not going well and he knew that he was primarily to blame. He knew too that his friendship with the director would not prevent him from losing his job if he did not improve quickly.
"Paul, could I speak to you for a minute?"
As if divining his thoughts Sarah called him from where she sat in the stalls in the front of the stage. "What's the problem?" she asked when he pushed down the seat next to her and lowering himself dejectedly into it. He made no pretence of not knowing what she was talking about. "I just can't identify with the part," he told her honestly, "it doesn't work for me."
Sarah looked concerned. "You know how important your role is. The audience have to believe that you really are a woman up to the final act, not just a man in drag."
Paul looked at her without speaking. Any other director would have sacked him already and he honestly could not blame her if that's what she decided to do now.
"I'm going to give you one week to get this right or I'll have to get someone else," she told him. "But I think you are going to need some radical help."
"What do you mean?" Paul asked. He was happy to have been given another week and was willing to listen to anything that she might suggest. "I think it might help if you were to live as a woman for a while. That's the only way I can think of that you are going to learn to fit the role and be convincing."
Paul stared at her in disbelief, but he saw immediately from her determined expression that she was not joking. "I can't do that," he rejected the suggestion, "it wouldn't work."
"Thats up to you to decide," Sarah said standing up. "Really its a question of how badly you want this part. And if you are a good enough actor to play the part then you will make it work."
She got up then and started walking along the aisle towards the exit. Paul stared after her and knew instinctively that she had washed her hands of him. She had questioned his commitment and challenged his ability. After that it was up to him. He had one week in which to prove that he was right for the part or else he would be out of a job. "Wait," he shouted and ran after her, "I'll need help."
She turned back to him, and to his relief she smiled and told him that she had known he would see sense, and that she had every confidence in him. This slight praise was a welcome boost to Paul's dented confidence and he readily agreed to call at her house early the following day.
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