IN THE RIGHT LIGHT

Trish was on the lookout for a new leading man but would she be left waiting in the wings?

- Steve Burford

It’ll be a laugh,’ Cath had said as she dragged her friend Trish to auditions for the Cookhill Amateur Players’ next production. ‘Amateur dramatics is one of the best ways to get a new fella.’

But then Cath had gone and got herself a new fella. So suddenly she didn’t have time for am-dram, leaving Trish on her own, cast as ‘unnamed maid’ in a production of Death By Dinner Party.

Trish didn’t hold out hopes of finding love. Of the three men in the cast, two could have been her grandfathers, while the third was having problems with his own boyfriend.

But she was determined to have a go and, at the first read-through, introduced herself to as many people as she could.

Most were indifferent. Some were positively hostile. ‘You do know the Cookhill Amateur Players have been going for over 70 years?’ one woman snapped.

Trish wanted to ask if she’d been in their first production but wisely held back.

‘All right, everyone.’ A man with a weary expression dropped a bunch of folders on a table. ‘Let’s get the magic started. Here are your scripts. Have a look, count up your lines, have a moan, then we’ll begin. I’m going for a fag.’

‘Is that the director?’ Trish asked another woman.

‘Terry?’ She snorted. ‘He likes to think so.’

Trish flicked through her script. She frowned. When Terry returned, she went up to him. ‘I don’t want to sound greedy in my first show, but I don’t seem to have any lines.’

‘Last page,’ he sighed.

Trish turned to the last page. ‘Oh. I thought there’d be more.’