That sinking feeling

IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, Kirsty Paterson was, she says, "a bit lost". At 29, she had worked for an estate agent for five years and hated it. When she was diagnosed with ADHD, she realised a nine-to-five office job was never going to be a good fit. "It's quite hard, because you try to do things like everyone else, and you think: 'Why can I not be as organised?' or 'Why can I not just sit still?' That's the big thing for me." Paterson retrained as a yoga teacher and was building a clientele, doing bits and bobs on the side. She's always loved performing. "I need creativity, I need stimulation, something different every day. Acting is my perfect job: I have no fear in front of crowds, it's something I was born to do." She had done musical theatre and dance, as well as kids' entertainment and performing with fire.
So an ad on the employment site Indeed, looking for performers for a weekend, seemed ideal. She applied, and got a call on a Friday afternoon. "I was expecting an audition. I'd actually been practising stuff with my friends. But they were like: 'You've got the job." They said she needed to be there to collect her script - in an hour. The job would begin the following day - at Willy's Chocolate Experience. Yes, that one...
So Paterson went to the venue in the Whiteinch area of Glasgow, Scotland, and picked up the script, a baffling document that didn't seem to have any connection to Roald Dahl or the Willy Wonka she knew. "It was gibberish, rubbish.
I love the Willy Wonka films, but I was so confused. There was this character called the Unknown. I went home and watched the original film and was like, this doesn't make any sense." She needed the money, though, so the next morning Paterson went to work.
この記事は The Guardian Weekly の August 23, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Guardian Weekly の August 23, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Alison's world The graphic novelist faces up to midlife in this playfully fictionalised memoir
Alison Bechdel emerged in the 1980s with Dykes to Watch Out For, a groundbreaking weekly strip that featured a group of mostly lesbian friends. Since then, her acclaimed graphic novels have focused mainly on herself and her family.
I need to drop everything and get on with doing nothing, quickly
I am sitting in my office shed, marvelling that an email from a car hire company I last used six years ago feels entitled to employ the subject line DROP EVERYTHING.

Fire starter Springsteen's anti-Trump broadside divides fans
As the lead singer of a Bruce Springsteen cover band, Brad Hobicorn had been looking forward to performing at Riv's Toms River Hub in New Jersey last Friday.
A new Syria: sanctions relief gives the shattered country a chance to rebuild
The startled joy that greeted Bashar al-Assad's fall six months ago was shadowed by the fear of what might follow.
I wanted us to finish our journey on a high'
Saint Etienne are calling it a day after 35 years. They discuss their final album, turning down Cher's Believe and a career defined by friendship and invention

The museum of absolutely everything
Poison darts, a dome from Spain, priceless spoons and Frank Lloyd Wright furniture... our architecture critic is wowed by the V&A's new east London outpost for 250,000 of its mind-boggling artefacts

Over a barrel Shortage of sugar shakes Cuba's rum industry
It is a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway’s drinking arm. Cuba’s communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris.

Whiz up or wing it? Dips worth doing yourself and the ones to buy
Is it always better to make your own dips, or can I just buy them?

How a tiny village was engulfed by a mountain
It took a couple of minutes for 9m tonnes of rock to obliterate Blatten-but as glaciers melt, such disasters are more likely
Time warp Romance is beautifully drawn in a tale of two couples whose lives overlap, a century apart
Time is layered in Northern Irish writer David Park's latest novel.