Acting

Day Two

The first rehearsal is over now, and I'm exhausted. Everyone is learning new lines, and everyone is forgetting new lines. Most of us are finding our parts to be suited to us, even James, who is completely out of his comfort zone, as a comedy actor in a serious play. I'm surprised at the amount of work thats being put in though. It's probably because we're being sponsored by some big special effects company, but the equipment is impressive, not to mention the actors!  Although none of us are particularly famous, Megan's easily celebrity standard and, for an idiot, James is incredible!

The story is strange, but nice. A girl's family is murdered in the beginning (That's not the nice part!), and she looks back on it later on and unravels the mystery behind it. You know, why they were killed, who did it, that sort of thing. Some of the stuff she finds out is so sweet. It's mostly just really sad, though.

~~~~~~~~~~

Me and Kay went back a few days later for the next rehearsal. The moment we walked in, Eve and Kaya went off, chatting incessantly, as if they had been friends for years. I haven't made a particular friend, so I walk up to the others and begin conversation. Badly.

"So we're early again, huh?"

"Yeah," says James. This is the first time I've properly spoken to him, as he was too busy working out which part he got last time, to stop and speak. "Everyone else lives really far away. Or they're just avoiding extra work. I don't really know.". It looks like he's just as awkward as me, speaking to someone you barely know about absolutely nothing of interest.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

We both look at our scripts in silence.

We are never going to be able to have a conversation, are we?

Luckily,  Kaya wanders over and offers him actual conversation,  which he accepts. He realises his mistake too late, and finds himself unable to escape. I leave him to it, and find Kira talking to Dafid. They greet me and barrage me with questions and gossip, from which I politely excuse myself. I decide to talk to Megan, who is fiddling with the lights.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Deciding on which colour lighting to use in scene two," she said, "I think that we should have red or black when James enters."

"Why not flick the lights off and on quickly?" I suggest.

"Yeah! Great idea! I'll see if we can do that!" She said. "Sorry if it's strange to sort the lighting out so early, it's just I have nothing else to do right now."

"I know what you mean," I laugh, "I'm a little stuck for conversation myself!"

"Ah, give it time. Soon you guys will have loads to talk about, I'm sure."

"Thanks." I smiled. Sometimes I need a bit of reassurance, especially if I'm nervous or shy, of which I am usually both.

I go back and talk to Dafid again.  This time he's less overwhelming, probably because Kira isn't around. We're able to talk about the play and rehearsals and the cast. I learnt that Megan is older than the rest of us and is going to be in a big budget film next year, a sequel to the massively famous War Of The Three Planets. Kira is fairly new to acting,  but already quite well known within the community. She is impossible to beat in an argument and has managed to get free pizza for all of us. I don't know how she did that, but I'm not gonna argue with pizza. James is a bit of a klutz, but he's been acting for a while and is incredible. He is the best comedian, on and off stage. Eve is known worldwide for musicals and plays and has won loads of awards. I feel like I don't belong acting beside these almost celebrities, whose achievements far outrank mine. I, as usual,  feel small and insignificant and out of place.

The rehearsal starts and I wonder how I got such a good part, and why no-one thinks I don't deserve it. I realise that these people must think I'm a good actor too. That helps.