by Lyn Gardner
Tom and Georgia introduced themselves to the other children. Tom already knew Joshua, the boy playing Friedrich, because they had been in pantomime together, and Georgia discovered that Freya, the girl playing Gretl, was the eight-year-old sister of Liberty, a girl that Aeysha had done a modelling campaign with for a big high-street shop.
“Liberty tried out for Sound of Music too. She hoped to get Louisa, but her singing’s not strong enough. I was lucky to get Gretl. It’s because I’m small for my age, so I can play younger. It’s always an advantage at auditions,” explained Freya.
“I’m Mia and I’m going to be Marta,” said a pale girl with long plaits.
“Who’s playing Louisa?” asked Georgia.
The others shrugged and shook their heads.
“Whoever she is, she’s very late,” said Freya. “It’s not very professional, particularly on the first day.”
Josie came over to them. “Right then, Alps team, come into the workshop so we can get you all measured up.”
“But we haven’t got a Louisa yet,” piped up Freya.
“Oh, that’s all taken care of,” said Josie grumpily. She hated always being the one to have to deal with the kids, but that was the lot of the assistant director. “Apparently this morning wasn’t convenient for her so she had her fittings at the same time as some of the principals. She’s going to meet up with us at the theatre at lunchtime for the first rehearsal.” Josie saw their surprised faces. “Don’t you get any ideas and expect special treatment like that. Your Louisa isn’t just any old child actor; she’s the producer’s niece. Normal rules don’t apply to her, it seems.”
After the children had been measured they were taken to the stage door of the Duke’s Theatre. Bert greeted them all and showed them where to sign in every day and gave them a few rules: no running in the corridors, no pulling Gus’s tail, no chewing gum on the underside of the dressing-room tables, no mucking about with the fire extinguishers.
“I’ll know if you do, and then the theatre ghost will get you.”
“Does the Duke’s have a ghost?” asked Freya, wide-eyed.
“Lots,” said Bert. “But they’re all friendly. My favourite is the lady in blue. If you see her on the first night, it’s a sign of good luck and means the show is going to be a huge success.”
Bert took them up to their dressing rooms. The Alps boys had dressing-room seven and the girls were in dressing-room eight. They were delighted to find sandwiches waiting for them – costume fitting was a hungry business. They munched contentedly and listened to more tales of the Duke’s colourful history from Bert.
“Until Victorian times these were all one big dressing room and all the leading nineteenth-century actors would have used it. The great clown Joseph Grimaldi did when he was in pantomime here,” he explained. “Some actors say that they’ve seen his ghost peering over their shoulders in the mirror when they’re putting on their make-up.” Bert pointed to the large mirrors surrounded by bright light bulbs where the children would be able to do their make-up. They all shivered slightly at the thought of the ghostly clown.
Each dressing room had a window that opened out on to the passageway many metres below, but not much light came in because of the Royal Vic Theatre next door. When they had finished eating they left all their stuff in their dressing rooms and were shown the way down the stairs to backstage. They were then taken through into the auditorium where all the teams of children filed into the front rows of stalls.
Tom and Georgia waved excitedly at Abbie, who blew them a kiss before going back to her conversation with the musical director. Abbie had already been in rehearsals with the other principals for two weeks because, although she appeared in the scenes with the children, her role was a leading one. Her name would appear in small letters on the first page of the programme below the title.
Tom and Georgia looked around at the theatre. Backstage, and the stairs and corridors that led to the dressing rooms, was all rather dingy. The paint was even peeling in places. But the auditorium was beautiful. It was, thought Georgia, a bit like finding yourself snuggled inside the red-velvet lining of a very ornate gilt-edged chocolate box. Golden plaster doves hovered over each side of the proscenium arch that framed what happened on stage like a picture. The stage was massive, stretching back like a football pitch.
Georgia couldn’t believe that she was going to perform on the very same stage as great actors such as Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench and Toni Swan. She knew that Alicia Swan had appeared on this very stage, too, playing the lead in both West Side Story and My Fair Lady as well as in some famous plays. She couldn’t wait for the moment when she first stepped out to make her West End debut with her mum watching in the audience. She suddenly remembered the story about a famous actress playing Juliet in another theatre who’d just got to the line: “Where is my father and my mother, nurse?” when she heard a cry from the stalls: “Here we are, darling, Row H.” Georgia hoped her mum would be better behaved.
The stage manager was overseeing the set as it was moved into place, and two set dressers were also on stage in discussion with the assistant designer. Suddenly everyone stood aside and fell silent as the director of the show, Jon James, swept on to the stage. He was followed by a small group of people who included the casting director; the producer, Chuck Daniels; assistant director, Josie Cutwell; and the stars of the show. Sam Gibbs, who was playing Captain von Trapp, was a rather dashing older actor who had spent many years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Cassie Usher, playing Maria, was well known for her role in a TV soap but had asked to be written out of it so she could pursue more stage and film opportunities. She’d been killed off by being pushed off the London Eye, an exit so spectacular that it had been splashed across the front pages of all the tabloid newspapers.
“Oh, look! There’s Cassie Usher,” said Georgia excitedly. “Isn’t she—” But she didn’t finish the sentence because her mouth had dropped open. Tom gasped in surprise and made a spluttering noise of disgust. Cassie Usher was chatting animatedly to a tall girl with very blonde straight hair as if the girl was her very best friend in all of the world. Tom and Georgia recognised the girl immediately. It was Katie Wilkes-Cox, who at the end of last term had been asked to leave the Swan. They stared at each other as a truly horrible thought dawned on them. Now they knew who was going to be Louisa, and both of them wished they didn’t. Working with Katie could only be a nightmare. She wasn’t the kind of person to forget a grudge.
But Katie didn’t even glance in their direction. She just tossed back her blonde hair, sauntered across the stage as if she owned it and disappeared into the wings. A second later she reappeared through the pass door that linked backstage to front of house in the auditorium. She walked confidently down the aisle, sat next to Tom and Georgia, and whispered very sweetly to them, “I’ve just had lunch with Cassie Usher. She’s a sweetheart.” She gave a tinkling little laugh. “You two had better close your mouths before you swallow a fly.”
“Get me out of here,” groaned Tom to Georgia.
“Oh, Ginger, that’s not nice,” said Katie. “Not nice at all. Anyone would think that you weren’t pleased to see me!”
Chapter Six
“Right, unfortunately we’ll have to take a break while this is sorted out,” said Jon James impatiently. “We’ve got a technical hitch. Alps team, just pop yourselves in the stalls. You can take the opportunity to start learning your lines. I want you all word perfect by the start of next week.”
Tom, Georgia and the others slipped through the pass door and down into the front rows of the auditorium. It felt like passing between two entirely different worlds. A bit like going through the wardrobe into Narnia, thought Tom.
Lakes and Meadows teams had gone to the rehearsal room in Clapham, where they were learning a dance. But Alps team, scripts in hand, had remained at the theatre to start blocking the von Trapp children’s first meeting with Maria.
Blocking was when all the actors’ positi
ons and movements on the stage were plotted, and it ensured that everybody knew exactly where they should be standing and moving during the scene so that nobody bumped into anybody else and everyone could be seen from the auditorium.
Jon James and Josie were moving around different parts of the auditorium to ensure that the view was good from every part of the house. It had been going very well until a problem with the grand sweeping staircase had been discovered. It wasn’t properly locked into place and was in danger of moving. For health and safety reasons it had to be dealt with before the rehearsal could continue.
“I’ve always thought blocking was boring, but knowing it’s for a big West End show is making this much more fun,” said Georgia, plonking herself down next to Tom.
“Yep, but it’s slow work,” replied Tom. “What do you think of Katie?” He looked around to check she wasn’t near.
Georgia grinned. “She keeps trying to upstage the rest of us, and Jon James is letting her get away with it. I guess it’s because she’s the producer’s niece.”
“She hasn’t changed, has she? I thought being asked to leave the Swan might have made her nicer.”
“Perhaps she has changed for the better, but she’s keeping it well hidden,” laughed Georgia.
“Well, she couldn’t have changed for the worse. That would be impossible.” Tom sighed.
“Maybe if we’re going to work together we should try to be friends with her?”
“I’d prefer to try and make friends with a piranha,” said Tom. “I haven’t forgotten what she tried to do to Liv. And she almost succeeded. If things had turned out differently, Katie would still be at the Swan and Liv would have been sent away in disgrace. We should steer clear. She’s entirely toxic.”
Katie, who had been bending down in the row behind them to tie her shoelace, straightened up. Her cheeks were flaming and she was formulating a crushing put-down, when Tom said, “I wish I knew what to do about Liv. She’s so prickly it’s like dealing with a hedgehog. She’s acting as if she really hates me.”
“Olivia’s hurt, Tom, because you chose The Sound of Music over her and Romeo and Juliet. But if we just keep trying to talk to her, eventually she’ll crack and realise just how stupid she’s being. I know she will.”
“I hope so. Liv Marvell’s the stubbornest person I’ve ever met. Still, I’m going to try and have it out with her before school tomorrow. I really want to make it up with her. The longer it goes on with us not talking the harder it gets.”
“You’ll probably win the Nobel Peace Prize, Tom McCavity,” said Georgia.
“As long as I win an Olivier for best supporting actor in a musical at the same time,” said Tom. They both laughed, so they didn’t notice Katie slipping away. Just then, Jon James called Tom and Joshua back up on stage.
Katie walked into the stage-door area. All the children were supposed to be in the auditorium or on stage but she didn’t want to be with the kids. She was above that lot. She might be playing Louisa, but that was only because of her age. She was sure that she could have managed Liesl much better than that insipid Abbie Cardew. During the break she had tried to strike up another conversation with Cassie Usher, but Cassie, who had been so charming to her over lunch with Katie’s uncle, smiled and carried on chatting with Abbie. And Abbie did nothing to include Katie in the conversation. Katie hoped that nobody had noticed Cassie give her the brush-off.
She had watched Jon James working with the boys for a few minutes, but it was dull watching other people perform. Katie only liked it when people were watching her. They were obviously going to be ages. She wandered out to the stage door. She decided she’d go and have a chat with Bert, even though she thought he was old and boring. Everyone said he knew everything that was going on. She might pick up some useful gossip. Information was power, after all. She had already swiped her uncle’s list of cast contacts. It made her feel good to have the personal mobile and home numbers of stars such as Sam and Cassie in her phone.
But Bert was just outside the stage door supervising a costume delivery. Katie peered over his counter and tried a couple of drawers. The first two were locked. But one opened. It was the one in which Bert kept the dressing-room keys, a spare for the adult dressing rooms and the spare and the original for all the children’s dressing rooms. The keys for the children’s dressing rooms had been removed from the doors during last year’s production of Oliver! after the girl playing Bet had locked the Artful Dodger in and refused to let him out until he apologised for calling her “a talentless, lazy moo”.
Katie glanced around. Nobody was about. She picked up both the keys for dressing-rooms seven and eight and slipped them into her pocket, then pushed the other keys a little closer together so the ones she’d taken wouldn’t be missed and closed the drawer – just as Bert walked back in. Sensing something suspicious about her behaviour, he said, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the theatre?”
Katie shrugged rudely and left, heading up the stairs towards the dressing rooms. Bert sighed. Some of these child actors could be really uppity. He blamed the parents.
Katie looked up and down the corridor to check that nobody was about and slipped into the boys’ dressing room. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular. She just thought she’d have a poke around. You never knew what you might find. But the boys’ dressing room was rather dull, already smelling faintly of sweaty socks and trainers. Joshua was obviously a Chelsea supporter. Someone else had been reading Stormbreaker. Katie guessed that was Tom. She yawned. They were all so boring. Just kids.
She was about to leave when she heard the “bleep bleep” of a mobile phone receiving a message. It was coming from the pocket of an olive-green Swan blazer that she knew must belong to Tom. Why not take a look? There were two messages waiting. The first was from Aeysha: Hope rehearsals brill. Can’t wait 2 hear about it. Katie deleted the message. The second text was from a number that was not stored in Tom’s phone. She pressed the read button.
Hi Tom. I’ve been an idiot. I’m really sorry. U’ve always been a great friend and stood by me even when every1 was against me, and I’ve been a rubbish friend 2 u. I hope you have the best time ever doing SOM. I do understand why you chose to do it. I want to make everything all right again. I miss u. Can we meet up before school tomorrow? I’ll be waiting for you at 8am. Call me on this number if you can’t make it. Gran has given me a mobile. Will explain all. Liv
Katie reread the message. It fitted with the conversation she had overheard between Tom and Georgia. Clearly Olivia Marvell and Tom McCavity had had a big falling-out. Boo hoo. It served them right. If it hadn’t been for them and that mousy Georgia Jones, she’d still be at the Swan.
She hated Liver Marvell and she hated Ginger Tom McCavity. At first, when she’d heard that he might be cast in The Sound of Music, she had thought that she’d try to use her influence with Uncle Chuck to stop it. But then she decided that it would be more fun if he did get the role: she had every intention of making his life a misery in any way that she could. Katie smiled as she deleted the message from Olivia. She was just putting Tom’s phone back in his blazer pocket, when she had an idea so brilliant that it made her gasp out loud at her own genius.
She got the cast contact sheet out of her pocket and then slipped out her new state-of-the-art phone with her brand-new number. Her dad had given to her it as a present when she had left the poxy old Swan. What had her dad said?
“Put the past behind you, kitten. Don’t look back, and never have any regrets,” and he had given her the phone, adding, “A brand-new number for a brand-new life.”
Well, it was going to prove very useful now. She pressed the create message button and expertly tapped out the following:
I h8 u Tom McCavity. I never want 2 speak to u ever again. Our friendship is dead. You’re cat food as far as I’m concerned and that goes for that smarmy Georgia and sucking up Aeysha 2. Have a horrid life. Olivia.
Then she pressed send. She waited for a moment
until she heard the satisfying “bleep bleep” coming from the pocket of Tom’s blazer, then she skipped out of the dressing room and back downstairs.
Katie slid back into the auditorium unseen. Nobody had noticed her absence. Jon James was just calling the girls up on stage, and as she took her place she gave him her most dazzling smile.
Chapter Seven
The first day of rehearsals had finished, and Aeysha had rushed over from the Swan to meet Tom and Georgia at the little café round the corner from the theatre. She had looked for Olivia to see if she wanted to come with her, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. That was because Olivia was up in the flat reading an e-mail from Jack:
Hi Liv, hope you and Eel are coping well without Alicia. I know you will be. You’re both so independent. Do keep an eye on Eel for me if you can, Liv sweetheart. She’s still so little. All well here. The landscape is breathtaking, completely untamed; just like you! I’ll bring you here one day, Liv. I know you’d love it. Preparations for the walk across Snake Canyon are going well, but the location and the scale of the wilderness is astonishing and is causing the odd problem! We have to fly all the equipment in and it will be strange doing the walk without a crowd to cheer me on. But the director of the documentary says that’s why the location is so perfect: it’ll be just me battling the elements, a tiny figure in an immense landscape. I miss you both so much, and I really wish you were here, Liv, just as you were there for me that day on Tower Bridge. I’m lucky you’re my daughter, chick. I do hope you and Tom have made up, and if you haven’t do it, and do it NOW! You never know what the future may hold. Lots of love, Dad.
Olivia closed the message and smiled. She thought she would wait until she’d talked to Tom before replying and then she could tell Jack that the friendship was mended.
