Page 46 of The Wedding Pact
‘Yes, it’s the old one, but they still have performances there sometimes, including this one. They’re putting onNorthanger Abbey, which was actually set there, or at least some of it was, next May. And they’re holding auditions.’
Flynn poured the smoothies into two tall glasses and handed one to August, who gulped it down in one and tried to disguise a burp. ‘You’re going to go for this, right?’
‘I don’t know,’ August replied, surprising herself with the answer as much as Flynn. Isn’t this why she’d run all the way home? Now she struggled to put it into words. ‘I don’t think I’m good enough for this.’ Flynn opened his mouth to protest but August held her hand up. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not fishing for compliments, I’m just … no … I can’t audition for this. But maybe I could see if I could volunteer with the production or something.’
‘Volunteer with the production?’ Flynn said. ‘That’s some rubbish-old-flat-August talking there, not Elizabeth-Street-August. I thought you went after your dreams these days, instead of being content with being a wall shadow.’
‘A wallflower.’
‘Huh?’
‘The expression is wallflower.’
‘Well, you wouldn’t be a very good one of those anyway because you can’t keep flowers alive.’
August laughed and grabbed a towel to mop her face. ‘But this is a big deal, and I haven’t done much acting work in months.’
‘You literally have built a studio inside the wall and have been getting all amped up to start taking on more voice work.’
‘But theatre acting uses all sorts of skills, which I haven’t flexed for a long time.’
‘What about your new role at the Roman Baths?’
‘I’ve not done much flexing there yet either.’
‘Then let’s flex them.’
‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
‘Come on, you’re warmed up from your run, you’ve just had a big, protein-filled smoothie, let’s run some lines.’ He picked up a copy ofGone Girlfrom the bookshelf and tossed it to her. ‘You be the man; I’ll be the woman.’
‘Why would you be the woman? Why can’t I be the woman?’
‘Because you already are a woman and you need to flex those acting muscles.’
August flipped through the pages of the book. ‘I have all of Jane’s books in my room, you know, we could read one of them.’
Flynn shook his head. ‘We’ll do that tomorrow. For now, we’re starting with this.’
‘Aren’t you in the middle of something … else?’ she asked, really not sure she wanted to do this.
‘Hey,’ Flynn said, coming over to her and slinging an arm over her shoulder. ‘You’ve shown me some of your audiobook voices before. Why are you shying away from this?’
‘I’m not. I’m just … ’ An audition like this is what she’d been waiting for. In fact, part of the deal she made herself when she left London was to try and expand her career to include the theatre, specifically in period acting. But shouldn’t she start smaller? Join a local amateur dramatics group first or something, like she’d been thinking about? The only in-person acting of any kind she’d done since moving here was her recent first day at the Baths as a costumed character. ‘I can’t go for this audition, Flynn, what if I don’t get it? What does that say about me?’What does that say about my dreams?
‘What if you never try? You’d feel like a right … ’ he searched for a word and landed on, ‘ … bell-end.’
‘I would not feel like a bell-end,’ August insisted, but she laughed. ‘What a thing to say. But I want to pick something I’m a bit more familiar with.’
Flynn succumbed. ‘All right, you choose the text, whatever you want, but you can’t play you, or someone like you. Even if that’s the role you’re going for. We’ll get to that but I really think this will take you out of your head for a minute.’
August disappeared into her room for a moment and brought back out with her a tatty old paperback ofRomeo and Julietthat she’d had since school. She loved this play so much. She also loved Leo DiCaprio playing Romeo in the movie so much. ‘How about this?’
‘I guess this could work,’ Flynn answered. ‘But, I’ll be Juliet and you have to be Romeo. Shall we do the fish tank scene?’
‘From the movie? But there wasn’t any talking in that bit, plus we don’t have a fish tank.’
‘Oh. Can I take a look?’ He reached his hand out and she handed him her book.
