The beginning of the journey is getting a bit hazy now, even though it has only been two and a half months. But when you have four three-hour rehearsals a week, and you have sewn on buttons beyond count, things begin to get somewhat jumbled together. I shall start with auditions.
There were two separate ones. Most of us came to the second of them. How excited I was - my head full of the story, the characters, the music, the costumes, the emotions of the stories. (I do love to have a theme to be immersed in at any time of life.) And when I walked into that familiar room where we'd practiced so many plays and choir songs before, my old, dear friends and I hugged and chattered in anticipation, just happy in the prospect of being in a Jane Austen play together, no matter what part we received. Of course, my secret wish was to play Elinor - okay, honestly, it was rather a large longing to fulfill a dream of mine... Anyway... I had a script, since our director had asked me to choose between two adaptations, and a friend of mine had ordered it and given it to me, and everyone was given a copy. We sat in a circle and introduced ourselves, even though only one of us had never been in the group before. We each told something unusual about ourselves, which is nothing but an amusing event when it involves my friends... Mine was that I'd been a teenage mutant ninja turtle for Halloween when I was five, and the guys, especially Daniel , were rather impressed. Then I was of course reminded of my great age by no fewer than three people (who would be Hannah, Julie and Daniel - nay, four, for Janae also joined in). Apparently, I am really somewhere in the range of seventy and ninety years old.
After this, we discussed the characters, and were all appalled to hear that someone at the last audition had used the word "cowardly" to describe Edward. So indignant, in fact, that our director was compelled to cross it out. Her action I heartily approve of, since, not even in my lowest opinion of Edward have I ever thought of him as a coward - quite the opposite, in fact, for keeping his engagement with Lucy, even in the face of his family's fury and Lucy's incompatibility (to put it mildly). It later transpired that it was Bernard who had contributed this description, and Hannah was quite unable to fathom it.
Next we all were asked which character we wanted most, if we particularly cared. About four of us gave Elinor as our first choice, and after our reading through a few scenes that day, I was in much trepidation and near despair of getting the part, because our actresses are phenomenal and all seemed to possess "the presence" our director was looking for in the part on the stage.
Then we were all assigned a part, divided into three groups and got to read trough some scenes. I was honored with reading Elinor in the first scene I read through, doing the very first of her scenes, when the Dashwood ladies come into Norland to find that John and Fanny have already taken over. Hannah was Fanny, who couldn't resist reading her part in the voice of the Fanny from Emma Thompson's adaptation of the movie, and I remember Dyson was Edward, Janae Margaret and Elizabeth Marianne, I think. It was thrilling. I quite enjoyed the Edward scenes with Dyson, which turned out to be a good thing, because he was cast as Colonel Brandon and the Colonel and Elinor have quite a few tete-a-tetes during the play after Marianne runs out of the room upon finding out that it's not Willoughby.
The ladies were sent out of the room and instructed to pick out a speech of Fanny's, Elinor's and Marianne's for each of us to read in succession for our director - in front of each other and everyone else...After discussion we chose Marianne's recollection of Willoughby's last evening which takes place in the scene when she receives his crushing letter. Then our director informed us that she would like everyone to read Elinor's longest speech...when she pours out her heart to Marianne. I think we all gaped in intimidation when we saw it.. Needless to say, everyone was good, and I know I was really almost in despair of getting Elinor after that.
I wanted the part more than ever, too, after reading Elinor and Edward's first tete-a-tete, for it made me giggle out loud the first time I read it, it was so charming. It still makes me giggle every time we do it. ("Mr Ferrars, you know perfectly well that is a drawing of our dog, Crabbe...")
Then off we went to wonder and hope and focus on being excited merely to be in a Jane Austen play!
(I gave my friends a play-by-play that night when I was over at their house planning their brother's wedding, since I kept checking my phone to see my director's periodic Facebook updates as she posted the cast list. It was a most nerve-wracking experience. For her computer kept freezing in between each post! The men were first, and, as Lauren and I had predicted, Nathanael was cast as Edward - perfect. Unsurprisingly, Daniel was Willoughby, Dyson was Colonel Brandon and Michael was Sir John. Next were the "minor" ladies parts: Betsey the maid, Mrs Palmer, Mrs Jennings, Fanny, Mrs Dashwood, Lucy... but no Elinor or Marianne...and my name no where to be found...AT LAST, : Elinor = me - well, me and Angie, for she had decided to split the two man roles. Hannah was Angie's Marianne, and the unknown Cami was mine. Sigh of unbelief. Surely I was dreaming. I
am playing Elinor. I can immerse myself in understanding and feeling with this beautiful character. I get to bring her to life. I get to pretend to
be here all Summer! I felt like fireworks were going off inside me! I knew it would be unforgettable, and it has been.)
