The Strangling on the Stage (2 page)

Jude had been dragged along as support to a selection of West Sussex's church halls where her friend had been appearing with one or other of the local amateur dramatic societies. And though a few of the productions had been a bit ropey, Storm Lavelle had always shone in the not very glittering company. Acting was also a fad that she had stuck with. Whatever else was going on in her life, she was usually involved in rehearsal for some play or other. Jude, whose earlier career as a model had led to a year or two of acting, recognized genuine talent and was sure that her friend had it. Whether Storm also had the temperament and tenacity to pursue the theatre as a full-time career Jude was less certain.

Which prompted her next question. ‘Do you mean concentrate on it exclusively? Make it your profession?'

‘I wouldn't rule that out,' replied Storm, with a new confidence in her voice. ‘I'm certainly going to take it more seriously, concentrate on getting better as an actor.' Jude was amused that the politically correct fashion of not using the word ‘actress' had permeated the amateur section of the business.

‘My quality is beginning to be recognized,' Storm went on. ‘I'm being given better parts. I've just got a really good one with SADOS.'

She pronounced the acronym ‘Say-doss', but Jude had to confess that the word meant nothing to her.

‘SADOS,' said Storm, ‘is the “Smalting Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society”.'

‘Ah.'

‘They've just held auditions for
The Devil's Disciple
and I've got the part of Judith Anderson.'

Jude had once again to admit ignorance. ‘I've heard the title vaguely somewhere, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about it.'

Storm had clearly done her homework. ‘It's one of George Bernard Shaw's earliest plays. Set during the American War of Independence. And it's about this bad American guy called Dick Dudgeon who's going to be hanged by the British because he's been mistaken for the good American pastor called Anthony Anderson …'

‘Sounds a bit like
A Tale of Two Cities
.'

‘I don't know that play, I'm afraid. But, anyway, Judith is Anthony Anderson's wife and she's really conflicted, because she hates Dick Dudgeon, but at the same time she's very drawn to him.' It didn't sound as if this summary was Storm's own, more as if she were quoting someone. ‘And the play's also an attack on puritanism, and reiterates the common theme in Shaw of how people should stand up against convention if they think that convention's wrong. At least,' she concluded, ‘that's what Neville thinks.'

‘Who's Neville?'

‘Neville Prideaux. He's playing General Burgoyne in
The Devil's Disciple
. He's actually quite important in SADOS. Particularly on the Play Selection Committee. He says Shaw's out of fashion, but he doesn't deserve to be. And he thinks that SADOS ought to do more challenging work, not just their usual safe diet of light comedies, Agatha Christies and episodes from television series.'

‘Sorry? What do you mean – “episodes from television series”?'

‘Oh, it's quite a popular thing now with amdrams. An evening of three episodes of something like
Fawlty Towers
or
Dad's Army
.'

‘Yowch!' said Jude, as the ghastly image of local thespians doing their impressions of John Cleese and Arthur Lowe encroached on her imagination.

‘Well, Neville says doing them is retrogressive.'

‘I would agree with Neville on that.'

‘But they are very popular with audiences.'

‘Presumably because said audiences know every word of the script off by heart.'

‘I think that could be part of it, yes. Anyway, Neville says that SADOS should make a stand against putting on that sort of stuff. He even thought last year's production of
Calendar Girls
was too lightweight. And that's a play about cancer.'

No, it's not, thought Jude. It's a play about women taking their tops off. She was constantly amazed by the British prurient attitude to nudity, which explained the disproportionate success of shows like
Calendar Girls
. It seemed that members of every amateur dramatic society in the country couldn't wait to get their wizened tits out.

But Storm was still continuing her encomium of Neville Prideaux. ‘He says there's a wonderful archive of great plays which deserve revival much more than any trivial TV sitcom.'

The devoutness with which Storm was quoting the great Neville Prideaux made Jude wonder if, with Paul out of the way, he was about to be the next recipient of her all-embracing adoration.

She reached for a bottle on her mantelpiece. ‘Just finish off the massage with some lavender essential oil. You happy with that?'

‘Great,' said Storm, as Jude, with oil rubbed on to her hands, started kneading her friend's shoulders.

‘And it's because of Neville's views that you're doing
The Devil's Disciple
– is that right?'

‘Exactly. Neville says it would do the people of Smalting good to have their brains engaged by something they see in the theatre.'

‘I'm sure it would.'

‘Anyway, as I say, I'm delighted to have got the part of Judith Anderson. Though I say it myself, I knew I was the best person in the Society to play it, but I was still very nervous about the audition.'

‘Why was that?'

Storm gave a conspiratorial wink. ‘Oh, wheels within wheels. There's a lot of politics in SADOS. You see, there's this kind of diva called Elizaveta Dalrymple, who's the widow of Freddie Dalrymple, who's the guy who started the Society, and she's very much its social hub. Holds these little parties on Saturdays that she calls her “drinkies things” and if you're invited to one of those you really know you've arrived in SADOS. Anyway, Elizaveta is kind of used to getting all the major parts in the shows – even ones that she's far too old for. And she's very in with Davina Vere Smith, who's actually directing
The Devil's Disciple
, and with quite a lot of the older members. So I thought there was a real danger that Judith Anderson, who's meant to be – what, thirty? – well, that the part would go to Elizaveta Dalrymple, who's got to be seventy – and that's being generous.'

‘But instead you triumphed?'

‘Yes. Well, as I said, I was definitely the best person for the part.' In spite of the vagaries and vulnerabilities in other areas of her life, Storm Lavelle was very assured about her acting skills. And indeed it was when witnessing one of her performances that Jude had seen her friend at her most confident. Maybe getting into the professional theatre would be the resolution of Storm's personality problems. Not of course that getting into the professional theatre was an easy thing to be achieved by a woman in her forties.

‘And have you actually started rehearsals for the play yet?'

‘Read-through on Sunday. Open on the twelfth of May.'

‘Wow! Three months' rehearsal. A lot of professional theatres would kill for that amount of time.'

‘Maybe, but you forget that we aren't doing it full-time. Most of the cast have day jobs.'

‘Yes, of course. I wasn't thinking.'

‘So we rehearse Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.'

‘And how many performances do you do?'

‘Just the four. The twelfth of May's a Wednesday, and we go through to the Saturday. SADOS used to open on Tuesdays and throw in a Saturday matinee as well, but they can't get the audiences for that many performances now.'

‘Ah.' Jude removed her hands from Storm's body and rubbed the oil off them with a towel. ‘That's you done,' she said. ‘Unknotted a few of the knots, I hope?'

‘Great, as ever. Thank you, Jude.'

‘My pleasure. I'm sure I'll soon be asking you to do the same for me. Anyway, good luck with the read-through on Sunday.'

‘Yes, I'm a bit nervous about it. Excited too, but at the moment mainly nervous.'

‘I'm sure you'll be fine.'

‘Oh, I will … once the read-through actually starts. But, you see, the thing is … Ritchie Good's playing Dick Dudgeon.'

‘Is he?' said Jude, though neither of the names meant anything to her. ‘Should I know him?'

‘Ritchie Good? Surely you've heard of him?'

‘No.'

‘Oh, he's a terrific actor. Everyone says he should have done it professionally. He's played star parts with lots of local groups – the Fedborough Thespians, the Clincham Players, the Worthing Rustics – Ritchie's acted with all of them. He even played Hamlet for the Rustington Barnstormers.'

‘Did he?' said Jude, trying to sound appropriately impressed.

‘He's really good. Somebody must have pulled out all the stops to get him for the SADOS. I suppose it might have been Davina, though I'd be surprised if she had the clout to persuade someone like Ritchie Good.'

‘Davina?'

‘Davina Vere Smith. She's the director. I said.'

‘Yes, I'm sorry.'

‘He's incredibly good-looking, Ritchie. Got quite a following in the amdram world.'

Jude wondered for a moment whether it would be this new paragon, Ritchie Good, rather than Neville Prideaux who was about to be the recipient of Storm Lavelle's full-on adoration.

Her friend was on the way to the door when she stopped and said, ‘Ooh, one thing, Jude …'

‘Yes.'

Storm looked around the cluttered room, whose furniture was all covered with rugs and throws. ‘I just wondered if you'd still got …?'

A wry smile came to Jude's full lips as she said, ‘You mean the chaise longue?'

‘Yes.'

Jude moved across to remove a light-blue woollen blanket she'd bought in Morocco and reveal the article under discussion. The chaise longue had come from a little antique shop in Minchinhampton, picked up when she'd been on a trip to the Cotswolds with her second husband. It had been a stage of her life when Jude had been moving away from the husband and towards the idea of becoming a healer. She had thought the chaise longue might possibly do service as a treatment couch, but when she'd got it home she found it to be too low for such a purpose. She had hung on to it, though, and it had moved with her from address to address when other pieces of furniture had been abandoned.

She didn't know how old it was, and the antique dealer who sold the thing to her had been pretty vague on the subject. ‘Mid to late Victorian, possibly Edwardian' was as specific as he had got. The base, he said, ‘might be mahogany', though Jude thought it was probably a cheaper wood stained to look like mahogany. The upholstery, he felt sure, was not original, but Jude had become quite fond over the years of the purplish flowered print, even though it was usually covered with the Moorish drape. She liked using the chaise longue in the winter months, moving it near the fire, making sure she had an adequate supply of tea, crumpets and books before snuggling under the cover.

Many chaises longues have a supporting arm along one side, but Jude's didn't. And this had proved of great benefit in its life outside Woodside Cottage.

Because her chaise longue was a much borrowed piece of furniture. And it was always borrowed by the same kind of people – amateur dramatic groups. A chaise longue was so versatile. Any play set in any historical period looked better with a chaise longue as part of its setting. And Jude's armless chaise longue was much loved by directors, because they could set it facing the audience on either the right- or the left-hand side of the stage.

Not even counting the times it had been borrowed before, since Jude came to Fethering her chaise longue had featured in most of the church halls of the area in a variety of thespian endeavours. It had been a shoo-in for a part in
Robert and Elizabeth
, the musical about the poet Browning and his wife, and appeared in more than one stage version of
Pride and Prejudice
. Jude's chaise longue had also taken the stage in
The Winslow Boy
,
Arsenic and Old Lace
(twice) and virtually the entire
oeuvre
of Oscar Wilde. It had even, tarted up in gold foil, provided a suitable surface for the Egyptian queen to be poisoned on by an asp in
Antony and Cleopatra
.

And now, Jude intuited, it might be about to make an appearance in George Bernard Shaw's
The Devil's Disciple
.

So it proved. Storm wondered tentatively whether it might be possible for the SADOS to impose on Jude's generosity to borrow …? The permission was readily given. Jude's sitting room also contained a sofa which could be moved near the fire for the tea, crumpet and book routine, so the chaise longue would not be missed. The only questions really were when would it be needed, and how should it be got to where it needed to be got to.

The answer to the first was as soon as possible, because when Davina Vere Smith was directing she liked to use all the furniture and props right from the beginning of rehearsals. And the chaise longue needed to be got to St Mary's Church Hall in Smalting. Once in situ it could stay there because there was a storeroom the SADOS were allowed to use for their props and things. In fact, they were lucky enough to be able to hold most of their rehearsals in the Hall, which was of course where the performances would take place in May.

‘That's very convenient for you,' said Jude. ‘So what, will someone come and pick the chaise longue up from here?'

‘Yes, that would be good, wouldn't it?' Storm agreed. ‘Trouble is, I've only got my Smart car and it'd never fit in there. And Gordon – that's Gordon Blaine, who's in charge of all the backstage stuff for SADOS – well, normally he'd pick it up, but his Land Rover's got some problem that he's busy repairing at the moment and … You can't think of any way of getting it to St Mary's Hall, can you, Jude?'