No Rules To Love

Chapter Six -Part One

I pushed open the doors to the auditorium with heavy arms. A yawn escaped from my mouth. I looked over at Ashley and Michael, who did the same thing as me; we were almost all in sync.

This is what tech rehearsals did to us.

I hated tech rehearsals, but they remained a necessity in the business. Without tech rehearsals, we wouldn’t have the sound and lighting effects. We needed these effects to make the show even better. Sure, your performance could be great, but it would be dull without lighting and sound. It also wouldn’t be very appealing to audience members. So, in short, tech rehearsals were kind of important.

But they were still a pain in the arse.

These rehearsals were more for the technical crew, so they had a chance to get to grips with what they were doing. But performers were still required. We needed to know how the lighting would affect us. Which meant that we all had to get up in the morning at an obscene hour to head to the auditorium. And we never knew when the rehearsal finished, so it could be late at night by the time we got back home.

The rehearsals usually comprised us topping and tailing each scene. That meant that we would only do the opening or closing of the scene. This was so the techies could work on the lighting and sound, especially for the scene changes. So, all we had to do was — if we weren’t already standing about, doing nothing — redo the same part of a scene over and over again. But, as I’d mentioned, the show would be no good if we had crap sound and lighting effects.

All three of us crawled to our seats at the front of the auditorium and fell into them in one simultaneous motion. A couple of other people already sat around, but nowhere near the same number of people as at the beginning of the week. I guess most of the cast had gotten over the fact that Hunter would be there every day.

Personally, I got over that fact a long time ago.

Over the past couple of days, Hunter and I behaved quite civilised towards each other. We were far from best friends, but not mortal enemies, either. He remained his usual big-headed self, asking to sing or read-in wherever possible, to show off his talents. He also hadn’t complimented me since that first day, so I’d concluded it was a slip of his tongue. I even considered the fact that he complimented himself, but I overheard him. I wouldn’t put it past him.

A few more people arrived. They were as tired as us, and the auditorium soon filled up. Ms Carter stepped onto the stage to greet us all. Hunter wasn’t too far behind, and it seemed he had taken up the assistant director role.

“Well done on your first tech rehearsal yesterday.” Ms Carter addressed us all. “I appreciate how long and difficult tech rehearsals can be, as I’m sure most of you will understand. We only have a few more days of tech, so don’t worry. We move on to the dress rehearsal on Thursday, before opening night on Friday.”

The whole auditorium buzzed with excitement about our impending show. But there was still a mutual energy of anxiousness and nervousness. Who in their right mind would be completely fine with the idea of performing in front of potential employers? No-one, that’s who. An air of sadness also floated around the place, and it was palpable. This was the very last show we would perform as students at Mountview. Most of these people will go on to do different things, and we may never see them again. After three years of such an intense course, a lot of these people would be out of my life forever. And that was a very weird feeling. Though I understood I had to get used to this.

I experienced a mixture of those emotions. The idea of performing excited me, as it always did. But I was also quite nervous. I had the lead role, and this was a terrific opportunity to get spotted. But I also didn’t want to leave this elite group of people behind. Though I understood I’d have to acquaint myself with cast members, get friendly with them and leave them a hell of a lot in the career that I wanted. So, this was good practice in a way. And there was also a high chance that some of us would book the same job, so it wouldn’t be goodbye forever.

But mostly, the impending performance excited me. We were due to open the show on Friday night and perform twice on Saturday. One was a matinée performance in the afternoon, and then we would perform again in the evening. I knew that the Saturday night performance would mean the most to me. It was the last time I would perform at Mountview full stop, never mind perform West Side Story. As well as the normal nerves I would experience for a performance, we had sold the Saturday night performance out. Agents and directors looking for brand-new talent had already claimed most of the seats. So, I would be extra nervous. Plus, my parents were coming all the way from Manchester to see me at my last performance.

And that was enough to make anyone nervous.

“Now, I have to run some errands with the marketing team.” Ms Carter said, bringing me out of my daydream with the abrupt reality. “So, I’ll leave you in the more than capable hands of the tech team. I’ll also leave you under the watch of Hunter. He’s going to be an extra pair of eyes and treat him as your director. Follow his directions. I know you will anyway, but it can’t hurt to remind you.”

At Ms Carter’s words, Hunter flashed everyone a smile that was (although I hated to admit it) dazzling. He made eye contact with me in particular, knowing it would rile me up. I tried not to roll my eyes because I didn’t want anyone to question my distaste for Hunter. His ego was already humongous as it was. He didn’t need to be awarded a leadership position. He would go on such a power trip and with it being this close to the show, and I didn’t know if I could have handled that at all. A plan to annoy me was already in the works, I could tell. Wasn’t he supposed to be professional?

Ms. Carter checked her watch. “And that is my cue to leave.” She smiled at everyone in the auditorium. “Break a leg, today guys, I’m sure you’ll all be perfect as usual. Have a wonderful day!”

And with that, she made her exit.

As soon as Ms Carter started to make her exit, Hunter took her place at the centre of the stage. It was a place I was sure he felt most at home. He clapped his hands together, with an excited but mischievous glint in his eyes. “Shall we get started?” He exclaimed.