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The night before the performance, Anuj was rehearsing the scenes with his colleagues. He was playing two roles—of the “Charitable Man” and the “Ghost of the Christmas Present.” This meant he had to change his costume and makeup twice in the play.
Both characters were powerful. The “Charitable Man” approaches Scrooge in the beginning asking for charity and is chased away by Scrooge saying that the poor are better off dying or sent to prison. The “Ghost of the Christmas Present” takes Scrooge to his clerk Bob Cratchit’s house and makes him realise how poor his clerk was, primarily because of Scrooge’s stinginess.
The characters were great. And so were the dialogues. But Anuj felt something was missing. Whenever he mouthed his lines, he couldn’t just portray the real emotions. Was it stage fright? Or that he had suppressed his emotions for far too long? The curse of being a man and the burdens of adulthood? He wasn’t quite sure.
Anuj had memorised his lines alright. But the problem was in the delivery. Whenever he spoke, his lines felt hollow to him.
The rehearsals were done on an empty stage with no one watching. Anuj knew that the lines would be more difficult when the auditorium would be jam-packed.
He hoped for a miracle...
***
The night of 15 December arrived. The crowd started to pour in the Netherhall auditorium with the smart ones making a beeline for the seats with a better view. It was soon full house.
In the Green Room, Anuj heard of a lot of commotion and knew the audience had arrived. It was going to be a challenging night. He felt the pressure to give a memorable performance, and NOT a lukewarm one.
The lights dimmed, and the curtains rose. The play began. Anuj had donned his costume—a black overcoat over a Victorian white shirt—and was waiting for his entry. He could sense a burning sensation in his stomach—argh, those damned butterflies.
Soon his turn came. Putting on a Victorian hat, he moved to the centre stage. The jam-packed auditorium looked so different. He saw the faces of spectators—all looked excited. But then he saw a recognisable face sitting in the front row. It was Ella!
Anuj was touched that Ella had taken the trouble to occupy one of the front seats to cheer him up. Her warm eyes did a strange thing to Anuj. He felt a different source of energy pouring inside him as if someone had opened a tap. Or that someone had opened the doors to his emotions. He looked at Ella one more time and then started delivering his dialogues.
His voice now sounded so powerful to him. All emotionally charged. It was the same when he played the “Ghost of the Christmas Present.” Ella had unlocked his repressed emotions. His dialogues were flowing non-stop. He was getting lost in his own energy.
For a moment, Anuj felt like a narcissist. His voice was sounding good to him. Too good to be true. Was it real? Or was he dreaming?
When his part was over, the audience jumped to their feet and applauded loudly. That was the time Anuj knew he had been successful. His voice had not only sounded good to him, but it had also managed to move the audience with its force. That was some validation!
When he walked back to the dressing room, his fellow actors congratulated him for an outstanding performance.
Anuj knew this wasn’t possible without the magic of Ella’s presence. Her eyes and smile had done the trick, by pulling the right strings of his heart.
When the play was over, Ella came and congratulated him.
“You were fabulous,” she said.
“Thanks. But you made it possible,” said Anuj.
Ella looked surprised. And confused.
“Me? And pray how?”
Anuj paused for a few moments. Then he said:
“Because you bothered to come to cheer me up. Thank you so much. There is no fun to perform if there is no audience,” said Anuj.
His heart wanted to say something else but Anuj could voice only what he thought would be the right thing to say in front of all his colleagues.
His voice cautioned him again. He was getting too close to a foreign girl, of a different race, religion and cultural moorings.
Watch out!
