It was oh so typical of the chaos that habitually hijacked her life that she had two of her biggest career highlights in one day. The first screening of the Academy’s Netflix documentary was tonight – and she was beyond excited to see to what extent she featured in it. Even though she was a full-time acting and vocal coach there, she had absolutely no insight into the cut. Worst-case scenario was that the producers hadn’t found her interesting, and she’d get no screen time at all. Best-case scenario was that the cameras had caught her doing some impressive work that would lead to other offers in the industry.
Like most professional actors, she’d spent her life dreaming of the big role that would launch her career, but she was twenty-five now and it still hadn’t happened, despite a drama degree and years of relentless graft on her part. Landing the job at the Academy had been a wonderful boost to her aspirations though, as it allowed her to work with other artists, share her passion for the dramatic arts with the students and perform in the Academy shows, sometimes with world-famous actors that showed up as a fundraising favour to the founder, Ollie. It also allowed her to eat and pay her rent, without having to work every spare hour in her sister, Alyssa’s café. But the single most valuable aspect of the job was that Moira Chiles, who ran the Academy, understood that most of her coaches were performers who hadn’t given up their dreams, so she had a policy that allowed them to take time off for auditions.
Today, Ginny had perhaps the biggest opportunity of her career to date – she was auditioning for the role of Mary Magdalene in the touring production of the smash hit,Judas – The Traitor. And yes, she had heard about the role because her boyfriend of five years, the lovely Caden, played the lead role and he’d mentioned that the current Miss Magdalene had just found out she was pregnant. No word on the identity of the father, but the smart money was on either Pontius Pilate or St Peter, who’d both been spotted getting cosy with Mary in previous months.
Ginny’s agent had immediately forwarded her audition reel to the show’s producers, and here it was – today she was going to have the opportunity to land a lead role in a major production. Success on screen in film or television had always been her ambition, but she adored theatre too, and most importantly, this would give her a chance to make a full-time living from performing – something she’d been dreaming of since she was five years old and belting out Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ in her Primary one classroom. With full sassy actions. Her mother had been called to the school to have a word with a concerned headmistress.
Anyway, fast-forward twenty years and this was it. She’d been rehearsing two of the songs from the show – “He Doesn’t See Me Now” and “The Broken Piece Of My Heart” in her sleep for the last fortnight.
‘No mixed feelings?’ Caden asked, pushing himself up in bed. ‘You’re sure this is what you want? Life on the road can be tough.’
‘Of course it’s what I want. For so many reasons,’ she answered honestly. ‘I mean, obviously there’s the drawback that I’ll have to look at your dodgy big face every day…’ She tried, but couldn’t suppress her grin as she said it, because they both knew that was far from an issue. There was a reason that he featured heavily in the promo pics for the show. And besides the view, having the chance to be a normal couple, waking up next to him every morning, even if it was in a different city every few weeks, definitely wouldn’t be a hardship. He’d been on tour for the entirety of their relationship. She was ready for a bit more consistency.
‘My dodgy big face?’ he asked her, pulling her towards him.
‘Yup. It’s an affliction,’ Ginny shot back, with a cackle. Before his dodgy big face landed on top of hers, she wriggled out from underneath him, to answer the phone that had begun to ring on her bedside table. ‘Alyssa’ flashed on the screen, together with a photo of her and her sister when they were about seven and ten and in their Spice Girls era. Of course, Ginny was Sporty Spice, complete with the trackie her gran had bought her in the sale at JD Sports, and Alyssa had her blonde hair in bunches as Baby Spice.
‘Yes, I know! I’m up and on my way. And I will love you for ever for coming to get me. And yes, I know you’ve brought me a caramel latte because you love me. And of course I’ll mention you in my Oscars speech when I get there one day because it’s the only way I can pay back all the money you’ve loaned me for the last decade… How many did I get right?’
Ginny had flicked to speaker, so Caden could hear the reply too. ‘I’ve brought you a caramel latte. I don’t believe another word that just came out of your mouth.’
‘And that’s why you should have been a detective. You’re wasted in that café.’
Alyssa owned a fine establishment called the Once Upon a Time Café in Weirbridge, the little village they grew up in. Six months ago, the café had moved into a new building and now shared a large retail space with a hairdressing salon, Copper Curls. The salon owner, Jessie McLean, was a lovely lady who had known Ginny all her life, and who’d offered to give her a blow-dry for her audition today. Not that Mary Magdalene was famous for her bouncy blow-dry, but still. At least if the audition went tits up (again, not a phrase in the vocabulary of the part she was auditioning for), she’d look great at the screening of the documentary tonight.
Ginny put one foot on the floor. ‘I’ll be down in five minutes.’
‘Not sure I believe that either. But hurry up. The aircon in the van isn’t working and I’m not opening the windows because they might not go back up again.’ Alyssa had used the same old van for cake deliveries for years and she couldn’t afford to replace it, because she’d blown every penny she had on decorating the café after it had relocated to the new space.
Ginny was out of bed in a heartbeat and pulling on her very best Lipsy lounge set – cream jersey trousers and a matching T-shirt. Thankfully, she’d showered last night before she went to sleep, and she could shower again in the staffroom at the café/salon. It was one of the nice touches that Alyssa had put in when she’d taken it over – mostly because she worked sixteen-hour days and often needed an early-afternoon shower to keep her awake.
There was no one on earth that Ginny admired more than Alyssa – except perhaps the holy trio of Meryl Streep, Margot Robbie and Kate Winslet – but she doubted that even they had the combination of unparalleled grind, social conscience and baking skills that fuelled her sister. Actually, half-sister as they had different dads – a little nugget of information they’d only found out the previous year. It hadn’t made a bit of difference to their relationship, as shown by her sister’s willingness to come and collect her on the way back from picking up fresh blooms on a dawn visit to the flower market in the city centre. Alyssa refused to use plastic ones for the table centrepieces – said her regulars liked the real thing and it added a special touch to the tables.
Ginny nipped into the bathroom to brush her teeth, then, back in the bedroom, forced her feet into her trusty platform Ugg Tazz shoes, grabbed the hanger from the back of the wardrobe and the bag that sat below it. She swooped back down to Caden’s ‘dodgy big face’ and gave him one last kiss.
‘Wish me luck. I’ll see you there,’ she said, adrenaline coursing as it did every time she thought about the audition and the life it could bring her. Caden would be present when she sang in front of the show’s director and that gave her a small tug of comfort. This was a chance for her first major role. Her big break. And the opportunity to go on the road and live with Caden full-time. It didn’t get any better than that. It would be like all her Christmases coming at once. Wouldn’t it? Okay, so there was one large, looming drawback, that she refused to contemplate while she was on a high. Compartmentalisation was up there with her vocal range and ability to deliver an emotional line on her list of strengths and qualities.
Three flights of stairs later (she vowed her next flat would have a lift), she jumped into the passenger seat of Alyssa’s van and sniffed the air as she mused, ‘Hydrangeas. With top notes of chocolate brownie and bottom notes of fudge doughnuts.’
‘It freaks me out when you do that,’ Alyssa said, chuckling as she cranked the gearstick into first gear and took off. They were driving out of the city towards Weirbridge, so hopefully they would avoid the rush-hour traffic, as most of it was coming the other way.
‘So, on a scale of one to ten – how overexcited are you about your audition today?’ Alyssa asked, keeping her eyes on the road, but grinning.
‘Definitely a ten. Definitely.’ It was entirely convincing… to anyone apart from the person who knew her better than the rest of the world.
‘But…?’ Baby Spice drilled down.
‘But… nothing. No “buts”. It’s all good. I’m definitely a ten.’
They’d stopped at a traffic light, giving Alyssa the opportunity to fix her gaze on her, the same one used by trained interrogators. ‘But…?’ she repeated.
Ginny cracked as that looming drawback spilled out. ‘But I’ll really miss my job at the Academy and I’m not sure I’m cut out for theatre because that was never the dream but it’ll be an incredible opportunity and hopefully it’ll lead to an amazing TV or movie role and at least I’ll get to be with Caden every night.’ She said all of that with no punctuation and without stopping for breath. There it was. The one niggling doubt she’d been keeping in the compartment.
Alyssa took all that in calmly, as she got the green light to drive onwards. ‘Are you saying that because you really mean it or because you’re freaking out, self-sabotaging and making pre-emptive consolations in case you don’t get it? Or do you really have doubts?’
Ginny’s whole body sagged against a spring that was sticking out of the back panel of her seat. ‘Probably a bit of both. I do love theatre, but I’d be tying my life up for the next year and I won’t be able to go for anything that comes up in TV. Not that I’ve had producers banging my door down at any point in my career so far. But what if my dream screen role comes up and I can’t go for it because I’m entertaining the masses on a fourteen-night run on the Isle of Man?’
‘Does the show have dates on the Isle of Man?’ Alyssa asked.
