I've always wanted to be an actor on stage. I knew my skills weren't up to much, so I was thrilled to see an advert in the local paper from a little theatre company. They were casting for a new play and auditions were next weekend.
I duly arrived at the stage door on Saturday as the advert had requested. I was expecting to see others there, but it seems I was the only applicant!
I was ushered in to meet the director and some other cast members. They looked like a ragtag group of six people of varying ages, apart from one woman who stood out from the rest. She was taller than average and looked very attractive with a blond bob hairstyle. I guessed she was in her mid-thirties.
After some initial introductions, the director asked if I could read a part from the script. It was only short, and I managed it without fumbling the words. And that was it, my audition was complete, and I was welcomed into the cast.
The play was about a retired headmaster and the relationships between his family and the local community. To be honest, I thought it was a bit weak, but it transpired it was the first writing effort of the director. My role was the family gardener but also an understudy to the headmaster. The headmaster was played by Robert, a man in his fifties, who, by all accounts, had been a teacher in the past.
All the cast were lovely, and we had a great time during rehearsals. The only problem was the leading lady who was played by Alice, the blond whom I'd met on the first day. She was playing the role of the headmaster's errant daughter. She was very aloof and thought she was better than everyone else in the room. Despite my best efforts, she treated me like dirt and made no effort towards the rest of the cast.
In the last scene in act one, the headmaster runs out of patience with his daughter and has to give her a sound thrashing over the desk in his study.
This was my favourite part of the play, seeing Alice being caned by Robert whilst bending over his desk. It was all done in the best possible taste. Alice was bent facing the audience, and Robert was behind her. From that angle, no one could see that Alice had padding in her costume and that Robert wasn't swinging the cane very hard. But from the audience's view, it looked very realistic, and Alice acted as if she were being caned.
Opening night was a great success, and we got favourable reviews in the local press. During the nightly performances, I managed to watch the caning scene from the wings and saw how Alice slipped a pad into the back of her dress just before Robert started caning her. She was very subtle, and none of this was visible to the audience. Robert had to raise her dress as if he were caning her on her knickers. From my viewpoint, I could see her beautiful long legs and the pad stuffed in her knickers. I was often joined backstage by other cast members to watch this scene. I heard one comment that she should be caned for real because of the way she treated the cast.
The day before our last two performances, Robert called in sick, apologising profusely. As an understudy, this meant I had to take his place. I knew the lines, but I'd never rehearsed on stage with Alice. There wasn't any difficult staging in the role, so I was confident I could manage. As a bonus, it meant I could give Alice the cane at the end of Act One.
The pad that she slipped into her knickers just before the caning scene was hidden from view behind a briefcase on the headmaster's desk. Wanting to take Alice down a peg or two and give her a real taste of the cane, I took the chance to move the pad and put it into the desk drawer.
The caning scene arrived, and I delivered my line from the front of the stage. I knew that Alice would normally have been behind me, surreptitiously putting the pad down her knickers. I finished my line and turned to face her, telling her to bend over the desk for six of the best. She looked anxiously at me and whispered quietly that the pad was missing. As I positioned her over the desk, I whispered back, saying I knew nothing about a pad, and perhaps we should have rehearsed on stage together.