No Rules To Love

Chapter Six:

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 were doing 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 were a necessity. 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 could 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 had 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 were already there, but there weren't the same amount of people at the beginning of the week. I guess most of the cast had gotten over the fact that Hunter was going to be here every day.

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

Over the past couple of days, Hunter and I had behaved quite civilised towards each other. We were far from best friends, but we weren't mortal enemies either. He was still 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 that was why I had concluded it was a slip of his tongue. I even considered the fact that he could've 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 that 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 feeling 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. There was also an air of sadness floating 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, we would not see most of these people again. And that was a very weird feeling. Though it was a feeling I knew I had to get used to.

I was feeling 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 knew I'd have to get to know people, get friendly with people and leave them a hell of a lot in the career that I wanted. So, this was a 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.