Stagefright by Carole Wilkinson Read Free Book Online Page A

said. “Very romantic.”
    “It’s a boys’ play,” Velvet said. “We should have done
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
or
Much Ado about Nothing
.”
    “Quit whinging,” Drago said. “We’re not changing now.”
    “It’s all right for you,” Roula continued to whinge. “You’ve got the main part, you’ll be in practically every scene.”
    Mr MacDonald waved his spoon. “Perhaps we can add another scene for Lady Anne. Velvet, I want you to do some research. Find out something about Anne that we can work in.”
    “Okay. Does that mean I can play Lady Anne?”
    “Acting is only part of a production, Velvet. We’ve also got to adapt the play for our purposes. There’s no point in having good actors if the script isn’t good first. The scriptwriter is very important.”
    Velvet liked the idea of being a scriptwriter.
    “We’ll do the female roles next week,” Mr Mac said. “Let’s finish casting the boys.”
    He turned to the next page of his script.
    “This scene is where Richard has his brother Clarence murdered.”
    “Great,” said Jesus, cheering up. “How does he get it? A bullet in the head? A sword in the guts?”
    “He hires two guys to do it for him. It’s actually a comic scene. They can’t decide how to do the deed. In fact they get cold feet and don’t want to do it at all. In the end they stab him and then drown him in a barrel of wine.”
    “Sounds like a stupid way to kill somebody.”
    “There’s heaps of male characters,” Hailie complained. “We haven’t got enough guys to play them all.”
    “We needn’t have all of them.” Mr MacDonald started writing a list on the back of his script. “King Edward can die offstage, so we don’t need him. We can forget about most of the minor characters. Buckingham is important though. He’s a loyal friend and ally to Richard, but Richard has him killed in the end. Peter how do you feel about playing the Duke of Buckingham?”
    Peter shrugged. A shrug was what passed for, “Yeah I’d love to” with Yarrabank boys.
    “Taleb, you can be Clarence.”
    “The one who gets drowned in the wine?”
    “Yep.”
    “What about me?” Jesus asked.
    “I’ve got the very part for you – the Earl of Richmond. He’s the guy who kills Richard in the battle at the end. He becomes the next king of England.”
    “Sounds great.”
    Velvet was worried about Jesus’s acting ability. “Does he have to say much?”
    “Hardly anything.”
    “The part’s yours, Jesus,” Velvet said.
    Everyone laughed – even Jesus.
    They went home fifteen minutes early and Velvet walked to the train station with the other girls.
    “Isn’t Peter nice?” Hailie said. “He’s so thoughtful.”
    “Looks like you’ve got your sights set on him,” Roula said.
    “I’m going to be his first girlfriend.”
    “I wonder how come he’s never had one before?” Velvet said.
    “He’s just shy. He needs an experienced woman to show him the way.”
    “And that’s you is it, Hailie?” Velvet said. “You haven’t even reached puberty yet.”
    “Cow,” Hailie snapped.
    “Anyway, I thought you were going out with Nestor Szkaley?”
    Hailie looked at Velvet in disbelief. “That was in first term! I’ve had at least four boyfriends since then.”
    “Did you hook up with Dylan Harrison yet?” Roula asked.
    “Yeah.”
    Velvet was horrified.
    “You don’t mean you … you didn’t …?”
    “You’re so dumb, Velvet. Seriously.”
    “I tongue kissed him and he …”
    “Yuk, I don’t want to hear about it!”
    “I s’pose you’ll pash Drago soon. Since you and him are gonna write stuff together.”
    “No way!” The thought of kissing Drago made Velvet want to retch. “I just want the play to happen. It could be good.”
    “Could be a total disaster.”
    Roula was bored with this artistic talk. “Tell us about Dylan. What happened when you went bowling on the weekend?”
    “Well he … ”
    Velvet rammed in her earbuds and turned up “The Music