of course, I don’t mind, you are a wonderful artist and deserve to work in the best theaters. When do you want to go? – asked Mr. Gould.
– The audition is on Monday, and if I am approved for the role, then rehearsals will begin in two months, in January.
– I assumed that the auditions would take place after the premiere, but you know the role well, so I don’t mind.
– Thank you! I’ll go early in the morning. The auditions are during the day, and in the evening I will have time to come to the rehearsal.
– We already rehearse a lot, you can easily take one day off.
“I promise you, this is the last time.” If they don’t take me this time, I’ll stop trying. On Monday my fate will be decided.
The director looked at the upset Julie and, trying to cheer her up, said:
– Fates are decided not by some theater directors, but by us ourselves, and if they don’t take you, it’s okay. Life doesn’t end there. You have a wonderful role as Rachel, and you will be able to delight the public for many years to come by performing it. Look at the programs we prepared, Chuck just brought them from the printing house.
Julie picked up the theater program, the main page of which was dedicated to their upcoming performance, looked at it and thoughtfully asked:
– Mr. Gould, are you sure that the performance will be a success? We talked with Mr. Drayson yesterday, he doesn’t quite share your optimism, he suggests taking our time and postponing the premiere for a month so that we can do more rehearsals.
Mr. Gould didn’t quite like the idea and even got out of his chair.
“Peter called me today to inquire about my health, and I assured him that everything would be at the highest level, and there was no need to postpone the premiere.
– And what did he answer you?
– He wished me luck and said that he liked our production more and more. There are a lot of mysteries, unpredictable turns, and the viewer will have a lot to think about.
– By the way, why did you like this particular work so much?
Walking over to the desk littered with papers, Mr. Gould took one of the books and handed it to Julie.
“Last spring, after one of our performances, a young man came up to me and said that he was a writer. I remember being so worried that I had difficulty pronouncing my name. Then he handed me this book with the words: “Read it, it describes a wonderful love story.” I was in a hurry, but I took the manuscript, thanked the author, and we said goodbye.
“Before the production, I had never even heard of this writer,” said Miss Blunt, looking at the colorful cover: “Akiva and Rachel. A story of great love.”
“Just like me at that time…” the director answered and continued: “So.” I put the manuscript on the shelf and completely forgot about it. As you know, I regularly visit bookstores and buy books that I plan to read. That evening I prepared two new volumes, began reading one of them, but the book seemed so uninteresting to me that already on the fifth page I closed it. The second one didn’t impress me either, so I put it aside too. Having rummaged around on the shelf in the hope of finding something new, I came across a forgotten book by that young man. Taking it, I thought: “Apparently, disappointment awaits me here too. It will probably be boring and uninteresting, and I won’t even get to the fifth page.” However, to my surprise, I was so carried away by the plot that I finished reading at five o’clock in the morning with tears in my eyes. This book made such an impression on me that the next day I re-read it and decided to make a theatrical production based on it.
Listening to the director, Miss Blunt continued to leaf through the book, at times reading into one passage or another. Then she asked:
– What, the author writes so well?
“He is still young, and he needs to polish his skills, but the love story of the main characters itself is extremely beautiful. As it turned out later, the novel was written based on historical facts, and the love story itself between Akiva and Rachel took place in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. It was practically forgotten, but the author managed to breathe a second life into it, he built the plot so competently that empathy for the characters grows and grows until the very climax.
Looking at his interlocutor, who flipped through the book to the end and began to read the afterword, Mr. Gould continued:
– This book is not about religion, as it might seem at first glance. It tells about the transformation of personality and the power of human love, about the role of a woman in the fate of a man. The fact that love can work miracles and even from an ordinary illiterate shepherd, who only began to study the alphabet at the age of forty, can turn out to be one of the great sages of all times. Akiva managed to achieve this only thanks to his loving wife Rachel, who helped and supported her husband throughout the journey. She sent him money so that Akiva would continue to study, although everyone told her to face the truth, leave this shepherd who does not study, but plays with other women. But she believed, no matter what.
After thinking a little, the director added:
“I don’t know if he will be able to write anything more worthy, but he succeeded in this work – he felt the characters.” You know, this is always visible – the writer’s attitude towards the characters. It is certainly readable… sometimes, perhaps not quite clearly, between the lines, but it is readable.
“I agree with you there,” said Julie. – When a writer does not immerse himself in the plot, in the characters, no matter how brilliantly the book is written, you can immediately feel it.
Miss Blunt put the book on the table and looked thoughtfully at the director.
– After some time, I invited him to the theater, and we agreed on the production… That’s all, actually. In the process of working on the production, I made some changes to the script to give it more dynamism, although I tried to bring our performance as close as possible to the original. As for your question about whether the performance will succeed or not, I think it will be either a resounding success or a resounding failure.
“We will try not to let you down,” Julie assured. – Chuck is also doing everything to prepare for the premiere.
“Yes, Chuck works hard,” Mr. Gould agreed. “If it weren’t for him, I don’t know how I would have coped.” He reassured me, saying that almost everything was ready for the premiere, and what remained to be selected from the props – candlesticks, a couple of mugs and other utensils – I myself wanted to buy at a flea market: after all, you need to choose something special, something that will convey the atmosphere of that era, but nothing suitable was found in the warehouse.
– Do you have to do this yourself, could you send someone? – asked Miss Blunt.
– Julie, you know my method of work, I have to control the entire process: from how to properly arrange the light in each act to the purchase of missing equipment. For a good director, in every scene everything should be carefully selected, thought out to the smallest detail, since the smallest detail is part of a big action, and it should not distract the viewer’s attention from the main thing. I learned this from my theater mentors.
– What days is the flea market open?
– Only on weekends – on Saturday and Sunday until four o’clock. “I was going to go in the morning, but my heart just stopped,” the director put his hand to the left side of his chest. “Now he’ll let me go, and I’ll get ready.” Will you join me?
“It’s already three o’clock and you don’t look good today,” Julie said worriedly. “Your face is red, your blood pressure has probably jumped.” You rest, but