Coming events cast their shadows before
(proverb)
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That phrase, word for word, exactly as you heard it, without one syllable altered or twisted, that phrase was the scathing retort I made, at the age of seventeen, to Trent Nugent, who was the artistic director, juvenile lead, and theater blessee of the Willstone Thespians.
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Now I must explain that I had joined the Willstone Thespians for only one reason. Because, at the age of seventeen I had extremely sticking-out ears. I mean extremely. With my flat cap on, the silhouette of my head resembled nothing so much as a Austin Seven with the two side doors open. Which of course made me extremely diffident with girls.?
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And that is actually is what made me join the Willstone Thespians. Because among young men of that day there was a very widely held theory that the best possble way to get girls flocking to you was to be the star in an amateur dramatic society. And of all our local amateur dramatic societies the thespians attracted by far the largest female following.
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This wasn't so much because of the quality of their plays or the standard of their acting.? It was due practically completely that the bloke who printed their posters was a little on the short-sighted side.
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This was demonstrated by the enormous crowds that rushed to see their production of Patrick Hamilton's play Rope and it was a similar error which brought the house-full notices out for Ivor Novello's Careless Rapture.
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But as I say, when I joined them for their winter season my purpose was quite cold-blooded: to work my way up through the company 'till I could take the starring role in The Desert Song.
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I went along at the beginning of the season and presented myself to Trent Nugent. Now there was an insufferable character.? Trent was actually, in the society, more or less all-powerful. ?And accordingly it was to him that I explained that I wanted to end the season as the Red Shadow but until then I was perfectly willing to work my way up to it.
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"All right, very well," he said, ?"In our first production, we'll just give you a walk-on part."?
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Now that expression a walk-on part I took to be the customary theatrical jargon 'till I saw what the first production was: The Bridge of San Luis Rey. And I was to be the bridge.?
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There was apparently some altercation with the scenary builders which meant that I spent the major part of Thornton Wilder's great work stretched out between two paper-mache rocks with hand-rails attached either side of me being walked on.
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Nevertheless I did feel that I'd served the necessary apprenticeship, so when we finally came to the first read-through of The Desert Song I thrust myself in front of the company and without prompting I recited the whole of the Red Shadow part, chucked in a snatch of One Alone to Call My Own, to say nothing of two choruses of the Rift Song.
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When the rest of the cast broke into spontaneous applause I could tell that Trent Nugent was really impressed. He said, "That was very good.? Very good. I think" And he handed me a script. ?"I think you've earned this."
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And when I looked down at the part circled for me my gorge leapt. I was Third Sand Dune.
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I said, "Wait a minute.? What about the Red Shadow?"
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He said, "I'm terribly sorry. but that's quite out of the question.? You see I was cast for that before the season even opened."
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That was where I made that aforementioned retort.
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"In that case," I said, "This amateur dramatic society shouldn't call themselves the Willstone Thespians.? They should call themselves The Coming Events."
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He said, "Why?"
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I said, "Because," without altering or twisting a syllable, "It's Coming Events cast their shadows before."
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Dennis Norden 573a
