“On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you?” my friend, Sada, texted me at 11am on Sunday morning. I was in the midst of cleaning the house, with a huge list of jobs to be complete before getting to Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in time for the dress rehearsals. With the Soul Sister slot at 3.30pm I was aiming to get my suitcase to the hotel before then. I knew it was tight.
I check my list: walk the dogs; pack my case and Sofie’s; deliver a card to Anais to congratulate her on her confirmation; make up the spare bed for Harrison who is looking after the dogs this evening and numerous jobs for John, my husband and business partner, which he hadn’t got to before he left the house this morning.
I have to let him off the hook, he is the co-creator and co-director of Soul Sister, our new musical inspired by the life and times of Ike and Tina Turner. This show the reason we are invited to the ceremony. We have been nominated in the category of ‘Best New Musical’. It is John’s second nomination for an Olivier Award.
I haven’t showered or washed my hair yet, so I text Sada, as I continue to make the beds “I am not in the zone at all… red carpet seems a long way away!” I know she is excited for me. She will be listening live on BBC Radio 2 from 6.30pm and will probably watch the highlights which will be shown on ITV later this evening, along with other family and friends who are rooting for us, as many have said “they have everything crossed”!
So, a couple of hours later when Sofie is safely delivered to friends – mad at me for not taking her with us – I wait on the station platform at Kings Langley, cold because I have forgotten my coat. I can feel for the first time butterflies rising in my belly. I so want John to win but I keep trying to put that thought down. I keep imagining John (and Pete his co-director) making a speech this evening. I know I will be gutted if another show wins but I am also keenly aware that we only have an outsider chance against firm favourites Bodyguard and Top Hat.
As I sit on the platform with a few minutes to spare I realise that I have forgotten my notepad as well as my coat. I don’t have a book, but not having a pen and paper is much worse. Whenever I am nervous, or have time to spare, I write, often stream of consciousness writing, anything. It keeps me sane!
A mad dash to the hotel to hang up John’s suit and my dress and on to the theatre. I have a backstage pass on a lanyard which I hang round my neck, the special ‘code’ which enable one to access an area unavailable to others. I arrive just in time to see Emi (our amazingly talented Tina) and the girls standing at the side of stage ready for their final rehearsal. I am so excited now. I feel like a four year old at my first birthday party! Everyone is dressed up to the nines in their costumes and evening gowns and here I am, standing in the vast wings of the ROH, with my pumps, little spotty skirt and polo jumper. Emi, in her heels, towers head and shoulders above me as we hug and giggle a little. On a scale of 1-10 I am definitely now at 13!
I try to take surreptitious photos and stay cool. Not possible! Even having been in the theatre business for as long as I have, over 25 years, this is still going to my head. I take a mental picture of the auditorium looking towards the stage. It is a hive of industry, a sight that I have seen many times during technical rehearsals or on the afternoon before a show opens. There are photos of each of the nominees on the seats in the stalls. I laugh at the ones of Pete and John. Where did they get those from? Our section of the show is called and Emi comes on, as the huge orchestra strikes up ‘Simply the Best’. It sends shivers down my spine even as she ‘walks’ through the song.
John and I head back to our hotel to change and get ready for this evening. I pour myself into my rubber dress, the one I wore for the opening night of Soul Sister at Hackney Empire just a year ago. My mind flashes back, how far we have come in 12 months, I feel very grateful and alive.
As we walk, arm in arm through Covent Garden, I laugh as I anticipate the crash barriers ahead of us because I can see that we will have to head south, scrambling through the hordes and do a ‘u turn’ in order to get onto the red carpet and walk back the way we have come. I love the irony of it all, the juxtaposition between the real and the created glamour of TV and theatre.
As we mingle in the bar I meet numerous people associated with different stages of my career. I realise that whether I like it or not I am part of this scene.
The glass of champagne before the show goes straight to my head. Now I see everything through rose coloured spectacles, the evening is delightful and delicious. I like the touches; the brochures and the Olivier bags on our seats. I devour the chocolate even before the show begins. I am sitting with Cote, Pete’s wife. We can see John and Pete in the stalls, just below us. Our seats, on the far left, are restricted view but I am enjoying people watching, I can see the auto-cue and the orange light at the back of the stall which flashes wildly when anyone speaks for longer than their allotted 40 seconds. No one seems to notice it, or, I muse, perhaps they are all just ‘rule breakers’. I long to see what happens as a final deterrent to over zealous speech-makers but it never gets to that (shame!). I drift off for a while and wonder what I would say if I were accepting an award. I know I would be speaking so quickly in fear of the wrath of that bright orange light! When I come back to my senses I hear the nominations for a new category “Best Entertainment and Family”. I am thrilled, here is the section into which my shows would fall. I didn’t know it existed.
I get texts from our son wishing us luck and sending his love; from a friend I haven’t seen in a long time who says he is having difficulties choosing between the Archers on radio 4 and the Olivier’s on radio 2; from one of the actors I was rehearsing with last week. One of my favourite moments – other than when Emi and the Soul Sister company are singing and dancing – is when Lee Evans bites off a lump of ‘Olivier Statue’ and begins to eat it! This moment is so funny that I relay my delight, via text, to my cake-maker friend Sada. Her return message increases my pleasure 100-fold as she tells me that it’s her friend, Mia, who made the statue.
I am, of course, disappointed when the announcement for Best New Musical declares ‘Top Hat’ the winner. I look over towards John and imagine that I see him physically relax in the knowledge that he doesn’t have to make that speech, which he hasn’t prepared.
I am really pleased by the number of awards for ‘Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time’ and wish that I had booked my tickets last week as I had intended. I make a mental note to call first thing tomorrow morning.
I am particularly struck by what each winner from this show has to say about their experience. It is consistent, they all speak about the joy of the process and the sense of team spirit. This inspires me more than anything else this evening.
The show is almost at an end and I come away determined to create more and more theatre as beautifully as I can and to do it with all my heart.
The after show party? Well that’s another story!