Hitting the stage

David Newell, associate editor of the Advertiser, is making his first foray into the world of theatre as the lead character in the Northcliffe Drama Club's entry in the provincial drama festival. The following is a first-person account of his experiences in the acting world.

Who knows what they were thinking, but the powers-that-be at the Northcliffe Drama Club were either short of actors or truly wanted to expose new people to the theatre when they asked me to act.

It has proven to be one of the most difficult and most satisfying things I have ever undertaken and will truly be something I will never forget.

I am no stranger to the arts. I spent countless hours sitting through symphonies and musicals while courting a clarinetist as a young man.

My friends in university were all music students who spent their time practicing as I was reading the complete works of Shakespeare to compliment the Canadian literature courses I loved so much.

My son introduced me to the theatre, where his natural talent never ceased to amaze me as I watched him perform.

I was always a spectator at these events. My talent for music was negligible at best. Mediocre trumpet skills and the ability to play a few scales on the piano is all I could muster, although before my voice went south I was lucky enough to have performed several times on Skipper and Company and many music festivals.

Acting, though, was unknown territory.

After each of my son's performances I would comment to the Northcliffe members how much I would like to try it.

In late January, they called my bluff.

The e-mail message came from Shirley Morrow, whose writing and acting skills are legendary, and rightly so.

"Put your money where you mouth is," it said.

I am no stranger to being in front of an audience. In fact, at times, I relish it.

Fifteen years ago, when I began a Dale Carnegie course, it was nerve-wracking to just say my name in front of a roomful of people.

With practice, it got easier, and standing at centre ice in the Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium announcing intermission activities for the Cataracts for several years and leading meetings was relatively easy.

Acting should be a piece of cake, right?

I was given a copy of the play, The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard. The first thing I noticed as I read it was that Henry (my character), a pretentious British playwright whose idealistic search for love in life is mirrored in his writing, talked too much. A perfect role for me.

In fact, Henry and I are very similar. We both have the same ideas of what love really is, both have had a rollercoaster personal life and both love to write. I thought playing Henry would not be too hard.

Was I ever wrong.

Rehersals for the play were held at the Mount Peyton Hotel, which graciously allowed Northcliffe to use a free room five nights a week. We got together and read lines from the script for two months.

Finally, two weeks ago, our director Cathy Thompson - who at times is your best friend and at others, well, let's just say she can be a taskmaster - told us to leave our scripts at home.

The toughest part of this ordeal has not been stepping onstage in front of an audience. I did that Saturday night in front of invited guests, most of whom were my family members and friends.

It has not been overly hard remembering the seven or eight page-long monologues I have, for the most part, although lines do go missing sometimes.

The hardest part is reciting those short sentences, which cue my fellow actors. Those are the lines that, when forgotten, send everyone else off of the rails.

Tonight we will perform at the provincial drama festival in Gander.

Rookie actors like myself and Diane Bradbury will be supported by the incredible talent of theatre veterans like John Whelan, Ashley Rose, Cassandra McLean, Travis Walsh and Ms. Thompson.

Even more amazing is the team backstage which works their magic, led by Dave and Melinda Anthony, both of whom have forgotten more than most know about theatre.

If you are attending the performance tonight in Gander or the Grand Falls-Windsor staging of the play at the Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Performing Arts on April 1, I hope you have as much fun watching the show as we have had preparing for it.

At times over the last two months I have wanted to throw down the script and walk away, but overall the entire experience has been one I will never forget.