[Open to All Auditioners] Casting Call for Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap

[howmanylives]

After the Island's latest prank on Halloween, Jamie was, admittedly, concerned that not enough people would show up for auditions. He'd considered postponing the casting call for a later date, but had, ultimately, decided against it. The snowstorm was such a vital component to the play's plot that the idea of performing it in tropical weather didn'

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[dishabille_mal]

Maladicta wasn't positive, but she thought she might have had the heebie jeebies just from considering auditioning for a play Geoffrey wasn't directing. Waiting for her turn made her think of the first time she'd auditioned, so raw, fighting her way through Julius Caesar, unaware that Geoffrey was seeing pieces of something he could use in a wholly different way.

She understood the craft of theater, now, but this wasn't Shakespeare, and this Madrox fellow wasn't Geoffrey Tennant. Although he did have the faint air of the unhinged about him, and that, at least, she could appreciate.

It was the first time she'd gotten up in front of someone that wasn't Vimes and delivered something that wasn't a patrol report since she'd had Olivia. Post-natal acting. It might prove interesting. At least she mostly looked herself, again, if her hair was getting a bit long for her tastes.

Aloof as ever, as was her natural inclination, but aware of it and not actively trying to be so, she tucked her hands behind her back and stood center stage. Her hip

[howmanylives]

If the mention of her having been nine months pregnant fazed him, Jamie made a damn good show of hiding it, though he did make a note beside her name that the Island's audience apparently had a Herculean capacity for suspending its disbelief. Realizing he'd stopped actively listening after the word hell, he had to mentally rewind her list of credentials, going through them again in his own head -- and paused, just the once, to process the part about her being an ex-vampire -- before he nodded, absently.

"Alright, Ms. ....von Borogravia de Worde," he said, having to think, for a moment, what she'd called herself. He recognized her, vaguely, from around the IPD office, but he'd known only her first name. "You may proceed."

[dishabille_mal]

"...maybe just Maladicta," she said, looking vaguely perturbed by the length of the full thing. What had she done to her child?

Maladicta smiled and her ingrained air of je sais melted into a pretty affection

[howmanylives]

Jamie watched her intently, drawn into the performance. There was something enigmatic about her presence that appealed to him in a way he couldn't, somewhat appropriately, pinpoint. After she'd finished, it took him a moment to remember he ought to write his impressions down before they were lost in the chaotic mess that was his thoughts on a normal day. Once he'd scribbled down a few words, he pulled himself up to his feet, pacing for a few seconds before he turned on the spot to refocus his attention on Maladicta.

"What," he asked, "are the odds that you remember a passage from Midsummer? I'd like to see your interpretation of a male character."

[dishabille_mal]

"Most of the lovers' scenes I know both sides," Maladicta said, after a moment of taking mental inventory, "and most of Puck and Oberon. I'm not as strong with the mechanicals." She nodded slightly, then looked at Jamie with expectation and interest.

[howmanylives]

"Puck's final monologue should do, if you don't mind," he said, tacking on that last bit rather quickly -- he wasn't, technically speaking, her director yet. "If we shadows have offended, and so on and so forth."

[dishabille_mal]

Even having never performed the piece, Shakespeare's writing arranged itself in her mind like a playground. Arya had been a wonder of energy and action when she'd played it, but Maladicta's inclination toward the fey was- first off, the proper amounts of respect and almost-fear, because vampire though she had been, fairies were a spectacularly dangerous brood- quieter and more fluid. She straightened, turning around for a moment and cracking her knuckles, so she could flit a smile at Jamie over her shoulder, intrinsically more capricious if friendly enough

[howmanylives]

His passion for the past few years had been, without a doubt, detective work. Solving crimes and helping people had been a balm for him, washing away all those feelings of self-doubt and self-pity and apathy on the rare instances that everything had gone according to plan. But watching Maladicta perform Shakespeare woke up that part of him who'd spent over a year with one of the world's premiere acting troupes, and for a moment, he'd wished he'd chosen one of the Bard's plays to perform instead, much as he liked Christie. But Shakespeare was Tennant's domain on the Island, and for Jamie's first foray into directing, something small had seemed more prudent anyhow.

"Thank you, Ms... Maladicta," he said, flashing her a pleased a smile, and feeling a touch dramatic himself, he offered her a bow in turn. She'd likely just thrown a wrench in his entire approach to casting the piece, but he didn't really care. "I think that's everything I need."

[dishabille_mal]

Maladicta's mouth pulled into a sort of half grin and she inclined her head, smiling more wryly but genuinely back.

"Thank you, Mr. Madrox."