LJ Idol 10: Week 16: Thunderclap
Cue Thunder
“I have had a vision mistress that Sir Henry will be lost at sea,” says the young actress crossing to the proscenium.
In the small box on stage left a small towheaded boy watches through a peephole as the drawing room of a town house begins transforming into a scene of the open ocean; a back drop painted to look like a churning sea with white capped waves is lowered and a small replica of a double masted ship is rocked back and forth by unseen stagehands.
A soft but sharp whistle interrupts the boy’s enchantment and he turns to the prompter who is glaring crossly at him.
The call-boy moves away from the peephole and the prompter whispers fiercely at him, “Git to the green room lad and tell the actors there’ll be notes after the rehearsal and to meet in the auditorium.”
The boy takes off on his errand and the prompter whistles into a speaking tube signaling the orchestra leader who begins a dramatic overture. He lowers the gas jet and then pulls a cord labeled THUNDER.
Above the fly rail a bell tinkles to cue the crew men to roll wooden balls down a series of chutes to imitate the sound of rolling thunder above the heads of the would be audience.
“You should really audition for the next season Thomas,” Charles Crowther says to the young man next to him as they load the balls into the narrow wooden trough.
“You think I could do it?” Thomas asks. He'd mentioned to Charles when they first started working together that he deeply admired the craft of acting and could live in the theatre.
“You have to follow your heart Thomas.” Charles says now. "I've seen how you watch the blocking rehersals, mouthin' the words. If you want something, you have to take it."
Thomas pauses with a wooden thunder ball in his hand and is about to say something but instead asks, “Do you ever think of being down there Charlie? On stage?”
“Naw, I have a fear of standing out in front of a crowd, everyone lookin’ at me.”
Thomas laughs softly. “Stage fright, truly?”
Charles raises his eyebrows and nods emphatically.
“But you would be quite the dashing hero though,” Charles says after a minute.
“You think I’m dashing Charlie?”
Charles clears his throat and moves his eyes down. “I think you already know the answer to that,” he says dropping the last ball into the chute.
“You know, I’ve heard, the only way to resist temptation is to yield to it,” Thomas whispers as the artificial thunder echoes in the rafters around them.
“Oh have you now?”
Thomas steps in closer letting their shoulders touch. Both of them wishing they had the courage to make the move; to take the kiss they are both afraid to want.
“Not here Thomas,” Charles warns him in a wistful tone.
Thomas turn and looks into the other man’s eyes.
Charles smiles but steps away. “I have to get down to help raise the olio," he says. "If Finnbar ain’t been shanghaied I’m going to ring his neck for not showing up tonight."
Charles takes a deep breath and turns back to Thomas.
“Would you- do you want to go out for a pint after the run?”
Thomas feels himself blushing and manages to keep his voice steady as he says, “If you’re buying.”
Charlie shakes his head as he climbs down to the stage level.
Thomas watches the ropes move through the pulleys and the sandbags rise up in counterweight.
Somewhere down the chute another crew man pulls the board to release the balls for the drop into the next chute and there is an unexpected creak of splintering wood.
A moment later a cry goes up from below and Thomas hears the rapid footsteps of men running. The network of platforms shaking with the reverberations.
“Someone get a doctor!” Thomas hears someone say.
“I’m afraid it’s too late,” another voice says.
Thomas moves quickly then, trying to get down the wooden structure without slipping but the feeling in the pit of his stomach is threating to overtake him.
By the time Thomas reaches him Charles is long gone. A thunder ball had fallen through a crack in the chute and hit him squarely on the head before he would have even known to get out of the way.
Thomas disappears into the trap room below the stage. He wants to scream but holds it in, undoes his linen neckcloth and holds up to his face to muffle his sobs.
A year later Thomas finds himself standing in the wings of the Tyne Theater again.
This time he is waiting for his cue to go on stage in front of an audience for the very first time.
He turns to the actress standing next to him, her thick layer of stage makeup almost grotesque in the semi-darkness. There’s a clap of thunder above their heads and the actress looks over at him. “There’s no storm in this show,” she says looking up. “Are the crew playing a game of nine pins up there?"
Thomas smiles to himself. It’s Charlie, wishing him well on his first performance.
Thomas almost couldn’t bring himself to come back to this place but when he saw the call for auditions in the paper he heard Charlie’s voice in his head. You should follow your heart Thomas.
He had sensed Charlie’s spirit during rehearsals and late night costume fittings.
He missed him so much sometimes he would ache with longing but he knew that Charlie was proud of him; is reminded as another actor steps up behind him and wonders in a whispered tone if it had begun raining again and hoping he had enough coin to take a hackney back to his rooms that night.
Thomas says a silent thank you to the ghost of his first love for the preemptive applause as he steps into the limelight.
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a great article (with a video) about one of the few remaining working thunder runs
Update: Here is the link to the poll for this week http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=2067014&mode=enter