The curtain opened.
There she stood.
She played her part to perfection.
The opening act went well.
He was mesmerised.
Her words convinced him,
spoke to his heart.
She must become his leading lady,
but he stumbled over his lines.
There was no one to prompt him.
He auditioned again; she gave him the part.
A long run awaited.
She was ill advised to take the soap, a kitchen sink drama.
She lived the part with a begrudging, consummate, skill
but when she spoke her angry lines
“I do all the housework, you do nothing,”
he knew, sat stage left, relaxing
he had to play a different role.
The plot unfolded,
they were waiting for…what?
It was the play that went wrong, for an interval.
Never work with children or animals but soon,
there were pregnant pauses.
These actors sensed a revival, a survival.
The child actors shone, like spotlights, in this domestic drama.
Now seen as a latter-day Dench and Tennant,
they are a team, cast together, treading the boards for over 40 years.
They deserve a ‘Tony.’
Malcolm Henshall