Curiouser and Curiouser gets life at every random decision we make. I was
labouring under the delusion that by not bothering to give a try at something,
one was assured to be bad at it. If these words were short and catchy, it would
have become my motto. Does that make any sense? Life is Schrodinger's cat all
over again.
Bit of background, I moved to a different country to pursue the ever elusive
higher education. Call it the autumn madness, I enrolled for an audition at the
University's drama society. My first audition. All I wanted was to experience
the process, and to mildly irritate the panel with uncouth improvisations. I
auditioned for the role of Guy Tree, a homeless person carelessly wandering into
a farm owned by two sisters. The sisters had inherited the farm from their
recently deceased parents. Sisters adopts Guy Tree into their farm and
household, and he helps them in managing the farm. I was asked to deliver a
monologue of Guy Tree reminiscing his past; living in a busy city with his
parents, and him wanting peace and quiet. When he eventually reach the farm
which is extraordinarily quiet, he finds the silence intolerable. Done. We will
let you know in couple of days. Two days later, I got a recall from the team.
Having no expectations is perhaps our greatest courage to attempt out of the
ordinary deeds. And when someone identifies the petite potential in us, that
discovery becomes the worst form of scaremongering. I was nervous going into the
recall auditions because, around 80 members auditioned for this in the first
round. Majority of them belonged to related fields of study, like Literature,
Drama Studies, Gender Studies, Film Studies etc. I was an Electrical
Engineer. Regardless of the outcome, I convinced myself to enjoy the experience.
Ben, brother of the two sisters running the farm comes into the play. Freddie
played Ben's character. I played Guy Tree. A lengthy conversation between the
generally insecure yet extroverted Ben, and the optimistic but introverted Guy
was to be enacted for the recall auditions. After practising couple of times, we
went into the audition room. The panel were ready when we were ready. For the
fifteen minutes that I acted as Guy Tree, I saw only Ben in Freddie's form and
an imaginary Ewe about to give birth in the corner of the room. The panel
members were invisible to me. I was Guy Tree for that short period. I did not
get the part, but I definitely enjoyed the experience.
So, what I wanted to say was : "Do it".
Many Peace.