12 Confessions Of A Thespian
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Harriet Wilson
My name is Harriet, and I am a Thespian. It has been just over a week since I last saw a show, and it has been less than an hour since I last sung show-tunes. Well … Okay, that's not strictly true. I'm singing show-tunes now. Honesty is the best policy – and with that it mind … here it is. I am a Thespian, and these are my confessions.
Photo: Strelka, Shutterstock.com
1. It's not harmony; I just don't know what I'm supposed to be singing.
2. Sometimes it may seem like I'm listening to what you're saying, when I'm actually thinking about the show I'm seeing on Saturday.
3. I occasionally hum the tune of “What is this Feeling” from Wicked under my breath when I'm around people I don't like.
4. When I say I “quite like” a show, it means that I know practically its entire script and / or all of the parts to all of its songs (including any instrumental bits). I could happily sit and spew facts about the show for hours.
5. People sometimes sing in the shower. I perform. (After all, a little fall of shampoo, can hardly hurt me now.)
6. I had to listen to the Les Misérables soundtrack quite a few times before I actually understood what was going on. I didn't have to listen to it hundreds of times after that …
7. Sometimes, when I'm on a walk and listening to show-tunes, I find myself accidentally walking in a ridiculously jaunty fashion, or frowning intensely – before making awkward eye-contact across the road with somebody I very vaguely know. It's happened too many times.
8. Significant anniversaries in my diary include: the first time I saw Wicked, and discovered the glory of the stage; the date of my first amateur performance; the first time I reviewed a show … and yes, I wish myself a very “happy anniversary” on all three occasions, every year.
9. I constantly play out scenes in my mind of performing certain songs from musicals with (or at) people that I know.
10. I am always prepared to, at a moment's notice, participate in a flash-mob. It will happen one day.
11. I get goosebumps when I think about theatre – about performing, or about certain moments in shows that are just beyond amazing, or even just about a phrase or a tiny piece of a music that I cannot adore vigorously enough.
12. Walking through the West End, past theatre after theatre, is absurdly exciting.
Tweet me us own #ConfessionsOfAThespian at @Theatre_Direct and @Harri_L_002.