Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine

Four hours later, it was all over.The show went smoothly from start to finish; although it was the season of fun for the hipsters, the audience returned from vacation and was once again in a theater feeling happy and ready to have fun.It's an auspicious start to this drama season.There was applause after every act, and by the end of the play there were as many as a dozen curtain calls; Julia had two separate curtain calls, and even she was shocked by the enthusiastic response she received.She faltered and faltered a few words prepared in advance for the needs of the premiere.Finally, all troupe members took a curtain call together, and then the band played the national anthem.

Filled with joy and excitement, Julia came to the dressing-room with exhilaration.She is more confident than ever.Never has she acted so well, so colorfully, so brilliantly.The play ends with a long impassioned monologue from Julia, in which a good prostitute lashes out at her marriage for trapping her in that circle of idlers, frivolous, useless, and immoral.The line was two pages long, and no actress in Britain could read it so captivatingly from start to finish. With clever rhythm, beautiful voice, and controlled emotional changes, she has successfully created miracles, making this monologue a gripping, almost thrilling climax in the play.A violent action could not be more shocking, nor could an unexpected conclusion be more surprising.The performances of the entire crew were brilliant, except Avis.Creighton is an exception.Julia hummed a tune under her breath as she entered the dressing room.

Michael came in almost right behind her. It seems that the show will be popular, no problem.He put his arms around her and kissed her.Goodness, what a great performance you have. You're not bad yourself, dear. That's the only role I'm good at, he replied casually, as usual, very humble about his acting skills.When you read that long line, did you hear the slightest sound from the audience?This should come as a shock to the critics. Oh, you know how those critics are.They'll focus all their attention on commenting on the damn script and not mention me until the last three lines.

You're the greatest actress in the world, baby, but, God knows, you're a bitch. Julia's eyes widened in the most innocent surprise. Michael, what do you mean? Don't act so innocent.Your stomach is bright.Do you think you can fool an old actor like me? He was staring at her with twinkling eyes, and she had a hard time holding back her smile. I am as innocent as an unborn baby. Go to hell!If anyone is going to ruin a show, you're ruining Avis's.I can't get annoyed with you because you're doing such a good job. Julia could not conceal the smile on the corners of her pursed lips now.Appreciation always makes an artist grateful.

The big scene for Avis is in the second act.It was a scene with Julia, and Michael rehearsed it so that it was all the girl's play.That was indeed what the script called for, and Julia, as always, followed his lead during rehearsals.To bring out the color of Gervais' blue eyes and accentuate her blonde hair, they dressed her in light blue.To contrast, Julia opted for a harmonious yellow dress.She wore the outfit at rehearsal.But at the same time she ordered another outfit, a glorious silver one, and when she appeared in the second act in this outfit, Michael was taken aback and Avis was stunned with horror.The richness of the dress and its radiance under the lights attracted the attention of the audience.Avis's blue dress looked dull by comparison.

When they came to the critical moment in which they performed together, Julia suddenly took out a bandanna of scarlet chiffon and began to play with it in her hand, as if a conjurer conjuring a rabbit out of a hat.She waved it, she unfolded it as if to look at it, she twisted it tight, she wiped her forehead with it, she gently blew her nose with it.The eyes of the fascinated audience cannot be separated from the red silk. Julia moved to the back of the stage so that Avis had to speak to her with her back to the audience, and when they sat together on a sofa, she took her hand in an emotional way that the audience saw It is very chic and natural, and she leans her body deeply on the back of the chair, which forces Avis to turn sideways to the audience.Julia had noticed during rehearsals that Avis looked like a sheep in profile.

Some of the lines the author gave to Avis were so amusing to the whole crew during the first rehearsal that they laughed out loud.On the stage, before the audience had quite grasped the humor, Julia interrupted the answer, and the audience stopped laughing because they wanted to hear what she had to say.What was supposed to be an extremely amusing scene takes on a sneering tinge, and Avis's character becomes a bit obnoxious.The inexperienced Avis, who didn't get the laugh she expected, panicked; her voice became raspy and her gestures became nondescript. Julia took the scene from her and performed it surprisingly well.But her last move was even more unexpected.Avis was reading a long speech, and Julia nervously rolled her red handkerchief into a ball; the gesture expressed an almost natural expression of affection; she gazed at Avis with puzzled eyes, two heavy tears falling on the Her cheeks rolled down.You saw the shame of this girl's frivolity, you saw the pain she felt when her little ideal of justice, her passion for good, was so ruthlessly crushed.This episode lasted no more than a minute, but in that minute Julia, by those few tears, by her expression of intense pain, fully revealed the tragic misery of this woman's life.This time Avis was completely finished.

And I was a big fool to try to make a contract with her, Michael said. So why not order it now? Under the circumstances that you killed her all at once?Absolutely not.You're a naughty little thing, to be so jealous.You don't really think I'd like something about her, do you?You should know by now that you are the only woman in my world. Michael thought Julia was playing this ruse because he had been flirting too violently with Avis lately, and though he was certainly somewhat smug about it, Avis was out of luck. You old jackass, said Julia, smiling, knowing exactly where he was going, and glad to be so misunderstood.After all, you are the most beautiful man in London.

Perhaps that is the case.But I don't know what the playwright will say.He's a guy who thinks he's great, and the scene he wrote was acted out of recognition. Oh, let me handle him.I'll take care of him. There was a knock at the door, and it was the playwright himself who entered.Julia gave a cry of joy, went forward, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. Are you satisfied? It seems that the performance was successful, he replied, but his tone was a little cold. My dear, it will be on for a year.She put her hands on his shoulders and looked straight at him.But you're a bad, bad badass.

I? You almost ruined my show.When I got to that part of the second act, I suddenly discovered its meaning, and I was almost petrified.You know the meaning of that scene, you are the screenwriter; why don't you teach me to rehearse this scene well, as if there is no deeper meaning besides the superficial ones?We are but actors, how can you expect us to understand your secrets deeply?This is one of the best scenes in your script, and I almost screwed it up.No one in the world can write it except you.Your script is brilliant, and in that scene it wasn't just talent, it was genius. The playwright blushed.Julia looked at him respectfully.He was embarrassed, happy and proud at the same time.

(Within twenty-four hours, the fool will think he really meant to play the scene this way.) Michael beamed. Come over to my dressing room for a whiskey and soda.I'm sure you're going through these strong feelings and need something to drink. Tom entered as he and the playwright were going out.Tom flushed with excitement. My dear, this scene is amazing.You are simply amazing.OMG what a great show. How do you like it?Avis did a good job, didn't she? No, it sucks. what do you mean my dearI think she's doing a great job. You literally overwhelmed her.She doesn't look too good in the second act either. Avis's artistic career! What are you doing later? Dolly is throwing a party for us. Can't you refuse to go to dinner with me?I love you like crazy. Oh, what nonsense.How can I dismantle Dolly's desk? Oh, I beg you. There was a hungry look in his eyes.She could see that he desired her more than ever, and she rejoiced in her victory.But she shook her head resolutely. There were voices of many people talking in the corridor, and both of them knew that a large number of friends were crowding the narrow passage to congratulate her. To hell with this group.God, I want to kiss you so much.I'll call you tomorrow morning. The door swung open, and fat Dolly, sweating and enthusiastic, rushed in ahead of the group, who packed the dressing-room to the brim.Julia let everyone kiss her.Among them were three or four famous actresses who sang her praises.Julia beautifully displays genuine humility.The hallway was now full of people who wanted to see her at least once.Dolly had to fight hard to get out. Trying not to be too late, she told Julia, it was going to be an unusual party. I get there as early as possible. At last Julia got out of the crowd, took off her costume, and began to wipe off the make-up from her face.Michael enters in his dressing gown. Listen, Julia, you're going to Dolly's party alone.I have to go to the theater ticket sales office to see, there is no way.I'm going to keep an eye on them. okay. They are waiting for me now.See you tomorrow morning. He went out and she was left alone with Evie.Her dress for Dolly's party lay on a chair.Julia put cleansing cream on her face. Evie, Mr. Fennall will be calling tomorrow.You say I'm not here, okay? Evie looked in the mirror and met Julia's gaze. What if he calls again? I don't want to hurt his feelings, poor dear, but I think I'll be too busy for a while. Evie snorted loudly, and according to her annoying habit, wiped her nostrils with her index finger. I see, she said coldly. I always thought you weren't as stupid as you looked.Julia continued to play with her cheek.What is that suit on the chair for? That set?That's what you said you were going to wear to a party. put it away.I cannot go to the party alone without the company of Mr. Gosling. Since when? Shut up, you ugly old woman.Call up and say I have a bad headache and have to go home to bed, but if Mr. Gosling can go he will. This banquet is just for you.You can't demolish the poor old lady like that, can you? Julia stamped her feet and said: I don't want to go to the banquet.I don't go to the banquet. There is nothing for you to eat at home. I don't want to go home.I'm going to a restaurant for dinner. With whom? I go alone. Evie glanced at her in bewilderment. The play was a success, wasn't it? Yes.Everything worked.I couldn't be happier.I have a lot of energy.I want to be alone and have fun.Call up the Berkeley Hotel and tell them to leave me a table in a small room by myself.They will know what I mean. What happened to you? I will never have a moment like this again in my life.I'm not going to share it with anyone. After Julia had wiped off her makeup, she left it bare.She wears neither lipstick nor rouge.She put back on the brown top and skirt she had worn to the theater and put on her original hat.It was a felt hat with a brim, and she had pulled the brim down over one eye, so as to hide as much of her face as possible.Everything is ready, she looks at herself in the mirror. I look like a seamstress who has been abandoned by her husband, but who can blame him?I don't believe anyone would recognize me. Evie called the backstage entrance, and when she came back, Julia asked her if there were many people waiting for her there. About three hundred people, I think. hell.She had a sudden wish that it would be best not to see anyone, and not to be seen.She asked to be hidden for just one hour.Tell the firemen to let me out the front, I'm going to call a cab, and as soon as I'm gone, let this group know they were wasting their time waiting. God only knows what I'll have to put up with, Evie complained. You old cow. Julia took Evie's face in her hands and kissed her dry cheeks; then slipped out of the dressing room, onto the stage, through the iron gates, and into a dark arena. Julia's simple disguise was clearly appropriate, for the head waiter did not immediately recognize her when she entered her favorite little room at the Berkeley Hotel. Can you spare me a seat in the corner?she asked timidly. Hearing her voice, and looking at her again, he knew who she was. Your favorite table is waiting for you, Miss Lambert.The phone said you'd be alone, didn't you?Julia nodded, and he led her to a table in the corner of the room.I hear you had a great success tonight, Miss Lambert.How fast good news travels.What can I order? The head waiter was amazed that Julia had come to supper alone, but the only emotion he was bound to express was his pleasure at seeing her. I'm very tired, Angelo. How about some caviar first, ma'am, or some oysters? Oysters, Angelo, need to be fattened. I'll pick it for you myself, Miss Lambert, what's next? Julia breathed a sigh of relief, for now she could freely order what she had been determined to eat as soon as the second act was over.She felt that she should celebrate her victory with a good meal, a mouthful that would throw prudence out of the blue. Steak with onions, Angelo, fried potatoes, and a bottle of Bath beer.Beer was to be served in large silver mugs. She hadn't had fried potatoes in about ten years.But what a significance this time!As it so happened, on this day she confirmed with what she could only call a brilliant performance that she was firmly in the public hands, dealt with Avis deftly, and made Tom see him as a man. What a fool, and above all to prove beyond doubt to herself that she was free from the annoying chains that bound her.Avis flashed in her mind for a moment. This stupid little thing is trying to ruin my business.I'll make her laugh at tomorrow. The oysters came and she ate them with gusto.She ate two slices of brown and buttered bread, rejoicing at the risk of her own immortal soul, and drank from her silver cup. Beer, good beer, she murmured. She could imagine Michael pulling his face long if he knew what she was doing.Poor Michael, he thought she ruined the scene with Avis because she thought he cared too much about the stupid little blond bitch.Indeed, men are pitifully stupid.They say women are proud and conceited; well, they're humble compared to men. She thought of Tom and couldn't help laughing.He needed her that afternoon, and he needed her more voraciously that night.How comforting she was to think that he was to her nothing more than an orderly on the stage.A person has a sense of self-confidence and self-esteem when he has freed himself from the fetters of lust. The room in which she sat was led by three arches into the great dining-room, where people were eating and dancing; no doubt some of the crowd had come from the play.If only they knew that the silent little woman in the corner of the next room with a felt hat half-hidden her face was Julia.How amazed they would be at Lambert's words.She sat there, nobody knew, nobody noticed, and it gave her a feeling of being at ease.They were acting for her, and she was the audience.For a brief moment as they passed the archway, she saw them: young men and young women, young men and not-so-young women, bald men and potbellied men, painted and dead A haggard old woman dressed as a youth.Some love each other, some are jealous, and some are indifferent. Here comes her steak.Fried to her liking, the onions were crunchy and slightly browned.She picked up the fried potatoes lightly with her fingers and savored them piece by piece, as if she wanted the passing time to stop. What is love in front of steak with onions?she asked.It's so satisfying to be alone and let your imagination run wild.She thought of Tom again, and shrugged her shoulders inwardly with humor.What an interesting experience. This experience is sure to be of great use to her one day.What she saw through the arches of the dancers was a scene from a play, and she could not help recalling an idea that had first occurred to her at Saint-Malo.The anguish she had suffered when Tom abandoned her brought back memories of her little girl days with old Jenny.Tatbu studied Racine's Phaedra.She reread the script.The torment of Theseus' queen was her torment, and she could not help feeling how alike their circumstances were.She could play the part; she knew what it was like to be dumped by the boy she loved.My God, how well she can act! (Note) That is Phaedra.According to Greek mythology, Phaedra seduced Hippolytys, the son of her husband, the ex-wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, but was rejected. He also said that he was trying to indecent, and the king was angry and sent someone to kill him. son.Later, the grievances were overwhelmed, and Phaedra committed suicide. She understood why she had performed so badly this spring that Michael had decided to stop; it was because she acted with the same emotions she was performing.This is not acceptable.You're supposed to have feelings like that, but you can only act them out after you've gotten over them.She remembered Charles telling her once that poetry came from feelings that were coldly recalled.She doesn't know anything about poetry, but that's true about acting. Poor old Charles was clever enough to have such originality.This shows that it is a big mistake to judge people hastily.Some people think that the nobles are stupid, and one of them has suddenly published such amazing and brilliant insights. Yet Julia always thought it a great mistake for Racine not to bring his heroine into the scene until the third act. Of course, if I were to act in this play, I would never treat it in such a ridiculous way.It seemed to me that half an act was enough to prepare me for my entrance. There was no reason why she should not find a playwright to write her a play on the subject, in prose, or in short verse, not too dense in rhyme.She can read such verses, and read them vividly and forcefully.It was a good idea, no doubt, and she had even thought out what she was going to wear, not the kind of baggy, pleated dress that Sara (Note: Refers to Sarah Bernhardt.) wrapped around her body. , but the ancient Greek tunic she had seen with Charles on a relief in the British Museum. How funny it is!You go to those museums and galleries, get really bored, and then one day, never before thinking about it, you discover that something you've seen is useful.This proves that art and the like aren't really a waste of time. Her legs were fine for a tunic, but could she be a tragedy in such a costume?For two or three minutes she considered the question seriously.She couldn't help laughing when she disguised herself as a young Greek hunter for the indifferent Hippolytus (she thought of Tom in Seville Row) ) and when the heart is broken, if there are not many folds on the costumes, can the performance really be achieved?This conundrum caught her attention.However, at this moment, a thought flashed through her mind, which suddenly made her discouraged. This is all well and good, but where is the playwright?Sara has her Sardu (Note: French playwright. The opera "Tosca" is adapted from his play of the same name.), Douce has her D'Annunzio (Note: Italian poet, novelist Also a playwright. Duse was in love with him, and he wrote plays for her.).But who do I have?The Queen of Scots has a good son, and I'm just a poor man without a daughter-in-law. (Note) (Note) According to "James.The Memoirs of Sir Melville records that Queen Elizabeth I (1533︱1603) once said this, and the quotation here is slightly different.Queen of Scots refers to Mary.Stuart (Mary Stuart, 1542︱1567), executed by Elizabeth I. Yet she did not let this melancholy thought disturb her equanimity for long.Her emotions were so high that she felt that she could make a playwright out of nothing, as Deucalion made man out of stones from the ground. (Note) According to Greek mythology, Deucalion (Deucalion) and his wife escaped from the flood of the main god Zeus (Zeus), and they threw stones from their shoulders behind them, and the stones turned into men and women, thus recreating human beings. Roger was talking nonsense that day, and poor Charles seemed to take it seriously.He's a stupid little academic, that's all. She gestured toward the room where the people were dancing.The lights over there were dimmed, and from where she was sitting it looked more like a scene from a play.All the world is a stage, and all men and women are but players. (Note: Quoted from Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act II, Scene Seven.) But through that arch, there is an illusion: we, the actors, are the real ones.This is an answer to Roger.They are our raw materials.We show the meaning of their lives.We take their absurd and boring feelings and transform them into art to create beauty, and their meaning is to become the audience we must rely on to complete our artistic creation.They are the instruments we play, and what's the point of an instrument if no one plays it? The idea excited her so much that she played it over and over for a while with joy.Her mind seemed clearer than ever. Roger said we didn't exist.Well, only we really exist.They are shadows, and we give them form.We are symbols of all the messy senseless strife they call life, and this symbol alone is real.They say acting is just fake.This deception is the only truth. In this way, Julia re-creates Plato's theory of ideas in her own mind.This filled her with joy.There was a sudden wave of fraternity in her heart for this countless nameless public, who existed only to give her a chance to express herself.She stayed high on the mountaintop, thinking about the innumerable activities of the world.She felt a deep sense of freedom from being free from all human shackles, and she felt that everything was insignificant compared with this great pleasure.She is like an elf in heaven. The head waiter stepped forward with a flattering smile. Is everything all right, Miss Lambert? great.You know, it's weird how everyone has different tastes.Mrs. Siddons is very fond of ribs; I am quite different, I am very fond of steak. (End of the book)