The Strangling on the Stage Read Online Free PDF Page B

small parts,’ said Elizaveta magisterially, ‘only small actors.’
    Again she made it sound as if the line was her own, though Jude knew it had been around for years, usually attributed to Stanislavsky. Again Elizaveta Dalrymple received a laugh of approbation from her coterie.
    â€˜Well, I think you’re going to show that Mrs Dudgeon is far from a small part,’ said Olly Pinto, still sucking up.
    â€˜I suppose if I can still do something to help out SADOS … it’s what Freddie would have wanted me to do.’ Elizaveta Dalrymple left a silence for a few more respectful grunts. Then she turned to the director. ‘Were you pleased with the way the read-through went this afternoon, Davina?’
    â€˜Yes, pretty good, really. Obviously a few absentees. Three of my soldiers have got flu and my Major Swindon is still off skiing. I suppose, like most amateur productions, I’ll be lucky if I get the full company on the first night.’
    Elizaveta Dalrymple clearly thought she had been silent for too long. ‘I’m determined to have
fun
playing Mrs Dudgeon. And it’ll be nice to give my old American accent a little run for its money.’
    â€˜It’s very good,’ said her toady. ‘Did you ever live in the States?’
    â€˜Good heavens, no,’ said Elizaveta on a self-deprecating laugh. ‘But I always have had a very good ear. I’m just one of those lucky people who can pick up accents … like that.’ Her eye lingered pityingly on Storm Lavelle. ‘Of course, there was a time when I’d have been natural casting for Judith Anderson, but those days are gone …’
    Jude couldn’t understand why her friend didn’t knock the malevolent old woman’s block off, but Storm was still listening intently, as though at the feet of a guru. And when Elizaveta said she would invite Storm to one of her ‘drinkies things’, Jude’s friend looked as if she’d just been made a Dame.
    â€˜Of course,’ Elizaveta Dalrymple went on, ‘my American accent was really given a workout when Freddie and I did
On Golden Pond
. I remember there was someone from Boston in the audience, and he couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been brought up in the States. He said he’d never heard—’
    But her reminiscences were interrupted by the appearance of Len, the Cricketers’ landlord, at the edge of their group. ‘Department of Lost Property,’ he said, and he held out a star-shaped silver pendant on a silver chain. ‘I think it got left here during the pantomime. Someone must’ve dropped it. So I thought I’d wait till you all came back and see if anyone claims it. Somebody said it might be yours, Elizaveta.’
    â€˜Well, yes, I do have one that looks very like that. May I have a look?’ The barman handed the necklace across. Elizaveta Dalrymple turned it over to look at the back. ‘Yes, this must be mine. It’s funny, I hadn’t noticed …’ She reached up to her neck to find a silver chain around it. She pulled at it and out of the top of her kaftan dress came a silver star, similar in size to the other one. ‘Oh no, I’ve got mine.’
    She offered Len’s pendant round to her group. ‘Anyone claim this? It’s not yours, is it, Davina?’
    â€˜No,’ said the director. ‘I don’t wear jewellery like that.’
    Elizaveta Dalrymple made an elaborate shrug and handed the unclaimed pendant back to Len. ‘Be worth asking round the other SADOS members.’
    â€˜Yes. And could you mention it at rehearsal?’
    â€˜Certainly.’
    â€˜I’ll keep it behind the bar till someone claims it.’ And the landlord drifted away, ready to offer the necklace to other groups.
    â€˜Let me know if anyone does claim it,’ Elizaveta called after him. Then she turned back to her coterie. ‘A rather amusing story