Untimely Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

consuming, so I’m glad you’re here. Between us, we can do two actors at a time. But tell me. What happened at the rehearsal? How did the cast take the news about Lauren?”
    “Well, nobody really said anything, but to be honest, I don’t think anybody likes her very much. Then Lady What’s-her-name showed up, and her and Brian left.” He stifled a yawn.
    “Aaron, you mustn’t call her Lady What’s-her-name. She’s Lady Deborah. Her father’s an earl. If you’re going to make it in the fashion business, you’ve got to work on your professionalism. In the theater, actors expect to be treated with a certain amount of deference, and if you can’t manage that, you should at least get people’s names right. And it’s not ‘her and Brian left,’ it’s ‘she and Brian left.’ You wouldn’t say, ‘Her left,’ would you?”
    She sighed, took a sip of tea, and set the mug back down on the tray. Although she was only in her early forties, she suddenly felt old. She could hear her mother, a real stickler for good grammar, reflected in her own voice. “If you’re going to make something of yourself, Charlotte,” she’d said at least a thousand times, “you’ll have to speak properly.” But that was in Britain, where grammar and accents used to matter more than they did here in America.
    “Sorry, Aaron,” she said. “Starting to sound like my mother. In the end, we all turn into our parents.”
    “No worries.”
    “What did you make of Lady Deborah?”
    “She seemed a bit stuck up. Like she thinks she’s better than the rest of us.”
    “In England, we call that ‘posh.’”
    “Posh. Hmm. I like that word. Anyway, expensively put together, I’d say. Dressed way more formally than most people around here. Looked like she’d been shopping in the city. Had a couple of shopping bags from Saks and Barneys.”
    “Saks and Barneys, eh?” Charlotte pursed her lips and nodded slightly. “Right, well, let’s get your work organized for the rest of the day. We’ve got to set up a meeting with Simon to offer our suggestions for costumes and to hear what he has to say. He may have some specific requests or ideas. The best directors always do. Forexample, he may need something done a certain way so it’ll work with what the lighting designer has in mind.”
    Aaron made a little noise that seemed to indicate agreement. “That’s interesting. Hadn’t really thought of that. So when I’m designing for the runway, I need to keep lighting in mind.”
    “Oh, I can teach you all kinds of tricks that’ll come in handy for the runway,” Charlotte replied. “For example, say a script requires a character to pull a revolver out of his pocket and shoot somebody. What are the implications of that for us in costume design?”
    Aaron thought a moment, and then his face brightened. “He has to be wearing a costume that has a pocket?”
    “That’s right! And not only must there be a pocket, it has to be deep enough and strong enough to hold the revolver.” Charlotte paused, and then continued.
    “Okay. So, this season we’re opening with Romeo and Juliet , but we’re also doing King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Here’s the cast list for each play.” She handed him a binder. “You’ll see who’s been cast in what part. Here’s the big question. Have you read the plays?”
    He shook his head. “Sorry, no.”
    She pointed to the bookshelf beside her desk. “You’ll find all the Shakespearean plays there. The complete works. Help yourself. You’ll have to be familiar with all three plays being performed this season, so if I were you,I’d start this afternoon with Romeo and Juliet , as that’s the first one up.”
    Aaron flipped a few pages in the binder. “This information would be so much better set up on a spreadsheet. That way, you could see who’s playing what part in each play. And then, with one keystroke, you could sort the data by actors’ names so you could look up Brian