Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #137: Life and Art, "The Actress."

Character of Ophelia from Hamlet

"The Actress" was published in an Irish journal called Linnet's Wings. I've had many stories in journals printed in the UK and Australia, but not so many in Ireland. And the origin of this particular story was unique. Like many other things I've written, it was inspired by a line from a song. The song was "The Actor" by the British group The Moody Blues (very popular in the 1970s). Their music always seemed literary, mystical, and intriguing to me. The lines that intrigued me in this particular tune were the opening lines:  The play unfolds before my eyes / With someone shouting be to free. / The curtain rises on the stage. / There stands the actor who is … me." This fascinated me because it suggested that all of us play roles in life. We "act" ourselves, presenting a character we wish to be. Very often the character is little like the real person we are inside. The play to which the song refers (at least as I interpret it) is the play of our lives. We are "shouting to be free" because we don't display our true self to many people—perhaps to no one.

Leah

This was a story about Sossity Chandler, an ongoing character of mine who is a popular singing star. In this tale, she is just on the other side of a painful divorce. She attends a production of Hamlet, in a restaurant, meets the actor and actress who play Hamlet and Ophelia. Sossity acted in that Shakespeare play in college and, when she meets the actor who played the lead, recites a speech Gertrude (the character she played, Hamlet's mother) makes. He responds to her, reciting her favorite speech from the play. Talking to the young woman who plays Ophelia, she finds out she is performing in three different plays. Sossity is intrigued and makes a date to meet her (her name is Leah) tomorrow.

They go to a restaurant and talk about acting and performing. When they walk to the parking lot, Leah is confronted by a young man who grabs and and threatens her with violence. Sossity intervenes, warning him to back off. When he recognizes her he does but tells Leah it isn't over and she will see him again. The paparazzi, who follow Sossity around, catch the entire incident on tape. Sossity drives Leah to a bar so she can have a drink and calm down. While there, David, her ex-husband calls her and puts her daughter on. Her daughter saw the altercation on the TV news and was afraid. Sossity assures her she all right. David takes the phone again. "Look, I don’t care what’s going on in your so-called life. Just remember you have a son and a daughter and what you do in public affects them.”

Sossity takes Leah home. She consults with her manager. They discuss the incident with Leah's boyfriend and Sossity's latest hit song, which is doing well on the charts. When Tonya, her manager, asks what she can do for her, Sossity bitterly says, "Get my kids back for me," referring to the uneven custody rights she received after she and David divorced.

Sossity goes to see her new-found friend act in the play Scotland Road. She is amazed at Leah's talent. When it is time for her to return home, Sossity, and her bodyguard insist on accompanying her. Her ex-boyfriend attacks her (he still has a key to her apartment) and beats her before he can be subdued. Sossity takes her to a hotel and puts her up for the night. Before she goes to bed, she peeks in at the young actress. Before going to her room, she looked in on Leah. Seeing her in the dark, her blonde hair spilling over the pillow, in deep sleep, reminded Sossity of her daughter. She poured herself a drink, hesitated, and then called Dustin, her lawyer.

Sossity goes to attend another play Leah has a role in The Man Who Turned Into a Stick by Japanese playwright Kobo Abe. Theater of the absurd always puzzled her, but Leah did well and her annunciation of the part made it easier to comprehend. But above all, watching her Sossity realized that Leah, like her, was letting someone else direct her life. Her old boyfriend, with his violence, had called the scenes; now she had repudiated him. Sossity knows she has to do the same. She cannot let her ex-husband "direct" her life. Her calling her lawyer and informing him she intended to challenge the custody division the courts had handed down to her is the first step—Act One in the play she is performing.

"The Actress" appeared in Linnet's Wings in 2015. It is archived, but you will have to go to a copy of the magazine, find the page number in the table of contents, scroll to it, and read it that way. Believe me, it's worth the read. Here is a link to it.  

For a great read, check out my novel, The Last Minstrel.

Happy reading