A dimly lit room in Keble in 1st Week and I’m trying hard to remember why exactly I’m here. Simon (star of last term’s SIL3NC3) is walking around my fellow Blithe Spirit cast members, calling upon the ‘spirits’ in a loud and authoritative voice, while I decide whether to laugh my way through this experiment or simply find another topic for this week’s Drama Briefing.
‘I understand rehearsal techniques but isn’t this taking it a little too far?’ my mother had asked tentatively, as I explained about the planned séance. If things don’t go so smoothly, we’ll provide the inspiration for an Oxford-based teen horror film. Right now, I’d gladly swap this for a run-of-the-mill team-building exercise – paintballing, anyone?
The only thing worse would be airing my interpretive dancing skills in front of a panel of New Writing Festival directors at their sadistic audition sessions or preparing to bare all in Equus this week. Acting – it’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it.
Cast member Sophie King is blindfolded and attempting some automatic writing – is it a 21 or a 12? Simon leads us to a makeshift Ouija board. The glass moves to spell out the name of one of the suicide victims Simon has been telling us about and suddenly everyone becomes a lot more serious.
We sit at the (unfortunately rectangular) table joining hands in the dark. The mood is a bit lost on me as I am a little too short to reach properly and am practically lying face down on the table. I have also failed to find my neighbour’s foot as instructed. “Are you there, Jane?” Simon asks.
This has got to be the most exciting moment of my week – well, after finding out the new OUDS Jobcentre was finally up and running. There are some loud knocks and a few sharp intakes of breath. Then the lights are on, the cast blinking and our director laughing. ‘And that’s what would happen in a séance’ we are told. ‘Anyone for pizza?’ Our Thursday night drama was an impressively confident experiment in manipulation but I think we’ll all be glad to be the ones performing during our next foray into the occult (that’s 5th week in the O’Reilly if the ghosts of our ex-lovers haven’t claimed us by then).
