Emma delivered her line and the audience burst into hysterics.

Only that wasn’t supposed to happen. This was The Crucible. This was serious.

The curtain fell for the end of Act 1 and the whole cast looked around at each otherin despondence, failure eating at them. Slowly, one after another, they trudged slowly off the stage until there was only Emma left, sitting on one of the clapboard attic chairs.

Before she could hold her emotions in check, her face gave way and the tears fell freely from her olive eyes. “Why am I so crap?” she moaned, through aching tears.

“You weren’t crap.”

The voice made her jump. She looked up to see Kenny, the Props guy, inches from her. He took her hands. “You were fantastic.”

Emma laughed at that. He couldn’t be further from the truth.
*
That night the play ended after the first act. After being laughed at, Abigail disappeared and the director walked out.
But we think she’s happy now, even though she never saw another theatre.
Life just isn’t a stage.