The Moonlight Ingénue
Tonight, we lost another major star of the stage…
Eloise walked gently up the pathway. The flowers to either side of her entranced
her, communicating something that only she could hear and feel. She subtly moved her fingertips to her lips
(the lips that had been her trademark, her motif during her working
hours). She amazed herself that the
white foundation remained intact on her face.
A protective mask for the other colours that she applied or were forced
upon her face by haggard hands, not her own hands which she kept covered when
not on stage. Her make-up artist who
smoked roll ups and often apologised as she coughed in unison with the
twittering of her associates who made up for the future silence by spewing
forth their nocturnal activities, their indiscreet fumblings with minor
celebrities and businessmen. Their eyes
on a lifetime of luxury, once the audience tired of the performers and their
lithe and piquant movements across the stage.
Eloise reached up towards the moon with one hand and gently caressed her
shoulders with the other hand. She bent
forward and her blue velvet dress followed her motion like an eager suitor.
Larry the Lost sat at his dressing table and pondered when
he could leave. One more set
tonight. He gazed at the waxy gunk on
his face. His face and body, a roadmap
of endurance, prat falls and careless slaps (they were supposed to miss but Pogo
always hit him with force. Maybe, he was
slowing down?) Eloise and the Miraculous
Mimes had completed their set. He put on
his oversized red shoes and ugly red nose.
The green wig and bowler hat were fine accessories for a wasted life. He threw himself onto the stage and faced
Pogo. Pogo dressed in a fine suit but
still wearing the clichéd accessories of clown wear, big brown shoes and a
stupid red nose. Their routine was now a
complex critique of the class structure with the odd barbed comment thrown out
at the audience, ‘You pay to watch a poor old clown get hurt by a rich man,
what does that make you? Ha ha’. When his set was finished, Larry the Lost
left the stage and promptly removed his make-up but left on his costume. He left the theatre and entered the park
outside. From a distance, he saw Eloise…
Eloise turned around and saw Larry the Lost, the sad looking
clown who she had secretly admired for some time. The sheer physicality of his performance had
enthralled her on more than one occasion.
Her own routine, a mimed interpretation of Goldilocks and the Three
Bears or any number of other fairy tales, although well received by the
audience were essentially mild titillation for older men with a liking for
virgins. She had tried her best to make
them more than this but her outfits undermined her best intentions and the
emphasis upon her luscious red lips in the promotional material for her shows
left her feeling objectified. She longed
to star in something more substantial.
She no longer talked as she had nothing worthwhile to say and her
publicist felt that unnecessary communication would fracture the public image
of the ‘Silent Ingénue’. She turned back
to the pathway and headed towards the stairs.
Larry the Lost walked clumsily forward and called out,
‘Eloise, stop a minute, I need to talk to you’.
She stopped half way up a staircase and looked back, tilting her head
down towards him. A chain of light
fleeing from the moon above flowed down the concrete steps that held her firmly
to the ground. She longed to float up
towards the moon. To be a particle of
the vibrant portal to the heavens above.
Larry the Lost reached the stairs, clambered up a dozen of them and
sweat fell profusely from his face. He
grabbed desperately for Eloise. As he
fell backwards, Eloise mouthed ‘I love you’.
The path broke his fall and his heart now out of control, beat away to
the end of his life. A drumroll for a
fallen clown. Eloise silently screamed
and as the tears flowed from her eyes, the moon continued to gaze down as she
joined Larry the Lost. She removed his
nose and wondered why he had kept his costume on yet removed his make-up? She kissed him and put on his large red
nose. Pogo would have a new partner,
only she would wear the suit.
We are proud to
announce the birth of a major new talent…
Barry Watt – Monday 15th February 2021.
