Virgin atlantic

As a young teenager I used to visit a Shakespearian actor who lived in Kentish Town. I used to arrive early in a bid to impress him. Sometimes I would arrive without a coat and he would lecture me about the importance of keeping your health up as an actor. He was hard on the surface. He taught me the ways of the world and I reminded him of his lost youth. I would recite speeches and he would cry ‘No No No you can’t act.’ One time I slated Cinderella claiming it was just a fairytale and not relevnt to theatre. It turned out his friend was a director of a modern day cinderlla. ‘ How dare you insult theatre! Cinderella is the core of theatre.’ Your so naïve’ the old man would say. Half his face was paralised as he had been in a crash during his youth but he had regained some muscle movement.

He taught me the importance of learning to teach yourself skills in life. And then there was the discussion of the hierarchy whereby I nodded a lot. He used to ring me up when I was at home. ‘Have you read act 1 scene 2 from king lear?’ And I would lie through my teeth. Then he would test me. You can never fool an actor.
I once used the world ‘uni’ in conversation and the actor looked at me in absolute disgust and explained that it was a common apreviation associated with youth. ‘ NO!!!! You are not at school now! You need to learn to talk like a proper lady.’ Nowadays I only ever use the world: university.
I always looked forward to his biscuits made by his ‘aunty bitty’ which almost weakened his hard character. Sometimes he would slap my face to encourage me to loosen up. (After a cuppa he always said I was les tense. )One session when It was almost dark and he turned on the lights and I exclaimed’ Ah now I can see’ and he retorted with ‘ You don’t need to see to act.’ The man was clearly bizarre.

Act one scene 1( real life)
The moment he crossed the line was when he asked :
Actor ‘Are you virgin?‘
An uncomfortable silence swept over the room as I replied nervously .

Marina:‘yes. How is that relivent’.
ActorL ‘You need to feel to act darling’
He got me to recite my speech on the floor. He claimed it was the Alexander technique. I claimed it was perversion.

Despite my qualms I remained with the actor for a few session. One session lasted 5 hours but he kindly let me pay for one hour as he claimed he was educating me. I did point out that I had a dinner party to attend to but soon shut up as he started a lecture about how unacceptable it was to leave early for boyfriends and parties. He said acting came first in life. So I piped down and therefore was late for my party.
What did I learn? The education my school failed to do so.