Once Upon A Time....

The amateur theatre company I have joined is populated by lots of impressive (and at first glance, slightly scary) women who seem to devote at least 3.5 waking hours each day to the furtherance of its existence. They are permanently on duty - in the box office, behind the bar, shepherding groups of children into pens, and growling at actors who are drinking coffee while wearing their costumes (a truly heinous crime, for which the penalty is instant death).

I have decided that I want to be one of these ladies ! I want to be a fully participating member, not just someone who fannies about on-stage wearing floaty numbers and waving a tambourine. So when I am "volunteered" to be the Raffle Ticket Seller at some of the Christmas Show performances, I say yes..

I have also volunteered to take part in the read through of a new play upon which the writer wants some feedback. So Sunday evening sees me squished into the portentously titled "Green Room" (more a Black Hole which smells faintly of damp) with eight other people, clutching a dog-eared script in my hand.

Astonishingly, given the topic which has been playing on my mind over the past year, the subject of this play is Workplace Bullying ! When I realise this, a spooky little frisson of identification raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

The writer is obviously talented with a great facility for witty dialogue, and many scenes make me and the other actors laugh aloud. And that is really what I start to struggle with - because as the read through progresses, I start to feel increasingly uncomfortable.

In the play, the beleaguered target of workplace bullies (a female high performer, whose managers are deeply threatened by her efficiency...) manages to rapidly collate a dossier of evidence which overturns the malicious allegations to which she is subjected, and to completely turn the tables on her tormentors. Of course, there is a large part of me shrieking "yes! yes! yeeeeees !!!" Meg Ryan-style as our hapless heroine achieves victory over the bullies, but there is an equally large part of me which finds this optimistic scenario stretching the bounds of credibility just a smidgen too far.

Maybe if I'd read this play a year ago, I would have believed in play titles like "Good Must Triumph", "Truth Will Out" and "Happy Ever After"....

But I'm all grown up now - like one of the ladies who run the theatre. 

And these days I know that fairytales are just for children.