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Apr. 2nd, 2007 06:35 pmIt's something that has been bugging me for a while, so I though I would write it down, to see if I can clear up my thoughts.
When you were at school, doing the nativity play, aged about 8, the thought of kissing mary-jane who was playing Mary to your Joseph was enough to put you off girls for life. "Ewww... you're kissing a gerl!" (spelling deliberate to try and the sneer in the voice) is the playground taunt. Fast forward a few years, to 14-15 year olds, massively mature males (yeah right!) in a school production, and suddenly it's... "wow, you get to kiss Mandy Johnson? She's like well fit! Does she use her tongue? Go on, stick yours in, see what she does!" are the whispered conversations, in awe of the lead male in the show.
Roll on a few more years, and you get to where I am. In an Operetta-Performing society, full of adults, and who, over the years, are quite used to "being in love with their onstage partner". I throw myself into this mix, and the starkness of it suddenly comes home to me. Here am I, not wanting anyone else but my fiancee, yet, on-stage, I have to project this image of being head-over-heels, madly-in-love with this other person, and eventually have to kiss her. Initially, my first reaction (which I hope didn't show through) was one of "oh my god, I can't do that! that's cheating!", not to mention the fact that the person opposite me holds no attraction for me whatsoever - don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing to cast aspersions on her looks or anything, but she's just not my type. So, when we started rehearsing, the initial non-kisses looked like two people in a hurry to be doing.... well.... anything but having to kiss each other! I was far from comfortable, having only ever kissed people before who I was intending to have a relationship with.
However, after a few weeks, the director looked at us after a non-kiss, and said, in a matter-of-fact tone "eventually it'll be on the lips won't it", to which my on-stage-love-interested just looked and me and said, in a jokey manner, "Remember, no tongues!". I think that was the point I started feeling comfortable enough about the whole affair to suddenly realise that "hey, this is a show, this is make believe, this isn't real. why the hell are you uncomfortable with this? she's not, and she's married with 2 kids, and can joke about it". It was as though a large weight was lifted from my shoulders.
So, having gone from "ewww, kissing a gerl", through "Oh my god, your kissing her? you legend!", onto "but that's cheating on my fiancee" through to "it's only on stage, and it's only a peck as such", are there any more stages to go through? I suppose my next thing to look forward to is the "I'm an old bugger who goes down to get his weekly giro, and that gets to kiss one of the nubile younger members of the cast who is at least 50 years younger than me....... I just wish I could remember what I'm supposed to do next!"
K.
When you were at school, doing the nativity play, aged about 8, the thought of kissing mary-jane who was playing Mary to your Joseph was enough to put you off girls for life. "Ewww... you're kissing a gerl!" (spelling deliberate to try and the sneer in the voice) is the playground taunt. Fast forward a few years, to 14-15 year olds, massively mature males (yeah right!) in a school production, and suddenly it's... "wow, you get to kiss Mandy Johnson? She's like well fit! Does she use her tongue? Go on, stick yours in, see what she does!" are the whispered conversations, in awe of the lead male in the show.
Roll on a few more years, and you get to where I am. In an Operetta-Performing society, full of adults, and who, over the years, are quite used to "being in love with their onstage partner". I throw myself into this mix, and the starkness of it suddenly comes home to me. Here am I, not wanting anyone else but my fiancee, yet, on-stage, I have to project this image of being head-over-heels, madly-in-love with this other person, and eventually have to kiss her. Initially, my first reaction (which I hope didn't show through) was one of "oh my god, I can't do that! that's cheating!", not to mention the fact that the person opposite me holds no attraction for me whatsoever - don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing to cast aspersions on her looks or anything, but she's just not my type. So, when we started rehearsing, the initial non-kisses looked like two people in a hurry to be doing.... well.... anything but having to kiss each other! I was far from comfortable, having only ever kissed people before who I was intending to have a relationship with.
However, after a few weeks, the director looked at us after a non-kiss, and said, in a matter-of-fact tone "eventually it'll be on the lips won't it", to which my on-stage-love-interested just looked and me and said, in a jokey manner, "Remember, no tongues!". I think that was the point I started feeling comfortable enough about the whole affair to suddenly realise that "hey, this is a show, this is make believe, this isn't real. why the hell are you uncomfortable with this? she's not, and she's married with 2 kids, and can joke about it". It was as though a large weight was lifted from my shoulders.
So, having gone from "ewww, kissing a gerl", through "Oh my god, your kissing her? you legend!", onto "but that's cheating on my fiancee" through to "it's only on stage, and it's only a peck as such", are there any more stages to go through? I suppose my next thing to look forward to is the "I'm an old bugger who goes down to get his weekly giro, and that gets to kiss one of the nubile younger members of the cast who is at least 50 years younger than me....... I just wish I could remember what I'm supposed to do next!"
K.
