When Mr. Marchant announced that the auditions for the upper school production were happening I knew I had to audition as it would be my last chance to ever act on the stage of the mousetrap theatre. I remember dragging my friend and making her audition with me in an attempt to relieve the nerves that were very prominent that day. I remember thinking that I did horribly and that I wasn’t going to be cast.
It was a Monday when I got the notification on my phone that Miss De Villiers had sent me an e-mail a couple minutes after school ended. I was absolutely ecstatic to learn that I was indeed cast as Anthony Marston, who I had wanted to play ever since I’d read the script and learned about the characters. I knew that he was mine and so thinking my audition went badly did hurt quite a bit. However, it was clearly all in my head as Miss De Villiers clearly saw something in me that day that I must have missed myself, as she cast me for the role that I dreamed of playing.
We began rehearsing in January which meant we had about 9 Saturdays until opening night, which was quite a short period of time. We missed many rehearsals due to other cast members having other priorities and appointments which meant we had to make up for them during the week. I still remember rehearsing my death scene for the first time, and it was extremely awkward because we were thinking of ways to make it more dramatic (as if choking wasn’t dramatic in itself) and that included spasming. We’ll just say that it did not work, at all, and we laughed a lot that day.
I had never been more attached to a production in my life. For some reason, this one felt so special and that might’ve been because it was mine, and Miss De Villiers, last one, but there was also something about the cast and the character and the fun we had on and off stage that really nailed my whole heart to it. I was so excited and so nervous the few minutes before we opened. I gave it all my all, in order to make myself and Miss De Villiers and the rest of the cast and crew proud. I’ll never forget going up to the drinks table to pour myself a glass of the drink I was supposed to ‘choke’ on for my death scene and finding no glasses there! So, like the amazing actor I am, I improvised and asked the rest of the characters to lend me one and fortunately, it worked out fine, but it definitely left all of us actors very confused.
It was the most memorable experience of my life. The rush I felt both days while performing was something I cannot imagine myself ever feeling again and I have to thank Miss Tania for casting me as it truly meant everything to me. It was an honor to work with her and the rest of the cast – Hasan, Noran, Jamal, Salma, Hasan, Yasmine, Mirna, Jenan and Adham – and of course our incredible crew – Mahtab and Alireza.
— Marwan El Fakharani
Photo credits to Bomi Kim
