When I booked, I wasn't expecting to be part of the show

When I was studying modern British theatre at Uni, one of my favourite books was Max Stafford-Clark’s Letters to George, in which he writes about his 1988 production of The Recruiting Officer, which played alongside Our Country’s Good.

One of my favourite plays that I’ve acted in is Stephen Jeffreys The Libertine, so when I saw that there was an Out of Joint/Sydney Theatre Company tour of The Convict’s Opera, directed by Stafford Clark and written by Jeffreys, I just knew I had to go.

I’d got a very good seat in the fourth row, so I was just settling down for the start when a chap came on stage. Now, usually this is not a good sign, and my mind immediately goes ‘oho, who’s not in it!’

He introduced himself as the company stage manager. ‘Ladies and gentleman, we’re looking for six volunteers to sit on stage’. He gestured to areas marked out like theatre boxes. ‘We need at least one man’.

I looked around me. I already knew from our trip to ‘dress as a pirate night’ that the theatregoers of Leeds don’t want to be conspicuous. Let’s say there wasn’t exactly a rush. I volunteered, so did the girl sitting next to me, and one more girl from further back.

‘We still need a guy’. There was still very little response, just a few nervous murmurs. Eventually a boy who looked about 15 or 16 came forward. The CSM took us to the side of the stage, and told us what we had to do, which was just to interact with the actors when they came over, to hold something if we were asked to, and to shout out in the second act. Yes, we had a line!

Taking my seat, I realised the view wasn’t as good. But did I care? Not a jot. I was on stage, in a Max Stafford-Clark production, with actors looking right at me. I was in heaven! The poor boy next to me, who told me he did quite a lot of acting at the WYP, seemed utterly terrified, particularly when kissed 'Mrs Peacham'. I did wonder if he’d make a run for it at the interval. Sadly, my level of interaction didn’t involve getting kissed by anyone.

Basically, it’s the story of The Beggar’s Opera performed by convicts on a ship bound for Australia, so there are many similarities to the themes of Our Country’s Good. They used both original songs, and some modern numbers which fitted well with the themes. That said, it’s not such a good play as OCG, as you get a lot of Beggar’s Opera, and perhaps less than you’d like of the back story of the convicts, and some storyline tended to come to nothing, but then it was played mainly for comedy, and I’d have liked a few darker shades.

Finally, it came to our line. We just had to shout ‘a reprieve’ three times, whilst the opposite side shouted ‘no reprieve’. Still, we got our own curtain call.

I always say that if I can’t be on stage, I want to see the whites of the eyes. This time, I got both.