I found out this morning that my old friend, Andrea Boorman, has passed away from cancer. She battled very hard, for a long time.
Andrea was 2 years older than me, and I looked up to her. She was wry, sarcastic, smart, brave, shameless, gregarious, and kind. Although we had not kept in contact in many years, she was one of those personalities that pops into my everyday activities.
(Andrea lived in my hometown, and her father, Jim, was the owner of a successful construction company. This info will make more sense in a minute.)
My first play I ever performed in, and the aforementioned acting bug bite, was "The Importance of Being Earnest". I was Cecily Cardew, and Andrea played the irascible "Lady Bracknell". It should be mentioned that Lady B is a HUGE part. Not in text, but in personality. Often in professional productions a man is cast in the part to give it that "command of the stage" power of presence. For a seventeen year-old girl to pull it off is daunting to say the least. Andrea commanded the stage with humour and grace with the best of them.
One evening in particular, (perhaps it was closing night?), we were all on stage for the final scene- Where Jack runs off stage to retrieve the infamous "handbag". However, when dear Jack (Andrew Booth) went backstage he tripped over the support for one of the flats. It, the flat, had not been weighted down with a sandbag, and like proverbial dominoes the entire set started to fall!
We young thespians stared at each other, Father Chasuble and Miss. Prism being very nearly crushed, and started to prop up the walls...Andrea, without loosing a beat, took centre stage and exclaimed in a booming Bracknellian voice,
"Well this house obviously wasn't made by Jim Boorman construction!"
The show must go on, and without any doubt, one of my favourite memories.
I will miss her very much.
