"What I saw there would be familiar to everyone now as a Pop Idol panel. Five people sitting behind a table and a guy at a piano. I read my part and then my heart fell into my boots..." My story is about how one visit to an audition with my daughter changed my life. I beame a member of the Potteries Theatre Company and have since joined several other societies. I've made some great friends and the direction of my life was truly altered by this one visit. I'm a 54 year old mature student. I live in Ball Green, Stoke on Trent with my wife Linda and our two border collies. My hobbies are, quite predicably, the theatre and amateur dramatics; music, computing and writing. I enjoyed every minute of the Inside Lives experience and made three more friends - which is always a bonus. I just wish I could do this every week!
My daughter Becky used to be fanatical about the theatre. Musicals especially. Unfortunately she used to sing around the house all the time. She's tone deaf, but she's a cracking little actor. One day ten years ago, she saw an ad for chorus parts in a pantomime, and she wanted me to take her to the audition. The day came and we sat and waited and listened to the singing coming through the closed doors of the audition room. Soon it was Becky's turn and she went in. As I waited, two ladies from the company suggested that I audition as they were always short of men. Becky came out and joined the pressure group. Well what man can resist the power of three females. So I'm through the door with a script in my hands. What I saw there would be familiar to everyone now as a Pop Idol panel. Five people sitting behind a table and a guy at a piano. I read my part and then my heart fell into my boots. They wanted me to sing. Me sing in public - never! But before I knew it I was singing Any Dream Will Do, accompanied by a piano. I got the part. Not chorus, but the part of the king. So in January I'm standing behind the curtain at the Mitchell Memorial Theatre, thinking what the hell am I doing this for? My stomach was churning. I felt sick. And I'm sure some of the more experienced cast were worried too. Would I let them down as well as myself. I couldn't see how I would get through the night. But I did. And when the final curtain call came and everyone clapped and clapped I felt a buzz, a high I've never known before. And I loved it. I wanted more. Amateur operatics, travelling pantos, one-act play competitions. I do them all. I even write and perform poetry in pubs. I still feel sick before the curtain rises, but when the applause comes I know why I love this. So slap on the greasepaint, turn on the lights, start up the band and open the curtains 'cause I want to sing, sing, sing! | 
