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chin. The other woman had shoulder-length grey-blonde hair, wrinkled, tanned skin and huge hazel eyes like a tiger. She spoke first.
    ‘Hello. I’m Claire and I’m the director.’ Her voice was gravelly and sounded like she smoked too many cigarettes. ‘This is Dizzy,’ Claire said, pointing to the woman with red hair. ‘She’s the choreographer of the show, and this is Stefan.’ She indicated the man. ‘He’s the musical director.’ Stefan and Dizzy smiled round at us.
    Claire continued. ‘As most of you know, we are looking for two teams of four children to play the lead roles in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . Although there will be singing and dancing involved, we’re not looking for perfect technique in singing and dancing. What we want are eight actors who can look like real children on stage. It is your acting skills that I am most interested in.’
    Relief ran through me. Acting I could do.
    Claire looked round at us with her cat-like eyes. ‘The procedure of the day will be like this…’ She reminded me a bit of Cruella de Vil in One Hundred and One Dalmatians . Of course, I don’t mean that she looked as if she was about to run off with a carload of cute puppies, but there was something about her that just made you want to look at her.
    ‘You will be split into two groups — boys and girls,’ she informed us. ‘Girls will be doing acting auditions this morning and singing and dancing auditions in the afternoon. Boys will be doing the opposite.’ She smiled. ‘Good luck. And try and enjoy your day.’
    I joined Velda with the other girls and she took us down a staircase at the side of the stage and into a large room with pale-green walls.
    ‘This is the green room,’ Velda told us. ‘You will wait here for your turn to audition.’
    I looked around. There were lots of small dressing rooms leading off a big central space, which had comfy chairs and tea- and coffee-making facilities.
    ‘I’ve got a list of the order in which you’ll be auditioning here,’ Velda said. ‘First of all you’re going to come up individually on to the stage to perform the piece you’ve prepared at home, and then Claire wants to do some group improvisation. At twelve o’clock we’ll break for lunch.’
    She pinned up the list of names. I was the third name down on the list and Justine was straight after me. ‘While you’re waiting, feel free to make yourselves a drink.’ Velda headed for the door. ‘I’ll be back in five minutes for the first person on the list.’
    She left. I got the speech I was going to do out of my bag. Justine had started to talk to a few of the other girls. I guessed they must be people from her school. But I didn’t mind being left on my own. I wanted a chance to go through my speech.
    After ten minutes I heard Velda calling my name. I jumped up.
    ‘It’s your turn, Sophie,’ Velda said.
    ‘Good luck,’ Justine smiled as I passed.
    I walked out on to the stage, my heart banging like a drum in my chest. Claire was sitting in the middle of the auditorium with Sheila, the casting director, and another couple of people who I didn’t know. They all looked at me and I felt myself beginning to blush. The stage suddenly seemed much bigger than it had done earlier.
    ‘When you’re ready,’ Claire called.
    I crouched down on the floor. OK , I told myself, concentrate .
    Shutting my eyes, I imagined that I was Sara. I took a deep breath. The theatre smelt of dust and paint and people. It was strange but also somehow comforting. I opened my eyes and looked at the floor. The words surged up inside me. My nerves vanished. I could do this.
    ‘Oh, Melchisedec,’ I began wistfully, imagining my pet rat was there in front of me. ‘It’s been a long day — a very long, hard day…’
    As I spoke, the magic I’d felt when I’d been acting in the film seemed to take over again. Suddenly I could see the walls of the attic room Sara was in. I could see the bare wooden