‘Don’t they do any of this at that school of yours?’ Tom asked. ‘Drama lessons, end-of-term performances, that sort of thing?’

Donny raised his eyes and let out a big sigh. ‘I wish! No, drama is all Shakespeare at the moment. They’re holding auditions for Romeo and Juliet, but I can’t see me in those old tights, talking in a language I don’t even understand.’

‘You should give dear old Will a chance,’ Madi said. ‘He tells a good story. And the language is actually quite beautiful once you really listen to it, and funny sometimes too.’ She had always loved Shakespeare, but she had to admit it wasn’t to everyone’s taste. She blamed it on the teaching. Thank God she’d had a wonderful English teacher, bursting with enthusiasm and fire. Mr Shearn, probably long dead by now, but she knew she would never have become an actress if not for the seeds he had planted in her imagination and his dogged determination to push her to succeed.

‘And the only concerts they want us to put on are piano recitals and horrible screechy stuff from the kids learning the violin,’ Donny went on, ‘or the choir doing hymns and some old Messiah thing.’

‘Not quite what you had in mind?’ Tom smiled as all three boys shook their heads vigorously.

‘Right then. Let’s make a list, shall we? What sort of things you want to do, how many performers, what props you might need, whose parents we can count on to help backstage … and a date, of course. We must pick a date and book the hall. Not just for the show but for the rehearsals too. I would suggest twice a week to start with, but we may need a few more nearer the day. How does eight weeks sound? Enough, do you think? So, the performance in May sometime? Or maybe we could do two nights, if there’s enough interest. And tickets … how many should we print? And what sort of entry price should we charge?’

Madi could see Donny’s eyes light up as if to say ‘Wow! This is really happening.’

‘So, get some sort of first auditions cum rehearsal scheduled then, shall we? Get all your young friends together and find out who’s up for getting involved.’ Tom’s pen was flying over the paper in his notepad. ‘How about next week? Say Wednesday or Thursday?’

‘Couldn’t we make it Monday? Or Saturday even? We could work at it for longer then, rather than after school.’

‘Well, you’re keen! Fine by me though. A bit short notice, but if you think they’ll come. I’ll see if we can book the hall.’

‘Not bad for someone worried about having no theatrical experience,’ Madi said, after the boys had gone. ‘I thought you said you wouldn’t know where to start.’

Tom grinned. ‘Ah, but I’m not bad at making things up as I go along. They’re a bunch of teenagers. How hard can it be?’

‘That’s the attitude. They’ll do all the work. All you have to do is be the grown-up, take charge of the money and make sure everything’s done properly. All legal, and safe.’