After my performance as Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, I despaired of getting another part, but when the director approached me my hopes rose. “It’s Trevor,” he said, “He’s having a few difficulties with his lines. Can you coach him?”

Trevor was something of a hunk, not someone I’d normal see playing Hamlet. Maybe Stanley Kowalski but that’s another story. With his shirt off he surely exuded box office appeal, and I’d kill for the part of Ophelia, even in a read-through. Still, the whole thing smelled of set-up to me: rare is the theater major who can’t memorize.

I scheduled us for Saturday morning at my place. I had a plate of Danish on the kitchen counter and a sparkling wine in the fridge.