For the past two years I have been living inside a piano. My imagined pianist protagonist of my latest novel released this summer, taught me many things about what it might be like to summon the stamina to be a musician at the height of her fame. Meanwhile, back on earth, I performed the day to day art of real life, that precarious shimmy between dance class runs, cheering small children from the sidelines, arguing over the lure of tech, tv, sugar and all the other flecks of family life.
I am inherently nosey, but adore hours alone (thinking, digging, cycling), which means I’m rather excitable around people. This was the case one sunny Saturday, when another mother and I were waiting for our budding tap dancers to finish their class. I bombarded her with questions and to my delight she answered, with ease - something I cannot say for every interaction in London. When she explained she was a jazz pianist, I was a flutter, gushed that I’d studied all things piano for the past few years, and that I often ended up playing the instrument for acting roles. That was that. I fan girled off in one direction, youngest child in hand - jazz is physics in all its startling beauty and truth and I was geeking hard.
Cut to five months later, when said pianist approaches me and asks whether I’d be interested in being introduced to a director who was searching for a pianist who could act for his upcoming show. The company was Told By An Idiot she explained. My eyes lit up. It’s about Charlie Chaplin, she added. My belly was summersaults.
A few days later I played for her and the director, just after brief research revealed she was a mercury award winning jazz pianist and composer. I had suspected she was incredibly talented because those with real skill never feel the need to convince you how good they are. When she’d told me she was a pianist, it was with unassuming breeze. I know her as lovely Zoe who is great to chat with. The world knows her as Zoe Rahman, a world renowned virtuoso.
Turns out it’s harder to play than write about it. And requires double the amount of practice. The auction went well though, because I got the job. I’ve spent three weeks in a huge rehearsal room near the south bank, playing on our stunning set, with astonishingly talented actors who make acrobatics and dramatics seem like a stroll. We are crafting a gorgeous show: The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel with a fiercely creative team headed by our fantastic director, Paul Hunter.
