[Sherlock Holmes] The Legend of the Nightingale

(Nightingale's notes)

I think the audience has been so petrified by the well-crafted castle scene that they don't even have a startled reaction.

Everything is going smooth.Although Wilhelmina's beauty had an overwhelming advantage over Lucy, it didn't seem to matter.I just learned that Schlesinger never watched performances from the audience.On the one hand, he stayed in the background to act as a stage manager, on the other hand, according to the words of his troupe, when he saw the director in the background, he immediately felt relieved.This one doesn't work for me.I was annoyed when I saw the director backstage.I don't have many plays, and many plots have been summed up by Mina reading Lucy's letter.The plot quickly developed to the point that Jonathan escaped from birth and returned to London, but he didn't know that Dracula followed him, which led to the tragedy of continuous night attacks by vampires.

Accidentally appeared in the blood-sucking night scene.At night, under the control of Dracula's spell, Lucy sleepwalked to the bench by the sea and was sucked blood.Sherlock Holmes and I finally managed to convince Schlesinger that the devil should be alluring rather than horrifying from the start. There's an elegant and tender bewitching here.Well, now it should be no surprise why I find this part the most disturbing.But on stage, no matter how troubled the fact is, I can only pretend that I am not myself.

I leaned on the bench, Dracula leaned over, wrapped the corner of the cloak around his body with one hand, and gave me a deep salute.

Then there's a silent rivalry, to the effect that Dracula repeatedly tries to get closer, and Lucy goes from being a bit confused to completely disorganized by the end.The sudden exposure of Dracula's fangs made her temporarily awake for a second.She stood up and retreated to the right of the bench to avoid it, but with the help of his cloak he disappeared into the shadows of the stage and suddenly appeared in front of her.Lucy ran screaming to the left of the bench, but he didn't appear right away.She looked around in terror, and only the audience could see Dracula slowly revealing his pale face behind her, opening his black cloak like a giant bat, and the audience exclaimed.Lucy turned back with a cry of alarm, and staggered towards the back of the bench.Dracula nimbly walked around to the opposite side, and grabbed her shoulders with a pair of claws that were not human-like.Lucy is an innocent and weak woman, she will not struggle and resist like Mina, but the scene is blank, motionless as if dead.As I said, in the blood-sucking scene, Dracula and Lucy are hidden behind the bench, and the audience can only see the vampire, not Lucy.Then he picked up the unconscious Lucy, indicating that he had sucked blood.

Just when the fastest-paced section passed, I suddenly became alarmed, because Holmes's iron-like hands were gripping too tightly compared to rehearsals, although he realized it and immediately relaxed a little.Sometimes it happens that I get too involved, and I don't have time to think about it.Now the audience basically can't see me.Holmes leaned down, and as if in a kissing motion, his dentures rested on my left neck.He pressed my shoulder slightly, which was a signal to continue descending, and the audience could only see Dracula's black cloak.

I closed my eyes and it was dark.Holmes was so close that we could hear each other's breathing.I'm privately relieved that I'm not as nervous as I was when I was exposed to the lights for the time being.A few seconds are unexpectedly long, and now there is only waiting.I also smiled heartily, thinking that the audience in London was amazed by the crossover performance of two detectives, which was far more exciting than scaring Dr. Watson or saving another Mrs. Hudson.

However, the touch of the bony tips of the pair of fangs was suddenly replaced by a soft feeling, although only for a moment, and then left immediately, as if nothing had happened.This sudden and bewildering change gave me a chill.After about three seconds of reaction time, I vaguely understood one thing, which seemed to be a slightly hot kiss.

There was a roar in my mind, and I closed my eyes and saw the bright daylight in front of me.I was literally like Lucy, blank, forgot who I was, forgot my lines, forgot why we were here.It's just that Lucy died, and I came back to life because of death.

However, this time I was lifted up again.The blood-sucking scene passed quickly.I almost forgot that Lucy was "out of consciousness" by this time.Fortunately, I reacted in time. My hands made a stiff movement, and then hung down as if dead.

I couldn't see Holmes' expression, but I knew that now Dracula raised his head and looked indifferently at his life-or-death prey.He threw me on the bench and disappeared into the darkness.

The field lights went out, and the field was dark.When it was lit again, it was Mina who found that Lucy was not in the house and went to the beach to find her.

During the period from Lucy's serious illness to becoming a vampire, I didn't have many roles. First, I was lying on the hospital bed, and then I was hunted down by Professor Van Helsing and others with a cross in the tomb.Of course, the scene of the execution of the vampire cannot be performed on the stage, so here Lucy exits first to indicate entering her tomb, and the others follow. I let out a long scream in the background, and it's over.During the period, Holmes also had no part in the scene, staying in the background.I kept my back to him when I screamed, because if I saw his half-smile expression, I would definitely want to laugh, and then I couldn't scream.

Because of the tragic nature of Lucy's character, I was able to wait for the actors to take their curtains backstage halfway through the story.Turns out I was a little too involved myself, and I sat backstage grieving for a long time after seeing several characters devastated by Lucy's destruction.But before the last shot of Dracula, I still gathered my spirits to find my glasses from the backstage, and stood at the door quietly watching the performance behind, even though we had been watching and participating in rehearsals for the previous month We knew every detail like the back of our hands .In order to save Mina who is about to become a vampire, the protagonists rush to the castle of Transylvania to hunt down Dracula.Holmes has few lines left for this part.I watched them run up and down the shadowy corridors and stairs of the castle, alert as hounds.Occasionally Dracula loomed at the end of the stairs, staring menacingly at them before a coiled cloak disappeared.The chase will not be over until the final hand-to-hand combat.However, when Dracula appeared on the stairs for the last time, he suddenly turned around and faced the people who were chasing him-Schlesinger's heart must have been in his throat at this time, because in the rehearsal None of this came out at all.

I gently put my hand on the door frame and leaned on it with my whole body.I have no doubts or surprises at this sudden change.Because at this time he was looking in the direction of the backstage where I was - it was me.

An accident is about to happen.

Several actors froze under the stairs, not knowing what to do.Van Helsing took a step up and wanted to perform the trick, but Dracula suddenly looked back at them, presumably with a cold look, because the actors really stood still for a few seconds because of this.Dracula temporarily ruled out all external interference, and turned to my direction, but from the view of the audience, it seemed that he was talking to the hunters.

"I loved," he said in a grave voice, "and I will love again."

A line that is not only different from the script, but also incomprehensible.The auditorium was silent, there was no commotion, no voice, which made my heart tighten for a moment.But my eyes met his, though maybe only I could see him.An ice-like calm look, in the deep shadow of Dracula's castle, ignoring all other souls, reaching straight to the heart.A fiery look, rock-solid trust and sincerity, penetrated the barrier we once thought no one could break through, shining like candlelight.It reminds me of the unconscious staring when I just stepped into 221B ten years ago, the curious and even suspicious eyes met a pair of calm but warm eyes.But the feeling of burning his chest like fire lasted only a few seconds, and then all senses were overwhelmed by kindness and peace of mind.It's all too familiar, we're all too familiar already.This feeling has been flowing in my daily life for too long, I don’t know when it started, the game-like adventure, disappearing, returning, submerged in the flowing time.None of us have really tried to describe what this is.I don't doubt that this is true.It has been there naturally since the day I walked into 221B.

After a few precious seconds, the magic wears off and we all return to reality.Holmes turns back into Dracula again.The actors rushed up, and this time they had to go down.The devil fell, the mark of sin on Mina's forehead disappeared, and it was dawn outside the window.When the curtain fell, the audience burst into applause.I hurriedly moved away from the door, and the actors came down from the stage in the dark. Although their eyesight was limited, they still couldn't restrain their excitement when they rushed to the backstage.

"You hear that, Lucy, the audience loves it!" Jonathan whispered excitedly as he passed me.I carefully wiped away the tears that filled my eyes, trying not to touch the stage makeup, smiled at him, then turned and ran to the other door.

Holmes exited from there.He took off his fangs impatiently before he entered the door, but the cloak had no pockets, so he could only hold it in his hand, tearing at the collar that made him uncomfortable.Seeing me standing blankly in the background, he calmed down a little.

"Let's go," he held out a hand to me, "Curtain call."

I took his arm.

At the curtain call we sorted the characters, with Dracula, Jonathan and Mina standing in the middle, and the others lined up next to each other.The applause from the audience completely robbed me of my hearing.Watson and Mrs. Hudson are down there, but it's impossible for me to find out where they are.I just know that everyone is clapping and my friends are among them.Uncharacteristically, Schlesinger followed us to the curtain call.This man who is usually stern and harsh, who has never been stingy with cynicism with actors, is about to jump up now.Before the end of the performance, no one can be sure how the audience will react. Not only does it involve whether there will be a second scene, but it also concerns the life and death of a director.This gentleman still has stage fright.In front of hundreds of spectators applauding for him, he forgot all his usual majesty, and kept pulling the hem of his clothes nervously.

"Say something, director, say something!"

Jonathan, who was particularly emotional, gave the director a push.Stage veteran Schlesinger stood at the front of the team and was dumb for a long time before he came back to his senses.

"Thank you, thank you audience!" he said loudly.The audience gradually became quiet when they saw that the director was about to speak.

"I am very grateful... to my actors. They are the pillars of the troupe." Schlesinger held the hands of the two protagonists, Jonathan and Mina, and raised them up.There was another burst of warm applause.

"Of course I also want to thank the two special temporary members. They first saved the troupe from fire and water, so their names appeared in the newspapers. Then their names appeared on our posters." Schlesinger finally recovered from his nervousness. The state has entered a state of excitement, and his freely swaying literary talent has returned. "Everyone, these are Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Miss Nightingale, consulting detectives from Baker Street!"

Pushed and shoved by the cast, Dracula and Lucy came to the forefront, somewhat dazedly.We looked at each other unconsciously.I was shaking with excitement, just like the stage fright I had felt before.Holmes was very calm, as if the light and the audience were beyond his senses, we were just passing in front of each other in an empty space, stopped at the same time for some unknown reason, and never moved forward.

The author has something to say: At the beginning of November last year, I let the character Nightingale, who turned out of nowhere, enter 221B. At that time, I was not sure how the plot would develop, but today I finally reached this point.Thinking about myself who was still a little dizzy in college at that time, I felt a lot of emotion.