A first read-through is much like an arranged marriage.

Everyone has high hopes.

Most particularly, the mother of the bride (aka The Director).

Everyone's a little bit apprehensive.

As no-one quite knows how it's going to turn out.

Least of all, Mother of the Bride.

And she's going to be stuck with it.

So the guests step / trot / teeter into the hallowed space with trepidation.

Mother of the Bride's feeling a little bit shaky.

The customary announcements.

(Arrival of the Queen of Sheba on full volume in Mother of the Bride's head.)

And it begins.

Tremulously at first.

Peering at each other under eyelashes.

The young lovers not wholly sure about volume.

And whether they can be heard at the back.

And not at all sure what to make of these unfamiliar words.

But as time passes, they grow in confidence.

Break out the KitKats.

Start to deliver their lines with a little more aplomb.

Start to titter nervously at the vague vulgarity of some of the readings.

Particularly where lewd uncle Agrippa is concerned.

His speech sticks in my heart.

The ceremony gathers momentum.

Hankies wafting in the wind at the emotional bits.

And before we know it, we've wound to a joy(l)ess conclusion.

The triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet's fool.

A proper love story.