Three months ago the ever enthisiastic, smiley and happy Mathew Clarke sat down with the ever majestic Sean 'Pistol' Potter to be interviewed about Clarke's upcoming directorial debut with PROJECT X. Today you would be pushed to find similarities between Clarke of today and of three months before. Today we see a sullen face, a broken man, beaten down and ready to give in.
During the interview Clarke was thrilled to be asked about his love for Musical theatre and his excitement at the opportunity that had come his way, auditions were underway and everything was going swimmingly. You could be forgiven for assuming this was to be a great production, and that Clarke's enthusiasm would drive it home.
But things never go to plan do they, there are always bumps in the road, some bigger than others... some egos bigger than others. The cast grew, the cast shrunk, enthusiasm picked up and dropped off, but with a production, these things happen.
Clarke couldn't have asked to work with a better group of people, he ensured he had the best people around him to allow it to run smoothly and be a good show. He fixed it so the people with the right expertise looked over the right parts of the show, and was happy with the way the show was coming along. Numbers were dished out, ideas batted around, and the rehearsals set in motion.
If you could have heard some of the singers, soloist supremos, smashing numbers from hit musicals that have been performed on the most famous stages of the world, it was a great formula for a great show. So where did it all go wrong?
Like building a house, if the foundations arent there, the house will fall down, but if the foundations are there, but are bad, rotten foundations, then the house will collapse, the building will fall, and all the work that went into it, the design and dreams will dissapear, and die in a pile of rubble.
As well as building a house, building a structure, an organisation, even a family, needs the same solid foundations, sadly, those were overlooked, a genuine oversight in this case, a miscalculation, at first seemingly small, that festered and finally brought down the house.
The idea was big, the idea was ambitious, the idea was shot down. Idea becoming ideas week by week, the enthusiasm was sucked out by the fun police, the house began to wobble. The show became little more than a group of numbers thrown together in haste. The talent would still shine, but the backbone, the heart of the show had been ripped out and broken.
Bit by bit Clarke would be beaten down, belittled and feel downheartened as the pesimistic vultures started to circle. He still maintained hope, he still clung on in hope. The cast were still the same talented bunch, the same smiley faces, the same undoubtable effort, who were to receive the same lack of thanks.
But hey, work was done and they moved on, struggling in an uphill battle towards the show, as the weeks passed, and the show drew closer, the negative views started to grind the upbeat Clarke, then the shit hit the fan. A stupid, unproffessional mistake from Clarke saw the foundations begin to crumble, people began to talk, people began to bitch, and although people make mistakes, perhaps not all are forgiven.
Then something strange happened, a glimmer, a shining light of positivity, a mere 5 days till the show, and the majority of the group numbers were ready, the solos sounded good and attitudes were on the up, the words 'Im confident it will be a great show' were uttered, but uttered in hypocrisy, and the term familiarity breeds contempt springs to mind.
Like Julius Caeser Clarke was destined to fall, as the haters drew ever closer, and their plots were set in motion, the foundations began to crumble, and the house began to fall, now, like Caeser was, Clarke is left, alone, stabbed in the back from nowhere.
When did postivity leave the world, when did people become okay with belittling the dreams of others, and screwing over their friends? Come March, come 'Clarke's show' in which he will not be, you can understand if Clarke is nowhere to be seen, hoping for the fall of what could be described as the third reich. They call it a society, they claim it to be a democracy, their regime remains, their arses comfy on their much needed large thrones.
