Convincing Acting

All characters are 18 or over the age of 18. The characters and events present are created from my own overactive imagination and any resemblance to anyone is accidental. This story involves incest and cheating so if neither of those are your thing, feel free to check out my other stories to see if they are more to your liking. The plot also centres around a theatrical and fictional (within the world of story) depiction of rape and sexual violence so please be aware of that. I hope you enjoy.

Convincing Acting

***

It was a bad idea. No doubt about that. No one was happy about it. I mean no one! Who would want an actress' dad to fill in for one of the roles, let alone a role like this? It makes no sense, especially at this point in rehearsals. This may have only been a local production and the play's artsy nature meant there would not be a massive crowd coming to watch but still, the performance was only a week away. How was anyone going to learn a part, practice it and then have everyone adjust to the inevitable changes caused by switching an actor this late in? But as Jenny's dad and the director, Harrison kept saying, it really looked like they didn't have another choice. I mean, we simply did not have another actor who could convincingly play the role of the main character's father

and

hold Jenny aloft for the duration of a scene. Unless everyone involved wanted to cancel the play, there were no other options. My girlfriend would have to do a simulated incestuous sex scene with her real dad.

***

Now of course, "simulated" was the operative word here because nothing they would be doing would be real. Actors have been pretending to have sex in plays for ages, so this was not something new to the realm of theatre. However, sex was a major element of this play. It was crucial to the journey of "Delilah," the main character of the play. Delilah had accidents befall her which made her vulnerable, leading her to be taken advantage of and ultimately changed by the events of the play. "The Broken Petal" was a play about sex and the way it can damage someone if they have it with the wrong people. It wasn't exactly a very sex positive message, but it was a warning about those who had a warped relationship with sex, and it seemed like an entertaining play regardless. Therefore, because sex was so central, there were multiple sex scenes during the play and they were, at least outwardly, very graphic.

There was full nudity, again nothing too unusual for theatre, but what was unusual was the liberal use of fake cum and fake pussy juices - sorry synthetic semen and mock vaginal lubricant. Jenny kept reminding me during the early rehearsals that that was the correct way of talking about the stuff the special effects technicians were working with.

The playwright, some random guy who was supposedly very influential and avant guard, was extremely clear in his notes for the previous performances in how visually overwhelming and messy the whole thing was supposed to be. The sex in "The Broken Petal" was supposed to soak into Delilah so thoroughly that she could never wash herself clean of its influence, or so Jenny had explained in a passionate recounting of why it was so important for her to star in the play when the local auditions had come around.

So, given the frequency of the sex, the wishes of the writer, and the thematic importance of things being messy and visual, the director, Harrison, was taking a page out of the porn industry for this rendition. Harrison was going to follow through with the playwright's vision and make one of the messiest, most explicit, series of fake sex scenes our local theatre had ever seen. He would of course be ahead of everything else this theatre had ever put on by several miles, but nevertheless he was going to commit to it all the way.

So that was really where the problems began. Harrison's goals, and my girlfriend being willing to play the leading role.

In many ways the play was not a happy story, but then from what I could gather being the boyfriend of a young actress for a while now, few plays were very happy for the characters she was cast as. Young women featured in plays usually have something bad happen to them. Lots of them seemed the "cautionary tale" type.

Apparently, from my understanding, "The Broken Petal" was a cautionary tale about not letting family members have sex with you after finding you emotionally vulnerable and needing support. Not really sure who that tale would be useful as a caution to but hey, I don't understand the inner workings of theatre all that much. I just enjoy seeing Jenny on stage and leave the magic and the messages to her, the director and the more theatre literate audience members. As far as I'm concerned, all the actors, actresses and technical staff are wizards for how believable they're able to make things and the emotions they make me feel. Even if I don't understand all of what they are getting at intellectually, I like to think that after watching each of Jenny's performances of a certain play, I emotionally understand it by the end.

When they started, things were going well. The scripts were sent out for everyone to practice with once the rolls had been assigned. Jenny Williams would be playing Delilah, Thomas Blackwell would be the brother that abuses her, James...what'shisface would be the unsupportive and forgettable boyfriend who just tries to benefit from her increasing sexual appetite but is eventually left behind, and Henry Livingston... Henry Livingston

was

going to play the horrible dad who pushes her into her initial downward spiral by mistakenly supporting her abusive brother over her in an argument that leads to very forceful incestuous sex. Yeah, I know. I'm not entirely sure how one leads to another, but I guess I'm simplifying and skipping over stuff that happens in the scene. This is theatre, I'm sure not everything has to make sense from a realism standpoint. Its all the subtext and stuff.

When I saw the early rehearsals, it did look great. I remember the first time I saw the key scene. Someone shouted, "lights up," even though the lights were already on, but that just indicated that in the real performance the stage lights would brighten to start the scene. There Jenny was, nude and draped over the sofa after the previous scene with her brother. A fake red mark upon her curvy rear made beautifully by the makeup department, fak - mock vaginal lubricant on her inner thighs. Her body was angled perpendicular to the audience so despite her nudity, for most of this early portion of the scene, the audience really couldn't see Jenny's most intimate parts. The focus was on the stinging read mark from simulated spanks. Her arm was raised up high, hanging over the back of the sofa in a limp fashion. She may have been nude with her soft brown curls flowing over her side, but her nudity was not the point of this moment. It was an attractive pose only because Jenny was attractive. Within the context and experience of viewing the story it was heartbreaking.

While Jenny, playing Delilah would be lit up softly from above on the sofa, a middle section of the stage would be in darkness, and on the other side of it, the silent but expressive conversation of Delilah's father and brother. Her terrible brother spreading his lies about Delilah.

The scene was all about Delilah's dad finding her like that after hearing the lie from her brother that she had tried to force herself upon him in a sexually charged frenzy. The opposite was true, and the audience knew it, but the brother still succeeded in convincing Delilah's dad. The dad, being the judgemental character that he is, already had unfounded suspicions from the Act 1 scenes about the impact Delilah's new boyfriend had had on her. The boyfriend had done nothing at all to Delilah but alas, miscommunication, misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions seemed to be the male characters' forte in this play. Alongside forcing themselves on Delilah, because that is of course what Delilah's dad ended up doing.

It was a tragic scene really. The dad was disappointed in his daughter for "the slut she had become" as she tries to convince him otherwise but while doing so, emotions flare. When the argument turns violent the nudity of Delilah overwhelms the dad, and he ends up contributing to the increasing sexualisation and abuse of a promising young woman. He pulls down his trousers on stage, lifts Delilah's actress into the air and then the two simulate a very angry incestuous sex scene. The dad leaves the scene in tears for what has become of his family, both Delilah's supposed promiscuity and now his own actions. Delilah is left in a heap on the floor struggling to decide what to do next.

The special effects team will sneakily place a pouch of fake cum, a bit like fake blood pouches, atop one of the bookcases the sex moves towards (hence the need to be in a carrying sex position). Henry, the actor playing Delilah's dad would then break the sachet atop her crotch while no one is able to see and make it look like he has cum inside her when she is lowered to the ground.

That is the key moment of this scene. Maybe even of the whole play.

Delilah, or should I say Jenny, after having been dumped on the floor by her father, sits with her legs spread wide apart to reveal to the audience her pussy for the first time in the scene, leaking and covered in fake semen. There'll be some mock vaginal lubricant mixed in but not too much. It is only supposed to hint at some level of horrid, unintentional pleasure Delilah gets, something that in the later scenes will be increased to show development.

This scene is the moment they needed to nail. It confirms the journey of the main character, abandoning her family and turning to her boyfriend and eventually strangers. Jenny will sit there on the floor, in one of the most explicit poses in the play, and crumple into tears... End scene, and the end of act 2.

Powerful stuff.

But that scene, that vitally important scene, that was the problem. Henry couldn't carry Jenny for the length of the scene.

***

Since Jenny had acted for the group multiple times now and I had been her boyfriend throughout that time, I was a known entity. I had attended rehearsals and performances and was kind of given a free pass on watching the shows progress. So, when one of the first dress -- or should I say undressed -- rehearsals came around, I was there. There to watch Henry drop Jenny.

It had been going so well. The emotion was truly there, even if it was supposed to be mainly just a run through with a focus on practicing the costumes and nudity. Jenny had been saying her lines perfectly. She looked beautiful naked but still made the character feel fragile. Then they got to the argument scene, acted out the argument, and arrived at the part where Henry picked Jenny up. He started to carry her over to the bookcase to pretend to have sex and... he just couldn't do it. He was supposed to be safely holding her with one arm under her thighs and another around her back, yet he got halfway across the stage before she slipped between his arms and tumbled onto the floor.

Henry apologised immediately of course, and we all treated it as a regrettable accident. We checked Jenny over, but she was fine. Her butt was in a bit of pain, so we called off the rest of rehearsals aside from the few scenes that did not include her, but luckily, she had not badly injured herself. There wasn't even a bruise! Jenny did have a fair amount of cushioning on her very attractive behind, maybe that was the reason. All in all, it was unfortunate, but these things happen. The carry pose that was planned for Henry and Jenny should be perfectly secure, so it was just about being careful while moving her around and keeping that tight grip. Accidents happen, the show must go on.

And then he dropped her a second, third and fourth time.

The second time happened in the rescheduled dress rehearsal, it was initially treated more like a learning moment. An indication that the scene would need more practice in ways we had not anticipated and that the carry and move was more technical than anyone had anticipated. If the carrying was an issue, how well would the special effects synthetic semen and go? Would Henry be able to safely break the packet and still hold her safely on the ledge that was her mark on the bookcase? Would things need to be adjusted? Either way everyone decided to rerun the scene from the top paying close attention and...

He dropped her again.

Jaw tight and eyes narrow, Jenny's face was no longer hiding her frustration. Heck I was frustrated. That was my girlfriend he was dropping! Even if she wasn't injured it must have hurt but like the determined woman she was, she jumped straight back into it. The easiest way to ignore pain and avoid fear is to jump right into action. She gave Henry a few pointers, mainly telling him not to be afraid and properly grip her, and then said they should go again. I had noticed he seemed uncomfortable with the nudity and the idea of holding onto Jenny tightly but if that was an issue he really was not being very professional by dropping her instead. Even if Jenny was a lot younger than Henry, they were both adults and right now, he was acting more immature than her.

The fourth time she got dropped was when she snapped. It was a nasty one too.

The other drops had been while Henry was moving relatively slowly but this time it seemed Henry was trying to avoid the lengthy carry by rushing it. Henry had staggered forward rapidly after picking her up, their bodies already shifting wildly from side-to-side with Henry leaning forward. The momentum they now carried was unsafe and the end result was that Jenny once again slipped through Henry's fingers. However, this time, because of all that forward momentum he practically threw her to the ground before stumbling into her. In Henry's attempt to race over to the bookcase and get the scene over with he had caused even more damage. Jenny was in real in pain at that point but more than that, she was mad.

The stinging of her butt and the anger of being repeatedly dropped during the scene must have boiled up because she immediately stood up and started berating Henry even while rubbing her sore butt. Under normal circumstances this kind of thing would have made Jenny look bad, accidents happen after all, your fellow actors are your teammates. Yet with Jenny facing away from the "audience" we could all see her bright red butt from her fall and the way she was wincing even as she yelled at him.

He had said he was up for the role. We'd all seen him drop her multiple times. He was an older guy sure enough, but he wasn't that old, and frail to make this impossible. Jenny was curvy but nowhere near heavy enough for her to be the problem. If Henry could not hack this then that was on him. He was not going to get a lot of sympathy from anyone who had watched him discard her to the floor like a hot rock. Even as people stepped in to calm the argument of the two nude actors it was clear where everyone's compassion would lay.

This was the point at which Jenny's dad entered the scene.

I had not been the only one watching the performances who cared deeply about Jenny. Jonathan Williams was unable to attend many of the rehearsals throughout its run thanks to his own commitments to a larger, regional theatre, yet Jenny's dad had managed to attend this one. No doubt after hearing right from Jenny that she had been dropped in the last dress rehearsal.

He had been quietly watching for most of the rehearsal with a small but noticeable look of pride whenever Jenny really showed off her superb acting skills. The two previous drops had caused that pride to be replaced by a serious mask. Jenny's dad was not easy to read but I could tell there was a level of concern building. A quiet and deadly presence was emanating from the around him like hearing the breath of a sleeping dragon. Henry awoke that dragon the moment he cast his daughter to the floor like a dead weight and proceeded to trampled over her in uncontrolled stumbling. Jonathan Williams stood and stormed to the stage.

Mr Williams was a large, strongly built man with deep set umber eyes. A tangle of thick, curly black hair hung over the sides of his face and blended into his coarse stubble like a dark mane surrounding him. I was very grateful that I was not the target of Mr Williams' anger because if he had approached me in that way, clambering directly up onto the stage, feeling no need trouble himself with the stairs at either end, I would have likely fled.

It was almost comical the moment you could tell that those trying to calm down the two arguing actors realised that the bear of a man rising from centre stage was by far the biggest threat to Henry, instead of his frustrated and injured cub. The other actors and technicians shifted to him at once but fortunately for everyone involved, Jenny's dad was not in the mood to fight anyone, he was in actor/ director mode.

Mr Williams authoritatively cleared away the other cast members and even Harrison before going to work pointing and gesturing to Henry and Jenny. He brought them both over to their original marks. He crouched, arms out in a cradle position, hoisting, pulling tight against his chest, a bounce of his arms so test the security of the hold and then in an exaggerated move, he turned and then slowly and deliberately he walked to the bookcase. He strode across the stage like he owned it. He crossed back towards the pair of them. Henry, having watched the demonstration tried to reply, probably excuses or saying he had already tried it all, but Mr Williams was having none of it.

And that is when it happened.

After sternly staring down Henry as the man's excuses seemed to die in his throat, Mr Williams turned to Jenny and put a hand on her head. He gently pushed down on her shoulder and she, understanding, sank to the floor assuming her position. Kneeling nude on the floor and sitting on her heels she looked up at her father. He stood over her for a moment before crouching and then going to one knee. In a perfect repetition of the movements he had just demonstrated, Jenny's dad reached an arm to her side and then under her butt. While Henry had kept his own arm far away from Jenny's butt and more towards her thighs, Mr Williams' arm was supporting Jenny's rear confidently and unashamedly. You could even see the squish of her cheeks around his arm as his he took her weight. His other sturdy arm slid all the way around her back to grip the opposite side of her chest and pulled her in close to his own chest. Jenny's breasts and stomach melted into the soft knitted jumper he wore. His arms were now encasing her, wrapped from one side of her legs to the other, and one side of her back to the other.

Mr Williams lifted Jenny slowly but deliberately and let her wrap her legs around his waist as the move required. He shifted his arms with a little bounce as he had before and adjusted his grip. Jenny bounced in his arms, her chest jiggling slightly at the upward momentum, but then she came to a secure, and by the looks of it, comfortable rest. Even from my position I could see his fingers sinking into the soft flesh of Jenny's butt and his other hand scooping underneath her breast to properly grip her torso. She was going nowhere, and she had nothing to fear, least of all being dropped.

This was nothing like the clumsy, nervous, unbalanced grip Henry had been using and seeing Mr Williams perform the lift was night and day. Observing it done properly made Henry's look so much worse in comparison. It was obvious to everyone how badly a job Henry had been doing.