dream or nightmare?

I woke up this morning having had a recurring dream of mine, but with an awful twist.

So, I have this dream where I'm in something onstage but I forget ALL of my lines; I just don't know why I'm there anymore...& it terrifies me. Then I wake up. This is probably fairly normal for an actor I assume, in the same way that perhaps a doctor sits bolt upright screaming after a nightmare of forgetting how to perform an operation to remove gall stones whilst halfway through it. Or a hairdresser shaken from sleep by the prospect of a weave they've forgotten how to...weave on an important person's head. Floella Benjamin springs to mind.

Anyway, on with the awful twist. Dreams can be misleading things. There I am asleep & I think I'm having what I call the "West End Debut" dream (better known as the "Will it EVER happen" dream) & I arrive at the theatre - the Shaftesbury this time - & realise I am going to be in my first West End show! But what is it? 'Phantom'? 'Hairspray'? Not 'Chicago' surely?!

'Footloose'

Now, I've seen 'Footloose' & enjoyed it. I've auditioned for 'Footloose'; unsuccessfully actually - even though the part I was up for had to be a terrible dancer. But he comes good apparently & finds he's the Deep South Billy Elliot; so of course, I couldn't complete the last leg of his journey. Well, in my dream I'm happy to report I'm only in the ensemble - so I reckon I get by relatively unnoticed. Not so. I don't know any of the songs. I don't know any of the routines. I don't look good in dungarees. I can't even find my way back to my dressing room to hide.

It's awful.

I do my best.

I look into the audience for a supportive face. Mum. Dad. My agent.

None. The only faces I recognise? Cameron Mackintosh, Pippa Ailion, Jason Robert Brown & wait for it, Ronnie Corbett.

I feel utterly ashamed. Maybe I don't want to be in the West End after all.

Then just as I think about waking up, the guy playing the lead pulls me behind a piece of very wobbly set, kisses my face & says "You're doing a great job...welcome to the West End"

I wake up confused...Is this really what I want? And why was Ronnie Corbett there?

I'd take the gall stones operation dream any day of the week.

I think.