Anything Goes - Theatrical Capers

At a single flick of a baton the band struck up the now familiar music I'd been listening to constantly on a loop for 24 hours having downloaded a copy to familiarise myself with, the melodies flowed and Marika called the first lights at exactly the moment I had practised - click - and lanterns slowly dimmed up from darkness to full effect precisely as planned. With this milestone out of the way it was heart & breathing back to normal as the first cast moved onto stage and we ran the show.

Once running there was no time to do do anything other than keep my head down, there were over 150 lighting cues to manage during the next two and a half hours or so which seemed like a lot but many were incredibly subtle changes Stan had designed to draw the eye of the audience member onto the main action or a specific character and keep it there.

Once or twice I glanced to my right during the first half and caught Poppy casting looks back, checking me out even though she was fully occupied with her own desk controlling the cast members microphones, on & offstage microphones plus the band and balancing that into the auditorium speakers. In the booth we were receiving the same mix and it was perfect to my ears. With many years of practice had come a reassured confidence and polished end product.

The group took a 20 minute break between acts to allow the stage to be reset and a quick refreshment break that I also took advantage of. When I came back Poppy was deep in conversation with her dad but it was shelved as soon as I walked through the door restarting when they popped out themselves once I regained my seat.

There was a 5 minute call from Marika giving everyone the heads up for the start of the second act and Poppy returned in time for the 2 minute call that instructed me to drop the house lights again but without Stan - there was no time for me to find out why as the orchestra struck up. An hour or so later and it was all over - I set stage and house lights to full as the cast streamed in full costume from the stage into the auditorium seats for their debrief with the producer transferring control from lighting desk to the general panel and slid my seat back heaving a sigh of relief, surprised by how mentally tiring it had been, much to the amusement of Poppy.

We were joined very shortly by Katherine & Jake whereupon I realised with a start I hadn't given them a single instruction all evening yet they had performed flawlessly. I issued a huge grovelling thanks and compliments for their work and they brushed it off saying they figured I probably had a lot of stuff on my mind as it was my first production but they were sure I would have let them know if they were going wrong. I wasn't 100% sure they were right.

Stan joined us saying he'd decided to watch Act 2 from the 'cheap seats' downstairs as after Act 1 he felt I had everything in hand and to celebrate he insisted we all adjourn to the pub as the first round was on him. No argument from me tonight or any of the others but I took a little time packing my backpack to ensure I was last out and could grab the dongle unseen.

A great night ensued with a lot of alcohol being consumed, more introductions being made, stories being told of old shows and shenanigans, a lot of friendly banter and me spending quite a lot of time watching Poppy from a distance as she drank on another table with Marika and several other young female friends. We finally got cleared out around midnight to go to our homes.

I awoke at 7:00 with a splitting headache - must have been a dodgy pint of beer amongst the 6 or 7 I'd sunk - and I staggered down for a strong coffee. Needing to speak to Stan urgently I text him to meet me at the theatre in three hours as I had "error reports" I didn't understand then sent another message to Brian from the dodgy mobile apologising from the benefactor that an emergency had arisen preventing his attendance at the first meeting and could he attend a breakfast meeting around the same time I was meeting Stan.

Both replies came back within the time the coffee machine took to dispense its lifesaving nectar, both in the positive - I was back on track and munching through a sausage & bacon roll as I checked out the files on the dongle from the previous night. Eleven of the twelve were as expected showing people filling the dressing rooms so I stopped them before they started to shed clothing.

The twelfth was a revelation - the twelfth was Reno Sweeney's dressing room and where I expected to see one leading lady I saw three ladies, Reno and the pair of twin dancers - Amber and Jade - all of whom were very excitedly removing one another's clothes at high speed and with an air of people who were very comfortable with each other's naked bodies. I didn't need to see any more and decided neither did anyone else so having archived the drive as evidence of what the dongle did I deleted that file from the memory stick whilst leaving the rest intact for my next appointment.

Hoping I was back within the alcohol limit I dragged my motorbike from my garage for the first time in a fortnight as I had some urgent shopping to do in the next town before I could do anything else.

* * * * * * * *

It was late, so very late, almost midnight when I opened the door to find her standing there in the harsh glare of my porch light still dressed in skinny jeans and an off the shoulder gypsy blouse despite the slight chill in the late night air. I was confused because we had parted only half an hour before to go to our own homes for another night and yet now she was here. I didn't question the situation but stepped aside and allowed her past me into my dimly lit house.

Following the events of that amazing first morning together and the night that preceded it we'd met up at the theatre in the evening before the second performance and she had instigated 'one of those' chats, the sort that kicks your legs from under you (which it did) and leaves you lying in an emotional gutter. Standard stuff - "it's not you it's me", "great but a one off", "not looking for anything serious", "let's keep things as friends".

It wasn't the first time I've got the brush off or been dumped but certainly the worst - I was genuinely shocked & absolutely gutted but at that moment in time with no other options I smiled weakly and agreed by making all the right noises. That had been 3 days ago and I had been the consummate detached professional every night as had she, now the show only had one more day - 2 performances - to go so I couldn't understand why she was here, nothing had gone wrong during that evenings run and there was no reason to add or remove any effects so why?

Old habits die hard so the welcoming host in me took over. I offered her a drink - hot drink or hard alcohol, her choice - and she accepted with a request for vodka & coke. In my experience that choice didn't bode well for a relaxed chat being on the cards so I decided a degree of numbing may be needed for me too and reached for the single malts to pour myself a large measure.

I was too tired to get involved in a guessing game to establish what this was all about,

"Do you want to come through to the lounge, it's a lot more comfortable in there?" and I led the way anyway. She followed on silently behind me.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw we weren't alone, I already had another visitor who was seated on my sofa with a drink in hand. The visitor was another woman, one well known to the newcomer - it was Marika - and that signalled the start of a ranting diatribe aimed squarely at me but dragging the stage manager in as well. Straight off the bat she swore I was like every male; impossible to trust, manipulative, only interested in sex, fickle as evidenced by the fact that after one night with her I was straight on to the next woman and she knew Marika had stayed over at mine the night after the second performance as we'd been seen when I dropped her home the following morning.

Pausing only to take a breath the next line of attack was to begin to accuse me of deceit and falsehood but she was stopped cold in her tracks by a discreet cough behind her and she spun around to see Leo standing there, another member of the society. He calmly and politely took the time to point out it was he who had brought Marika to my home that evening. I was not, as far as he knew, in any way the promiscuous sex fiend she accused me of being because he and Marika were in fact a couple and had been for several months but were keeping it under wraps for personal reasons - he had come back to mine with Marika for quiet drink rather than staying at the pub to celebrate the wonderful news Marika was to be announced as the new acting theatre manager the following day.

Shocked silence ensued during which time Leo and Marika took their leave and having seen the couple out I returned to the living room and made myself comfortable in a big old leather armchair I'd picked up from an antiques shop at the end of my coffee table waiting for her to sit or speak...

* * * * * * * * *

Stan was a lot brighter than I was when he arrived outside the main doors but also giving me a dubious look, "I am hoping you haven't dragged an old man, who is at deaths door, out of his comfy bed at stupid o'clock for anything less than the end of the world because I know that lighting programme doesn't generate error reports. If you want me to arrange a date with Poppy for you then it's a no and you need to grow a set and actually speak to her."

Actually Stan arranging a date wasn't a bad idea however, "Sorry mate this won't take long and you will see it's only you I could drag out of bed." I let us in and locked up behind us heading as usual to the control booth.

"I know you've told me a lot of the goings on in the society and its open attitudes but I stumbled over something yesterday that I'm certain no one else is aware of and would not stand for." With that I produced the dongle from my bag, slotted it into the comms controller and told Stan all Brian's activities I'd discovered whilst running up the displays to demonstrate. I put forward my idea he'd been recoding and probably storing clips like these since the system went in.

Stan was shocked, "Christ almighty that's over two years" and that's when I flipped open the my laptop to show the recovered date stamped files proving him correct.

"Now comes the tricky bit, at this point only the two of is know any of this and there's very little we can do with this knowledge, however I have a plan and with the cooperation of one more person we can shut him down and remove him permanently with no one else any of the wiser or getting hurt but I can't make that call only you can. We need someone to act as bait and it's a shitty thing to ask but we need the help of Genevieve."

Stan took the lighting control seat and sat silently - for the first time since I'd met him he looked like an old man, the news had shaken him badly. The sheer scale of the illicit surveillance cameras and volume of files I had recovered had badly rattled him. I had run a hundred scenarios through my head on how to resolve this but only one had any chance, a slim chance at that. Wishing I didn't have to do any of this I pressed on and explained further that at that moment Brian was in a hotel restaurant waiting for a benefactor - a hotel owned by one of my old colleagues who had also left computing for a lower stress life and was doing me a favour - stuffing his face with free food whilst being held up. When he did leave it would be straight back to the theatre with a note promising a £25k donation leaving him happy and unsuspecting.

My plan was to return the dongle, set up mini cameras I'd only just purchased in the booth and his office then have Genevieve lure him into recording her so we could catch him in the act, present the proof and that would be the end of him.

Stan wasn't happy but took out his mobile and made a call without argument, getting straight through and asking Genevieve to meet him at the theatre as soon as possible. When he hung up I blanked the dongle and grabbed the screwdrivers again with my bag of tricks and him following me to the office. My credit card act raised an enquiring eyebrow but on going to attack the cabinet once more Stan stopped me with a hand on my shoulder, tilted back Brian's computer screen and withdrew a key from underneath. I didn't have time to ask how it knew it was there but was mighty grateful for the time it saved.

The Dongle was quickly stored away and two tiny wireless cameras placed to overview the office and overlook the computer plus a little extra box fitted below the desk between keyboard and computer, then another two cameras into the booth to cover everything he might do at the desks. I placed all the receivers in the patch cabinets and linked everything to a secure network link with my laptop all before Gen arrived. She was surprised by my presence in a meeting she assumed would be between two and I stayed silent while Stan gave her a version of what we knew only speaking when he asked me to tell her what was needed.

"The only way this will work is if we can record him setting up the system, observing something private then finding out where he stores the stuff he's recorded so we can ultimately destroy it once this is all over. I believe he's particularly fixated on you so if you arrange to pop in to tweak costumes or something I think it would be too much for him to risk missing but he would need to record something worth keeping and that's where I don't have the right to expect your help but without it I cannot see another option."

With that I left the two friends to talk candidly together, waiting in the corridor until they emerged.

"Stan trusts you so I do too, I've made a call to meet Brian at 1pm and he has jumped at it. I will put on a performance the likes of which he could not possibly think of deleting and I am relying on you to deliver your end of this plan."

Stan escorted her to the door and I ran a check to ensure all my tech was working perfectly. As everything was running on automatic Stan had arranged for Genevieve to call us when she left the theatre and we would take over from there. I stored the computer recording everything faithfully out of sight behind the ticket desk where we could access it easily and quickly if needed then Stan suggested the pub for us and I jumped at the opportunity for food and drink to steady my nerves.

Around 2pm we got the call and headed back to find Genevieve waiting for us out of sight, although not part of the plan I couldn't refuse her joining us after what she had just done - she had an edge of steel in her voice that spoke volumes about the anger of betrayal she was feeling. She told us Brian was still in the building but we took the chance to go in and check the laptop. The three of us were squeezed into the booking office - more a glorified cubicle - when I pulled up the office cameras to check Brian was at his desk which he was, working on his computer.

Leaving that live stream up I pulled the both recordings up running them at 20x fast forward simultaneously on adjacent windows. What we saw drew angry curses and shocked exclamations from my two companions who were not nearly as prepared for the truth as they had proclaimed. In all too glorious hi-def we watched as Brian set up the comms system, pulled up Genevieve's dressing room and proceed to slip his trousers and boxers to mid thigh then masturbate to the images on the screen before him. When he did eventually orgasm he sat there massaging his flaccid little prick until Genevieve left her room before he cleaned himself up, shut down the system and pocketed the dongle.

I pulled up the recorded feed from the office cameras next which trapped him in the act of taking a book off a bookshelf and from it removing a portable hard drive. He connected this and the dongle to his computer before commencing the process of transferring the files. Stan tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the live feed - Brian was returning the drive to its hiding place so if we were ever going to act it had to be now and we marched up to the office arriving just as Brian stepped through his door and stopped in his tracks.

"What the hell do you three want now? Can't you see I am a busy man and I have things to do before everyone turns up for tonight's opening performance."

Genevieve answered angrily, "Get back in your office and sit down you odious, creepy little man." She was jabbing a finger into his chest as he dropped backwards in a rush and almost fell into his seat.

The next few minutes needed a calm head and mine was the only one that even vaguely fitted the description - I placed myself between Brian, Stan and Gen before addressing the baffled theatre manager. Next I put my laptop in front of him and brought up the control room videos.

"Before you say another word watch this Brian - we know that you had hidden cameras secretly fitted into 12 of the dressing rooms when the new intercom system was installed, that you have been recording and watching society members changing and engaged in other more private activities which you have subsequently downloaded to a removable hard drive you keep hidden." At this point I removed the hollowed out book from the shelf and tipped the drive into my hand.

"Furthermore, as the videos you are watching prove, you use these cameras and videos for your own sexual gratification all of which is a gross betrayal of your position as theatre manager as well as everyone in the society."

Brian began to bluster and blow, attempting to bluff his way out of the situation whilst sweating profusely and trembling with fear. I had neither the patience or time to let him build up any sort of momentum and pressed home my advantage.

"There is no defence you can possibly give now we have all this evidence of your crimes. There are two ways this will pan out and I am going to give you the choice even though you don't deserve one.

Option one: you hand in our notice with immediate effect - I don't care what reason you use, maybe stress or health or something else - and you never set foot in this building or have contact with the society and its members again. This will all end quietly with no further distress to anyone involved, only the four of us will ever know what truly happened.

Option two: you are stupid enough to try to bluff this out - except that isn't an option because you've recorded at least three police officers and a magistrate, not to mention your daughter and several of her friends when they were only sixteen which made them minors!

So unless you fancy some lengthy prison time, losing your family and spending the rest of your life on a sex offenders register I strongly suggest you have a think for a moment about just how attractive Option 1 is."

Dumber than I ever thought he actually came back at me, "None of your so called evidence is admissible in a court because it was all obtained illegally and the drive you are holding is password protected so is no us to you either. You have absolutely nothing on me. Get out of my office."

Angry now I pulled him and his chair away from the desk - from the hidden little box I had installed on Brian's computer I withdrew an SD memory card which I slipped into my MacBook, the boxes job was to record every keystroke made by the user and it gave me everything I now needed to know. Brian's jaw dropped open as the card revealed his log on ID and password followed by the password to unlock the hard drive I attached and reveal countless columns of folders and video files far beyond anything I had guessed he might have retained.

"You have no idea what I am capable of Brian but rest assured we have not even scratched the surface yet. Put your keys on the desk, leave this building now and I want to hear by 10am tomorrow morning you have formally resigned or by 10:05 your world will be crashing down around your balding head, I swear it."