"...Screamed as Loudly as You Possibly Can"

Frome the meme I posted a few days ago...

Screaming as loudly as you possibly can is not as easy as it sounds. Most of us, if we're lucky, get through our whole lives without ever doing it.

Except if you are an actor.

The very first role I ever had, Ethel Rogers in "Ten Little Indians" required me to do just that.

I got through over half the rehearsals just saying "Scream!" when I was supposed to scream. After that, the director started making me actually do it. We were both very disappointed with the results. I squeaked, I squealed, I squawked. Nothing worked. The scream just wouldn't come. The director started talking me through it, in a low, hypnotic voice.

Nothing.

"Ronni," he said.

"Try remembering the most terrifying incident of your life," he said.

Nothing.

I went around the house, practicing screaming. I scared the girls, who were five and two at the time. I worried the neighbours. We lived in a tract house which was not even close to soundproof. I was afraid they would call the police, thinking there was murder and mayhem going on!

Finally, I hit on a mechanism to let that scream out. I would think,

"There's your child in the third row. Your mission (should you choose to accept it): scare the living youknow out of her!"

It worked.

Well, the scream came out, and the rest of the audience got the youknow scared out of them.

Chandra, on the other hand, had become inured during all that practicing around the house!

I never again had a problem screaming.