Читать книгу The Three of U.S.: A New Life in New York - Peter Godwin - Страница 30

Tonight we attend the inaugural dinner of the American Friends of the Royal Court held at a grand townhouse just off Fifth Avenue.

It is run by a rather terrifying band of supremely confident English women who, among their other triumphs, are also accomplished fund-raisers. It’s the first time either of us has been involved in anything like this, and it soon becomes apparent we are in way over our heads.

There are twenty of us altogether at the dinner and Stephen Daldry, the Court’s artistic director who has flown in from London this afternoon specially to address us, explains what the theatre needs. Except that he is far too abashed to ask for money directly and, instead, keeps talking about ‘raising the Royal Court’s profile’, so that it isn’t entirely clear what he’s actually after. Looking suitably perplexed, an American woman sitting opposite me suddenly pipes up, ‘Well, what do you need? Would it help, for example, if each one of us sitting here were to write you a cheque for twenty thousand dollars?’

To my horror, several other people nod supportively. ‘Good idea,’ murmurs my neighbour, and one woman even makes as if to retrieve her chequebook from a small beaded handbag. Unable to catch Peter’s eye, I sit frozen in fear of us being publicly humiliated as the only people round the grand candle-lit table unable to afford such a gesture. Fortunately, Daldry is so embarrassed at the idea that it is somehow lost over the dessert wine. Overwhelmed with relief, as we are leaving, I cheerfully sign up both Peter and I to attend a volunteers’ meeting to explore ways of expanding the Royal Court’s reputation in New York.