‘I lost my shoes while out at the theatre’

It was a Sunday afternoon and my sister and I were off to the Lyric Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. I’d asked my sister to go with me because she loves musicals and did some musical theatre in her younger years.

Our Uber was on its way, we had a quick wine and a ciggie, and then off we went. We arrived in good time and as we found our way to the appropriate ‘door’ I felt a ‘thud’ in my very old leather ankle boots. It was only after we’d found our seats that I discovered the entire sole of my shoe had parted company. There were so many people, and the excitement rose as the lights dimmed.

During the show, my sister realised just how much of Carole King’s music she actually knew and she broke into song! Now, she has a good voice, but one that is more suited to songs from The Sound of Music. So fearful that others around us would tell her to ‘shut up’, I spent most of the first half, elbowing her to be quiet, which, begrudgingly she did. I won’t go into ‘chapter and verse’, but suffice it to say, the performance was a brilliant ‘first half’ before intermission.

We had about 20 minutes during the intermission, so we dashed off to have a smoke break and went in search of the bar. It should be noted that you wouldn’t ever get tiddly on buying a wine at the Lyric Theatre. By this time both soles of my boots had fallen off and I was trotting around on the ‘uppers’.

The performance ended amid standing ovations and lots of clapping. Time to leave! However, getting out proved to be far more difficult than getting in. I ‘lost’ my sister (or she lost me) three times; a staff member found me and directed me to the exit that took me to the front of the theatre. By this time it was 6pm, it was dark and getting cool; I was tired and very frustrated. Then a security guard approached me and asked, “Are you Susan Leighton?” When I confirmed this to her she said, “Stay exactly where you are. I’ll bring your sister”.

While waiting, I observed a group of very trendily dressed, but somewhat inebriated, young adults. I asked them where the nearest bar was. I was getting quite tired and cranky, but when my sister and I were reunited we (read: me) hobbled down the street to a trendy establishment and we enjoyed a wine while waiting for our Uber to arrive and take us home.

Not only did we enjoy ourselves at the theatre, but the comedy that ensued will be remembered for a long time.

Have you ever had a mishap while out enjoying yourself? Tell us about it.

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