I had my first experience of the theatre with Auntie Essie and fell in love at once. She took me to see' Cinderella' at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg on a Saturday evening. We got all dressed up (which is what you did 50 years ago) and it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me in my first decade of life.. We had almost front row seats and I couldn't sit still waiting for the curtain to go up. I was enthralled, but when the golden coach, with four footmen and four white horses came on to the stage and this ethereal creature stepped from it in her swirly,voluminous white dress and those glass slippers, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My mouth went dry and I gasped. I remember it so clearly, and feel my heart beating wildly thinking about that sight.When the curtain finally came down, I burst into tears and begged to come and see it again. Pure joy and pleasure to me is still a night out at the theatre.
