‘I’m thinking of special effects. Smoke, dry ice, any sort of vapour produced mechanically?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘Do you know if she recently used a cosmetic that was new to her? Stage make-up, perhaps?’
Shearman, alarmed, turned to Denise. She reddened and shrugged. ‘She didn’t do her own make-up. I looked after her.’
‘You never know with skin,’ Shearman said, to close that avenue. ‘What’s all right for one person can produce a reaction in someone else.’
‘We don’t think it’s allergic,’ the doctor said. ‘We’ll get a dermatologist to look at her, but our first assessment is that these are acid burns.’
‘
Denise, saucer-eyed, shook her head.
‘I’m telling you what we found,’ the doctor said. ‘She may have to be transferred to the burns unit at Frenchay.’
‘I can’t understand this. It makes no sense at all.’
‘It’s not our job to make sense of it,’ the doctor said. ‘We deal with the injuries that are presented to us. All we want to find out is the likely source of the damage so that we give the right treatment.’
CLARION’S AGONY ON STAGE ran next morning’s tabloid headline. The theatre was besieged by reporters, distressed fans and, it has to be said, ticket-holders wanting refunds. Upstairs in his office, Hedley Shearman was urgently conferring with Francis Melmot, the Chairman of the Theatre Trust. Silver-haired and silver-tongued, Melmot, at six foot eight, towered over the stumpy theatre manager.
‘The latest is that she’s being treated at Frenchay Hospital, where they have a burns unit,’ Shearman said. ‘The skin damage is severe, I’m sorry to say, and could be permanent.’
‘Hedley, this is irredeemably dire,’ Melmot said. ‘How could it have possibly have happened?’
In the privacy of his office Shearman could be frank. ‘The obvious explanation is that her skin reacted adversely to the make-up. The burning is all on her face, neck and upper body, the areas that were made up. She rubbed some of the stuff off with a towel and they’re having that analysed.’
‘You’ve spoken to the make-up person, of course?’
‘Denise Pearsall.’
‘She’s a dresser, isn’t she?’
‘Yes, but she was specially assigned to do the whole thing, costume, make-up, confidence-giving. If you remember, you said Clarion must be feather-bedded.’
‘Oh, I’m responsible, am I?’
‘Denise is in shock. Can’t think how it happened. She used her own make-up on Clarion. She’s been with us for years, as you know.’
‘What was it – theatrical make-up?’
‘The same stuff they all use. Tried and tested, used in theatres up and down the country.’
‘But was it new?’
‘Well, yes. It’s not good practice to use something that’s been in contact with another actor.’
‘So it’s possible it was a bad batch – the fault of the manufacturer?’ For Melmot, this was all about apportioning blame.
‘I find that hard to believe. The hospital were talking of acid burns. Acid isn’t used in cosmetics. I can understand something being wrong with the mix, only not enough to cause such a violent reaction. Denise is devastated.’
‘If this disaster is down to her, I’m not surprised,’ Melmot said.
Shearman didn’t like the way this was heading. ‘I didn’t say it was Denise’s fault. She’s a trusted member of the team.’
‘Someone is responsible. You say she’s devastated. I’m devastated, too. We could find ourselves being sued for a small fortune. A large fortune if Clarion is permanently scarred. She’s a mega earner and no doubt she had contracts lined up for months ahead.’
‘It’s too early to talk of legal action.’
‘It isn’t. This could bring us down, Hedley. I’m bound to report to the trustees.’
‘They’ll have read the papers like the rest of us.’
‘I must still inform them properly.’
Shearman’s world was imploding. He had status in this theatre, the best job he’d ever had. Sensing he was about to be unfairly blamed, he surprised himself with the force of his anger. ‘I’d like the board to know I was bulldozed into this. I didn’t like the idea of engaging the bloody woman. She’s no actor. Certain people insisted she was box office. It couldn’t go wrong, they said, but it has, spectacularly.’
Melmot chose to ignore the outburst. ‘When the make-up woman –’
‘The dresser.’
‘When she saw Clarion in the dressing room before the show, was she in any discomfort?’
‘No – and she was fine while she was waiting to go on. The first signs of anything going wrong were on
