‘Once you’ve performed in front of an audience, the daily moments that used to turn your cheeks red don’t seem that daunting any more’: fourth-year medical student Roland Bull performs in the Med Revue.‘Once you’ve performed in front of an audience, the daily moments that used to turn your cheeks red don’t seem that daunting any more’: fourth-year medical student Roland Bull performs in the Med Revue.
But by age 35, I figured I should start planning for a more adult future and pursue an actual career, so I took a deep breath and applied for medical school. Among its many rewards and challenges, medical school has yielded some unusual and often entertaining dynamics as I while away the days with students a good 15 years my junior.
We’d meet two or three times a week, rehearsing songs and dialogue in between memorising flashcards on anatomy and physiology. Bonding as a cast meant learning to feel comfortable looking ridiculous around one another, knowing fairly soon that ridiculousness would be on public display.The dance scenes were my achilles heel. My aching, middle-aged joints meant that by opening night, I still hadn’t mastered even the most rudimentary choreography. Nobody seemed to mind.
Of course, it wasn’t all stress-free and seamless. During the dress rehearsal I had been so busy socialising I completely forgot my cue to go on stage and had to bolt on last-minute from the wrong direction. On opening night I was left glancing about mid-scene, wondering where one of the other actors was as his line approached. I smiled when I heard the thunderclap of panicked footsteps approaching, realising he’d made the same mistake I had.