Robin stood in front of an audience of 40-50 people, about to greet the crowd gathered for her screening of Ken Russell’s The Devils. Robin described the film in the press release as “A film about unrequited love, religious hysteria, blasphemy and political persecution”. I had encouraged her to overcome her stage fright by delivering a short intro to the film. She stands in front of the screen, nervous.
“There were many great movies made in the 1970s, there was Straw Dogs…” She froze, paused, mumbled something and then walked away. I was unsure what was happening, maybe she was going offstage to grab something? But then she cued me to start the film.
I found her downstairs in the lobby, pacing and embarrassed, but laughing. Her mind had gone blank in front of the audience, but she at least found the humor in leaving it at: “There were many great movies made in the 1970s, there was Straw Dogs.”
We went back upstairs and watched the rest of the film, holding each other for warmth in a building without heat.