Have you ever met Deborah Jarvis?
You wouldn’t forget her if you had
She was funny, sharp and kind
She was so good, she was bad
She was an actor at Stratford
Understudied Susan Wright
She was the only apprentice
Who never went on in her own right
She did standup comedy in the clubs
When women didn’t do that
She held her own in sketch and improv
She had her timing down flat
She did Second City
On the road and here in town
It’s a male dominated stage
But she always held her own
She abandoned performing for years
And wrote for TV instead
Her shows were all winners
She didn’t let it go to her head
By the end she was story editing
Huge international coproductions
In three different languages
She excelled at the big ones
She finally returned to the stage
To play all those heroine parts
Ones she didn’t get when she was young
It was her favourite of all the arts
If you haven’t met her yet
You’ve missed your chance
She’s not with us anymore
She’s off on a new romance