Loving Life

I went to see a play called "Home" tonight. It's a charming piece set in a mental institution. The charming thing is that you don't get to find this out until part way through the second act, and even then it's not stated expicitly. The director is one who I have worked with several times before, and his shows - whether I am in them or not - always impress me because he (and by extension his theatre company) have a sense of artistic integrity that is seldom seen in community theatre.

As I watched and marvelled at the set (designed and built by a man who actually -consciously -draws his creative influences from different periods in art history instead of merely slapping some paint on a flat and nailing it to the back wall), I realised that I love my theatrical life at the moment. I love the fact that there are many different types of theatre that I am involved in, and that they all give me different things. I love that I am fortunate enough to be involved in things that challenge me not only performatively, but creatively as well. I have theatre which is silly, and full of ad libs, I have theatre which is full of grand spectacle and emotion, and then I have serious and challenging work which extends me as an actor and a person.

Pervading all this of course is the sense that I am glad I realise all this now, instead of looking back from the end of my life and wishing I had been more appreciative and thankful. It is wonderful to have these things brought to mind when I am able to appreciate them fully.

Energy

We had our first rehearsal in the theatre with the band last night. It's amazing how much the energy of a cast can lift when they move into the theatre two weeks out from opening night. We've been rehearsing for three months now, and not without our share of dramas, but this is going to be a great show. We have such a young dynamic cast, and they're going to blow people away.

You should come see it...

Tiny Dancer

One of the dances I'm doing in (one of the several) shows I'm working in right now involves a series of lifts, where I have the dancer climbing over me like I am a jungle gym. It looks impressive, almost like I am a professional dancer, but this is so mainly because she does all of the work- I just stand there and help her get up and down. Add to that the fact that it is all done behind a transparent scrim with flashy lighting effects and a smoke machine and I practically look like Baryshnikov.

Of course, such things always come with a price - especially when you do as little exercise as I do. Having done the thing three times in a row before we started and once during the dress rehearsal itself, my body now feels as though it has been lovingly and tenderly pounded by a 7 foot tall man with a large rubber polo mallet.

I don't think this should be a problem though, since my back has more cricks in it than than a fourteen year old boy's fingers after being left alone for a week with his father's porn collection. You see, one of the characters I play is Igor, and he has a hump - alot of which is acted by my back, and some of which is done by a pillow sewn into the lining of the costume. This means that I spend the majority of my time on stage in a crouch, so that when I stand up when the show is over my back gently reminds me by driving a steel spike into the base of my brain that it will not straighten without some considerable discussion.

So, yes, I am still a little stiff. This is all fine and dandy though, because tonight I am hosting a boys' night (note the correct placement of the apostrophe for group ownsership. Anal anyone?) which will go some way to mollifying my cranky back. All I must be wary of is that, in trying to settle my back with alcohol, I don't awaken the even crankier demon in my stomach. The last time I did that it got extremely messy. There was lots and lots of shower water involved all over someone else's house.

But that is a story for another time...