Wow. So lots of artsy fartsy past-times this past Friday/weekend, some of which I described in my post on Saturday – namely, the set painting drama at Alumnae Theatre.
Saturday afternoon, I got to read with prospective actors at the callback auditions for an upcoming New Ideas Festival play: Summer’s End (by Francine Dick, directed by NIF co-founder and my pal Kerri MacDonald). Being an audition reader – for me, anyway – is all the fun of an audition and none of the pressure. Kerri had us doing various bits of the play as lawyers, children and even in stage whispers. Big, big fun – and I’ll be following this play throughout the rehearsal process and posting on the Alumnae Theatre Company blog: www.alumnaetheatre.wordpress.com
Saturday night was I Furiosi’s concert My Big, Fat Baroque Wedding with my friends Martha and Fiona – as always, a lovely time. This is an amazing, eclectic and edgy group of musicians – and far from playing period music all serious-like, they have a blast with concert themes/titles, costumes and big goofy fun. And the all-ages audience really digs that. In fact, some of the audience came dressed for a wedding. Check them out: www.ifuriosi.com
On Sunday, I was back at Alumnae Theatre for the producers lunch for the After Magritte/The Real Inspector Hound cast and crew. This also gave me a chance to check out the re-painted floor, which due to the lack of a glaze coat this time, was showing some wear from ladders, furniture and actor traffic. Sigh! We’re going to need ongoing touch-ups, especially if it gets left unglazed. Marysia is back in today – and the two of us may be in tomorrow night, working around final rehearsals/tech to finish the last of the painting (which was put even further behind schedule by the bizarre glaze outcome on Friday night). This all reminds me of a quote about working in the theatre from the movie Shakespeare in Love:
“Allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.”
“So what do we do?”
“Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. It’s a mystery.”
And, of course, I had to watch the Golden Globes – in spite of, or perhaps because of, allegations of payola and backroom deals during the nomination process. Always fun to see nominees being genuinely chuffed about being in the presence of celebs. My favourite speech of the evening has to be Paul Giamatti’s (won for Best Actor in a Drama for Barney’s Version); The Globe and Mail’s piece today has some fine excerpts: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/awards/golden-globes/giamatti-salutes-great-nation-of-canada-as-he-wins-globe/article1872396/ I also loved how Giamatti repeatedly expressed delighted disbelief over receiving the award from presenter Hallie Berry. And after host Ricky Gervais’ joke about the HFPA President, I’m pretty sure he’ll get his wish and not be invited back.
Thoughts go out to the families of actress Susannah York (who I adored in Tom Jones, A Man for All Seasons and Jane Eyre, just to name a few) and playwright Romulus Linney (father of actress Laura Linney, another of my favourites, who won a Golden Globe for The Big C last night), who both died on Saturday.
Till next time…
life with more cowbell 