24.01.2008

in the snow

it kept snowing for a couple of hours, and then it stopped, leaving quite a substantial covering of gorgeous powdery snow on everything. and because of the thermal blanket created by the clouds, it was actually much warmer than it has been in the last few days. (right now for example, at 9.47am the next day, it is twelve below zero again) so Jim and i went ice-skating. it was great, there was a bit of snow on the rink, but hardly any other people, and everything was really quiet and serene around us, so we had a fantastic skate. they play this pretty appalling commercial radio station out on the rink, which shuffles b-grade 70's and 80's hits, but there is occasionally a good song to glide along to, and otherwise it kind of makes me laugh, and it's also quite appropriate, that my slightly clumsy skating is accompanied by the likes of meatloaf.

then we all rugged up and went into the eaton centre (that lovely shopping centre where we're doing the play) for a dress rehearsal, in which we were accompanied not only by the usual amount of interested/bewildered/intrigued/concerned passers-by but also by a rather enormous hand-held wireless television camera and two other loud and insistent cameras. there also were a few sound issues in the dress rehearsal, and phillip (our sound engineer) had an amplifier blow up just after we finished. so it was ok, not great, but a fairly typical dress rehearsal: a matter of negotiating a whole lot of different and new things; trying to get to know this new space, trying to feel safe and familiar there, and how to best use it for the telling of the story.

our dressing rooms are in a theatre over the road and so one lovely thing is that we pass through a tiny little park as we walk to and fro, and it was covered in snow. a bit of gratuitous kicking and playing in the beautiful white crystals was indulged in, as well as a number of snowballs. on one trip through there was the very strange sight of a man shaving, in the middle of the snow, using a window of a building as a mirror.

the opening seemed to go well. i had a great conversation later at the opening night party with a guy called chad who'd been at the workshops. he really loved the play but also talked a lot (unprompted) about how well the play worked in the eaton centre, how appropriate it was, of all the possible venues in toronto (and he is a local) because it is one of the last places where there are public restrooms, where someone can buy a cup of coffee and sit on it for hours and not get moved on, where drug deals do happen and where there are offices and thus is frequented by business people. that was comforting, and does make me feel a little better about the space.

as it was bruce's last evening with us we went to a bar for one last drink and then walked home (in true back to back style) and had the most wonderful snowball fight in some ugly plaza filled with snow. got back to the foyer laughing and wet and said loving and snowy goodbyes. we'll all really miss him...but the snow must go on.