11.05.2010

Sounds of touring

So, we’ve started on the next stage of the tour. The tour de Cosi de Australie. The stage where we don’t get to go back home for a long time. There was certainly a little trepidation in my heart, and I’m sure the hearts of the others, as we set off. We may get to pop back to Melbourne after we perform in Darwin, but, if not, it will be about 11 weeks on the road. Quite an overwhelming prospect. Exciting too, of course!

Luckily our first stop was Echuca, and while the accommodation was nothing much to write home about, it was by no means the worst we have had. Equity (the actors’ union) stipulates that we have to be in minimum three and a half star accommodation, but we are discovering that there is quite a variation of quality in the three and a half star range. So, in the range of three and a half star accommodation, Echuca was about 5/10. The thing that was great about the motel was the location—it was very close to the Murray River and so there were lots of large, beautiful trees around and with them, masses of birds. There were huge flocks of galahs, cockatoos and other birds in the parrot family, as well as magpies, kookaburras and, I’m sure, lots of others. As well as heaps of ducks, ibis and other water birds. At dawn and in the evening the sound of the birds was overwhelming as they all flew around squawking and carrying on, getting settled for the night or getting ready for the day. (Possibly a little bit like us all descending on the motel reception to check in or check out…) The birds really made a racket, but it was a good racket. Also, at various intervals during the day, we heard the sounds of the whistles from the steam boats, which really evoke another era.

As a country town Echuca has a lot to recommend it. They have clearly done a lot to preserve and restore many of the heritage buildings still remaining in the town, and so it is very picturesque and also interesting. The history of the town is quite easy to imagine and access. There were some excellent second-hand bookshops and, close to my heart, some fabulous cafes, foodstores and restaurants. I had a wonderful brunch with my friend Fiona who had travelled up from Melbourne to see the show, and then the next night most of the cast got together and had a great meal at a lovely place called Oscar W’s, which is right on the river in the area of the old wharf. They had an amazing wine list and I had, together with other dishes, a mashed potato which rivalled the pure deliciousness of the mashed potato in Hamilton.

The soundscape continued to be a feature in Wangaratta, where there were beautiful sounds of church bells in the morning and evening, as well as more sounds of birds and also trains. The Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre is new and beautiful and was fantastic to work in, and we had a receptive and lovely audience. I was also thrilled to be able to see a touring exhibition of video art from ACCA, which featured works by Anastasia Klose, Shaun Gladwell, and David Rosetsky amongst others. I spent a very pleasant hour and a half in there.

Wagga Wagga was the next town we visited and it too had sounds of bells, which was great, but also the truly appalling, annoying and extremely irritating sound of a leaf-blower. Is there anyone, apart from the small minority of people who, bedecked with ear-muffs, operate such stupid, energy-inefficient and idiotic contraptions, who thinks they are a good idea? What is wrong, for heavens sake, with a broom? Especially early in the morning? At the Wagga Wagga accommodation, which was quite nice, they felt the need to blow the leaves about not just once, but twice a day. During the afternoon when one might, for example, be wanting to have a nap, and at about 10 am, when one might, for example, be wanting to sleep in. If, for example, one was a performer working at night.

The show went really well though, at Wagga, they managed to sell out a 500-seat theatre and had drinks and nibbles afterwards, which is always a great opportunity for us to meet the locals and get some feedback about the play. I also visited the Wagga Art Glass Gallery, which had some really stunning works in glass. I was excited by all the different techniques that are now used and that a lot of the works are sculptural and also conceptual. The main art gallery was also interesting, in particular an exhibition by Annabel Nowlan, entitled “bugger.” They were beautiful mixed media works, quite monochrome in green, grey and silver, using a lot of tarnished metal, etching, and even fabric. The work dealt with landscape, history, and the experience of rural life.

Then finally, there’s also the sounds of motels/hotels in general. The walls are often quite thin, so you hear the sounds of other people’s televisions, radios, sometimes even their conversations. Not to mention the ubiquitous sounds of other people in bed…which, apart from one snoring neighbour, I have not yet been subject to, for which I give thanks. But there’s also lots of other sounds: sounds of pipes, windows, the creaking of the building, cars, cleaners, air-conditioning. Every place is a new world, it smells new and strange, and sounds new and strange.