Irresolution.

I’m still uncertain about what show to hit when I fly to London on Friday. A play? A musical? The Gemini in me was for a play and a musical.

Well, there’s Chicago, A Mother Speaks, Dealer’s Choice, Helter Skelter /Land of the Dead, Fiddler on the Roof, and Avenue Q among many others…

Really one is spoilt for choice.

The Lost Muses.

The muses (from our next play “The Lost Muses” which premieres sometime this April) had their first rehearsal for this year, and as much as I was really very excited about it, the whole thing still felt kinda strange to me. I wasn’t comfortable with myself. Was it because my tummy was way too busy digesting the huge portion of casserole with cups of rice on the side I had for dinner (which was again my breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner for that day)? Or was it because I never practiced this scene at home? *whistle*

I guess it was a combination of both. Though the rehearsal was fun and the muses were really doing great, I still felt like a big fake, a bogus. I felt like insulting our D with my lousy performance. I felt so… bloated.

Funny thing was we were rehearsing the first scene which involves all muses spending a day at the beach. Yours truly had to play the role of a muse lying on the sand, enjoying herself while trying to inspire a frustrated poet lasciviously. Now imagine a meishan swine trying to intellectually seduce a confused poet with all its physical charms, and you’ll get the picture of how my scene looked like.

I was supposed to lie and pose and mentally hook up with the poet, or at least try to look like I was efficiently connecting to his psyche. Looking for the right lying and telepathizing position (i.e. the one that enables me to breath, think, and play simultaneously) kept me busy instead. My paunch just hindered me from being at ease.

I pulled the act off to some extent anyway but I was not feeling the role. That’s bad. For if I don’t feel the role, I tend to “act”, which turns out to look awfully artificial. And that I don’t aspire.

I will never overeat before rehearsals ever again.

Dernier.

The backstage stir was still there, but I could feel a strong sense of confidence in the air as well. I swear it whispered in my ear: “You guys will rock”. Well then. Whatever you say, Stage Fairy.

Tonight was the dernier, the last full show. As much as I fought back tears during the last scene (which I always did backstage since the premiere, mind you), this time I was not able to hold back two liters of teardrops. Luckily, one fellow actress got teary-eyed as well – so what the heck – I rode with it. I wasn’t quite sure if we lamented (just a tiny little bit) the end of our show, or our leading actor’s death (he died every night since the premiere, and he died the last time tonight).

About 9 hours, 17 cigs, 5 jumbo-party pizzas (from which I had 2 whopping slices of), and many many drinks and fits of laughter later, the daylight marked the beginning of a new day. Then we headed home.

 

 

Because all good things must come to an end.

 

 

 

A Thing is Only as Good as its Worst Opposite.

I never thought that a 17-hour-day could be so strenuous and satisfying likewise. There were lots of work to do the whole day, and I wasn’t able to leave on time. So I practically rushed out of the office, ran back home and got ready for tonight’s show. Uh, yeah, I was starving too, I forgot to eat, could you imagine?

Well, no time for that now. Just a few minutes left to check my postbox (the real one in the post office), refuel, get new supplies of my mint cigs and something handy to chow down on my way to the theater. I decided to have an energy drink instead (Did I hear someone advocate “Don’t Drink and Drive”?). Then I was ready to go.

An hour later I was very pleased to come across a long lane of free parking space right in front of the theater. No fights, no struggles, and no wacky maneuvers for a parking lot today. Not to mention the chorus of horns fellow drivers around me give to every parking attempts I make. As luck would have it, there were no other cars driving around the parking space at that moment either. I guess I just must have missed the rush hour (yeah, I was THAT late).

The whole process was routinized meanwhile, so everything went very businesslike. The show was great and we had a blast. After that, we all grabbed a quick snack (which was my breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner for that day) downtown. The crew went on to the next hang-out spot to have a few drinks; I decided to drive back home (don’t drink and drive, remember?). I was beat and strained, I had to rest.

Today’s list of the things that made me happy:

1. I finally got the tickets for my next trip this winter
2. Hassle-free parking today
3. It’s Friday! And I could finally enjoy a nice, long sleep
4. Today’s local paper wrote a play review. I was even featured in one line.
5. My nephew came to see our play and brought company (i.e. extra ticket $ale$ – yes!). It was after the show when everyone gathers around and the actors collect get their kudos when I first spotted him among the crowd (he actually spotted me first). I didn’t know he was coming, (I actually didn’t know that anyone would come at all) which made this surprise even more rewarding. Oooh, I loved him for that. I promised to stop by from now on whenever I’m around doing rehearsals and such.

I was so tired that I slept on my notebook while typing my blog. Hence, the Friday’s entry posted on a cold, gray, and wintry Saturday morning. But I’m lucky my flat is comfy and warm.

You just really learn to value things when you get to know their opposites too.

Cyrano de Bergerac.

Sold out. The student theater group “Ars Bene Agendi” in Tübingen premiered its last production for this winter semester last Monday, December 10 – Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”.

The play tells the story about Cyrano de Bergerac, a hopeless romantic afraid of revealing his true affections for the love of his life, the beautiful Roxanne. Cyrano, a French cadet and a remarkable poet indeed, is in fact a lonely soul deep inside, who longs to be loved but is quite hesitant to let it happen as he believes that his physical appearance (his enormous nose specifically) does not make him worthy. Instead, he helps Christian de Neuville, a handsome cadet in Cyrano’s troop, capture Roxanne’s heart once he learned that Christian himself is in love with Roxanne as well.

A bittersweet romantic comedy with a tragic fate, “Cyrano de Bergerac” continues to play this week in the Brechtbautheater in Tübingen. The dernier will be on Saturday.

“I have eaten the cakes, Monsieur de Bergerac.”

“Good. Now go out and enjoy Nature.”

 

 

 

I just found out that Cyrano de Bergerac currently runs on Broadway too. Aaah, the flukes of life.