Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Bristol Weekend 1

Well, that happened.

I started off my time in Kenosha this week rehearsing for three days with the Suitcase Shakespeare Company as we prepare our new child, "Much Ado about Nothing" to take its first steps. We have been pleased to find that we will be performing at the Faire on the weekends of August 8-9 and 15-16, Mark the dates on your calendar. We will be staging our 60 minute or less "Twelfth Night" on the Trader's Cove stage. After a brief return to Chicago to commune with my poor neglected girlfriend it was time to go back for opening day.

It is difficult to find the words which will accurately describe the sensation of opening weekend as an entire populated town remembers itself after months of dormancy. The shops which had been only beginning to stir until last week, the people who had been away and the sounds and smells and colourful sights which had been too long gone all rush back into their proper places and the result is our magic. Once again we met the opening of the gates with a wave of excitement and joy. As per usual characters morphed and changed as practicality met with concept. Percival, who had recently been an excitable man with heavy OCD became the bawdy, oft inebriated barman that he was always destined to be. The street gifted me with families of amusing people, parties of adventurers who knew that there is no man better than an innkeeper to befriend and even a few furries (don't ask). Also, I realized that being an innkeeper has the added benefit of making sure that I am well and truly hydrated. I have possibly never been as well hydrated as I was this weekend. and my frequent visits to the blue boxes stood as a testament.

Having Tab with whom I can touch base periodically for mealtimes to keep me grounded and alive has also been a blessing. She makes my life glow hotter and brighter than I ever could have imagined. It is a comfort to know that we together make for a chemical reaction which is exothermic (science!). We are so lucky.