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Theatre
Cube Salon: tempus
Tempus fugit. Time is fleeting.
That’s what I was thinking as I looked down at my iPhone, hand freezing to it in the cold wind outside Cube Gallery, waiting for my friend Crystal (recruited as a last-minute photographer) to join me for tempus, the first installment in the current Cube Salon series, and the last performance at Cube’s Hamilton Avenue location.
Once inside, we were greeted by Evan Thornton, whom we’d both met in his role as theatre reviewer for the Wellington Oracle while we were volunteering for the Ottawa Fringe Festival this past summer. He welcomed us to the Salon, showed us where to put our coats, and recommended the Qu&ecaute;bec cider cheese.
As we were deciding where to sit, a very tall man with a sheaf of papers in his hand walked out of the back section of the gallery. It was Sterling Lynch, holding a copy of his play Home in Time; I waved, and he came over to shake our hands. Although I’d read the play (thoroughly, making notes), seen him perform (particularly in Nadine Thornhill’s Oreo this past Fringe season), read his blog Movement, and had numerous interactions with him over Twitter, this was my first time meeting him in person.
We chose seats in the second row, to stage right. Wayne Current dropped by to say hi; we had sat together at the GCTC for the opening night of BASH’d! and had a conversation about social media during the afterparty. Now, in suit and striped tie, he was preparing to read the stage directions for Home in Time. Wayne is producing Sterling’s companion play, The Prisoner’s Dilemma, for next year’s Ottawa Fringe. For once, I detected a touch of nervousness in Wayne’s normally entirely confident demeanour.
Curator Don Monet welcomed us with a brief explanation of how the salon concept started in 16th-century France, and how the Salon series put on by Cube were an attempt to recapture that sharing and co-operation between the arts. He went over the agenda for the evening, which included music, poetry, and theatre, as we enjoyed our wine and basked in the presence of the art on the gallery walls.
John Carroll, wearing a fedora and wool sportcoat, sat down and picked up his guitar, starting the show with a song by Dan Weisenberger from Vancouver Island, then his own Lost Radio (available on his CD ), before going on to play New Leaf, and finishing with Boldly When I Go.
Next, Jonathan Koensgen took the stage, and performed a reading of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, but with such clear emotion and theatrical cadence that this familiar poem seemed to take on new depth of meaning. The poem, describing as it does a state of immortality and timelessness, was well-chosen, perfectly in keeping with the evening’s theme.
We took a break, and I took the chance to chat with Breanna, about to play her part in Sterling’s Home in Time. She, like everyone else in the Ottawa theatre scene, has some pretty insightful things to say about theatre and the arts, and we ended up talking about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, of all things.
Don came out to introduce Sterling and the other actors. Before he did that, he asked us to look up at the ceiling. I could see plastic glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to wood planks. Don told us that those planks were the reason that musicians, particularly jazz musicians, loved to play in this room; the ceiling being made entirely of old-growth BC red cedar, there was no echo, and the timbre was perfect.
“You’re some of the last people to enjoy this,” he said.
I was eager to finally see Home in Time, even as only a partial staged reading. The centrepiece of the evening brought the words of the play to life, with a crisp, well-rehearsed reading by Wayne, Breanna, Colleen Sutton (who was also in Oreo), and Sterling himself.
Having read the play (which I highly recommend), I was acutely aware of the audience’s reactions to nuances of the plot and the dialogue for which I was already prepared. I also wondered (since the play in full is supposed to run just short of an hour) at what point they would cut it; the dialogue flows at a pace that makes it difficult to find a lull or natural break in the action. The point they chose was extremely effective, and definitely left the audience wanting more.
Sterling mentioned that, due to the attention the recent award had brought to the play, Peter Hinton of the NAC had arranged a full staged reading of the play for April.
Koensgen came out again holding a thick book, which he explained had been given to him that day by his mother as a gift; it was the Norton Anthology of Poetry. Having been called in at the last minute to fill in for Kel Parsons, due to illness, it turned out to be a well-timed gift indeed. Jonathan performed a stirring, brilliant interpretation of Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, a poem in stark contrast to Kubla Khan, dealing with the ephemeral, transitive, impermanent nature of experience.
John Carroll set down a glass of red wine beside his chair and took up his guitar to finish off the show with more of his inspiring blues and roots vocals, lap steel, and acoustic guitar. It’s tempting to go catch him some Wednesday evening at the Chateau Lafayette, where he is something of a fixture.
We went over to chat with Sterling, Evan, and Don over at the bar. We talked for a while about arts blogging in Ottawa, particularly the necessity of covering each and every one of the Fringe Festival’s shows this year. I turned the Salon promo piece over in my hands and asked, “Why this?” Banksy’s well-known image of the protester about to overhand a bouquet of flowers in place of a Molotov cocktail was the image they’d chosen to represent the series. The general consensus was that the image was meant to convey the idea of artistic revolution.
I leaned on the bar and asked Don what was going to happen to the Cube Gallery space. “We’ve got it until March 1st,” he said. After that, it would be an antique furniture showroom until the owners had it torn down to make way for a condo development. I hung my head.
As we left, I looked up at the red cedar ceiling, wondering how many fleeting moments like this those beautiful strips of wood had witnessed over the years.
The next installment in the series, memento, will be at Cube Gallery’s new location, 1285 Wellington Street West, on March 13th at 7:30 pm. In the meantime, I recommend listening to pretty much anything by John Carroll, Paranoid Android by Radiohead, and, although it’s tempting, not Iron Maiden’s Two Minutes to Midnight.
Andrew Snowdon is a theatregoer, concert attendee, and writer. He lives in Lowertown, Ottawa, between a typewriter and a MacBook, with a cup of coffee.
Kicking It, Improv Style
Wikipedia: Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment and inner feelings.
Sounds a lot like what an actor does, doesn’t it?
I’ve never considered myself an improviser. I did play improv games in high school, but I went to a French school and improvisation in French is very different from its English counterpart. Whereas most anglophones might associate improv with its Who’s Line Is It Anyway? type of humour, for francophones the games take place in a mock hockey arena setting. There is a referee and the teams wear jerseys in various colours. The ref can even assign penalties. Two teams compete and the audience votes after every game (or match) to see which team scored a point. These usually culminate into tournaments and eliminations rounds and all other kinds of sports related analogies.
Here’s a photo from la Ligue nationale d’improvisation to give you some idea of what I am talking about. If you want to know more and understand French, I encourage you to check out the link.
LNI – Vert contre Orange
Although the University of Ottawa did (and does) have a French improv team, I was too intimidated to join at the time. At some point, some of my friends in the Theatre Department and a couple rats who hung around the Café Alternatif (which at the time was a hippy chic amalgamation of found furniture that lived up to its alternative name) decided to start an improv troupe. I think we called ourselves the Improv Dogs. We met every week, played some games against the team at Carleton University and even went to Montreal one time to compete. After a while though, things fell apart and we all went our separate ways.
I then didn’t do any sort of improv until I took a jam class with Ken Godmere at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama a few years ago. And I guess you could call the work I do with Sanitas Playback Theatre a type of improv, but, like I said, I never considered myself an improviser before.
After last night though, I guess I may be allowed to start calling myself that.
The local (and awesome!) Crush Improv – whom I’ve talked about before – have had a habit of bringing together improvisers from all over for a variety of events. First it was the very popular Improv Awareness and now it’s the Tuesday Make-’em-ups with Crush Improv. I saw the very first Make-’em up in January and immediately approached Crush for an opportunity to play.
Fighting panic and nausea, I finally got my chance to play last night at the Cajun Attic in Ottawa. Most improv teams spend hours rehearsing together, learning both games and how to work with each other. The neat thing about the Make-’em ups is that you get thrown into a pit with three other people you might have never met before and told to just have fun. Easy right?
I was pretty unsteady for the first half of the show, just trying to get my bearings and desperately listen to my teammates. After intermission though, I felt slightly more comfortable, confident and took more chances, though I couldn’t help but walk off stage and think of all the HI-larious stuff I should have said at the time – I swear I am ridiculously funny when no one is watching me!
The amazing Averie MacDonald, birthday boy Dave Lindsay and yours truly.
I had fun and hope that this was just the first of many improv shows in which I will be taking part. Next Tuesday, do yourself the favour of having a ridiculously good time with the gang from Crush. Only $5 cover and all the improv you can stand!
Tuesday Make-’em-ups with Crush Improv – every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. – $5 cover – Cajun Attic (349 Dalhousie St.)
Nancy Kenny is an actor, a writer, a founding member of Evolution Theatre and currently works as the Marketing Associate for the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa. She is a dog person who secretly masquerades as a cat person, tries to be a vegetarian but cheats an awful lot, reads the first half of books without ever getting to the end, and has a crazy obsession with vests and anything argyle. As an Acadian girl, chances are she can also drink you under the table. She blogs on life as an artist at So You Want To Be An Actor (Redux) and can always be found on Twitter.
Les Prix Rideau Awards Nominations
From the Official Press Release:
NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL RIDEAU AWARDS
Peer-assessed awards celebrate Ottawa-Gatineauʼs professional theatre in both official languages
The votes have been tallied and it’s time to announce the nominees for the third annual Rideau Awards, which celebrate achievement in professional theatre in the region of Ottawa-Gatineau. This year for the first time, Les Prix Rideau Awards will be fully bilingual, with a full slate of awards to be presented for both English and French-language productions. The awards will be handed out during a celebration to take place on Sunday, April 18, 2010, at De La Salle High School. Tickets go on sale March 15 at La Nouvelle Scène.
The nominees for English-language productions are:
Outstanding Performance – Female
Mary Ellis, Doubt
Patricia Fagan, The Syringa Tree
Teri Rata Loretto, Shirley Valentine
Margo MacDonald, A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale
Emily Pearlman, Countries Shaped Like Stars
Outstanding Performance – Male
Pierre Brault, Portrait of an Unidentified Man
David Fox, The Net
Kris Joseph, Doubt
Andy Massingham, Peer Gynt
Paul Rainville, The Drawer Boy
Outstanding Lighting Design
Martin Conboy, Portrait of an Unidentified Man
Martin Conboy, The Drawer Boy
Rebecca Miller, Henry V
David Mcgladry, A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale
Jock Munro, The Children’s Republic
Jock Munro, The Syringa Tree
Outstanding Set Design
Robin Fisher, The Drawer Boy
Robin Fisher, The Syringa Tree
Ivo Valentik, A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale
Ivo Valentik, The Final Twist
Sarah Waghorn, Old Times
Outstanding Costume Design
Louise Hayden, A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale
Louise Hayden, The Girl Who Was Eaten by the Dark
Jennifer Triemstra & Karen Rodd, A Guy Named Joe
Sarah Waghorn, Henry V
Sarah Waghorn, Old Times
Outstanding Stage Management / Technical Award
Donna Bourgeault, A View from the Bridge
Sean Green & Tina Goralski, Noises Off
Louisa Hache, The Children’s Republic
Samira Rose, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Outstanding Fringe Production
Countries Shaped Like Stars, Mi Casa
The Girl Who Was Eaten by the Dark, Ottawa Stilt Union
Inclement Weather, Mi Casa
Squatter Heart, ReduxDelux
We Never Clothed, People with Principles
Outstanding Director
AL Connors, A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale
Todd Duckworth, The Drawer Boy
Janet Irwin, The Children’s Republic
Lise Ann Johnson, The Syringa Tree
Brian Quirt, Portrait of an Unidentified Man
Emerging Artist Award
Simon Bradshaw, Actor, The Rideau Project
Nicolas Di Gaetano, Creator/Actor, Countries Shaped Like Stars
Patrick Gauthier, Director, Countries Shaped Like Stars
Brad Long, Actor, The Pillowman
Emily Pearlman, Creator/Actor/Writer, Countries Shaped Like Stars
Outstanding Adaptation
A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale, A Company of Fools
Much Ado About Nothing, A Company of Fools
The Net, Great Canadian Theatre Company
Pirate Jennyʼs Circus, Counterpoint Players
The Radio Show, Gladstone Productions
Outstanding New Creation
The Children’s Republic, Great Canadian Theatre Company/Ottawa School of Speech and Drama
Countries Shaped Like Stars, Mi Casa
The Girl Who Was Eaten by the Dark, Ottawa Stilt Union
Inclement Weather, Mi Casa
The Rideau Project, Théâtre la Catapulte
Outstanding Production
Countries Shaped Like Stars, Mi Casa
The Drawer Boy, Great Canadian Theatre Company
A Midwinterʼs Dream Tale, A Company of Fools
Portrait of an Unidentified Man, Sleeping Dog Theatre
The Syringa Tree, Great Canadian Theatre Company
The nominees for French-language productions are:
Interprétation féminine de l’année
Nathaly Charrette, (RAGE)
Larissa Corriveau, (L’Illusion comique)
Geneviève Couture, (L’honnête homme/ une one woman show)
Magali Lemèle, (Le Bout du monde)
Emmanuelle Lussier, Martinez (Le Bout du monde)
Interprétation masculine de l’année
Benjamin Gaillard, (Projet Rideau)
Richard Léger, (Et si on tuait l’ennui?)
Gilles Provost, (Mardis avec Morrie)
Pierre Antoine, Lafon Simard (L’Illusion comique)
Victor Trelles, (RAGE)
Conception de l’année
Marcel Aymar, (Le Bout du monde), env. sonore
Josée Bergeron-Proulx, (Le Bout du monde), décor
Diane Bouchard, (L’effet réel des polluants sur les animaux imaginaries), marionnettes
Julie Giroux, (Les sept jours de Simon Labrosse), décor
Guillaume Houët- Brisebois, (L’honnête homme/ une one woman show), éclairage
Artiste en émergence
Josée Bergeron-Proulx, (Le Bout du monde)
Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez , interprète, (Le Bout du monde)
Pierre Antoine Lafon Simard, interprète, (L’Illusion comique)
Prix technique / de la regie
Tina Goralski, (L’Illusion comique)
Guillaume Houët- Brisebois, (L’honnête homme/ une one woman show)
Benoît Roy, (Le Bout du monde)
Lindsay Tremblay, (Le Projet Rideau)
Mise en scène de l’année
Joël Beddows (RAGE)
Dominique Lafon (L’Illusion comique)
Marc Lemyre (L’honnête homme/ une one woman show)
Pier Rodier (Cyrano Tag)
Anne-Marie White (Le Bout du monde)
Adaptation de l’année
Le Bout du monde, Le Théâtre du Trillium
Cyrano Tag, Vox Théâtre
Nouvelle création de l’année
Cyrano Tag, Vox Théâtre
L’effet réel des polluants sur les animaux imaginaires, GESTES théâtre
Et si on tuait l’ennui?, Théâtre Dérives Urbaines
L’honnête homme/ une one woman show, poésie électrique
Le Projet Rideau, Théâtre la Catapulte
Production de l’année
Le Bout du monde, Théâtre du Trillium
Et si on tuait l’ennui?, Théâtre Dérives Urbaines
L’honnête homme/ une one woman show, poésie électrique
Le Projet Rideau, Théâtre la Catapulte
RAGE, Théâtre la Catapulte
40 English and 11 French professional theatre productions were juried by two teams of local arts professionals (14 English and 10 French) during the 2009 calendar year. Nominations were submitted by secret ballot and tallied by local accountants, Chong Pelot and Marcil-Lavallée. Complete details on award definitions, terms and criteria are available at www.rideauawards.ca
Les Prix Rideau Awards initiative was undertaken in late 2006 as a result of discussion at an open meeting of the regional Canadian Actorsʼ Equity Association. The program aims to raise the profile of locally-produced professional theatre by celebrating its successes.
Enjoying Theatre on a Budget
I see almost every bit of theatre that comes to Ottawa. Out of 45 professional productions juried by Les Prix Rideau Awards in 2009, I’ve seen 40. that’s not including the community theatre, Fringe, Magnetic North and student productions I’ve seen. I think last year I probably saw over 100 theatre performances. That averages out to 2 a week, which sounds about right.
This may come as a shock to you, but I am not the type to sit around in my tub with my bath pillow eating bonbons and drinking wine as I use my laptop to peruse the “next big theatrical event” I will be attending (though that’s probably because using your laptop in a tub is just asking for trouble). Nor do I have an ample supply of disposable income which I use on $20 to $40 theatre tickets. No. I am a poor broke artist who just wanted to know everything there was to know about my local theatre community and I figured out the cheapest way to do it.
So, dear friends, this is how you too can enjoy your theatre on a budget.
Are you a student?
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! Both the National Arts Centre, the Great Canadian Theatre Company and Third Wall Theatre in Ottawa have rush tickets for students that go for something like $10 or $11 a piece if you purchase your tickets the day of the performance. Not ideal if it’s a show like The Drowsy Chaperone, which sold out rather quickly, but trust me, there are a lot of performances in town that do not sell out and you would be more than happy to see your smiling face walking to the door for your rush ticket.
Of course, the tricky thing here is that most of these companies do not clearly advertise their rush ticket availabilities, which I can understand to a point. So how can you find out about them? Well, you could just call and ask. Then again, why would you do that when you have me?
I almost never took advantage of my student status when I had a valid student card and it still bothers me to this day. Think of all the great shows I missed… As an added bonus, the GCTC also has ADULT Rush Tickets for $20. No i.d. necessary, just show up after noon on any show day to get your discounted ticket.
Are You An Artist?
A lot of companies like the NAC, GCTC, Third Wall, Evolution Theatre offer artist rates. How do you prove you’re an artist? Usually with your union card. That said, if you are not in any performers union, I believe they will all accept two contrasting monologues at the box office… but don’t quote me on that.
Volunteer!
Every theatre company in town needs volunteers and it does come with benefits. In most cases, volunteers actually get to see the show on the night of their shift. I know this is the case for Evolution Theatre and it sometimes works out for other companies like The Gladstone and A Company of Fools (unless they happen to need all their volunteers for a secret ice cream experiment…) I wanted to see the amazing Inclement Weather/Countries Shaped Like Stars again when it was presented at the GCTC, but couldn’t afford the $20. I offered my services on opening night and boom! I got to fall in love all over again.
The added bonus of volunteering means you get to know the people involved with the production. Today’s front of house volunteer may be tomorrow’s performer… or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Join Mailing Lists, Facebook Groups and watch Twitter Feeds
How else will you know what shows are playing in town? (Other than the brilliantly up-to-date What’s On – À l’affiche listing by the Ottawa Theatre Network) Lots of theatre companies (perhaps taking a page from my book) run online contests and special promotions for their members. Vision Theatre, Evolution Theatre and Third Wall Theatre have all been known to do this. The Ottawa Fringe Festival ran a brilliant Friday Trivia contest on Twitter where you could win free tickets and other gift certificates. A Company of Fools also sends out a very informed newsletter every once in a while, so you probably want to sign up for that one too.
Pay Attention to Pay-What-You-Can!
Every single company in town has a Pay-What-You-Can performance at some point in their run (and if they don’t, they probably should). For instance, when I did Shining City with SevenThirty Productions, we had a PWYC matinee on the first Saturday in the run. During the summer, the Fools shows are by Pass The Hat donations. PWYC/PTH means whatever you can afford. Really, you have absolutely no excuse not to go. And how do you find out about the PWYC? See the point above this one.
Previews and Dress Rehearsals
These shows are often free or cheap and take place before the official opening night. Sure you might not be getting a final polished performance, but when is a performance ever final? Besides, you’re doing the theatre company a great service by being part of the test audience.
Know Somebody
Finally, if not a single one of these suggestions works for you, call someone you know who might be involved with the production. (See, this is where all the networking you’ve been doing after attending performances is going to pay off.) Let whomever know that you can’t afford to see their show but you really want to. Perhaps they will be able to offer you a comp or a discounted ticket. That said, only use this method if you really can’t make it to the show otherwise. You do not want to abuse of this privilege! It’s just not nice.
Or be friends with someone who happens to get a lot of invitations to shows (you know, like me). Typically these people get two free tickets to a performance and they might not have anyone to go with that night (because they happen to be single and can’t meet anyone new because they spend all their time attending the theatre by themselves… ahem) I’m sure I they would be happy to have some company with which to discuss the performance post-show. Just make sure you by me them a drink after. It’s only fair.
….
What? This still isn’t working for you? Alright. Fine. Here’s my final solution: start your own theatre company, build it from the ground up over at least five years, somewhere in there start a blog, become a valued and indispensable part of your city’s theatre scene, and watch the invitations pour in. It worked for me, but it’s a lot of work. You might just want to pay the $10 instead.
I’ll be seeing you at the theatre!
Nancy Kenny is an actor, a writer, a founding member of Evolution Theatre and currently works as the Marketing Associate for the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa. She blogs on life as an artist at So You Want To Be An Actor (Redux) and can always be found on Twitter. The original version of this post, specifically targeted towards actors can be found here.
Peter Pan Soars at Carleton University
It’s the classic story of the boy who refuses to grow up, leading a band of boys to battle pirates, while aided by a rather cheeky fairy. Carleton University’s Sock ‘n’ Buskin Theatre Company brings Peter Pan to life over the next two weekends, and does so delightfully.
Director Zach Counsil, a Rideau Award nominee, achieves a fine balance between presenting the upper middle-class domesticity of the Darling household, and the fantastical world of Neverland. He emphasizes the sense of make-believe and child’s play in the production, where days are spent hunting pirates and mermaids, food fights at the dinner table are mandatory, and during sword fights, pirates are killed and then get back up again at the end to fight another day.
Ashley Robinson as Peter Pan ably leads the 35-strong cast with a boyish bravado and daring-do, continuing a long-held theatre tradition of casting a woman in the role. Robinson, a student in the University of Ottawa’s Theatre department, has obviously been paying attention in swordfighting class, bringing an effortless physicality and skill to the play’s assorted fight scenes.
Jody Haucke is the second lead, playing the dual roles of the daffy George Darling and the villainous Captain Hook. As the pirate leader, he’s mad, bad and dangerous to know, Shakespearean in his delivery, and all but twirling his mustachios as he relishes the character. There is a real sense of danger in the fight scenes with Peter Pan, which keeps the audience on the edge of its seat.
Amber Melhado plays Wendy, the surrogate mother the Lost Boys long for. She makes the most of a potentially thankless task of acting out everyone’s mummy fantasies, with maturity and a deft sense of comic timing.
While Tyler McClure deserves a special mention as the main comical foil to Captain Hook, all of the actors who make up the various ‘gangs’: Peter Pan’s Lost Boys, Captain Hook’s pirates, and Tiger Lily’s Indians must be congratulated on their ability to bounce off one another, allowing each other their moment to shine. It is a shame, though, that the Indians were not allowed more stage time, and indeed more to say and do. Blame J.M. Barrie for that oversight.
An amusing touch was the improvised repartee between pirates during scene changes; one to watch for is Chris Wardell and his naughty tiger puppet.
The sets by Phil Johnston contrast the safe world of the Darling nursery, with the fantastic and often dangerous world of Neverland: the Lost Boys’ forest grotto and the mermaids’ harbour deserve special mention for ingenuity.
The costumes are highly imaginative, ranging from Peter’s Puck-inspired forest wear, to the beautiful gowns worn by Mrs. Darling, an Elvis-wannabe pirate, sexy mermaids and Indian warriors, and Captain Hooks’ 18th century frock coat and feathered hat (which deserves a role of its own).
The fight choreography is of the Errol Flynn school of swashbuckling, very physical, and in close quarters, looks damned dangerous. Everyone gets into the act with great gusto, no doubt spurred on by the accompanying soundtrack of heroic Hans Zimmer film music.
It is not a perfect production: the cast on opening night were still coming to grips with props and trying to make unobtrusive backstage exits and entrances, but they are all so obviously enjoying themselves, that the audience is swept along for the ride. I give this production two enthusiastic hooks up.
Peter Pan is playing now at Carleton University’s Kailash Mital Theatre
January 21-23, January 28-30 at 8:00pm
Matinée on Sunday, January 24 at 2pm
Tickets:
Available at door or by reservation
Students, Children, and Seniors $10/ General Admission $14
To reserve tickets or for more information, call 613-520-3770 or email snbreservations@gmail.com
Photo credit – Jenny Downing on Flickr
Preview of a dress rehearsal
Mother Courage and Her Children is open; it has been quite a week for the National Arts Centre’s English Acting Company.
I wrote previously about the immense challenges presented to us by mounting a play that is considered one of Brecht’s masterworks. The outcome of working through those challenges was a Pay-What-You-Can dress rehearsal this past Tuesday, and I want to tell you a bit about that day. I’m not writing this in the spirit of gossip, but because I have often talked in my own blog about the beautiful moments that can come with a career in the theatre, I think it’s important to describe the opposite end of the spectrum. If you’ve been keeping track of our work on this play, you know that the preview performance that was supposed to take place on Wednesday night was canceled; after reading this, you may understand some of the reasons why.
To recap the events of the lead-up to last Tuesday, allow me to quote myself:
With six very full and focused days of rehearsal on the stage, we have yet to finish working all the way through the play once, and I am only cautiously optimistic that we may manage to wrap it up some time tomorrow, during day seven. We’re still figuring out where the pedals in the car are, and how to adjust the mirrors, and hoping we never have to parallel park in the snow.
Well: at the end of day seven, we had managed to work through almost the entire play. This left us five hours of rehearsal to finish working through the final scene-and-a-half or so, and then to work through the sound and light cues for the first four scenes or so. It was a pretty tall order. And regardless of our progress on Tuesday afternoon, we knew that our audience on Tuesday night would be seeing us run the play from end to end for the first time. Ever.
Speaking personally, I was very excited about Tuesday. I thought, as many of us did, that it was actually going to be a terrific experience: for us, because we’d finally get to feel the entire play, with all the bells and whistles; and for an audience, because stopping the show was basically going to be an inevitable occurrence, meaning they’d get a cool and utterly unique glimpse into how a theatre company works.
At 4:45 PM in the afternoon, though, we had run out of rehearsal time, and did not complete our ambitious plan for the day. The stage manager used the final moments to show us some lighting states that we didn’t get a chance to look at, and then we broke for dinner. Our assistant director, Stephen Ouimette, assured us that he’d be in the house with the script for the performance, in case we needed to ask for help with a line. Tanja Jacobs, our Mother Courage, suggested that Stephen might benefit from a vocal warmup.
7:30 PM arrived faster than many of us hoped. Our director, Peter Hinton, addressed the dress rehearsal crowd of about 300 before we started. “Tonight’s a bit different than other dress rehearsals in the past,” he said. “It’s the very first time we’ve put all of the scenes, costumes, sound, lights, music, props, and special effects together and run this play right through from beginning to end.” He explained that actors would very likely be asking for help with lines, because a first runthrough can be overwhelming. He warned the audience that we would very likely have to halt the show at some point, to correct something, and that we’d get going again as quickly as we could. And he thanked everyone for being patient.
The performance began, and went off the rails almost immediately, as we all expected it would. The net effect on the cast was both crushing and galvanizing. The audience saw some very raw rehearsal work: lines were dropped and prompting was common; actors missed cues or were in the wrong places; one scene was done in the wrong lighting cue; set pieces knocked into each other or were moved incorrectly; actors saw each other in costume or in wigs for the first time, which affected focus; songs had to be stopped and restarted due to sound balance problems; props were missing or didn’t work or got lost in the shuffle of scene changes; the show had to be stopped many times — eight or so? — in order to correct issues. At one point a disgruntled man in the balcony screamed “SPEAK UP!!” at the stage. Many of our guests left at intermission. Those that stayed witnessed a production that ran for about four hours. After all was said and done, most of the cast was found sitting together in a single dressing room, not speaking, sipping beer and slowly shaking their heads.
In all honesty, nothing that went wrong was terribly unusual; it’s all stuff that I expect to happen on any show when it’s being run for the first time from end-to-end with full tech and costumes. In fact, I’ve been involved with first run-throughs that were far worse: the difference here was that we had a few hundred people sitting in the audience watching us; and despite the pre-show speech, some people’s expectations simply could not be met. It was a frightening realization of the kinds of bad dreams I have before opening nights, and I hope I don’t have to experience another night like it for a while.
And so, for these and a few other complicating reasons, the decision was made to cancel our subsequent preview performance, giving us a much-needed extra day of rehearsal. We took what we learned from Tuesday night — a great deal, indeed — and poured it into preparation for our “first” preview on Thursday; that outing was far, far better, as evidenced by the fact that we shaved 18 minutes off the first act alone. And now that we’ve finished our first weekend of performances, I can say that we all look back on Tuesday as a gift of a failure for what it taught us about the show and about each other; ultimately, Mother Courage and Her Children is better for it, and with heartfelt thanks to the audience members who were with us on Tuesday, we are now ready to present the show we always intended to present. And it’s pretty damned good.
Don’t Fear the Rapper: BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera opens at the GCTC
Left to right, Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow as rapper angels T-Bag and Feminem. Photo: Alan Dean Photography
They are polished as performers, adorable as a couple in love, and even believable as a pair of rapping angels.
Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow have been performing BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera (playing at the Great Canadian Theatre Company until January 31st) since the fall of 2006, and it shows. Dressed head-to-toe in blazing white and pink, they run through an excerpt from their show for the television cameras, giving those of us present for the media call a taste of what’s to come. As they move seamlessly from character to character at a breathtaking pace, they evoke a whole scene, despite the spartan stage arrangement and obvious lack of props. This was, after all, originally a Fringe production, and in a lot of ways it still is. Chris and Nathan perform with all the energy and freshness of improv comedy, engaging the audience at every turn.
BASH’d! may have a strong element of comedy, but it deals with a serious theme, conceived as it was in the wake of a rash of homophobic violence in Alberta following the gay marriage debate of 2005. I eavesdrop avidly as the mainstream media ask the pair of performers the standard interview questions, taking notes. Watching the dynamics between the two, it strikes me that they have the same interlocking fluidity when they speak candidly as they do when they are performing. One thing is quite clear: There is no way I’m getting a verbatim quote.
The subject of hip-hop, and why it was chosen as a medium, inevitably comes up. It catches me slightly off-guard to hear Chris and Nathan spring forth with both criticism and praise for Detroit rap artist Eminem; this, on the heels of an explanation of how hip-hop’s roots are synonymous with social activism. They acknowledge, and indeed draw particular attention to, the harmful influence of the misogynistic, homophobic sentiment laced through mainstream rap and hip-hop, expressing pride in bringing gay-positive white rap to the stage.
It’s fascinating to watch these two actors with incredible stage presence answer the interview questions. In response to each question asked, Nathan cocks his head to the side, listening attentively. When he starts to answer, he considers all the aspects of the question in detail, aloud, while Chris looks on. At the opportune moment, Chris jumps in with a short, pithy summary of his viewpoint. From there, the two of them banter back and forth freely and easily. These are not stock responses; these are men thinking on their feet under hot, bright stage lights, never missing a beat.
I had my own chance to speak with Chris and Nathan, both still glistening with sweat, after the mainstream media had finished grilling them and put away their equipment. Chris and I are almost at eye-level, with Nathan towering over us.
We chat a bit about the last time they were in Ottawa together, putting on 3… 2… 1 at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in 2005, and Chris’s well-received pornStar, which graced last year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival. Ottawa is the second stop on their Canadian tour of BASH’d!, after October’s successful run in Toronto and to be followed by a run at Vancouver’s 2010 Cultural Olympiad. I ask why Montréal isn’t on the itinerary; the answer is that they’d love to go but they haven’t received an offer yet. Besides home-town Edmonton and New York City, they’ve played to audiences in Victoria and Dublin, Ireland, and hope to take the show to San Francisco.
This leads directly into my question: Where, in that impressive catalogue of cities with thriving, open, active gay communities, does Ottawa stack up? Nathan admits, after some consideration, that they’re not altogether sure what to expect. Chris chimes in that Ottawa has the stereotype of being a conservative, quiet city, although he notes a few areas of society where a strong gay contingent is present—unfortunately, he requests that kept off the record.
The next question: Who do you take to this show? From what I’ve seen so far, the message isn’t specifically geared to the gay community; the stereotypes addressed are fairly mainstream. Do I bring my mother? Nathan says that the show works best when the audience is very diverse: young and old, gay and straight. Chris puts forth that it’s probably going to make the biggest positive impression on borderline homophobes; people still possessed of the usual cultural homophobic stereotypes that permit more dangerous hatred to keep its foothold in society. He also mentions gay teenagers should see it, and bring their parents. They tell a few stories about how it’s helped strengthen the relationship in these families. Nathan relates that a student at the University of Victoria told them that seeing the show made him proud to be gay for the first time.
If there’s a hard-and-fast rule of theatre journalism, it’s this: Never mention Shakespeare. It’s a rookie move, indicating that you have nothing of substance left to talk about. Luckily, Nathan brings the subject up first. With phrases like “Romeo and Romeo” and “star-crossed lovers” in the promotional material, how much does BASH’d! owe artistically to Romeo and Juliet? Nathan readily admits that, both in content and in form, there are a lot of parallels. (You don’t realize just how true that is until you see the performance, either.)
I ask them one last question: What is the one thing they would say to get people to come to the show? Nathan’s response is instant: “Look at our reviews from New York.” That may seem like a rather dry answer, but it’s bluntly honest. BASH’d! has left in its wake a string of rave reviews. Chris’s answer is more pithy: “Don’t fear the rapper.”
I thank them for their time and take my seat again. Now that the television cameras are gone, we’re treated to a run-through of part of the introduction to the piece. I understand immediately why this was left to last; the lyrics are a string of guaranteed CRTC fines. Although loaded with swearing, it’s not foul or crude, it’s engaging and poetic.
Chris and Nathan pose for a series of shots as the media call winds down. Kevin Falkingham (the GCTC’s Marketing & Communications Manager) and Nancy Kenny invite me out to the Upper Lobby to answer some more questions; I’m particularly interested in the special BASH’d! Bash fundraiser on Friday, January 22nd.
As Kevin explains the fundraiser (a partnership between the GCTC, TotoToo Theatre, Lambda Foundation, and the Village), my gaze wanders to the paintings on the walls of the Fritzi Gallery around us. They have been commissioned specially for the show, and are the work of Peter Monet. Perhaps the most striking piece, a triptych entitled Pink Wedge, is right at the top of the stairs, taking up most of the wall. We talk about the gay community’s reclamation of this former symbol of Nazi oppression. Kevin mentions that the paintings have a tactile aspect; they’re meant to be touched. That’s about right, I think, they’re already touching me.
Left to right, Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow as rapper angels T-Bag and Feminem, on the set of BASH'd! Photo: Alan Dean Photography
Opening night is the 100th performance of BASH’d!, and completely sold out. My plus-one is a good friend who identifies as bisexual; I’ve chosen to bring her along because I want to see an alternate perspective on the performance and the issues (and, besides, I owe her a favour). The theatre is packed with media, bloggers, some familiar faces from the theatre community, and GCTC members of all ages. I can’t help wondering how some of them are going to react to the material. We wander around, mingling with the crowd. I show my companion the paintings; she touches them.
Not even a minute into the performance, it becomes clear that the brief glimpse provided during the media call doesn’t begin to do justice to the performance itself. I mentally shred half of my draft for this article. The audience is instantly engaged; there are arms in the air and everyone is transfixed by the music, lighting, and most importantly by the slick poetic narrative. Chris and Nathan, first as T-Bag and Feminem, then as Jack and Dillon, then as, well, everyone else, lead us through a hilarious sequence of scenes, sending up every cultural stereotype—heteronormative and otherwise.
Then things get serious. The homophobic violence, central to the plot, is not handled in passing or offstage. These performers bring as much to the stage with their physical performance as they do with their words; together with the dynamic lighting, the impression is vivid, visceral, and tense. Nothing is sugar-coated as we are drawn into the pain, conflict, and grim reality of the violent spiral of homophobia.
For a moment my attention flickers; I realize my companion for the evening is wiping away tears. She’s not alone.
Any questions I had as to how deeply and effectively the issues would be addressed through the vehicle of a rap musical are put to rest. It is neither a light, glossy treatment, nor an effort to convince or preach to the audience; it’s a dialogue, encouraging you to think rather than telling you what to think.
The end of the performance is met with a standing ovation.
I catch up with Nathan, now wearing a black-and-white checked shirt, enjoying a St. Ambroise Blonde Ale in the Upper Lobby. I thank him for the performance. Even after an obviously physically demanding performance, he is as warm, gentle and personable an actor as you could ever hope to meet.
BASH’d! is a musical. It’s entertainment. It’s meant to be enjoyed. It is also, maybe more importantly, a weapon against complacency in the face of cultural homophobia. Homophobic violence is real, and an important part of changing that is showing its causes and effects. The creators of BASH’d! succeed in doing this, in a way that’s accessible, not preachy, and thoroughly enjoyable.
As I fall asleep, still possessed by the images of rap angels T-Bag and Feminem, I can’t help remembering what happened to Dixie Landers.
See BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera until January 31st at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. To satisfy your appetite for gay-positive white hip-hop tracks in the meantime, I suggest MC Frontalot’s I Heart Fags and Jesse Dangerously’s A Single Gay Male on his Thirtieth Birthday.
Andrew Snowdon is a theatregoer, concertgoer, and writer. He lives in Lowertown, Ottawa, sandwiched between a MacBook and a typewriter, with a cup of coffee.
The GCTC presents: BASH’D!
MEDIA RELEASE: The Great Canadian Theatre Company is excited to present BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera written and performed by Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow with music by Aaron Macri, at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, 1233 Wellington St. West (at Holland Ave.).
Following two preview performances on January 12 and 13, 2010, BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera officially opens on January 14, 2010 and runs until January 31, 2010.
This high-energy, humourous and fast-paced musical is loosely based on the real-life spike in hate crimes in Alberta during the gay marriage debate of 2005. BASH’d! explores the effects of homophobic violence on a gay couple and on society as a whole, through the hip hop music sung by two gay rapping angels, T-Bag and Feminem. Jack and Dillon, one from the big city and the other who escapes the small town, meet and fall in love in their own Romeo and Romeo fairytale. But their “happily ever after” is destroyed by a brutal gay-bashing and one of the lovers vows revenge.
Originally conceived as a satire of the notoriously-homophobic hip hop genre, BASH’d! debuted as a fringe production and toured fringe festivals throughout Canada and the USA. The production earned the Outstanding Musical award at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival; and NOW Magazine’s “Pick of the Fringe” and the “Patron’s Pick” awards at the 2007 Toronto Fringe Festival. BASH’d! also earned the 2007 Sterling Award for Outstanding Independent Production, as well as three other Sterling Award nominations. BASH’d also received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding NY Theatre
In 2008, BASH’d! premiered Off-Broadway, in a three-month run that was acclaimed by critics, including New York’s “The Village Voice” Top 10 list for the 2008/2009 theatre season. The GCTC run is the show’s second stop on its 2009/2010 Canadian tour, after a nearly sold out run at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. After the GCTC run, BASH’d! will be seen in Vancouver at The Cultch, in partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.
BASH’d! A Gay Rap Opera is written and performed by Edmonton-based Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow. The music is by Aaron Macri and the director is Ron Jenkins. Lighting design is by Kerem Çetinel and the stage manager is Jenn Best.
To purchase tickets, please visit www.gctc.ca or call the Box Office at 613-236-5196
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kevin Falkingham
Marketing and Communications Manager
Great Canadian Theatre Company
613-236-5192 ext 229
Learning to drive Mother Courage’s cart
For a play that is often referred to as one the theatrical masterpieces of the 20th century, Mother Courage and Her Children is a play that is not staged very often. I suppose, like many plays that have had long lives, it comes in and out of fashion. But I also suppose that we don’t see it more often because a respectful and passionate mounting of the play requires more meticulousness and care than most theatre companies can provide. This past fall, even the National Theatre in London, England, had to cancel one preview performance and do partial performances for another. Fiona Shaw, who played Mother Courage in that production, wrote a terrific rehearsal diary for the Times Online, and two days before first preview, she wrote the following during a tech rehearsal:
I am called for a change into scene 4. We are moving on. Stephen Kennedy, who is playing the pastor, and I spend every spare moment crunching lines and discussing the essence of what we might try in the impending performance. It is so terrifying I wish we were the Berlin Ensemble and had six months to rehearse. If we get this on in the time it will be a miracle.
As I write this, during my day off before our final week of rehearsal, I could be the kind of ingratiating theatrical shill who promises that our NAC English Theatre production has effortlessly resolved all issues and is on the triumphant road to this year’s must-see coup de théâtre, but that would be a hollow and patently false statement. I’m exhausted and a little depressed, but although I’m part of a tight ensemble, I have absolutely no claims on the job of carrying our production. I can only relate empathetically to the stress and fear that are simmering in those in our company who have to do more of the heavy dramatic lifting. We finished our last rehearsal of the week at midnight on Saturday; whereas the end of the work week is usually celebrated with a group trip to the bar, many of us decided to head straight home to rest.
So what the hell is it about this play that makes it so daunting? I’m hard-pressed to come up with a single answer, which somehow seems a propos to play whose scope defies any concise description or aphoristic synopsis. David Hare, who is one of many folks who have adapted the work from its original German, said that Mother Courage is a play that was written in three months and refined for twelve years. What is absolutely clear to us, in lifting the play off the page in Peter Hinton’s new adaptation, is that we could fill our lives with a years’ ceaseless work illuminating its infinite facets and paradoxes… after which we’d finish looking at scene one and give scene two a try.
Whole libraries full of books have been populated with analysis of Bertolt Brecht’s approach to theatre (you can even read about my three-week Ark experience here), but one significant aspect of our production focuses on Brecht’s love of dialectic construction. Basically, this means that Brecht gleefully presents both sides of an issue as equal and opposite. He takes great pleasure, I suspect, in finishing one scene with Mother Courage saying “I curse the war,” and starting the next scene with Mother Courage saying “I won’t let anybody spoil my war for me!” Both statements, in their respective contexts, make sense; audience members are left grappling with the contradiction and must arrive at their own opinion of which statement they prefer.
Back to the problem at hand, though. Scene 5 stands out for me as prime example of the immense booby-trap in which we find ourselves. On one side of the stage we see Mother Courage’s canteen-cart, where business is doing well and drinks are being served to soldiers who can pay for them. On the other side of the stage we see the chaos of a house barely standing after it’s been sieged and looted by those same soldiers. Injured people are hauled out of the house as soldiers and Mother Courage watch; a helpless baby is trapped inside the house. The dynamics of action on stage are complex enough:in the presence of soldiers, clergy, and even a daughter who runs into the burning house, Courage is publicly called upon to sacrifice business for the sake of helping strangers. And on top of the dramatic horror of dismembered civilians and the danger inherent in running into a burning house, Brecht layers the sounds of an army’s victory parade. It’s less than five minutes of theatre that executes with the precision of a fight sequence, and whose morality could be the subject of a Master’s thesis. It’s downright daunting. There are many productions where scene 5 is cut altogether.
What we have in Peter Hinton, however, is an adapter and director of singular tenacity. I’ve worked with Peter on a few productions now, and I have never, ever, ever heard him utter the words “it’s good enough”. If a stage picture is unclear, it must be addressed. If a moment is imprecise, it must be examined. Time will be taken to ensure that attention is paid to every detail. And there is so much detail.
Our move from the rehearsal hall to the theatre has introduced new elements that have had earthquake-like impacts on all of the painstaking work we’ve been doing since October. The technical elements of this play are almost comically-simple relative to the work we presented in A Christmas Carol last month, but the focus and clarity and precision required on the part of our company of eighteen actors is of a scope many of us have never experienced. We want to get it right, and Peter wants to help us get it right, and so progress on stage has been slower than anyone anticipated.
When I described the technical rehearsals for Christmas Carol, I mentioned three hours spent on a single scene change. For Mother Courage and Her Children, we’re spending hours clarifying how the message of the onstage action is affected by everything from how far apart actors are to the way props are handled and every imaginable variation in between. The irony is that, like A Christmas Carol, Mother Courage and Her Children will be functioning at 100% when audience members wonder what all the fuss was about, because it all looks very minimalist and straightforward. To paraphrase Edward Albee, sometimes you have to go a very long distance out of your way in order to come back a short distance correctly.
Analogously, it reminds me of learning to drive a car. I remember sitting behind the wheel of my mom’s Ford Tempo for the first time, at age 15, terrified of how it was even possible to manage pedals, and steer, and check mirrors, and keep an eye on speed, and follow traffic signals, all at the same time. Now — like many — I can drive from home to work without even remembering how I did it.
And so I have gone a very long distance out of my way to say that I simply do not know how ready we’ll be for our first pay-what-you-can preview audience this week, and take some comfort in the knowledge that this play has conquered many, many companies before ours. With six very full and focused days of rehearsal on the stage, we have yet to finish working all the way through the play once, and I am only cautiously optimistic that we may manage to wrap it up some time tomorrow, during day seven. We’re still figuring out where the pedals in the car are, and how to adjust the mirrors, and hoping we never have to parallel park in the snow.
But it’ll get there.
This is a week when I must remind myself that there is a difference between a preview performance (which is still a rehearsal) and an actual performance; and even though we will have members of the public watching us work as of Tuesday, we don’t actually open until Friday. Our preview audiences will, I expect, get a few glimpses of the foundation as we put the finishing touches on the walls.
Blowout
Bad things come in threes. Number two tonight was a lit candle falling on my head onstage; number three was an apron falling off in the middle of the Fezziwig Christmas Party dance. The first bad thing happened before the show began, and is why I want to say that the National Arts Centre’s wardrobe staff are godsends.
We got the five minute call for the beginning of A Christmas Carol and, as is customary, the cast began to gather in the wings and voms of the theatre to start the show. Niall Patrick McNeil, who plays the beggar boy, was with me at stage left, running over the lyrics to “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” softly, with his beggar-boy-cap placed jauntily askew on his head. In my capecoat and top hat — looking like Abe Lincoln after a few too many Christmas dinners — I chuckled and suggested that it might be fun to rap the song on stage. “God rest ye, merry GIN-el-minz!”, I said, and began to crunk for my own amusement. I worked my way down into a squat position in a fit of improvised choreographic bliss, and then heard a telltale ripping sound from my posterior. At this point it was three minutes to curtain, and I was to be one of the first actors on stage at the top of the show.
I exited the backstage area quickly and reported sheepishly to the wardrobe room. “I think I ripped my pants,” I said. “But I mostly wear a coat in the show, so maybe it’s okay for now?”
“Turn around and let’s see,” said Linda. I did, and lifted my coattail. Linda’s eyes went wide for all the wrong reasons. “Wow,” she said. “You blew the ass right outta those things.”
“Were you goofing around?” asked Ann, somewhat rhetorically.
“No,” I lied, and put on my innocent actor face. I could have argued that dancing is a great pre-show energy-booster and necessary for my craft, but crunking to a rap version of a 19th century holiday carol is not truly a part of my regular routine. I’m sure they both saw through my denial anyway. “I was warming up.” I smiled, for added cuteness.
We quickly determined that I couldn’t go on stage with the rip as it was, because the pants would likely split right in half before long. We also quickly clocked the fact that I have to wear the pants through the whole show, so there was no chance for me to get out of them to have them fixed. In addition, there’s the scene at Fezziwig’s Christmas party, where the apron I wear leaves my back end rather exposed. Finally, as Peter Hinton began his pre-show announcement on stage, I reminded them that I had to be in the wings again imminently.
“Well, then, I have to do something right now,” said Ann. Then, with a twinkle in her eye of the sort I’ve only ever seen on a few other occasions in my life, she said, “turn around and bend over.”
And so, under stern orders not to break wind, a makeshift, under-two-minute repair was made to my pants just so they’d hold together for the show. “I’ve done this before for dancers,” she said. I am SO not a dancer. “It’ll hold for a bit, but no more squatting. And warm up before you get into costume, okay?” I was back in the wings and ready to start the show with time to spare.
We have two wardrobe staff working with us on the show. They get about 90 minutes to do their setup for each performance, and the two of them are looking after costumes for 21 actors. In addition to looking after laundry, they need to make sure every item of clothing in the show is prepped and in its proper location in the theatre before we start. In short, they bust their asses for us, and I don’t help them much by busting the ass out of my trousers. But they grin and bear it and keep everything working for us, and so we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for literally making us all look good. SO here’s to them, and here’s to refraining from fantastic backstage choreography while wearing a capecoat and trousers.
–photo by AndyRob on Flickr
