We wake up on holiday but with 31 hours til my flight out of Christchurch. Go eat crepes in the botanic gardens. Cheesy mushrooms and spinach, sour cherry and chocolate, New Zealand lattes in a bowl. We drive up Mount Cargill and look down at the coast to Waitati, Blueskin Bay the tip of the Otago Peninsula. The bald, grassy hills and the many inlets of ocean. Luke looks up at the tv tower, 'How many students do you reckon come up here at night and try to climb this?' We look at the fencing and the ladder and know how easy it would be and it makes us laugh.
Back to Joan and Chris's and its go go go. Luke and I piling things into the car, Joan offering us food, Christy online trying to think about beds in Christchurch. The person she was hoping to stay with isn't replying on facebook. The conversation around 'who do we know who knows someone's number who we know in Christchurch who will put us up?' gets a little stressful and we leave without knowing where we are going to end up.
It is decided along the way that a late movie and a nap in the car before the flight is the best option and we turn inland to take the scenic route through the mountains. For a while we are in dairy country and the mountains, if they are there, are shrouded in clouds and i'm dissapointed. 'Where are the mountains? I come here to consume the landscape and its all cows!' We get ridiculous, singing made-up songs and bubbling with laughter. When the mountains appear in sunny spots through the clouds Luke alternately sings about them to the tune of old hymns and we cheer them on like a football game.
Its dusk and getting darker as we leave them behind and we pull in for snacks at about 7. Which turns into pizza and a fatal second coffee.
In Christchurch we go straight to Circo so we can look in the windows and they can tell me about life as Circo students. The lights are on. The twins are rehearsing with a whole crew and we stand in the doorway smiling and waiting and Luke and Christy reminisce. When they are done, the twins come over and offer us a bed for the night.
We sit in their loungeroom and talk touring shows in New Zealand, the Butler Show, the Berlin Burlesque, breaking the Guinness World Record for time that 3 people stay squished in a box. We are shown their tree house and their beautiful driftwood furniture and then go to bed in Nele's room.
The three of us in her tiny room at 11:30 at night set an alarm for 4:15am say goodnight and lie quiet for a while. But the coffee has ruined us and soon Christy whispers 'are you guys awake?'. Yes we are. Luke has been choreographing the half-each-gender people in his head, Christy has been re-working Wiped Out, I have been cycling in the south of France: Bezier, Narbonne, Carcasonne over and over again in my head.
We laugh and whisper and it is a sleepover. Christy waves her twitchy coffee feet in the air and we talk seriously about Wiped Out for a while, how to milk the sharks for all they are worth, what needs to happen to the structure to make it work better, improvements to the costumes, how to play better with the audience at the start, how it would work as a street show.
We talk about asking for money in a street show, money and the structure of Asking for Trouble as a business (its so important to be clear about these things and communicate, we all agree earnestly). We talk about relationships and the things its hard to communicate and the ways people make it harder. We comb our pasts and tell stories and ask questions and it is stupidly late at night and we all want more food. But we are happy because its a sleepover and sometimes our voices and laughter come out of whisper-mode for a moment until one of us remembers the rest of the house.
When the alarm goes off it feels like dinner rather than breakfast time. Whole new level of no-sleep driving through Christchurch, checking in the prop-heavy suitcase, sitting in the flourescent airport, eating stupid airport food. Hugging goodbyes at the international departure gate.
Slept the entire flight. Slept again when I got home. Emailed lots of people to say 'read my blog' and now it's time to cook dinner for my housemates. School tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wiped Out. The Not Quite Premier.
Crazy morning prepping Wiped Out. Christy covering children's books at the kitchen table: 'flashbacks of Circo Arts, doing last minute shows.' Luke putting the sound together on his lap-top, his absorbed face which means he can't focus on anything but the task in front. Christy with a props shopping list: hat elastic for the red noses, inflatable arm-bands and a snorkel for luke, safe bathing flags for the children to hold. Gathering and checking and putting in the suitcase.
Recording one part of the voiceover on the laptop quickly and then racing down for a soundcheck before 10 which of course the museum staff weren't ready for at all. Sitting in the museum foyer for half an hour waiting to soundcheck and recording the rest of the voiceovers while we wait - and the museum foyer ambient noise is actuall ideal for the airport background noise. Eventually go over to the sound desk instead of talking to the museum staff and the sound guy says 'well you could do a soundcheck now except nothings working yet. How about you come back just before the show?' Hilarious. So we go home again.
Oh except we don't go home quite yet because we realise the stage is half a metre shorter than they said it would be so a bunch of the tricks don't fit on it. Christy laughs and they try out a high star, which works if her legs are bent.
Back home Luke making sound, Christy and I making props. Do we know the show order? Luke and Christy getting into costume in Joan's lougeroom and the three of us talking through the sound cues. "And can you give us some kind of indication if it gets to half an hour and we're not finished?" I say "yes, I'll just keep skipping the tracks forward." Pile into Joan's little two door, squished in amongst the hula hoops and suitcases, hunched over and leaning into each other.
The museum is running about 20 minutes late. Luke and Christy stretch and warm up and run tricks and I go talk to the sound guy and then blow up inflatable sharks and inflatable palm trees.
The show is chaotic and hilarious - my highlight being the children carrying inflatable sharks chasing them both. I impro the sound and it runs pretty much exactly to time. Kevin is so proud and wants to introduce Christy to everyone. Teach hoops for an hour and then go eat the biggest icecreams for $2.20 in the world. (Rob Roy's Dairy Dunedin).jpg)
Christy is doing a Petcha Kucha talk at 7pm so we go look at the butterflies (and the quails and the turtles and the mindball game and the boats) in the museum for a moment before another quick turnaround at home and out again in our pretty clothes. Folk talk poetry, installation art, post soviet toilets, burlesque, ephemeral flat-names and Christy talks social circus. There is something great about 6 minutes of someone's brain; something they are obsessed about, the random specific details and the difference between each talk.
At home and sleepy on the couch we look up Burlesque online and talk about nostalgia and sexuality and power and irony and then just look at all the pretty old circus posters and wish we owned them.
Now the Dunedin shows are over and I'm flying to Melbourne in 36 hours time.
Recording one part of the voiceover on the laptop quickly and then racing down for a soundcheck before 10 which of course the museum staff weren't ready for at all. Sitting in the museum foyer for half an hour waiting to soundcheck and recording the rest of the voiceovers while we wait - and the museum foyer ambient noise is actuall ideal for the airport background noise. Eventually go over to the sound desk instead of talking to the museum staff and the sound guy says 'well you could do a soundcheck now except nothings working yet. How about you come back just before the show?' Hilarious. So we go home again.
Oh except we don't go home quite yet because we realise the stage is half a metre shorter than they said it would be so a bunch of the tricks don't fit on it. Christy laughs and they try out a high star, which works if her legs are bent.
Back home Luke making sound, Christy and I making props. Do we know the show order? Luke and Christy getting into costume in Joan's lougeroom and the three of us talking through the sound cues. "And can you give us some kind of indication if it gets to half an hour and we're not finished?" I say "yes, I'll just keep skipping the tracks forward." Pile into Joan's little two door, squished in amongst the hula hoops and suitcases, hunched over and leaning into each other.
The museum is running about 20 minutes late. Luke and Christy stretch and warm up and run tricks and I go talk to the sound guy and then blow up inflatable sharks and inflatable palm trees.
The show is chaotic and hilarious - my highlight being the children carrying inflatable sharks chasing them both. I impro the sound and it runs pretty much exactly to time. Kevin is so proud and wants to introduce Christy to everyone. Teach hoops for an hour and then go eat the biggest icecreams for $2.20 in the world. (Rob Roy's Dairy Dunedin)
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Christy is doing a Petcha Kucha talk at 7pm so we go look at the butterflies (and the quails and the turtles and the mindball game and the boats) in the museum for a moment before another quick turnaround at home and out again in our pretty clothes. Folk talk poetry, installation art, post soviet toilets, burlesque, ephemeral flat-names and Christy talks social circus. There is something great about 6 minutes of someone's brain; something they are obsessed about, the random specific details and the difference between each talk.
At home and sleepy on the couch we look up Burlesque online and talk about nostalgia and sexuality and power and irony and then just look at all the pretty old circus posters and wish we owned them.
Now the Dunedin shows are over and I'm flying to Melbourne in 36 hours time.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
sea lions and albatross
Last Bubblewrap shows today. Luke wakes me up singing poached egg songs with a bad German accent on the stairs and he and Christy race off to the theatre while I finish my tea and gather lunch things with Joan. Walk the steep streets where you can see the harbour and climb my little back stairs to the tech box - which used to be the organ when it was a methodist church.
Becks says we've been a joy to work with: "every festival there's a show that makes my life hell and a show that makes my life very easy- this season you guys were the ones that made it easy"
I find Kevin's 50's rock'n'roll music on the i-tunes and play it for preshow. Luke and Christy dancing on stage and grinning before the audience come in. 'hey little girl in the highschool sweater - gee i'd like to know you better' so wrong and so funny.
The morning audience is fairly small - 60ish but friendly and responsive and Kev and Sue in the front row with Kev wearing his postie uniform.
The afternoon audience is supposed to be larger - they said 90 bookings on Thursday then they said 120 in the morning and by the show 160 had booked. Joan says that people were queueing out the door. 'you know how it feels like there is never anyone in Dunedin, well there was so many people and a sense of excitement...' It's packed and a lot of adults which feels a bit like the show is being given respect. Still enough little ones to bring the magic.
Christy and Luke both exhausted as we pack down the show. Sleepy sleepy faces over dinner and tired bodies not wanting to walk anywhere. It makes me think how physically demanding touring a show is.
We drive out along the peninsula in the campervan in the evening light - slightly misty and the damp windy road reflecting the sky, almost the same colour as the water. Watching the harbour and the hills and little beach houses.
Walk down to watch the penguins come in - we find a sea lion and watch a few albatross circle above us (this is the only mainland albatross colony in the world they tell me - and right now there is a lesbian albatross couple living there which makes Christy and I happy) Tourists checking their watches in the dark saying 'they should be here any minute' but apparently the penguins are moulting and there won't be many. We catch sight of one white belly in a dark patch of grass and then follow two little waddling shadows up the road back towards the car.
Christy and Luke desperate to go to sleep. Me in my little room with the lights of Dunedin reflecting in the water out my window.
Tomorrow: Wiped Out which has still never been rehearsed in order...
Becks says we've been a joy to work with: "every festival there's a show that makes my life hell and a show that makes my life very easy- this season you guys were the ones that made it easy"
I find Kevin's 50's rock'n'roll music on the i-tunes and play it for preshow. Luke and Christy dancing on stage and grinning before the audience come in. 'hey little girl in the highschool sweater - gee i'd like to know you better' so wrong and so funny.
The morning audience is fairly small - 60ish but friendly and responsive and Kev and Sue in the front row with Kev wearing his postie uniform.
The afternoon audience is supposed to be larger - they said 90 bookings on Thursday then they said 120 in the morning and by the show 160 had booked. Joan says that people were queueing out the door. 'you know how it feels like there is never anyone in Dunedin, well there was so many people and a sense of excitement...' It's packed and a lot of adults which feels a bit like the show is being given respect. Still enough little ones to bring the magic.
Christy and Luke both exhausted as we pack down the show. Sleepy sleepy faces over dinner and tired bodies not wanting to walk anywhere. It makes me think how physically demanding touring a show is.
We drive out along the peninsula in the campervan in the evening light - slightly misty and the damp windy road reflecting the sky, almost the same colour as the water. Watching the harbour and the hills and little beach houses.
Walk down to watch the penguins come in - we find a sea lion and watch a few albatross circle above us (this is the only mainland albatross colony in the world they tell me - and right now there is a lesbian albatross couple living there which makes Christy and I happy) Tourists checking their watches in the dark saying 'they should be here any minute' but apparently the penguins are moulting and there won't be many. We catch sight of one white belly in a dark patch of grass and then follow two little waddling shadows up the road back towards the car.
Christy and Luke desperate to go to sleep. Me in my little room with the lights of Dunedin reflecting in the water out my window.
Tomorrow: Wiped Out which has still never been rehearsed in order...
Friday, March 19, 2010
has a teenage theme
In Dunedin there's a Friday Bakery. It’s only open on Friday and they make the best almond croissants I’ve ever had. While Luke and Christy went to warm up and preset the show, Joan drove me to the Friday Bakery and in search of bubblewrap. The treats were easy.
The bubblewrap was hard. The New Zealand Post brand bubblewrap doesn’t pop! The only bubblewrap I could find was green and I wondered about Luke’s particular aesthetic. I nearly didn’t buy it but then I looked at the label and it said biodegradable which swung me. The little things you think will be easy and then aren’t when you're away from home!
Teenage audience this morning. The Fortune full of them in their Logan Park High School Uniforms. Thought it would be a hard one – this show works so well with very little children and I wondered if teenagers would be too cool for it. But no. They were totally there with the show – and it was great having them all laugh at the adult jokes which often a primary aged audience will miss.
Ate almond croissants and chocolate genash tart and sour cherry tart for lunch and drank tea in the little changeroom under the stage with the heater on full.
Second show all primary kids. Hilarious. The game of ‘don’t clap, you’ll get in trouble’ which makes them want to clap more just kept on going. Me laughing out loud in the sound box while Luke and Christy played with them from the stage.
After the show I did some handstands and stretching while the others worked on their acro for Wiped Out. Went down to the octagon together and sat on the sunny green grass talking plans. Imagining bringing the superhero show here, Black Dog, doing some social circus projects with teenagers from round here. We talked about staying a couple of months and how we might get funding: Creative Communities grants? Ozco international touring? Residency in the Fortune? Walked back up to the Fortune and asked Becks what she thinks and we’re going to try and get a meeting on Monday.
Moana pool. Swam laps while the others sat in the spa. They are so physically tired from the show and I am doing so little physically while I’m here.
Walked around St Claire and St Kilda and the dinosaur park in the dark and Christy reminisced about her teenage years. Linked arms and giggled and sat briefly in the sand looking out at the dark sea.
The bubblewrap was hard. The New Zealand Post brand bubblewrap doesn’t pop! The only bubblewrap I could find was green and I wondered about Luke’s particular aesthetic. I nearly didn’t buy it but then I looked at the label and it said biodegradable which swung me. The little things you think will be easy and then aren’t when you're away from home!
Teenage audience this morning. The Fortune full of them in their Logan Park High School Uniforms. Thought it would be a hard one – this show works so well with very little children and I wondered if teenagers would be too cool for it. But no. They were totally there with the show – and it was great having them all laugh at the adult jokes which often a primary aged audience will miss.
Ate almond croissants and chocolate genash tart and sour cherry tart for lunch and drank tea in the little changeroom under the stage with the heater on full.
Second show all primary kids. Hilarious. The game of ‘don’t clap, you’ll get in trouble’ which makes them want to clap more just kept on going. Me laughing out loud in the sound box while Luke and Christy played with them from the stage.
After the show I did some handstands and stretching while the others worked on their acro for Wiped Out. Went down to the octagon together and sat on the sunny green grass talking plans. Imagining bringing the superhero show here, Black Dog, doing some social circus projects with teenagers from round here. We talked about staying a couple of months and how we might get funding: Creative Communities grants? Ozco international touring? Residency in the Fortune? Walked back up to the Fortune and asked Becks what she thinks and we’re going to try and get a meeting on Monday.
Moana pool. Swam laps while the others sat in the spa. They are so physically tired from the show and I am doing so little physically while I’m here.
Walked around St Claire and St Kilda and the dinosaur park in the dark and Christy reminisced about her teenage years. Linked arms and giggled and sat briefly in the sand looking out at the dark sea.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
First shows in the Fortune
Two show day. Went in to the Fortune for 8:30, walked from Joan’s house, through the chilly Dunedin streets where the air smells like coal. Carrying hoola hoops and the laptop and Luke singing made up songs.
Final touches to the set and the post-box rigging, finishing the teacher’s notes while Luke and Christy warm up. The first audience queue in. Lots and lots of primary and pre-school aged children -197 of them and their teachers sitting in rows. They are delightful audience, bringing child magic, giggling loudly and interacting the whole way through the show. Luke and Christy have rearranged their chore for the new wooden box which is a slightly different size and part way through the explosion scene I realise they don’t know what they are doing but are running around making it up. It makes me laugh but I’m sure no-one else notices
In between shows, Christy whips on her hula costume and does the bolt down to the octagon to perform at the fringe launch and I get food and follow her down there. Its cold and the grass is wet and she’s barefoot in a little bathing costume, freezing but so cute and the audience love her.
Second show is much quieter, two groups of high school boys and various parents with small children. This time, Christy starts doing the Macarena in the middle of being told off by Luke. After the show the boys are awesome and stand together on the stage asking questions and being funny until their teacher makes them leave.
Went straight to the moana pool and swam laps and sat in the spa and walked home. Picked up a copy of the Star off the pavement with Bubblewrap on the front cover. Walked slowly together leaning over the page to see what they would say.
Went out to see I ‘heart’ camping with Joan and Chris. Laughed a lot. 'do you think that guy defines himself as a comdian or an actor?' We look and look at the ways people are funny. what they use. what works.
Came home and Luke and Christy juggled while I did dinner dishes. Spent the evening getting sound effects for Wiped Out and blowing up the shark and growling it around the loungeroom. Interspersed with Christy dealing with emails about the museum show and me making there be a blog. All of us post-pool and vague.
Just figured out how to set this up online and posted all my word docs to the blog. Very satisfied and sleepy
Final touches to the set and the post-box rigging, finishing the teacher’s notes while Luke and Christy warm up. The first audience queue in. Lots and lots of primary and pre-school aged children -197 of them and their teachers sitting in rows. They are delightful audience, bringing child magic, giggling loudly and interacting the whole way through the show. Luke and Christy have rearranged their chore for the new wooden box which is a slightly different size and part way through the explosion scene I realise they don’t know what they are doing but are running around making it up. It makes me laugh but I’m sure no-one else notices
In between shows, Christy whips on her hula costume and does the bolt down to the octagon to perform at the fringe launch and I get food and follow her down there. Its cold and the grass is wet and she’s barefoot in a little bathing costume, freezing but so cute and the audience love her.
Second show is much quieter, two groups of high school boys and various parents with small children. This time, Christy starts doing the Macarena in the middle of being told off by Luke. After the show the boys are awesome and stand together on the stage asking questions and being funny until their teacher makes them leave.
Went straight to the moana pool and swam laps and sat in the spa and walked home. Picked up a copy of the Star off the pavement with Bubblewrap on the front cover. Walked slowly together leaning over the page to see what they would say.
Went out to see I ‘heart’ camping with Joan and Chris. Laughed a lot. 'do you think that guy defines himself as a comdian or an actor?' We look and look at the ways people are funny. what they use. what works.
Came home and Luke and Christy juggled while I did dinner dishes. Spent the evening getting sound effects for Wiped Out and blowing up the shark and growling it around the loungeroom. Interspersed with Christy dealing with emails about the museum show and me making there be a blog. All of us post-pool and vague.
Just figured out how to set this up online and posted all my word docs to the blog. Very satisfied and sleepy
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Purakanui morning
Day off. Mostly. Long slow morning in Purakanui eating eggs on bagels, drinking coffee and walking Charlie-dog down by the water. Kevin drove us back to town via picking up flyers from the printers. Evening of cousins and Great Aunty Eunice and cooking dinner and catching up while at the same time cutting black shapes for the fridge box, trying to sort out the teacher’s notes and doing radio interviews over the phone. Once everyone has left Luke and Christy run the juggling for Wiped Out in the loungeroom again and again avoiding the china cabinet and checking and rechecking the video. Getting on to midnight (but its still only 10 in Melbourne) and we make tea and format the teacher’s notes.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
'Pack in' at the Fortune Theatre
Pack In. New Zealand version of Bump In. Christy spends the morning on the phone calling people to offer some free tickets to the weekday shows. Various family support services. Luke and I go on a mission for a big fridge box, craft knives and packing tape.
With the new wooden box it takes two trips to get the set down to the Fortune. The theatre is an old Methodist church where Christy’s great-grandmother was married and now a cavernous theatre with a bunch of staircases and little backstage rooms. Becks, the techie who runs the place from the inside welcomes us and does the tour. Friendly and self deprecating.
The new fridge box requires some refitting so Luke spends some time with a tape-measure and a pencil and Christy has a bunch of publicity calls to make and organising to meet her Dad, Kevin. I sit with Becks and try to put together some lighting states. There are about 50 lights in the Fortune – unlike the 30 or so in the Bosco so everything seems to take longer.
Kev shows up part way through and sits in the audience saying ‘now I feel part of it.’ I work on the teacher’s notes which need a bunch of formatting in the moments I have time.
We officially have until 5pm and 5 we finish building the set and re-focussing programming the lights. Luckily Becks is relaxed about staying around to do a quick cue to cue to give her a sense of what she’ll be doing. As soon as she says she’s happy Luke and Christy run downstairs to put on make up and costumes for the photoshoot.
Becks says she’ll stay so we can keep the lights on for the photographer from the Star who shows up while Luke and Christy are still downstairs. Kev tells her how he became a postman after they made the show and then they arrive and she asks why people should come and see the show and what its like for Christy to come home and perform. Christy smiles and holds her hands together saying, ‘it’s so good’. They do acro on the box for the camera for a long time and then we finally get to go to Kev’s house.
Drive out through a wet, misty Dunedin, Kev points out the harbour and the train and we talk about Waitangi and the new stadium and dairy farming. Purakanui: the inlet, the windy dirt road, the yellow sign pointing down to their house saying ‘Kev and Sue’s.’
Dinner. Charlie-dog. Welcomingness.
With the new wooden box it takes two trips to get the set down to the Fortune. The theatre is an old Methodist church where Christy’s great-grandmother was married and now a cavernous theatre with a bunch of staircases and little backstage rooms. Becks, the techie who runs the place from the inside welcomes us and does the tour. Friendly and self deprecating.
The new fridge box requires some refitting so Luke spends some time with a tape-measure and a pencil and Christy has a bunch of publicity calls to make and organising to meet her Dad, Kevin. I sit with Becks and try to put together some lighting states. There are about 50 lights in the Fortune – unlike the 30 or so in the Bosco so everything seems to take longer.
Kev shows up part way through and sits in the audience saying ‘now I feel part of it.’ I work on the teacher’s notes which need a bunch of formatting in the moments I have time.
We officially have until 5pm and 5 we finish building the set and re-focussing programming the lights. Luckily Becks is relaxed about staying around to do a quick cue to cue to give her a sense of what she’ll be doing. As soon as she says she’s happy Luke and Christy run downstairs to put on make up and costumes for the photoshoot.
Becks says she’ll stay so we can keep the lights on for the photographer from the Star who shows up while Luke and Christy are still downstairs. Kev tells her how he became a postman after they made the show and then they arrive and she asks why people should come and see the show and what its like for Christy to come home and perform. Christy smiles and holds her hands together saying, ‘it’s so good’. They do acro on the box for the camera for a long time and then we finally get to go to Kev’s house.
Drive out through a wet, misty Dunedin, Kev points out the harbour and the train and we talk about Waitangi and the new stadium and dairy farming. Purakanui: the inlet, the windy dirt road, the yellow sign pointing down to their house saying ‘Kev and Sue’s.’
Dinner. Charlie-dog. Welcomingness.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Oversize luggage flying to Dunedin
My housemate Beccy arrives home from yoga on her bicycle with flushed cheeks and a smile on the dot of 8:30am when she said she would drive us to the airport. She drinks her tea in the passenger seat while I drive. When we get to Pigeon Hole (Luke and Christy’s warehouse) their stuff is piled by the door and they are locking up Nona. Beccy and I carry the bike box together and it just fits in the tray.
Hoola hoops in their moroon velvet bag and the old hard green suitcase full of juggling balls, gaffa tape, inflatable palm trees. All of us carrying our own clothes as carryon.
At check-in it turns out we are 20kgs under the limit and we all laugh, relieved. Luke says he wants to travel the world with just his little carryon back pack. ‘I reckon I could fit my sleepingbag in here and that’s about all I need...’
The only luggage that actually fits on the carousel is the suitcase. Hoops are wrapped in fragile tape and go with the bike box to oversize. We watch them disappear into behind the flaps and it feels a little strange and like we should follow them and make sure they’re ok.
There are movies on the plane and we all have books and lots to say to each other so we wish the flight went for so much longer than 3 hours.
At Auckland, waiting for our Dunedin flight Christy and Luke practice their juggling for Wiped Out in the airport café, still struggling to remember what comes next
We fly to Dunedin over a bright stretch of sunset clouds and after half an hour or so there starts to be mountain peaks sticking out like rocks out of rippling low-tide sand. Luke says like iceberg tips because you know how much is beneath them. Fly along the mountain range and the sun goes down and then comes back up because we are flying towards it.
Joan and Chris (Christy’s mum and her partner) pick us up from the airport. Stationwagon with all our gear in the back, hanging over into the passenger seats and Christy and I sitting hunched with the cardboard over our heads.
I got the best room in the house. The upstairs with windows on three sides looking down at the harbour and the city lights.
Hoola hoops in their moroon velvet bag and the old hard green suitcase full of juggling balls, gaffa tape, inflatable palm trees. All of us carrying our own clothes as carryon.
At check-in it turns out we are 20kgs under the limit and we all laugh, relieved. Luke says he wants to travel the world with just his little carryon back pack. ‘I reckon I could fit my sleepingbag in here and that’s about all I need...’
The only luggage that actually fits on the carousel is the suitcase. Hoops are wrapped in fragile tape and go with the bike box to oversize. We watch them disappear into behind the flaps and it feels a little strange and like we should follow them and make sure they’re ok.
There are movies on the plane and we all have books and lots to say to each other so we wish the flight went for so much longer than 3 hours.
At Auckland, waiting for our Dunedin flight Christy and Luke practice their juggling for Wiped Out in the airport café, still struggling to remember what comes next
We fly to Dunedin over a bright stretch of sunset clouds and after half an hour or so there starts to be mountain peaks sticking out like rocks out of rippling low-tide sand. Luke says like iceberg tips because you know how much is beneath them. Fly along the mountain range and the sun goes down and then comes back up because we are flying towards it.
Joan and Chris (Christy’s mum and her partner) pick us up from the airport. Stationwagon with all our gear in the back, hanging over into the passenger seats and Christy and I sitting hunched with the cardboard over our heads.
I got the best room in the house. The upstairs with windows on three sides looking down at the harbour and the city lights.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Luke's coffee kicks in
Christy and Luke call me from Horsham. Luke says the coffee isn’t working and Christy says he’s leaning slumped against the café wall. They still have hours of driving and we are going to New Zealand tomorrow in the morning. I am asking about currency and power points (do they have the same ones as us in New Zealand?) and how much room we need in the driving us to the airport. Suddenly Christy says Luke’s foot has started tapping and he has sat up, opened his eyes - the coffee has kicked in.
“Ok, quick, go. Drive!”
“Bye!” Christy giggles and they hang up. I imagine them running to Nona and jumping into her high up seats lumbering off down the streets of Horsham.
Text messages:
‘ballan oh ballan’
‘hello deer park’
And then the 10 pm phone call. “How much stuff have you packed? Do you have bathroom scales we can weigh our gear on?”
I don’t. My only thought is the scales at the 24 hour gym. “ailsa says we should take all our gear to the gym” we laugh.
I pack everything I need into my carryon suitcase. We are transporting two shows and trying not to pay any excess. Christy’s cousin Jampavan has built a wooden box to the required dimensions which is waiting for us in Dunedin and they have packed all the cardboard into a single bicycle box. Except for the big fridge box which Christy’s mum Joan is finding a copy of for us. I’m worried the bike box won’t fit in the ute which is a twin cab and has a short tray.
“Ok, quick, go. Drive!”
“Bye!” Christy giggles and they hang up. I imagine them running to Nona and jumping into her high up seats lumbering off down the streets of Horsham.
Text messages:
‘ballan oh ballan’
‘hello deer park’
And then the 10 pm phone call. “How much stuff have you packed? Do you have bathroom scales we can weigh our gear on?”
I don’t. My only thought is the scales at the 24 hour gym. “ailsa says we should take all our gear to the gym” we laugh.
I pack everything I need into my carryon suitcase. We are transporting two shows and trying not to pay any excess. Christy’s cousin Jampavan has built a wooden box to the required dimensions which is waiting for us in Dunedin and they have packed all the cardboard into a single bicycle box. Except for the big fridge box which Christy’s mum Joan is finding a copy of for us. I’m worried the bike box won’t fit in the ute which is a twin cab and has a short tray.
Monday, March 8, 2010
sleepy goodbye
Early morning taxi ride to the train, said goodbye to a sleepy Christy and Luke and pulled my little suitcase across airport road to hail the cab. They have 4 days off Bubblewrap till they perform again on Friday. They’re going to make the Wiped Out, the beach show in that time. And I am going back to uni.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Security loves Nona
Another two show day. Security still letting Nona in through the gates. This time he doesn’t even look up from the text he’s sending and we all cheer as we enter the grounds and park in our farourite spot beneath the ferris wheel.
For the first show I do the lights so Nat gets a go of operating sound and in the second I let her do both because she will be doing them when I’m gone. She is gold and I think the show is fine with one operator.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Two show day
Two show day. All exhausted from the party noises last night. Waking up parked next to the Garden and there’s no shower. Lying on my little couch-bed in Nona and calling my mum for her birthday with my phone battery dying. In last night's clothes and sitting at the tech desk.
Heaps more tickets sold today and the Bosco packing out with kids.
Crew of young people from St Michael’s college in Melbourne – about 10 of them staying after the show saying “You’re so strong” to Christy and grouping up to have their photo taken.
Me running to get sports drinks and coffee and snacks between shows. Rolling the caution tape, teaching the show to Nat who’s going to be operating sound and lights on her own next week.
Another night of Christy/Joh cabarets. Luke, Gorski and I going to see shows and it’s cold and wet in the garden raining on the queues and chilly in the venues. By 10 at night all of us ending up in Nona who is parked under the ferris wheel. Luke and Gorski and I falling asleep under blankets while Christy and Joh do last minute rehearsals in front of the itunes in the 1x2m floorspace.
The three of us slept until they got back. Missed the show. Devastated to have missed it, sleepy and ready for bed. Drove back to Mez’s in Nona through the 3 in the morning Adelaide streets.
Friday, March 5, 2010
First show in the Bosco
Breakfast in Mez’s café in Glenelg. Zest. We say it’s the best café in Adelaide but we haven’t tried anywhere else. Mez is working all weekend and their tables are booked out (who knew a breakfast café booked tables? I don’t think they do that in Melbourne)
Christy looking at the i-phone and noticing the time and the jobs that need doing. Going off to buy more bubblewrap and make up sponges while we wait for our order.
Bubblewrap first show in Adelaide. Driving Nona through security. Nona is so pretty and unusual everyone lets her through the gates. It’s like having a cute child or a puppy. Basking in reflected admiration.
3 hours to bump in and tech before the show. It’s not long considering that Nat, the tech operator has never seen the show and it takes nearly an hour to find a park and bump in the set and another hour to do make up and warm up and check tricks in the space.
The Bosco theatre is pretty with painted black floorboard stage, red velvet curtains and audience in a raked semi circle of wooden benches. Old-school carni aesthetic out the front. We all love it.
While Luke and Christy are building the set I start to create lighting states with Nat. Purple for France, blue and green for Underwater. I watch her programming chases for the explosion scene and Mission Improbable into the desk.
The Bosco is full of chinks where the sun shines through so there’s no point doing black outs.
First show. Luke ‘asleep’ on stage. Front of house woman checks with us, I turn on ‘return to sender’ and the audience pile in.
That night Christy and Joh do two cabarets. Luke and I go to shows. We reconvene outside the Deluxe speigle at about 1 in the morning where Christy and Joh are packing their cabaret costumes away. Go in together and watch Mitch in drag put pegs on his face to Janice ‘take another little piece of my heart’. Hilarious.
Sleep in Nona just outside the garden gates. 5 hours sleep broken by party noises and bottle recycling being piled away.
Christy looking at the i-phone and noticing the time and the jobs that need doing. Going off to buy more bubblewrap and make up sponges while we wait for our order.
Bubblewrap first show in Adelaide. Driving Nona through security. Nona is so pretty and unusual everyone lets her through the gates. It’s like having a cute child or a puppy. Basking in reflected admiration.
3 hours to bump in and tech before the show. It’s not long considering that Nat, the tech operator has never seen the show and it takes nearly an hour to find a park and bump in the set and another hour to do make up and warm up and check tricks in the space.
The Bosco theatre is pretty with painted black floorboard stage, red velvet curtains and audience in a raked semi circle of wooden benches. Old-school carni aesthetic out the front. We all love it.
While Luke and Christy are building the set I start to create lighting states with Nat. Purple for France, blue and green for Underwater. I watch her programming chases for the explosion scene and Mission Improbable into the desk.
The Bosco is full of chinks where the sun shines through so there’s no point doing black outs.
First show. Luke ‘asleep’ on stage. Front of house woman checks with us, I turn on ‘return to sender’ and the audience pile in.
That night Christy and Joh do two cabarets. Luke and I go to shows. We reconvene outside the Deluxe speigle at about 1 in the morning where Christy and Joh are packing their cabaret costumes away. Go in together and watch Mitch in drag put pegs on his face to Janice ‘take another little piece of my heart’. Hilarious.
Sleep in Nona just outside the garden gates. 5 hours sleep broken by party noises and bottle recycling being piled away.
Arrival at the Garden
On the train. Doing my homework reading The Danger Game. Watching South Australia arrive outside the window and making friends. Sat across from a woman in the buffet car who was also typing and who was groaning about her mouse. I gave her arrow key tips and asked her about split infinitives (she had that educated baby-boomer look about her like she’d know about grammar) and she gave me the total lo down. Turns out she’s a freelance producer, helped make De Vino. Knows the NICA kids. Etc. Asked her to come to Bubblewrap.
Rang Christy. They hadn’t made it to Horsham yesterday because Nona got a flat tyre and they had no jack. They had no jack because they spent every cent on screws and sandpaper and there was nothing left to get a jack. So they made friends with several locals and spent the day waiting for the tow truck and for their tyre to be fixed.
They were driving alongside the train tracks. ‘look out for us!’ Didn't see them
Got into Adelaide at the same time as them and went to Mez’s house which was hilarious. 13 people all up staying at that house that weekend. Womad, Fringe and writer’s week collide for the Adelaidians and hundreds of people end up sleeping in their houses.
Went out into the Garden. Crazy queueing crowds and us rushing late to see Zen Zen Zo. Taxi home inspired and full of ideas. Likes and didn’t likes and want to do nexts.
Rang Christy. They hadn’t made it to Horsham yesterday because Nona got a flat tyre and they had no jack. They had no jack because they spent every cent on screws and sandpaper and there was nothing left to get a jack. So they made friends with several locals and spent the day waiting for the tow truck and for their tyre to be fixed.
They were driving alongside the train tracks. ‘look out for us!’ Didn't see them
Got into Adelaide at the same time as them and went to Mez’s house which was hilarious. 13 people all up staying at that house that weekend. Womad, Fringe and writer’s week collide for the Adelaidians and hundreds of people end up sleeping in their houses.
Went out into the Garden. Crazy queueing crowds and us rushing late to see Zen Zen Zo. Taxi home inspired and full of ideas. Likes and didn’t likes and want to do nexts.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Nona sets off for Adelaide
Just spent a week writing a grant submission to Arts Victoria which will mean $19,000 if they give it to us to make our next show. Did the writing myself in my bedroom. Sitting at my pretty desk that used to be my great grandma’s next to the sun from the north facing window. Ringing Christy every half hour to check stuff (are we really going to do this? Yes turns out we are…) Ringing other people. Kate Kantor who liked Bubblewrap she says and ‘time is of the essence with these things’ so she sends me her bio and letter of confirmation. Sense of triumph. This is going to be a good submission and maybe we’ll get the funding this time. I’ll still need another job for the meantime though…
Luke and Christy are renovating inside Nona, the truck. Every time I call them they have been painting cupboards til 4 in the morning, screwing on catches to keep all the doors closed when they drive, sleeping in a futon in the back of the van because the truck is full of sawdust. Christy says there are power tools in the bed.
Today I started my masters at rmit and Christy and Luke set off for Adelaide in the truck. Waved goodbye to SBS who are going to be following them around to make some doco about Westside and called me from just out of Horsham. Side of the road because Nona had overheated and they were making coffee. They were giggling and singing and telling be about the insulation they put in last night. I said don’t tell me, you’re giving me fomo.
Luke and Christy are renovating inside Nona, the truck. Every time I call them they have been painting cupboards til 4 in the morning, screwing on catches to keep all the doors closed when they drive, sleeping in a futon in the back of the van because the truck is full of sawdust. Christy says there are power tools in the bed.
Today I started my masters at rmit and Christy and Luke set off for Adelaide in the truck. Waved goodbye to SBS who are going to be following them around to make some doco about Westside and called me from just out of Horsham. Side of the road because Nona had overheated and they were making coffee. They were giggling and singing and telling be about the insulation they put in last night. I said don’t tell me, you’re giving me fomo.
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