And all the men and women merely players
on Oct 11 in General by Dan
In my youth I used to be a bit of a thespian. Between the ages of eleven and eighteen I performed in at least two plays a year. I even did a theatre studies A level. But then came university, and after that a succession of jobs demanding shift work. As a result I’ve never been able to commit to any form of regular rehearsals and so my acting has been confined to pretending it wasn’t me who just farted.
I have a lot of friends who still tread the boards however. Last night I went to see “A glitch in time”, a time travel comedy written and directed by my friend Rich and featuring another friend Craig (man I wish those two would get blogs).
It was the first night, and every clichéd problem that could go wrong did go wrong. People forgot their lines, curtains got stuck on scenery, and best of all a stage pyrotechnic set off the fire alarms and the cast and audience had to go and stand in the car park for ten minutes while it was all reset. Still, at least no one in the audience died like on the first night of the musical Paul was playing guitar in a couple of weeks ago.
But it was all good fun. Rich’s script was truly inspired in places, and was certainly twenty times better than anything I could do. And the acting was universally strong. Craig’s performance as Paradox, a 19th century robot who kept loosing bits off his costume (that was in the script right?), was particularly wonderful.
Around this time last year I wrote a similar post after seeing another of my friend’s plays. Back then I expressed both pride in my friends talents and envy because I wanted to be creative like them. Strangely enough while the pride still remains, the envy has pretty much disappeared. Over the last twelve months blogging and photography have acted as a sponge for my creative juices. And while this has meant that I haven’t had much left over for writing a best selling novel or [geek alert] Game mastering Dungeons and Dragons games, it has made me much more at peace with myself. Which can’t be a bad thing.
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Oooo, time travel! I’m a sucker for time travel stories.
I know what you mean about creativity. For years I struggled to find some sort of outlet for mine. Writing a blog, and rediscovering my love of photography through sites like Flickr, have done much to scratch that creative itch.
I used to be a bit of a thespian, too. Perhaps we could be thespians together. I think I’d be the lipstick one, if you don’t mind me saying.
So too did I once grace the stage with tales spun by the bard.
I even had a scholarship to study theater arts but like an idiot I decided to stay home and pay for school.
I’ll tell you what, if this movie we’re working on takes off, I’ll strap that thespian back on.
Man, that sounds like fun.
So when’s it coming to Minnesota? Because I’ll be first in line to buy tickets.
Ah… the stage! That’s something I want to get back into again too.
Somehow I think if we ever met we’d hate each other, we’re too similar. :-)
Perhaps all us ex thespians should start a theatre company or something. We’ll have our first rehearsal tuesday round at my house.
Half the battle of life is being at peace with yourself. Congrats on winning.
I was never much of an actor…I spent all of my time on stage singing and playing guitar…but this sounds like great fun…
It is also good that your envy has turned into pride :)
Bradley
The Egel Nest
D&D? You sir are a total nerd. Now where did I leave my Magic:The Gathering deck? (way cool and not a bit nerdy)