"Waiting for Godot" - Stockbridge, August 2008
Almost one week later, but I'm finally typing up my "trip report" of my weekend in the Berkshires. Lots of pics but none of Randy if that's what you're interested in.
Friday August 22, 2008 - Friends and Michaels, of course
Because flights are sooooo much cheaper out of Buffalo, Jen of the Awesome Fabulousness agreed to drive me from Southern Ontario to Buffalo Airport on Friday morning. We left the house at 6am, even though my flight wasn't until 10am... because you never know how crowded the border crossing is going to be. It only took us about 30 minutes to cross the border, though, so I was at the airport before 8am. Eeep. I bought a (really good) book in one of the gift shops and spent the next two hours reading. Then I boarded the plane. Then I read during the whole flight. Seriously, that was the quickest four hours of my life. I have no idea why I haven't brought a book on other flights, but from now on that's what I'm doing.
Jackie (jackieb78) and Cris (pepino21786) met me at the luggage carousel (no problems finding each other this year!) and after a quick smoke we headed out to the Days Inn in Great Barrington, our home away from home for the next two days. This time nobody forgot anything... but we DID get lost (again). It would not be a proper trip with any of my friends if we didn't get a little... confused. ;) Unfortunately, this year we did not cross into any other states. New Hampshire, I'll have to catch you another time. :D
Above: The Days Inn in Great Barrington. I think it's such an adorable little hotel.
We settled in and Jackie & Cris had a quick snack (I'd eaten peanuts on the plane) before we had to head out to meet the rest of the wonderful ladies for dinner.
Above: Jackie poses in the hotel room.
Above: me on my bed. I am the lucky one that gets a whoooole bed to herself. :D
Above: The Pepino Effect!!!!! I am SO IN LOVE with the way this photo turned out. It's all Op Art-y. :)
Above: Cris posing on the balcony. You would never believe this girl dislikes getting her picture taken, would you? She's so photogenic!
Okay, so after I made Cris and Jackie pose for random photos, they got changed and we headed out to Sullivan Station Restaurant in Lee for dinner. Sullivan Station was originally a railroad depot built in 1893. It was converted into a restaurant in 1981. We had a lovely meal and got caught up. It was so wonderful to see everyone again, and to finally meet those that I've heard so much about. Though having another Vicki (albeit with an "e") in the mix kept making me do double takes all weekend. People would say "Vicki said..." and I'd be thinking I didn't say that... before I realized they meant "Vickie." And having someone call out my name when I'm standing right beside them was weird. :D
Above: Carolyn (shadownyc) outside of the restaurant
After dinner we drove to Lenox where Maureen (mai_ling134) has a faaabulous apartment. We sat around talking before going on a little tour of Lenox and then stopping in at Maureen's local for a drink. (Thinking back on it, I actually had quite a few rum & cokes this night. I felt fine. Hee.) One of the best things for me on this trip was the talking... or to be more precise, the listening. I don't make a lot of contributions to discussions, but I love hearing everyone's opinions. This was the day before Barack Obama announced his running mate, so there was lots of politics (and being Canadian, that was a little weird, but I certainly admire everyone's fervour!)
Above: Doesn't Jackie look adorable?
A trip to Stockbridge absolutely must include a visit to Michaels. We talked, we danced, we sang. We posed for photos. Though somehow I didn't get a photo of Suzanne. :(
Above: Jackie and Cris
Above: Cat (catkcrl) and Vickie
Above: Carolyn and Maureen. I love this photo. :)
Above: me and Nancy (fansee)
Above: Maureen and chering
And of course, we got up en masse and massacred a song. This time, it was "Stop (in the name of love)" and we were known as The Ladies of the Evening. Erm.
Above: The Ladies of the Evening :D (And look, there's Suzanne (sevigny7) in the front. Yay!
That photo is taken from Michael's of Stockbridge website. There's a bunch of other photos of us here. I have to admit: I get a huge thrill out of being on the Michael's page. I'm tellin' ya, it takes little to make me happy.
After a long long day (I'd figured I was up for about 28 hours, but I think it was actually 22, because math is not my strong suit), we finally dropped into bed at around 2am, I think. Whew!
Saturday August 23, 2008 - Shopping, Godot, and Simon makes an appearance
The first part of our day was spent eating, and then wandering about in Great Barrington and Stockbridge.
Above: The Great Barrington Town Hall. I'm really happy with the framing on this pic. :)
Above: a little church in Gt. Barrington. Every single person that I've shown this photo to has said "That'd be such a great place to get married"
Above: me and a Lego-like pirate. A PIRATE. Wheee! (P.S. for Jackie: It's rated ARRRRRRR)
Above: You cannot go to Stockbridge without taking a photo of the Red Lion Inn. It's the law.
Above: Ditto about Michael's. Hey, I don't write the law books. Don't blame me.
Above: Jackie and Cris agreeing to pose outside the Stockbridge General Store.
Above: Flowers! I was pretty happy with this photo as well. You'd think that you can't go wrong taking photos of flowers. You'd be wrong. I have taken sooooo many flower pictures that turn out like crap.
Above: Me! I actually like this one. But there were 986756 big fuzzy honeybees around all the flowers and I was all "take the picture! take the picture!" because bees = ugh.
After wandering around a bit, and spending money, and wishing I could live in Stockbridge forever (and also that I knew how to drive a car so that would be remotely possible) we headed back to the hotel so that Cris could wrap and rest her foot, which was swollen and sore. Jackie and I watched the press conference where Obama announced that... uh... *thinks* ... BIDEN! Yes, that Biden would be his running mate. I wandered outside for a bit because, while US politics have to matter to all of us at some level because American actions impact on the world at large, I'm a very non-political Canadian.
Anyway, thankfully Cris felt better after a rest and there wasn't much walking left in the day. We dressed and got ready for dinner and then the play. :)
Above: Cat and Carolyn at Salmon Run Restaurant.
Above: An absolutely adorable photo of Cris and Jackie.
Above: A somewhat blurry photo of the Unicorn Theatre. It's teeeeeeny. We were running late (according to my version of running late. We probably had about 20 minutes. I was internally all "go go let's go go we're late go")
So we get inside and get our tickes from Will Call. Carolyn had told us that there were autographed Godot posters for sale, but I couldn't remember where she said they were. So I asked at Will Call, and was told they were at the bar (right behind us. Duh.) So I turn around and see that there's a display poster hanging right there. So I join the line (there was one person ahead of me who appeared to be paying for his drink with pennies or something, I don't know. It was a long loooong wait.)
So finally it's my turn and I ask for a poster. The girl gets it from under the counter and I pay.
Then Jackie asks for a poster. And the girl turns around and takes down the display poster. Yup, Jackie got the very last autographed poster. Lucky girl!
Okay, so the play.
The play.
I think part of the reason that I've delayed writing up my trip report, which is essentially just so that I have a record of my adventures, is that I really don't know what to say about Waiting for Godot.
Various people who are more knowledgeable that I have stated that this was an unusual production, in that it emphasized the humour in the text. And I found that I generally had a big problem with that. A lot of this play is heartbreaking. The majority of the play is heartbreaking. I had great difficulty with the thought/idea that I was supposed to laugh. Every moment with Lucky and Pozzo almost wrenched my heart out. Both actors did an amazing job -- David Schramm as Pozzo was pompous, villainous -- and Randy as Lucky was sublime. He expressed anger, resignation, exhaustion, and especially fear, all without saying a word. There is one moment where Lucky sits on Pozzo's lap, and it just made me stomach lurch. It was like a little dog desperately looking for some kind of approval from a cruel and uncaring owner... a dog that knows that at any moment he's going to be slapped for no reason at all. When they were playing up some of the lines and moments for laughs, I kept thinking I find nothing funny about abuse and neglect.
In the second act, nobody remembers the events of the day before except DiDi. Pozzo returns, blind (or is he?) and Lucky is mute. Not even the boy remembers them. And I found that whole thing so... hopeless. When I left the theatre and was walking through the parking lot, I was actually near tears. I stayed quiet in the car, and then Jackie asked me something when we got out of the car. And my voice cracked when I answered, and I seriously thought I was going to break into tears right there on the street. Jeeeez.
So.. it affected me very much. I think the acting was incredible. There is sooo much to think about with this play, things that I didn't even mention in this little write-up. I didn't even talk about the two tramps, or what the boy represents. Because my thoughts get all jumbled and I feel like there's so.much there. Yet I can't express any of it.
Strangely, I'd said that I'd find it interesting to see a version that didn't emphasize the humour and was more 'traditionally angsty', but maaaan, can you imagine me after that? I'd be slitting my wrists. ;)
"They" say that you either love Beckett or hate him. Considering how strongly this affected me and how much I've thought about it since, I guess I love it. I just don't have to like loving it. ;)
Anyhoo.
After some discussion we decided to head over to the porch of the Red Lion Inn for drinks and much talk. My only wish on this trip was to have a daiquiri on the porch of the Red Lion, so I got my wish. :) Our huge group was sitting right by the front doors of the Red Lion and at some point during the night a whole bunch of actors and behind-the-scenes people stopped by to chat. Everyone knows Maureen. Hee! A few of the behind-the-scenes folks even decided to stay and party with us. We must be fun! Though I think some of us need to watch our drink intake. ;)
Oh! Throughout the whole play, I kept thinking that I knew the actor who played Pozzo -- but the name David Schramm meant nothing to me, and I knew he wasn't in Cuckoo's Nest last year, so I thought there's no way I can know him. Then he stopped by at the Red Lion to chat and I still kept thinking that I knew him. Finally we thought to check the programme and sure enough -- he played Roy on "Wings". Yay! I am not going insane!
Above: Here's the whole bunch of us on the porch. You can also see my daiquiri. ;)
And here's.... SIMON
Above: SIMON! One of the other guests told me that a bunch of sick kittens were abandoned at the Red Lion last year. They got them fixed up at the vet, found homes for all of them, and kept one. SIMON! *cuddles* He was sooooo pretty. And he filled a teeny bit of the void I had from missing my Cassie.
Bet that wasn't the Simon you were thinking of, huh? :D
I have no idea what time it was when we left the Red Lion, but I know we didn't get to sleep until about 4am. Jackie, Cris and I just could not stop talking. :)
Sunday August 24, 2008 - Heading Home
The Berkshires is sooooo beautiful that I hate to leave it. Two days isn't long enough. But we had to head back... but before I got on the plane, we stopped off at Cris's house, where I got to once again see her dog, Pepino.
Pepino hates me.
I don't know why. I looooove Pepino. I want to pet him and love him and give him kisses and rub his tummy. And he's all *shifty eyes* get away from me, you crazy woman *runs away*
Jackie did her best to get Pepino to pose for a photo by singing to him. Pepino LOVES Jackie.
Above: Puppy serenade
And that was it.. my weekend in Stockbridge 2008.
Thank you to all the wonderful women who made the weekend what it was -- a very special treat, and one that I'll never forget. *hugs to you all*
.
Friday August 22, 2008 - Friends and Michaels, of course
Because flights are sooooo much cheaper out of Buffalo, Jen of the Awesome Fabulousness agreed to drive me from Southern Ontario to Buffalo Airport on Friday morning. We left the house at 6am, even though my flight wasn't until 10am... because you never know how crowded the border crossing is going to be. It only took us about 30 minutes to cross the border, though, so I was at the airport before 8am. Eeep. I bought a (really good) book in one of the gift shops and spent the next two hours reading. Then I boarded the plane. Then I read during the whole flight. Seriously, that was the quickest four hours of my life. I have no idea why I haven't brought a book on other flights, but from now on that's what I'm doing.
Jackie (jackieb78) and Cris (pepino21786) met me at the luggage carousel (no problems finding each other this year!) and after a quick smoke we headed out to the Days Inn in Great Barrington, our home away from home for the next two days. This time nobody forgot anything... but we DID get lost (again). It would not be a proper trip with any of my friends if we didn't get a little... confused. ;) Unfortunately, this year we did not cross into any other states. New Hampshire, I'll have to catch you another time. :D
Above: The Days Inn in Great Barrington. I think it's such an adorable little hotel.
We settled in and Jackie & Cris had a quick snack (I'd eaten peanuts on the plane) before we had to head out to meet the rest of the wonderful ladies for dinner.
Above: Jackie poses in the hotel room.
Above: me on my bed. I am the lucky one that gets a whoooole bed to herself. :D
Above: The Pepino Effect!!!!! I am SO IN LOVE with the way this photo turned out. It's all Op Art-y. :)
Above: Cris posing on the balcony. You would never believe this girl dislikes getting her picture taken, would you? She's so photogenic!
Okay, so after I made Cris and Jackie pose for random photos, they got changed and we headed out to Sullivan Station Restaurant in Lee for dinner. Sullivan Station was originally a railroad depot built in 1893. It was converted into a restaurant in 1981. We had a lovely meal and got caught up. It was so wonderful to see everyone again, and to finally meet those that I've heard so much about. Though having another Vicki (albeit with an "e") in the mix kept making me do double takes all weekend. People would say "Vicki said..." and I'd be thinking I didn't say that... before I realized they meant "Vickie." And having someone call out my name when I'm standing right beside them was weird. :D
Above: Carolyn (shadownyc) outside of the restaurant
After dinner we drove to Lenox where Maureen (mai_ling134) has a faaabulous apartment. We sat around talking before going on a little tour of Lenox and then stopping in at Maureen's local for a drink. (Thinking back on it, I actually had quite a few rum & cokes this night. I felt fine. Hee.) One of the best things for me on this trip was the talking... or to be more precise, the listening. I don't make a lot of contributions to discussions, but I love hearing everyone's opinions. This was the day before Barack Obama announced his running mate, so there was lots of politics (and being Canadian, that was a little weird, but I certainly admire everyone's fervour!)
Above: Doesn't Jackie look adorable?
A trip to Stockbridge absolutely must include a visit to Michaels. We talked, we danced, we sang. We posed for photos. Though somehow I didn't get a photo of Suzanne. :(
Above: Jackie and Cris
Above: Cat (catkcrl) and Vickie
Above: Carolyn and Maureen. I love this photo. :)
Above: me and Nancy (fansee)
Above: Maureen and chering
And of course, we got up en masse and massacred a song. This time, it was "Stop (in the name of love)" and we were known as The Ladies of the Evening. Erm.
Above: The Ladies of the Evening :D (And look, there's Suzanne (sevigny7) in the front. Yay!
That photo is taken from Michael's of Stockbridge website. There's a bunch of other photos of us here. I have to admit: I get a huge thrill out of being on the Michael's page. I'm tellin' ya, it takes little to make me happy.
After a long long day (I'd figured I was up for about 28 hours, but I think it was actually 22, because math is not my strong suit), we finally dropped into bed at around 2am, I think. Whew!
Saturday August 23, 2008 - Shopping, Godot, and Simon makes an appearance
The first part of our day was spent eating, and then wandering about in Great Barrington and Stockbridge.
Above: The Great Barrington Town Hall. I'm really happy with the framing on this pic. :)
Above: a little church in Gt. Barrington. Every single person that I've shown this photo to has said "That'd be such a great place to get married"
Above: me and a Lego-like pirate. A PIRATE. Wheee! (P.S. for Jackie: It's rated ARRRRRRR)
Above: You cannot go to Stockbridge without taking a photo of the Red Lion Inn. It's the law.
Above: Ditto about Michael's. Hey, I don't write the law books. Don't blame me.
Above: Jackie and Cris agreeing to pose outside the Stockbridge General Store.
Above: Flowers! I was pretty happy with this photo as well. You'd think that you can't go wrong taking photos of flowers. You'd be wrong. I have taken sooooo many flower pictures that turn out like crap.
Above: Me! I actually like this one. But there were 986756 big fuzzy honeybees around all the flowers and I was all "take the picture! take the picture!" because bees = ugh.
After wandering around a bit, and spending money, and wishing I could live in Stockbridge forever (and also that I knew how to drive a car so that would be remotely possible) we headed back to the hotel so that Cris could wrap and rest her foot, which was swollen and sore. Jackie and I watched the press conference where Obama announced that... uh... *thinks* ... BIDEN! Yes, that Biden would be his running mate. I wandered outside for a bit because, while US politics have to matter to all of us at some level because American actions impact on the world at large, I'm a very non-political Canadian.
Anyway, thankfully Cris felt better after a rest and there wasn't much walking left in the day. We dressed and got ready for dinner and then the play. :)
Above: Cat and Carolyn at Salmon Run Restaurant.
Above: An absolutely adorable photo of Cris and Jackie.
Above: A somewhat blurry photo of the Unicorn Theatre. It's teeeeeeny. We were running late (according to my version of running late. We probably had about 20 minutes. I was internally all "go go let's go go we're late go")
So we get inside and get our tickes from Will Call. Carolyn had told us that there were autographed Godot posters for sale, but I couldn't remember where she said they were. So I asked at Will Call, and was told they were at the bar (right behind us. Duh.) So I turn around and see that there's a display poster hanging right there. So I join the line (there was one person ahead of me who appeared to be paying for his drink with pennies or something, I don't know. It was a long loooong wait.)
So finally it's my turn and I ask for a poster. The girl gets it from under the counter and I pay.
Then Jackie asks for a poster. And the girl turns around and takes down the display poster. Yup, Jackie got the very last autographed poster. Lucky girl!
Okay, so the play.
The play.
I think part of the reason that I've delayed writing up my trip report, which is essentially just so that I have a record of my adventures, is that I really don't know what to say about Waiting for Godot.
Various people who are more knowledgeable that I have stated that this was an unusual production, in that it emphasized the humour in the text. And I found that I generally had a big problem with that. A lot of this play is heartbreaking. The majority of the play is heartbreaking. I had great difficulty with the thought/idea that I was supposed to laugh. Every moment with Lucky and Pozzo almost wrenched my heart out. Both actors did an amazing job -- David Schramm as Pozzo was pompous, villainous -- and Randy as Lucky was sublime. He expressed anger, resignation, exhaustion, and especially fear, all without saying a word. There is one moment where Lucky sits on Pozzo's lap, and it just made me stomach lurch. It was like a little dog desperately looking for some kind of approval from a cruel and uncaring owner... a dog that knows that at any moment he's going to be slapped for no reason at all. When they were playing up some of the lines and moments for laughs, I kept thinking I find nothing funny about abuse and neglect.
In the second act, nobody remembers the events of the day before except DiDi. Pozzo returns, blind (or is he?) and Lucky is mute. Not even the boy remembers them. And I found that whole thing so... hopeless. When I left the theatre and was walking through the parking lot, I was actually near tears. I stayed quiet in the car, and then Jackie asked me something when we got out of the car. And my voice cracked when I answered, and I seriously thought I was going to break into tears right there on the street. Jeeeez.
So.. it affected me very much. I think the acting was incredible. There is sooo much to think about with this play, things that I didn't even mention in this little write-up. I didn't even talk about the two tramps, or what the boy represents. Because my thoughts get all jumbled and I feel like there's so.much there. Yet I can't express any of it.
Strangely, I'd said that I'd find it interesting to see a version that didn't emphasize the humour and was more 'traditionally angsty', but maaaan, can you imagine me after that? I'd be slitting my wrists. ;)
"They" say that you either love Beckett or hate him. Considering how strongly this affected me and how much I've thought about it since, I guess I love it. I just don't have to like loving it. ;)
Anyhoo.
After some discussion we decided to head over to the porch of the Red Lion Inn for drinks and much talk. My only wish on this trip was to have a daiquiri on the porch of the Red Lion, so I got my wish. :) Our huge group was sitting right by the front doors of the Red Lion and at some point during the night a whole bunch of actors and behind-the-scenes people stopped by to chat. Everyone knows Maureen. Hee! A few of the behind-the-scenes folks even decided to stay and party with us. We must be fun! Though I think some of us need to watch our drink intake. ;)
Oh! Throughout the whole play, I kept thinking that I knew the actor who played Pozzo -- but the name David Schramm meant nothing to me, and I knew he wasn't in Cuckoo's Nest last year, so I thought there's no way I can know him. Then he stopped by at the Red Lion to chat and I still kept thinking that I knew him. Finally we thought to check the programme and sure enough -- he played Roy on "Wings". Yay! I am not going insane!
Above: Here's the whole bunch of us on the porch. You can also see my daiquiri. ;)
And here's.... SIMON
Above: SIMON! One of the other guests told me that a bunch of sick kittens were abandoned at the Red Lion last year. They got them fixed up at the vet, found homes for all of them, and kept one. SIMON! *cuddles* He was sooooo pretty. And he filled a teeny bit of the void I had from missing my Cassie.
Bet that wasn't the Simon you were thinking of, huh? :D
I have no idea what time it was when we left the Red Lion, but I know we didn't get to sleep until about 4am. Jackie, Cris and I just could not stop talking. :)
Sunday August 24, 2008 - Heading Home
The Berkshires is sooooo beautiful that I hate to leave it. Two days isn't long enough. But we had to head back... but before I got on the plane, we stopped off at Cris's house, where I got to once again see her dog, Pepino.
Pepino hates me.
I don't know why. I looooove Pepino. I want to pet him and love him and give him kisses and rub his tummy. And he's all *shifty eyes* get away from me, you crazy woman *runs away*
Jackie did her best to get Pepino to pose for a photo by singing to him. Pepino LOVES Jackie.
Above: Puppy serenade
And that was it.. my weekend in Stockbridge 2008.
Thank you to all the wonderful women who made the weekend what it was -- a very special treat, and one that I'll never forget. *hugs to you all*
.