So, the words "I'm off to the theatre" have been passing my lips quit a bit lately, which is fantastic. It sounds very la-di-dah, but it's actually not. It's mostly been tiny, hole-in-the-wall theatres, with small audiences, and I love that so much more than the big, expensive productions. I like my theatre intimate.
And that isn't to say that these aren't amazing, professional performances. We're not talking amateur, school-hall theatre. There is a whole world of theatre in Sydney that a year ago I didn't know existed. Up until then, if it wasn't at the Opera House, the Lyric, or the State (and other such places) I didn't know about it. My god, what I've missed out on.
Now I've discovered The Stables, and Belvoir Street, and I've got a list of other places to investigate. I'm probably going to end up subscribing to at least four theatres next year, just so I don't miss out on anything.
I've always enjoyed theatre. Up until recently I hadn't gone often, and it was mostly to musicals, but I've always said that if it's on a stage, I'll go. Everything I've seen though, has always been one of the big productions. You know, ads on TV...tickets from ticketek...mainstream stuff.
Then I went to see a play called October. Nick's then-boyfriend was involved with a theatre company that I'd never heard of (Griffin, at the Stables) and he got us cheap tickets. I wasn't too sure about the whole thing when I heard that it was tiny. I thought that meant unprofessional. Well...I've never been more wrong.
I sat on an uncomfortable bench, in the smallest theatre space I'd ever seen, in front of a set that consisted of three chairs and a backdrop, and I fell in love. Absolute, complete, no-holds-barred, overwhelming, passionate love. And, silly twit that I am, I didn't even realise how much that night would change me.
It was that night where I saw the ad for a scriptwriting course. And thought, 'hey, that could be cool' and signed up. It was that night when I looked at the upcoming performances and thought 'maybe I should see those'. I was hooked, and I didn't even know it.
So I did the course. I've mentioned that here before. That really confirmed that this is what I want. This is where I want to pour any talent I may have. This is the world I want to be a part of.
And I started to bug Nicky to tell me when he was free so we could go and see another play at the Stables. And
aquandrian mentioned that she was going to see Midsummer Night's Dream at Sydney Theatre and did I want to go? And yet another Stables play looked good. And the Belvoir St Theatre announced that it was doing a brief run of Holding The Man, which I missed at both the Stables, and the Opera House...
It's a hell of a ride...
I'll be reviewing a couple of the things I've seen recently. Rather badly, because I kinda suck at reviewing, and often get stuck on 'OMG so good!'. But there are a few things I want to get down about them before they fade too much from memory. But for now I'll just say that anything I go to see in the near future will have to work pretty hard to beat Mercury Fur and Holding The Man. Mercury Fur rocked my world. In both the 'wow that was good' and the 'the foundations of my world have been shaken' meanings of the phrase.
And then Holding the Man came along last night and ripped those foundations out from under me.