We did our dress rehearsals and first performance in a town called Excideuil in a castle that Richard Lionheart stayed in for five years during the Crusades. It was pretty cool rehearsing in such an old place - definitely don't have things like that in the states. The dress rehearsals were just as frantic and confusing as dress rehearsals tend to be, but we got through them without too much anger and frustration. It was great getting to finally work through things with the orchestra as well. The new maestro, Willy Anthony Waters, is great to work with and has definitely managed to put us at ease with the transition from conductor to conductor.
The first performance was great. The audience was very energetic and enthusiastic, and made us feel like we'd done a phenomenal job onstage, which, come on, of course we rocked it.
Our second performance was in a really nice theatre in St. Yrieix, though the wings were a bit small and the orchestra was actually off to the right of the performers, which made it a bit tricky to keep in sync with the music. I didn't actually perform on that night, because they had too many chorus members and not enough props, so I graciously volunteered to sit out. It was nice to get a break from being in all four casts, which is very draining.
On Friday, we had our first day off. Some people went to Bordeaux to go exploring, but a few of us wandered around town and enjoyed....the Mime Festival. Périgueux puts on an annual mime festival celebrating mimes from around the world (Ukraine, Australia and some other countries including France were represented). Despite what you might think, these are not your grandma's mimes. There were of course the classic mimes similar to Marcel Marceau, and the ones we saw were VERY acrobatic - standing on each other's heads, flips, throws and catches. It was really cool. Of course, you also had the abstract theatrical mimes, which, honestly, I can't really get into. I'm a classicist, I like things that are cut and dry in performance (although I'm not against cerebral theatre, as long as I can understand what's going on), and abstract theatre like what we saw just bores me. There were three mimes (at least) that were hiding in this HUGE pyramid of cardboad boxes (at least 12 feet tall) that moved the boxes around the square and put them in different places, in trees, up on balconies etc. One of the mimes stole signs and barricades to put in the pile. I dunno, I didn't really get it, though I think? that it was a commentary on homelessness, because at one point one of the mimes stepped into a cardboard box, stripped down and took a shower by pouring water over himself from a water bottle. In any case....boring after 20 minutes, and it was scheduled to last for 4 hours. The last mime that we saw was probably my favorite. I can only describe him as a "traffic mime". He was wearing an orange traffic jumpsuit, kneepads, white face makeup and a whistle, and would run back and forth across the street from one section of the audience to the next and interact with spectators and people driving down the road in their cars. He was awesome, so energetic and graceful and comical. He would talk to the audience and people in their cars by blowing through the whistle in speech phrase patterns, and it was really funny. One car that he stopped didn't realize what was happening, so when he opened her passenger door she screamed! and he collapsed in the street. As he's standing and "apologizing", he nabs her purse and closes the door slowly. She had NO idea what was happening, and starts speeding down the road. He frantically chases after her blowing his whistle, and the audience is trying to flag her down to stop so he can return her purse. It was HILARIOUS.
The grind started back up on Saturday, with a performance in a TINY community center in Lanouaille. The performance itself was HOT, and I had sweat streaming down my back and face from minute one, but again, the audience was really receptive. We were thanked at the end of the night with a dinner hosted by the mayor of the town behind the mayor's office building, and it included wine, french fries and a bluegrass duo from England playing hopping music. It had rained earlier in the evening and the sunset was beautiful thanks to the low-hanging clouds. Definitely one of the best nights I'd had in my time here. It was refreshing to get out to the countryside, enjoy good food and drink, and dancing to great music. Our fourth performance was last night in Thiviers, in a renovated barn that was, at this point, one of the better venues we performed in. Plenty of wing space, big and open, and they were able to open the windows in the barn for us so we didn't die of heatstroke. They also served us dinner before the performance, which was probably not a great idea because A) it was a lot of food and it made us sleepy with not enough time to take a nap, and B) there was a lot of food and it made us all gassy. Seriously, backstage was like a fart chamber.
Today was our second day off before three straight days of performances starting tomorrow. I took it easy today, watching How I Met Your Mother, going out for lunch, grocery shopping and a visit to the town's Medieval Fair, which was....kind of a letdown, but still kind of cool since it was in front of castle ruins. Again, you can't get this stuff in the states. I've also managed to pack one whole suitcase. I seem to have less stuff than I came over with. I borrowed a friend's portable scale and this suitcase only weighs 40lbs (though I'm not putting any more in it just to be safe), and I don't think I have much stuff left to pack. In any case, I'm definitely ready to come home and get back to my normal life, as well as my upcoming audition for Puget Sound Concert Opera. Starting to get a bit nervous about it, but I'm optimistic!
Here's a picture of me in my "maid of honor" costume....note, I am NOT really pregnant!
