Sunday, October 2nd was the closing night of the New Plays festival. After Andrea, some of Andrea's cast members, Paula, and I got our seats, I went back to the lobby to play some piano. When I play in the lobby, people often come up to the piano to compliment me or just to listen. However, it is interesting to note that I actually have two regulars. The two people that I see a lot when I play is the Steph girl from Aylmer and this guy with a bald head. Who knows why they keep coming back for more.
No Answers kicked off the evening. My ex-roommate and current friend, Anna, was in that play. She played alongside Leigh, who, I must add, has a very good chance in doing voices for animations as a career. She has such a child-like and disctinct voice.
This play was about two friends, one of which is dying (Leigh). It's very philosophical; all about life, death, and time. It is interesting that Anna was in a play like this because practically all of her lines were thing she'd said in real conversation. It was neat that they decided to have a clock ticking throughout the entire play, but I think it was a touch too loud.
The dying girl ends up attracting this lone candy seller. They are a strange couple. It was a slow moving play, but that is the way it was supposed to be: things just happen in a moment or without time. The performance left you with a smile.
Undone was the second play of the night, but it was the first play that made me almost want to gag myself (yes, even after having a delightful meal of lentil loaf and stuffed baked potatoes). Badly written. No direction. Weak actors. Clichés everwhere.
Example:
"I just want to, you know, do something different for a change, something more daring", says the nerdy girl who loves to read, "I want to be more like you".
The popular business major girl: "You just have to go and do it. You can't just read about living; you have to go live yourself!"
Not to mention there were also several awkward scenes of arguing between the guys, a really unnecessary drunk scene, and, of course, a rejected and then accepted kissing scene. All the characters that the writer choose to use had been done and re-done about a thousand times. It was painful to watch. Paula whispered to me a few times, "well, that was awkward", and we kept slapping our hands to our forheads. Oh yes, and the writer was sitting right beside me. After the performance (at which time Paula, Andrea, and I were recuperating from such a bad show), the writer's friends (presumably) kept on saying, "Wow, that was such a great play. It was so funny!"
Oh, I think not. I think it was only the Plato-obsessed dude that liked this play. John, what did you see in this that I did not? And, what does this have to do with Plato again?
Nun's Farts finished the evening. Oh, good god, was this play ever hilarious! Amy, the one from my play, wrote it. It was about the very first Canadian Nuns auditions. It was a fantastic play; it was written extremely well, the actresses were bang-on, the music selection was perfect, the set was very clever, the costumes were sharp... I could go on. I think it was by far the best play of the festival, considering all things, such as the writing, the directing, and the acting. Excellent job, Amy, Joey, and Jenny!
And that concludes this year's New Plays festival. See you all again same time next year!
Pictures? Info? Bishop's drama department:
http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/hum/dra/index.html
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