And welcome to what will be my most half-arsed, yet still positive review ever.  It’s been an interesting kinda day, in the not necessarily as positive as my reviews kinda way.  First off, I got word that the dress rehearsal for THE LIST this weekend has filled up, and I still had not RSVP’ed, struggling as I was to find anyone to actually accompany me.  So,there’s one perk wasted thanks to my general unlovableness.  I’m feeling that pretty good these days, on account of my recent, very stupid, all-my-fault breakup, which wouldn’t keep out of my head today.  Bad times.

Oh, and apparently I’m being evicted.  Gotta look into THAT.  So what was there to do with a day like this?

Thankfully, Sterling Lynch and his manly moniker were there with the save, as he was pimping a new production at the Studio Leonard-Beaulne, LES GUERRIERS, that was ending tonite.  I’d seen a flyer for this a week or so ago, but had resigned myself to not seeing it, as it’s a French language production, and my Franco-skills are woefully inadequate and out of date.  But Sterling’s rec was pretty enthusiastic, and I sure needed some positive action, so I figgered, what the Hell?  I fixed a tasty lunch (Orange-Paprika chicken on Saffron rice, yo…not bad for a lonely loser), and put on some ELVIS GRATTON to try and revive some of my atrophied Quebecois linguistic muscles.

Headed on out with somthing resembling the will to live, stopped by Arts Court to buy my ticket for SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE on the way (see you on opening night!),and made my way to the Beaulne.  Ran into wandering critic and tweed samurai Andrew Snowdon at the show, and even though he was rocking regular cigarettes instead of the pipe tonite (disa-fucking-pointing, let me tell you), we tag-teamed it on in anyhow.  The studio was stripped pretty handily for the show, tile floor exposed, black curtains nowhere in sight, and a funky functional bomb-shelter/office set arranged very intentionally in the back corner.    Director Eric Perron came out and intro’d this final performance, the second of two extra shows added to the play’s run, and then things got started. 

..and here’s where I ran into predictable trouble.  See, I can probaly READ French just fine (if a dictionary’s handy), and I can understand it for little stretches if I’m lucky…but as expected, there were whole swaths of dialogue that, sadly, sailed right past my dumb ears.  But as I learned years ago when I watched an unsubbed, downloaded copy of SHAOLIN SOCCER for the very first time, there’s plenty  that comes across, even without knowing exactly what the actors are saying.  And from what I saw, Alexandre Bazinet and Philippe Landry as Paul and Gilles, respectively, are pretty goddam fine actors.  As a pair of PR men ( I think), powering through a deadline to come with a new slogan to sell war to the masses, they leap in and out of their own boxed-in world, and the harsh reality of war itself at the drop of a hat (or music cue, as it happens quit often).

I really can’t go into much detail, as I missed most of the details despite my best efforts.  I plan to track down a copy of Michel Garneau’s play so I can read it and find out just exactly what the finer points really were.  I definitely enjoyed everything I saw, and wish like heck my French was more skillful so I could have more thoroughly enjoyed what was obviously a fantastic show.

Snowdon and I stuck around briefly after the show as he chatted with stage manager Chloe Ekker, and was awarded a signed copy of a porn mag prop from the evening’s show.  Some guys get all the luck, pipe or no.  He’s even going to that dress on Sunday I been shut out of!  No, I’m not bitter…who can be bitter when they just got to see awesome theatre?  And for only 5 dollars, a definite steal…I’m glad they had a good house for closing night.  And I’m gladder I got to see it.

Now, about this fucking eviction business…

The Visitor