Fringe Begins
Its been a while since I last wrote, mainly because I didn't think walking around the city alone warranted a blog post. But by now a lot has happened to write about, so here it goes.
Thursday 3/8:
During the day on Thursday I went to the Museum of South Australia and saw the large collection of aborigional artifacts, including a heartbreaking collection of "toys" like 5 leaves used as dolls- mom and dad leaf, two leaf children, and baby leaf. Its astounding what children will use to play when they basically have nothing. Another great thing in the museum was a series of illustrations of aborigional history since the European colonization. The drawings were done to go along with a series of poems- one of them was about this very famous painting of colonists that I actually saw in Melbourne. The painting has three panels, the first shows a man and his wife just arrived with a hut in the background of the forest, the second shows the couple with a baby, and a little town in the background, and the third shows the man kneeling by what looks like a grave, probably of the baby, with a city in the background. The idea is the sacrifice of the colonists to build the country, etc etc. So the poem and drawing I looked at was called, "The Missing Panel" or something like that- and the poem says that there is a scene missing in the original painting, but if you look very closely between panel two and three (town and city) you can see this missing panel- and the drawing is of an aboriginal couple holding their dying child, who has been given poisoned flour by the colonists (evidently a common practice). So it was I thought a very powerful and moving statement to make- and I was very glad that I saw the origional painting first because it is very beautiful and heroic and poetic looking, which makes this horribly depressing little drawing even more intense.
Anyway... after that little depressing rant... I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Botanic Gardens reading and napping. Then at 6pm the Opening Party for the Fringe was starting and so I went down to Rundle St, the main street where all the action was happening. The street had been closed off to traffic so it was all street performers and people talking up their shows and lots of excitement. Unfortunately, I left that for a bit to go see the WORST SHOW EVER! It was called "Bimbo" and it was so bad that when I realized I couldn't leave my seat without being really rude, I closed my eyes and tried to discretely cover my ears so that I wouldn't have to experience any more of it. The premise was a philandering president decides to admit that he loves to sleep around. I thought it would be funny, but no one was laughing at the lame jokes, and mostly it was just the president and his wife (who for some unknown reason was supposed to be a lesbian- did her husbands philandering turn her lesbian? did her lesbianism make him philander? could an 11 year old boy have more insight into human sexuality?) whining at each other, and occationally losing their lines and their characters. Fortunately, when it ended I went back out to the party, listened and danced to the live bands, saw fireworks, ate ice cream at "Cold Rock", the Aussie answer to Cold Stone complete with mix ins of Australian candy bars and cookies. I was a little depressed though because I'd been alone for so long- I tried calling a woman Anne who I met at the volunteer session, but she didn't answer. So eventually I went home.
Friday 3/9:
I woke up Friday and was feeling more depressed at the idea of spending another day alone. Fortunately, I called CJ who was able to make me feel better. I had another show to go to outside of the city that afternoon, so I left early to make sure I got the right bus. The show, "What I Heard About Iraq" was very good. It was five people basically reciting quotes from people about the war, going from before 9/11 to the present- everyone from Bush to random soldiers to Iraqis. It just shows the incredible range in quality at these festivals. After that I decided foolishly to walk back to the city through a series of parks. I was dead tired when I got home. But the good thing that happened was that Anne called me back! She just moved to Australia with her boyfriend, or as she says, "partner", and also seemed a little desperate for friends. I asked her what she was doing Saturday and she ended up inviting me to come with her and her bf, Neil, to a racecourse where Neil was going to be riding a race car around the track (this was a long planned bday present). That didn't sound like my kind of activity, but I was so eager to do something with another person that I agreed immediately. I think I would have agreed to just about anything! But anyway, Friday night I also had my first volunteer shifts. I talked to some nice people, handed out programs, helped patrons find their seats- and got to see a fantastic show called "Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer" about this forgotten man and his heroic journeys. I also saw a comic called Akmal who seemed popular but was very mediocre.
Today 3/10:
Anne and Neil picked me up this morning and we went off the the racecourse. I was still so overjoyed to be hanging out with other people, that I had a great time just watching Neil and chatting with Anne. She is an aspiring actress, and so when she asked me about what I studied, I actually told her a bit about my thesis (in more detail than usual) and I was so so thrilled when she told me this great story- it turns out she had seen an all female Shakespeare production at The Globe!!!! Not only that, but she had gone with her drama class and some ditzy girls in the class hadn't realized that it was all female before going in, and when they came out they were talking about how cute some of the actors were!!!! I could not believe what a fantastic story that was or how much I wished I had heard it last year and used it in my thesis!!! Not to mention how much I would love to see a really professional all female production at the GLOBE!!!! As you can tell, I was very excited. After the racing, we all went out for brunch nearby my hostel and then I came back here and napped and read. Its much too hot today to go out and after 4 days of lots of walking, I'm ready for a rest. I think I'm going to stay in tonight and try to talk to more people. One day of successful friend making has renewed my energy!
Love,
Emma
Thursday 3/8:
During the day on Thursday I went to the Museum of South Australia and saw the large collection of aborigional artifacts, including a heartbreaking collection of "toys" like 5 leaves used as dolls- mom and dad leaf, two leaf children, and baby leaf. Its astounding what children will use to play when they basically have nothing. Another great thing in the museum was a series of illustrations of aborigional history since the European colonization. The drawings were done to go along with a series of poems- one of them was about this very famous painting of colonists that I actually saw in Melbourne. The painting has three panels, the first shows a man and his wife just arrived with a hut in the background of the forest, the second shows the couple with a baby, and a little town in the background, and the third shows the man kneeling by what looks like a grave, probably of the baby, with a city in the background. The idea is the sacrifice of the colonists to build the country, etc etc. So the poem and drawing I looked at was called, "The Missing Panel" or something like that- and the poem says that there is a scene missing in the original painting, but if you look very closely between panel two and three (town and city) you can see this missing panel- and the drawing is of an aboriginal couple holding their dying child, who has been given poisoned flour by the colonists (evidently a common practice). So it was I thought a very powerful and moving statement to make- and I was very glad that I saw the origional painting first because it is very beautiful and heroic and poetic looking, which makes this horribly depressing little drawing even more intense.
Anyway... after that little depressing rant... I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Botanic Gardens reading and napping. Then at 6pm the Opening Party for the Fringe was starting and so I went down to Rundle St, the main street where all the action was happening. The street had been closed off to traffic so it was all street performers and people talking up their shows and lots of excitement. Unfortunately, I left that for a bit to go see the WORST SHOW EVER! It was called "Bimbo" and it was so bad that when I realized I couldn't leave my seat without being really rude, I closed my eyes and tried to discretely cover my ears so that I wouldn't have to experience any more of it. The premise was a philandering president decides to admit that he loves to sleep around. I thought it would be funny, but no one was laughing at the lame jokes, and mostly it was just the president and his wife (who for some unknown reason was supposed to be a lesbian- did her husbands philandering turn her lesbian? did her lesbianism make him philander? could an 11 year old boy have more insight into human sexuality?) whining at each other, and occationally losing their lines and their characters. Fortunately, when it ended I went back out to the party, listened and danced to the live bands, saw fireworks, ate ice cream at "Cold Rock", the Aussie answer to Cold Stone complete with mix ins of Australian candy bars and cookies. I was a little depressed though because I'd been alone for so long- I tried calling a woman Anne who I met at the volunteer session, but she didn't answer. So eventually I went home.
Friday 3/9:
I woke up Friday and was feeling more depressed at the idea of spending another day alone. Fortunately, I called CJ who was able to make me feel better. I had another show to go to outside of the city that afternoon, so I left early to make sure I got the right bus. The show, "What I Heard About Iraq" was very good. It was five people basically reciting quotes from people about the war, going from before 9/11 to the present- everyone from Bush to random soldiers to Iraqis. It just shows the incredible range in quality at these festivals. After that I decided foolishly to walk back to the city through a series of parks. I was dead tired when I got home. But the good thing that happened was that Anne called me back! She just moved to Australia with her boyfriend, or as she says, "partner", and also seemed a little desperate for friends. I asked her what she was doing Saturday and she ended up inviting me to come with her and her bf, Neil, to a racecourse where Neil was going to be riding a race car around the track (this was a long planned bday present). That didn't sound like my kind of activity, but I was so eager to do something with another person that I agreed immediately. I think I would have agreed to just about anything! But anyway, Friday night I also had my first volunteer shifts. I talked to some nice people, handed out programs, helped patrons find their seats- and got to see a fantastic show called "Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer" about this forgotten man and his heroic journeys. I also saw a comic called Akmal who seemed popular but was very mediocre.
Today 3/10:
Anne and Neil picked me up this morning and we went off the the racecourse. I was still so overjoyed to be hanging out with other people, that I had a great time just watching Neil and chatting with Anne. She is an aspiring actress, and so when she asked me about what I studied, I actually told her a bit about my thesis (in more detail than usual) and I was so so thrilled when she told me this great story- it turns out she had seen an all female Shakespeare production at The Globe!!!! Not only that, but she had gone with her drama class and some ditzy girls in the class hadn't realized that it was all female before going in, and when they came out they were talking about how cute some of the actors were!!!! I could not believe what a fantastic story that was or how much I wished I had heard it last year and used it in my thesis!!! Not to mention how much I would love to see a really professional all female production at the GLOBE!!!! As you can tell, I was very excited. After the racing, we all went out for brunch nearby my hostel and then I came back here and napped and read. Its much too hot today to go out and after 4 days of lots of walking, I'm ready for a rest. I think I'm going to stay in tonight and try to talk to more people. One day of successful friend making has renewed my energy!
Love,
Emma
1 Comments:
hurrah for friends and theater! i hope things keep getting better - both with Anne and with the Fringe shows. miss you tons.
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