Our opening night in Saskatoon was pretty fantastic. Even though we know only two people in Saskatoon, considerably more than two people showed up and they were a generous and enthusiastic crowd.
We've re-written the show since Toronto and have a couple of new scenes we'd never performed for anyone, so it was great try them out and not be booed offstage. Huzzah! Thanks to all you folks to came out, to our venue tech Andy who ran the show flawlessly, to Rose's aunt who fed us and our egos with popcorn and the biased feedback you need from family and to the folks to stopped us on the street on the way to the Green Room to tell us "Great show!" You all totally made our night.
As some of you long-time 87% True blog readers may recall, Rose and Chris's second show at the Toronto Fringe was marred by their slide projector dying at the very beginning of the show, causing Chris and Rose to:
a) crap their pants with fear;
b) do most of the show like deer in headlights, trying frantically to figure out how to deal with the missing slides as the show progressed; and
c) improvise so successfully around the malfunctioning slide projector that most people didn't actually realize the slide projector was SUPPOSED to be working and just thought the show was kinda . . . lame.
This time, we thought we were in the clear. 2 p.m. show on a Saturday is a great time; Chris had been flyering enthusiastically and while we haven't been reviewed yet here in Saskatoon, we haven't gotten a bad review either. So we were pretty pumped about Show #2.
The night before Show #2, Rose was out quite late babysitting for Michelle and Bob, who are doing the fabulous Deep Fried Curried Perogies here at the Saskatoon Fringe (check it out!).
When she got home, Rose was feeling . . . "a little funny". What followed was the kind of Norwalk Virus nightmare you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy - the kind where you're sitting on the john and holding a bucket and using them simultaneously multiple times. The kind of sick where the bedsheets catch it in the crossfire. The kind of sick where you're so miserable it's kind of funny because HOW CAN THIS EVEN BE HAPPENING? The kind of sick that makes you wonder if you're going to make it through the night, let alone to Show #2. THAT kind of sick.
Rose was shocked to discover the next morning that she was the only one of the 5 people currently here at El Casa de Rose's Aunt and Uncle who was ill in any way. She was also reduced (GAH!) to drinking Gatorade again, which she swore she'd never do after the dysentery incident in June. She got dizzy holding her arms up above her head to put her hair in a pony tail and then she had to lie down. Alot. It wasn't looking good, people. And yet - the show, it must go on!
Rose changed into her costume beforehand, so she wouldn't wear herself out getting changed at the venue. Chris brought a stool for backstage, so Rose could sit her sorry ass down and suck Gatorade until the show started. We made sure there was a garbage bin in the wings for emergency vomiting.
Right up until the lights went down, Rose wasn't sure she could do it. But then the show started . . . and we were doin' it! No barfing in the trunk, no running offstage for a visit to the ladies' shitter - it was actually a pretty tight show, all things considered. And it was because we were both so thrilled that Rose wasn't in a coma that it took us nearly a third of the show to notice that the audience . . . was.
We'd like to think the audience enjoyed the show yesterday, but we couldn't really tell. It was so quiet, we could occasionally hear our own voices echoing through the theatre. When the show is a comedy, that's not so great.
But then we got this lovely comment on the Fringe Forum:
I enjoyed this one very much. It is very convincing with its lighthearted humour. A must see for anyone who wants to leave feeling a little bit more adventurous and less of a stickler that when they arrived.
Hey, right on! Thanks, "the witch"! Clearly, they were laughing on the INSIDE! HUZZAH!
slurpee count = 70 (Chris was very brave, drank Slurpees for two)
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