Waiting for Shakespeare

Well, I am now at the halfway mark for Measure for Measure with Salamander Theatre's Shakespeare Young Company. For those of you who might be interested in attending a performance, you can find out more info here.

I have to say, it's been an interesting experience. For one thing, performing outdoors has given me a brand new appreciation for my vocal cords. Competing with traffic, children playing and, depending on our location that day, the 6:20 and 8:30 trains will do that.

I've also never fathomed the possibility of being upstaged by a flock of geese (a gaggle?) before. Nor having to watch where I sit because said geese have been using our entire staging area as their own personal toilet.

This weekend, I had my first billeted experience in Wilton, ON and it was a very pleasant one. We were very well fed and actually told we wouldn't need our sleeping bags since we'd get beds.

I'm quite certain most of the people who come out to see a Shakespearian show in rural Ontario don't get what is being said on stage (or so I gathered from the older gentlemen frequently found dozing in the front row), but they are very appreciative that we've taken the time to come out there and do something for them.

In Wilton, our presence helped raise funds so the town hall can get its first toilets with indoor plumbing installed. Currently, they only had a chemical toilet, which was cutely decorated in a way only grandma could manage.
(Bathroom situations throughout the run alone could probably make for an interesting blog post).
I was really touched when this old woman brought me ice cream after the show to thank us and told me how having bathrooms in the hall would help the community out. That alone almost makes all the crappy stuff I have to deal with worthwhile.

Sometimes, I'm such a sap.