Before Parliament

Hello world,
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything but here I am.

This week I'll be visiting parliament to observe the proceedings and hopefully question period.

I've been on a tour of parliament before, but I have never seen the proceedings. What I have heard, read and seen about it lead me to believe that some days are quite a spectacle. With a chamber of commons designed to separate the majority to the opposition by the length of two swords, they were anticipating conflict. However most of the time it tends to be proticall.

Politicians are a peculiar breed. They act high and mighty, above all us common folk but then we see videos like the ones released in January. In which prime minster Justin Trudeau was caught on camera assisting someone through the crowd and accidentally nudging a member of the house along the way. This was blown way out of proportion in my opinion but I digress. It made the politicians appear like children on the school yard that couldn't get along. All of these play into the preconceived notions of how politicians behave and what people expect to see.        

I'll let you know how it goes,
Elyse

The Crashing Red Bull Disaster

Hello everyone,
I know this post was a long time coming so let's get into it.

Before
Before going to the Red Bull Crashed Ice event I was super excited. I had a friend competing and had seen some super cool footage online. The event had so much hype surrounding it; the city, the players, the university and my classmates were all very excited to share in this event. It was promising to be exciting and quite a party.

After

This hype was what made the results so crushing. I arrived an hour(ish) early which evidently was not enough but I could still see. Honestly it was a bit anticlimactic, the racers were fast but no one around me was cheering. I was in a open spot but yet a friend of mine had trouble finding me.  The worst part had to be the cold. This will be an exaggeration but I swear it felt like negative 30 degrees. on top of all this the shear amount of people around me brought on one of the most painful panic attacks I had ever experienced, it felt like a heart attack I was in tears and almost screaming from the pain. So overall it was not a very enjoyable night.

Sorry this took so long to put up but there you have it, one of the worst events of my life, exceeded only by palio but that's a story for another time.

Have a great day,
Elyse

Avenue Q: After

Hello people of the internet!

Avenue Q was every thing I hoped for. Well presented, staged, acted and puppetted ( I think that'a a verb). The choreography was beautifully cheesy and the vocals were strong.

There were a few instances that took away from the overall production, each actor had multiple parts and occasionally both puppets had to interact , then the puppeteer was required to  voice two puppets fighting and in my opinion it took your attention away from the story and made you focus on the actor behind the characters.  

Was it "real"? Was it "authentic"? Not at all, you had felt puppets as both people and monsters engaging in a story together. There is not a moment that you feel like this actually happened. However, you still related to the themes of love and lose presented.

As puppets they could get away with saying things that were not necessarily accepted for humans to say. Like everyone's a little bit racist. This show was designed to push barriers with comedy that can only be accomplished when non humans were stating things. It allows us to think that maybe some of this is us without directly calling people out.

Thanks for reading, more updates coming soon,
Elyse  

Avenue Q, pre show

Hello everyone I hope your reading week was  as enjoyable and as (un)productive as mine! So far this reading week I have seen 4 shows, 2 Mirvish productions and 2 one act plays at my local high school so why not cap off the week at a highly inappropriate comedy with my family.

Unlike all the shows attended earlier this week, I know all the music and plot of Avenue Q. I have seen the Broadway version  (online not in person unfortunately) more  then once and know the entire show backwards and forwards.  In fact the only one in my family who has never seen this R rated version of sesame street is my younger bother, and I'm curious as to his reaction.

My mother is a puppeteer and for her sake I hope this small theatre's production does a decent job with their felt counterparts.

As you can already tell I have a lot of hope resting on this show even before I've set foot in the theatre.

Have a great day and all let you know how it went soon,
Elyse

A grand day of Theatre : After

Welcome back everyone.

Wow this was quite the day, full of usual pieces and really good food.  

The first show we saw was The Bodyguard. It was a fun show with great music however the plot was rushed and there was zero character development. For instance in the span of the same speech she went from I hate him to I love him. Yes I know this is a romantic comedy trope that occurs often but in this version it was faster then normal and with even less reason. the stalker was over exaggerated and quite frankly I felt that the subtle moments the scariest.  The second act was far better then the first as the music was used less to advance the plot and more to represent that the main character was a musician. 

The second piece was The Audience, which was a collection of scenes from the Queen's private meetings with her prime ministers over the years.  This show was packed with wit and humor demonstrating the true strength of the women behind the crown and how she unwavering supported the prime ministers while contradicting them behind closed doors. She changed the way things are done so that she ruled as a sovereign in a new fashion. 

The day was long and wonderful even if the shows weren't quite in my wheel house. The meaning of theater as a whole to me anyway is to share in a story, and that's exactly what we did.

Thanks

Elyse

A grand day of Theatre

Hello World. I know it's been a while but I wanted to let you in on today's excitement. This afternoon I'm going to be heading into Toronto to see 2 very different and equally exciting show with my mother.

Every since I was a little kid, as in like grade 2 ish, my mother and I have been enjoying days out at the theater together.  She introduced me to this world with a Stratford production of As you like it by William Shakespeare. Ever since we've been enjoying are escape days to go have a meal and see a show together.  They are just a chance to relax and talk and laugh.  These days are something I miss about living in Ottawa so far away from home.

The first show of the day we are seeing will be The Bodyguard. All I really know about this show is that it's a musical based off of movie. The second I know even less about, only that it's a play called the Audience  So my expectations are only the ones that I have of Mirvish. That the show will be clean and polished, that the actors will be committed entirely to their  roles and that the viewers will be silent, respectful and just as "professional" as the show. Shows in big theaters like the Royal Alex. and the Ed Mirvish theater expect their audiences to be dressed in fancy clothing and be just as committed to the show as the actors. They create an environment where the people seeing the show now have expectations of each other and that becomes just as much a part of the experience as the show they are watching.

Anyway Have a Wonderful day and I'll be back soon,
Elyse    

Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Before

Hello Everyone, Hope you have been having a good week. Sorry about the late update both of these were supposed to be posted on Saturday but I hope you'll forgive the tardiness I had a midterm yesterday.

Before going to see this show I had a lot of information. We had thoroughly discussed it in class and I had spoken to playwright.

Getting to listen to Robert Chafe, was  awesome. From the moment he said hello he had me hooked. I was so excited to see his work of art it hardly phased me to hear that it was three hours long. Robert was a curious playwright who has had better luck writing with adaptations than with original work. He told us the story of his beginning as a playwright in Newfoundland, where he was a disgruntled actor who believed that he could write a better show with a better part. To his days converting the story of a midwife to a national production, and now his work against Newfy (sorry it's spelled wrong) stereotypes. Robert was a joy to listen to and it made me so excited to see his work come to life.

I have always loved history and whenever it is brought to the stage I find that it can give the trired old tales new life and breath, I hope that this one will be that and more.

Thanks again
part 2 will be up soon
Elyse