Mid-week, we start our Cue-to-Cue or Q-to-Q. That’s when we carefully craft each change of lighting, sound or multi-media from cue-to-cue or moment-to-moment. I always feel like painter who has been scratching away at a charcoal drawing, dreaming of colour. I’m exuberant when all my paints and brushes have suddenly arrived, but I can’t linger in it - I have to quickly finish the painting for the exhibition. Without overlooking anything, of course. In my case, I’m painting with sound, light and actors – a three or even four-dimensional painting.
Michel & Ti-Jean Tech Week: a rollercoaster ride
The Gifts
Cory Sincennes and Matthew Skopyk are not only talented, but it turns out that we all share a similar aesthetic. I can’t tell you how much of a gift this is. It makes things go so much smoother when we’re all imagining the same movement of sound and light to tell the story. It also helps to have a wonderfully talented stage manager like Cheryl Millikin, who always keeps things moving.
The Curveballs
But, of course, things never go totally according to plan. Sometimes life has a way of interrupting your work routine. Just as we started tech week for Michel & Ti-Jean, my dog Bella got sick. Something she ate got stuck inside her and when I returned home from work on Monday evening it was obvious that she needed medical help. She spent two long nights in the downtown Edmonton Veterinarian’s Emergency Clinic and just as we were starting cue-to-cue on Wednesday morning, she was undergoing the knife. I admittedly, (and hopefully understandably!), broke one of the rules of the theatre, and took a phone call from the vet during the somewhat intense cue-to-cue rehearsal. Thankfully, it was all good news. Bella’s operation was a success, she was recuperating and no one begrudged me too badly for taking the call! (For those concerned dog lovers, it turns out Bella had eaten some cloth, which was wrapped tight in grass inside her intestine. She would have died without medical help. She is now resting at home with her new friend, the dreaded cone. See picture below.)
So in the end, tech week is a long week that on one level pushes you to be painstakingly slow as you examine every moment, and on another forces you to move faster than you thought humanly possible. And, as demonstrated this time, it always has its ups and downs, its blessings and its surprises. And despite the rollercoaster ride this time, it remains my favourite week of the process.
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| Bella - also known as tech week curveball |
