The MS production has been the overriding force this weekend, but mercifully, it's blown through for yet another year. The load for Cass was compounded this year by her catching a bit of a cold in the week prior, possibly due to being a bit run-down from preparations for said play. The lead-up was marked by multiple visits to various stores in search of the correct makeup, removers and all the associated containers and cleaners that seem necessary. That wasn't all of course: there were liaisons with directors and backstage folks, setting up of equipment, laying out rooms adequately and not to mention wrangling her dozen girls assisting her with all the actual tasks!
Suffice to say it was a monumental task spread over a few weeks, but the intense showtime sessions went smoothly and various quick makeup changes which were quite tense and stressful for all, were successfully accomplished with the minimum of fuss. The play was based on the books and movie about "Shrek" so the transformation from normal humans to green faced monsters had to be done just off stage, very quickly, by a team of makeup artists. The donkey was a little tricky and various narrators and minor characters all needed a bit of pampering, so, as usual, it turned into quite an extravaganza!
As mentioned previously, old mate Gurecki turned up mid-week and we eneded up having a rollicking good catch-up with a few guest artists and I saw him briefly again the next day. It was great to catch up: we speak regularly on the phone if he rings us on a Friday night, or via email, but there's nothing like a good old-fashioned chat. I was glad I'd booked a personal day for the Wednesday as our conversations stretched well past my usual school night bedtime!
Unbelievably, because it feels like just a few months ago we started in this whirlwind, school is rapidly winding to a close. Social events are starting to pop again onto the calendars and we're working our way around some. We missed a farewell for a colleague on Friday due to Cassy's play commitments and my usual Friday night was interrupted due to an upper school sportsman's dinner. Wal and Steve and Ed did meet up with me later on and we checked out the new Patio.
"The Green Bar" was an institution even before we arrived and was secreted down the back end of Tienmu East Road. Some years ago it morphed into "Patio 84" under new ownership, but remained essentially the same beast. It was with some trepidation that we spied it had moved into a much more conspicuous and public position on the main road a couple of months ago. As it turns out, it's not too bad: I think we would have preferred the bigger space and more private position it used to offer, but beggars can't be choosers!
I'm procrastinating: I have 94 lengthy anecdotal reports to write in the next week and a half.....see ya!