Ok, this is that part about reviewing that I didn't care for... Alright, I'm going to get this over as quickly as possible before moving on to me favorite topic ("ME!" she says, a false sens of pretension dripping in her voice.) Last night, I had the chance to see Living with Henry at the Next Stage Theatre Festival. I was pretty keen to see this one since the subject matter appealed to me. As the friend accompanying me pointed out, a few years ago there were so many movies and stories about people getting HIV/AIDS and dying from it that it's refreshing to see someone talk about it and where it's at today. Because the disease isn't gone, but sometimes it seems a bit forgotten. There are a lot of enjoyable moments in Living with Henry: the lead carries the show well; his Mom is a solid actor and I really enjoyed her singing voice; I love the way they portrayed HIV as a big, tough bald guy; there's an awesome tango number in a bathhouse and OHMYGODSOMUCHPRETTYTOLOOKAT... *ahem* - but as a whole, the show just didn't do it for me. I think part of it is because the show tries to be too much at one time. It wants to be funny and serious and musical and dance-y and it has so much potential material to pull from and gets tossed into so many directions that it just can't get really good at one thing. Again, Living with Henry definitely has something to offer, I'm just not sure I was the right person to receive it.
Ok. Moving on. Yesterday, I also had the privilege of attending a general theatre audition for four different summer stock theatre's in the province. I thought it was really great they got together for these auditions. Some people might be intimidated by having more people in a room, but I thrive on it. Not to mention it's a pretty big time-saver for me. I was feeling pretty good about the audition and, yes, it did go very well, but that's not what stuck with me at the end of the day. When I walked into the room, one artistic director apologized because they were ahead of schedule and they didn't want to rush me. I said it was no problem, it would just get me back to work faster. And that's when, with good humour, he replied:
"You are at work."
I don't get speechless very often, but that one threw me. Of course I'm at work! Auditions are just as much part of the job as the job itself. Just because you are not getting paid for it, does not mean you don't have to work. These people don't know me. They've never seen me perform before. I can't coast and save up all the "good stuff" for when they hire me. No. I have to prepare. I go to class, I learn and rehearse a monologue, I print resumes and headshots (all of this on my own dime) so that I can walk into a room and comfortably, for lack of a better word, "work" it.
It's been a while, but I was grateful for the reminder.