Pericles

I think I've mentioned before there are some shows that are a chore to work on and there are others that are a delight. Pericles is in the latter case and makes up for the nights of angst I had to endure on my last season in the Drama Theatre.

This Shakespearean play performed by the Bell Shakespeare Company is big, loud, melodramatic and as convoluted as a soap opera.

It has a lot of energy and is obviously fun for the cast. There's drumming and singing and dancing and a big Bollywood style scene that only needs a shower of rose petals to finish it off.

The reviews have been varied because it's not the type of play that can be rationally analysed - the plot-twists and coincidences are worthy of any modern day melodrama and the actors are sometimes required to switch from serious, heart-wrenching soliloquies to mundane and seemingly trivial statements - all in the same breath.

The one scene that stands out for me is at the end when poor old King Pericles, after enduring countless shipwrecks (that man should not get in a boat), the loss of his beloved wife and then his daughter, finds them again. He has aged 20 years since his first appearance and so is required to portray a degree of pathos suitable for the occasion.

Marcus Graham does this well I think, and is a very appropriate hero for the occasion but... why is it that every single time he says these lines;

Now, blessing on thee! rise; thou art my child. Give me fresh garments; the audience cacks itself?

No matter if it's a matinee , a school audience, an evening blue-rinse set - they all spontaneously laugh.

I have a theory that it is a combination of comic relief from the seriousness of his reunification with his daughter (who is so virtuous and pure she transforms rapist to saints) and the slight embarrassment at the out of place request. Deep Drama and Emotional Outpouring interrupted with a request for his laundry. Strange.

I have been busy during this show and have created one pair of socks already - saturated colour worthy of the richly coloured hues of the lighting, costumes and sets. I think I will be able to get another pair finished before the end of the season.

Wee Stig - 15 seconds of fame

Here is the Wee Stig's 15 seconds of Fame, snuggled up with Warren in the back of the luxury car.
I nearly missed this spot on the final episode of the Top Gear Australia season so I was very relieved when eagle-eyed Ravelry members told me he had been on.

Wee Stig has now been retired to live with Jules and Marianne among the lobsters. He travelled a lot further than I ever imagined when I made him so I can say he absolutely fulfilled his potential.
What more can a knitted doll ask for.

Orange Grove

It's been a long week at work seeing out the last few performances of "When the Rain stops Falling" so I needed a bit of time away from the inner city and the dark angst of the theatre.
We went orange picking at Penrith Valley - that's the groves in the distance with the mist-covered Blue Mountains in the background and a very cosy horse on the side.

We picked and ate lots of juicy oranges and took enough home to ward off colds and flu, and to make some Marmalade. I had to return to the city that night unfortunately but I felt a bit refreshed and cheered by the fresh air and green fields.

In the packing shed this object was hanging on the wall and it was immediately labelled as the world's largest Knitting Needle Gauge.
I think we need to get out more.







(It's an Orange Sorter - big to small)

Festival of ...Socks

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/778163

Last night saw the final of the Vivid Festival at work - the wonderful images that had been projected onto the sails were turned off, the Opera Theatre started resetting for the Opera season and the ambient soundscape in the Studio was silenced.

The entire Opera House had virtually been handed over to Brian Eno to play with and the majority of performance spaces were featuring something he had curated. Normally this period between the Ballet and Opera Season is a quiet time but the past few weeks have seen the Opera Theatre ringing to the sounds of Heavy Metal Rock and esoteric performances. I think quite a bit of dust was shaken out of the fly tower in the process.

One of my favourites was the 77 Million Paintings in the Studio which, I'm afraid, reminded me of 77 Million Quilting Blocks, but it was still soothing and pleasant to look at.


In keeping with this atmosphere of creative energy I've started on my own Festival of Colour and Texture with an unparalleled outburst of Sock Knitting. One pair finished, three more on the needles and a growing queue of potentials.


The recent Darling Harbour Craft show helped fuel this with tempting skeins of Jitterbug in rich gold and deep greens, Noro Sock yarn and Touch Yarns Merino.

I thought I was remarkably restrained in my purchases at the craft fair but that may have been because I was (once again) juggling work and social obligations and as always, had to be somewhere else.

I missed out on the wonderful WWKIP curated by Sally - another Festival of Yarn and Magic attended by numerous devotees and, other than a strange threat from the Darling Harbour Event Organisers to call the Knitting Police if any "teaching of Knitting techniques" occurred, it was a great success.

Wee Stig Rules! OK

After his supporting role at the Sydney Easter Show Wee Stig has made it to the top - a feature appearance on Top Gear Australia. His presence there was a very roundabout sequence of events originating from this post and ending up with a request from the production manager of the show. She wanted to know if I could make a few more Wee Stigs as gifts for her hard-working production crew. I explained that if I accurately charged the full amount of time and labour it would cost $300 per doll! To get round this I offered to make some String Dolls - I had never made them before but I decided to give it a go. Two weeks later I travelled to the Bankstown Studios of Top Gear Australia to deliver this:
A dozen Mini Stigs made of string, cotton, glue and felt. They are exclusively unique but I won't be taking orders as I've moved on to my next obsession - Socks.

Here be knitting...

A cold concrete Lindsay Lady gets a Scarf

There hasn't been much knitting in these posts lately and that's partly because of my recent increased workload and partly due to a lack of knitting mojo.
I decided that I wouldn't be disheartened by the ever present pile of UFO's and have embarked on a totally new project - Socks!

This is a whole new world for me as I have never had any desire to cross to the other side - I've heard that it is totally addictive and once entered you can never leave. Last weekend - just before Mother's day I dug through my pile of yarn and found a ball of Tofutsies I had won at the Sydney Summer WWKIP. Recent experience with the Stig made me very proficient with a set of DPN so the smooth silky Knitpick Harmonies were a joy to hold. I originally had ideas of creating a complex lace pair but the fact that my short term memory is worse than a goldfish meant I wisely opted for a very basic Patons rib pattern. No frills, no challenges - just get the thing finished.
They got their first outing at Lindsay's cafe in Faulconbridge on Saturday morning. We had just finished putting up a small lighting rig at the local High School for a forthcoming dance piece and happened upon this very nice restaurant a the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.
It was sort of a pre Mother's day treat and was one of the rare occaisions that we were together as a family so we made the most of it. The food and service were good in parts, the lamb shanks were delicious, the barramundi a bit dry, and the apple and rhubarb crumble didn't live up to its promise but the setting in the little studio cottage was perfect, as was the big bowl of Latte.

The sock has progressed and is almost at the heel - I know that this has been a challenge to sock newbies before but after the Stig - nothing fazes me.

I'm all out of ...

I survived the 11 year old's party and the pack of marauding boys playing guerrilla games in the garden to lurch into this mass display or Adulation and Nostalgia.

I am not a great fan of Air Supply's music - it reminds me too much of angst ridden Teenage years and swelling chorus lines that somehow embed themselves deep in the psyche.

I cannot fault their performance though. For two nights they captivated the 2000+ audience and totally held them in thrall. The two 80's icons gambolled, skipped and posed around the stage and auditorium of the Concert Hall and, despite being accused of having " the faint aroma of Mother's Day music" around them, they gave the audience what they wanted. There was a mosh pit full of arm-waving devotees and a chance to grab a hug or a quick snog as the two stars ventured into the stalls amongst their adoring fans.
Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell seemed pleasantly surprised that the entire audience knew all the words to all of their songs but they should have known better. This was their homeland and they were the local heroes with their easy listening lyrics and repetitious musical phrases.

All of this smooching aside it was a very busy show for me because of the last minute change as baby-sitting the house lights turned into "make the Strand board a Whole Hog so the LD can work her magic". Luckily we had the rare luxury of a six hours of plotting time the day before so I programmed the Concert Hall 500 from its standard static orchestral states into a flashing, pulsing, moving light control console. I knew it could do it and I knew I could do it. I must admit it was a lot of fun rising to the challenge and on the final curtain everyone was happy; 2000 baby boomers, the idolised performers, the LD (who admitted to being a knitter and crocheter!) and me.