When the curtain falls

They say there's a troop ship leaving today
Bound for old Blighty's shores
Heavily laden with time expired men
Back to the land they adore

There's many a bloke who's finishing his tod
And many a twerp signing on
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean
So cheer up my lads bless 'em all

Bless 'em all, bless 'em all
The long and the short and the tall
Bless all the sergeants and W.O. Ones
Bless all the corp'rals and their blinking sons

For we're saying good-bye to them all
As back to the barracks we crawl
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean
So cheer up my lads Bless 'em all,

It's actually over. After months of rehearsal, after about over half a month's worth of performances, after a much anticipated Mainstage performance The Long, The Short, and the Tall is actually over. It's no longer quiet in the jungle, I'm no longer in the jungle. The magic has finally faded and all that's left is to put the soldiering back on the shelf and return to being a simple actor.

This play was different from all the other ones I've done so far and I can honestly say that I've never gotten as emotionally attached to a play as I did with this one in fact I think all the other guys in the cast can say the same thing. During the course of the play we became more than just fellow actors. As cheesy as it sounds we did become like brothers of sorts. Unfortunately it's really hard to explain something like this after everything has ended. All I can really explain is the loss, the hole I've been feeling ever since I got back. I'm just happy that I was able to work with who I did and I wouldn't have traded anyone on the cast for someone else. Together we were able to help each other really find out more about ourselves and what we can do as actors. Instead of being happy with being good we kept striving, kept pushing each other to be great. Together we helped make the play more real. We went into the jungle together and we all came back together.

Anyways enough of that. You're probably all wondering what Kamloops was like. Well it was good. The ride up was pretty uneventful. We took the 8:30 ferry out of Departure Bay and then just drove until we stopped for lunch at Hope. There was this nice little restaurant/cafe place that did a lunch. I think it was called the Blue Moose or something like that. Also there was a car show happening on the road in front of the restaurant so I had a look. The cars were interesting but for me when I see a car that isn't 'wow' quality then I'm just sort of 'it's a car....can we go now?'. After lunch we were back on the road again heading to Kamloops but there wasn't really much to do so I had a nap. When I woke up we were merely ten or fifteen minutes away and my god was it warm. In fact it was about as warm as it is today(35 degrees or so). Actually I think today may be warmer but that's beside the point. It was very warm. When we got into town we went to the Coast Canadian Inn and checked in. I went up to the room and it was a nice room as well. King sized bed, good clean bathroom, big TV(didn't actually watch a lot of TV while in Kamloops though). Very comfortable but I didn't have time to think about getting comfortable there were people to meet. So I went down to Sgt. O' Flaherty's pub which was beside the lobby and met up with the guys that were already here. We talked and waited for everyone else to get there and then we talked some more and had a bite to eat. O' Flaherty's was the type of pub with good pub food. Then after dinner we went and saw the stage version of 'Proof' which was very good. Before the play I actually ran into Leon and we chatted for a few minutes and after the play me and the guys went to the afterparty. We tried a little clubbing but everything was closed for some reason so we just went back to the afterparty and I headed to bed around 2:00AM.

The next day(monday) was pretty uneventful. I woke up, had some breakfast at Dennie's and then went to a Playwriting workshop that Leon was putting on. I actually learned a couple of helpful things and got a great idea for a say five-ten minute one act that I'm going to write soon. The rest of the day was pretty much official rehearsing and going over things like blocking and whatnot. Then after that was done we took a swim in the hotel swimming pool and rehearsed a little more in the hot tub and sauna. Man that sauna was hot. Then we all went to Boston Pizza and I got a medium pepperoni pizza, Jeremy and Nick shared some nachos and wings, and I forget what the other people got. A funny thing happened when we were having the leftovers packed up and Jeremy asked if he could get the left over nachos wrapped up. The waitress asked if he was sure and it turned out that it was the first time anyone had ever asked to get nachos wrapped up. We actually wound up giving the nachos to a homeless guy who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Seriously I look over my shoulder one minute: nothing. I look over my shoulder next minute and the guy is nearly walking beside me. Crazy.

Then there was tuesday. Game day. We got to the theatre at 1:00PM and then promptly had to wait for the bloody rent-a-van to get fixed(luckily we only had to wait about fifteen minutes). Davies and Robyn were actually there to help so that was cool. We got finished at about quarter to five after much arguing and a couple of corrections. However, the finished project wound up being nearly twenty bloody feet from the edge of the stage(this was the cause for the arguing)! I mean I don't mind not having the set right at the front(sometimes it's even a bad idea) but for a play like ours you want the set to be a the front. Besides the Sagebrush theatre is bloody big(seats about 700) so having the set back nearly twenty feet just makes it even harder for the people in the back row to see us. Ah well. C'est la vie. At the very least we could bullshit that we did it on purpose to give the whole thing a feeling of solitude. It definitely had a feeling of solitude at the very least. When I was on the set the audience, the backdrop, everything seemed to fade and here we were, in the middle of the Malayan jungle in some shabby shack. Definitely freaked me out a little especially when I was looking at the backdrop, closed my eyes, and when I reopened them was looking at the jungle(not a backdrop, THE jungle). Still the play was great, WE were great, and after the play was over and there was the final blackout not one of us had a dry eye and the audience just sat there stunned for a few moments(which was exactly what I was hoping for) before breaking into applause. The feeling of walking back onto that stage and looking out into the audience was exhilirating. We had done it. We had gone to mainstage and we had given one hell of a performance. Then of course there was the after party which was loads of fun. I got roaring drunk and, since there was karaoke, sang 'Play That Funky Music'(one of the songs I'm actually good at) and all of us sang 'I Want it That Way' by the Backstreet Boys together. We were pretty bad(maybe. I actually thought we weren't half bad) but we didn't care. Unfortunately the after party ended at around 1:00AM(or maybe 1:30) so we all went back to Jesse's room and continued drinking/partying. Then we got kicked out of the room and unfortunately I lost track of everyone. They had all disappeared so I went to Dennie's. I was drunk and hungry and it was open 24 hours a day so it seemed like a good idea to me. I cackled like a bloody maniac all the way over there as well. I didn't care I was happy....and drunk. Then after Dennie's I still couldn't find anyone so I went back to my room and about 3:30 or 4:30 was woken up by the guys who had wondered where I had gone. Actually at first I let them think I was still sleeping and Jesse and Luke sang a song to me which was nice and it wasn't until Richard started talking about writing on my face that I let them know I was awake. When they found out I was actually awake they decided to let me sleep which was also nice considering we'd have to be up, dressed, and slightly coherent at 9:30 for the adjudication.

Finally there was Wednesday. The 8:30 wake up call was nasty. No man after drinking heavily and going to sleep at 3/4:30 should have to get up less than nine hours later. It's just not fair. However, we all got up(I managed to keep from puking) and got down to the adjudication which was in the lower lobby in time for 9:30. The adjudicator was named Dean and he was actually a nice guy and really funny. He went through the play with a fine tooth comb however, that meant he had really liked the play. If he hadn't liked the play he would have just gone 'yeah it was good' and that would have been it. He also helped us work on our characters as well and really get to understand them as well. He was the sort of person who didn't 'critique' but 'advised'. Instead of saying what had been wrong he said what we could do to make the play even better for next time. Unfortunately after the adjudication I had to go pack and check out since I was getting a ride back with Jeremy, his mom, and Richard's mom as well. I slept for pretty much most of the road trip and we managed to catch I think it was the 7:20 boat. Then when I finally got home I had a good cry. That's right I bawled my eyes out and I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit it! It just goes to show that it was one hell of a play and one hell of an experience and I wouldn't have traded it for the world!

So that was my trip to mainstage. It was extremely awesome and I'm very happy it happened. The only sucking part was having to go to NCO the day after I got back but then I quit on Friday so hey it's not that bad! Until next time I leave you all with a little song.

A handsome young private lay dying
At the edge of the jungle he lay
The regiment gathered around him
To hear for the last words he'd say

Take the trigger guard out of my kidney
Take the magazine out of my brain
Take the barrel from out of my backbone
And assemble my rifle again