Theatre Passe Muraille

Dear Theatre Passe Muraille blog and blog readers,

I write to you from a café in Brighton, England. Today is the final day of the first leg of my International tour with my show OH MY IRMA – originally produced by Theatre Passe Muraille in January 2011.

I promised to write so here we go! Oh! And I promised I’d make a video in character with some cheese so enjoy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8IX4pGDzpA

It has been absolutely incredible taking my show to audiences in Europe.  Fascinating to see what things resonate, land and make them laugh.   In Amsterdam people cooed, awed and my talk of vomiting into a pair of shoes made the audiences in Brighton guffaw rather than gag.

It feels good to do this.  It feels good to share my work in a context of very established cultures, meet new audiences, and see the art of my international peers.

In between Amsterdam and Brighton I stopped in Dublin and saw MANY shows at the Dublin Fringe Festival.

Here are some notes from my trip…

Amsterdam

The festival arranged for me to have a bike.  This was fantastic, though adjusting to the cycling style where bikes rule the road was a lesson in trust.  One must plunge onward without hesitation.  Hesitate, tense up, second-guess yourself for a moment and a crash will happen.  You have to go fast, be fearless and ring your bell.

My venue was the Betty Asfalt Complex.  Here’s are three photos:

and look at more on my facebook page.

It’s a stunning, old building with a really warm theatre space and a bar with marble counters.  It’s owned and run by the man who does the voice of Bert (of Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street) on the Dutch Sesame Street.

I also saw I MYSELF DON’T FEEL LIKE A REAL PERSON, which was in silence and then a lot of Dutch.  I don’t know if the language contextualized what had been going on in the garage with the taxidermy animals but it was a fascinating and stimulating performance.

Dublin

I stopped over in Dublin and took in many shows at the Dublin Fringe Festival.  Here’s a picture of how the festival was taking over Temple Bar!

My favourite was a dance piece, Dogs, by Emma Martin Dance.  Six dancers, two musicians, one singer, some baton twirlers and dirt.  It was SO GOOD.  I know this isn’t particularly articulate but I was floored by it.  There was a narrative thread that was so delicate woven through and the use of text was really satisfying. Watch a video http://emmafmartin.com/wp/video/

I also saw John Nee’s Sparkplug, the sweetest Irish storyteller from Donegal, which was charming and endearing and chilling and absurd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McBvMe0Hb3w&feature=player_embedded

Brighton

Now in Brighton, I am determined to be by the sea.  I like it here.  My venue is Upstairs at the Three and Ten.  A pub theatre and it’s so old beautiful.  I like it here.  Here’s a picture:

Last night 20 Level A students came and saw the show and we did a talk back.  These are 18 year olds.  This is my dream.  They were engaged, we were into each other and the room was electric.  They wanted to talk about theatre.

It was also my 27^th birthday yesterday and the audience who stuck around sung me happy birthday in their lovely British accents it sounded like a new song.

Today I send this to you and do my final show.

love to Canada & that Toronto Theatre Community!

Haley