Day one: Art House

And so it begins. We each have tickets to 25 different shows, and will probably be seeing more.

Today, I went with another girl in our group to see a show called Art House. It was my first one of the festival, so I wasn't necessarily expecting anything great, but I was really impressed. I can't figure out who wrote it, but the program says it's from "Australia's brightest new playwright." So.....? The cast is just two women. They're sisters; one's a painter (Charlie), and one's a non-artist (Viva). The play starts after they've faked Charlie's death in order to make her work famous (and so she can paint in solitude), and Viva is the only one who knows and can keep her company. Coming from such a relatively simple idea (just that people often become famous after they die) both the playwright and the company putting it on (Tangram Theatre Company) really creatively explored the depths of what that would actually entail. The sisterly tension was believable, revolving around them needing each other too much out of loneliness (from being fake-dead) and insecurity (from being the non-artsy little sister). The actresses were very relaxed in their roles, too, which always makes the audience relaxed. Actually, the actress playing Viva reminded me a ton of Samantha Cole from last year's PATP graduating class. She would do that role so well.

Honestly, I was pretty skeptical of the show as it started, mostly because of the set. As the audience sits down, Charlie is sitting in a comfortable chair in an implied studio apartment (or something close to it). Her art stuff is scattered haphazardly (all "I don't care, I'm an artist") on the floor next to her, and there are a few large picture frames leaning against some poles (that represented walls). Across the room is a table with a mini stove, some scattered food/books, and a bottle of vodka with shot glasses front and center. One of my biggest pet peeves in theater is when an actor relies too much on "blaaahhhhh I drink alcohol to drown my sorrows" without actually getting in touch with the mind of an alcoholic. So in the beginning, when she started taking shots while blasting Tainted Love and wearing layered baggy shirts, I assumed the worst. But she handled it really well. (Also, she wasn't playing an alcoholic, she just happened to be drinking then.) Again, the actress' comfort in her role kept her actions from seeming contrived, which was refreshing.

The theme that you really can't live without human connection may be pretty overdone in...everything, but I think it's overdone because so often it's intriguing to watch the ways a character comes to that realization. I just loved how all the sisterly tensions between the two women intermingled with the tensions that resulted from the situation. It's beautifully written; the dialogue is simple and realistic, so the few poetic lines mixed in are thoughtful, rather than in-your-face artistic.

Anyway. See it! Or read it! Not sure how out there it is yet, but I really liked it, and I don't think it's just because it's the first show I saw.

As for everything else, Edinburgh is great. We went to a great cafe near our apartment today, where apparently there's a guy working there who's from Seattle. Needless to say, the coffee was delicious. The coffee shop itself was very Seattle, too, although I doubt that's because of their one employee. My favorite part was a sign near the door that said: "JK Rowling never wrote here."

Alright, we're off to find a pub with some good live music. It's the first Friday of the festival, so everything's open until 5 am. Luckily, nothing to do tomorrow until the afternoon.