22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, and 14 days before - Stratford

SUNDAY: 22 days before

I hate Pachelbel and want him to die . . . except he's already dead.

We finished with the VBS program at church (thank God, I hate that music so much now) and took off for Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As it's approximately a seven-hour drive, we made a stop in Bowling Green to visit with the family that was staying there, and also picked up my apartment key. The apartment is nice enough, a one bedroom with a fairly claustrophobic kitchen. The landlady is nice. She let me pick up my key and handle a lot of the paperwork about two weeks before the lease officially begins, and she gave me a bottle of sparkling cider as a welcome. I think this is going to be a nice place to live for the next couple years.

We arrived at the Forest Hotel, which is run by a nice couple who do this as a second career, much like bed and breakfast owners. Our room was in a cabin in the woods by a lake. A trail, which I walked while filming some vlogs, wound around the area. It was a nice area.

MONDAY: 21 days before

Monday was our day to just relax, as we hadn't gotten to do for a while. We spent the morning wandering the hotel, and the afternoon wandering the shops of Stratford. Monday is dark for the theatre, and it also happened to be a civic holiday, so about half the shops were closed, but we managed to hit all of them in subsequent days. We also met the police officer who, indirectly, led Mom to finding another one of her long lost Canadian cousins, who we met Tuesday.

TUESDAY: 20 days before

We spent the morning in Stratford, and the afternoon with the cousin of Mom's who, despite being a part of the well-to-do part of Mom's side of the family, many of whom felt the Matthewsons to be on the "wrong side of the tracks," was a very nice guy. Although I have to say, this is distinctly unfair. Mom has now met two cousins, their families, and a police officer that she encountered in her genealogy work, whereas I, the guy who's on YouTube, have met none of the people I've met online.

WEDNESDAY: 19 days before

Our first show, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum, was tonight. We also met my dad's sister and her family who live in Ithica and are up here for the first time. Forum was quite funny. It's all very slapstick and ridiculous. This production employed a lot of physical humor that was very well done, and the actors playing Senex, Hysterium, and Hero were all incredible. It was all very over-the-top, which works with this musical, though there were times when I wish the jokes had been a little more subtle. One thing I noticed: the sexual innuendo that runs fairly rampant in this show is much more overt in Canada than it was in the productions I've seen in the States.

THURSDAY: 18 days before

We saw a matinee performance of The Importance of Being Earnest today, which is vastly different from Forum, other than being a comedy. The humor in Earnest is very dry, the most ridiculous lines being delivered with utmost seriousness. It was all very well done, well directed and well acted. Brian Bedford, the director, also played Lady Bracknell (as is traditional in Stratford, evidently) and did it so well that had I not known beforehand, I probably never would have guessed it was a really a man wearing all that Victorian garb.

In the morning, we were taken on a tour of the costume and prop warehouse in Stratford, the third largest in the world and the largest in the continent. It was exceptionally cool to see the vastness of the place and the rows upon rows upon rows of costumes that filled it. We also saw some props from other shows, including some familiar ones like the pool table from Music Man. Then at the end, we got to try on some of the costumes. I was put in a coat which would not have looked out of place in Lion in Winter to be shown how heavy it was. It must have weighed about ten pounds or so. And under all those lights . . . yikes. The sacrifices we make for theatre . . .

We also had to check out of Forest Hotel today and go to a perfectly ordinary Comfort Inn in Ingersol, which is nearly an hour away. Sad.

FRIDAY: 17 days before

We woke up early to go on a backstage tour of the Festival Theatre, which is Stratford's thrust stage, and also the place where we would see Midsummer that evening. What impressed me most was the use of space. There's not a great deal of room backstage, and there are three or four shows being rehearsed and performed here at one time, so there has to be room for sets and props and so on. Props are hung on walls, put in spare rooms, any place they can go. We also got to see a sped up video of one of the changeovers, where the crew came in, tore up the set for one show and completely replaced it with the set for the next show, all in about ninety minutes. We also got to see a rehearsal room, which had a replica of the permanent part of the thrust stage and which was spiked in different colors for the sets of the four shows. Cassie geeked out for pretty much the whole thing.

We did some last minute shopping, returned to the hotel for a bit, and then set off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was a premiere preview performance, meaning that we were the first people to see it that weren't involved with it. The difficulty with doing Shakespeare now, and especially something as popular as Midsummer, is finding new and fresh ways to perform it. We knew it was going to be different, but we didn't know how . . . and we certainly weren't prepared for the gun battle that opened the show.

The show was done in a fifties motif. The setting was still very much ambiguous, but the clothing style was fifties. So the fairies, who are the rebels and troublemakers, were dressed in artfully ripped leather, fishnets, heavy eye make-up, wild hair . . . like rock and roll icons.

The opening set was basically the Festival stage, in its normal state. Then when we moved to the forest, what had been the balcony tipped forward and fell onto center stage, floorboards splintering and flying up as though it had actually fallen, and that fallen balcony became trees and hedges and everything else you might find in the woods. Cassie was geeking out again.

It was incredibly well done, and I really enjoyed it. The person playing Bottom was about the best Bottom I've ever seen. Helena was terrific as well.

After the show, we got to hear panel of five of the actors answer some questions, and that was enjoyable as well. The we went back to the hotel. It was very late, and we had a seven hour drive home ahead of us.

SATURDAY: 16 days before

We drove home and then attended a wedding! My sister's best friend from high school (and also my younger band sibling from high school) was marrying his girlfriend of . . . I don't know, but several years. It was by far the most informal wedding I've attended. It took place in a swamp, the reception at the MOB's house. The bride wore a simple blue dress, because she didn't look good in white, and the groom was in khakis and a nice shirt. They went up the an observation deck, exchanged vows, and it was done. As simple as could be. I think I'm going to opt for that sort of wedding when I get married. Either that or just elope.

SUNDAY: 15 days before

We're still technically on vacation, so Mom didn't have to preach and we didn't go to church. My siblings and I drove to Panera's to eat lunch with some of the cast members from the production of Godspell we were in three years ago. (I was Jesus.) We try to get together as much as possible. When we did the production, half of us were still in high school. My brother was the last one to graduate, and now several of them (myself included) have graduated from college, one of them has moved, and (I was informed during the reunion) one of them is going to be getting married. So it's been getting harder and harder to meet when all ten of us can get together, and I actually don't think it's happened for quite a while. But we got to see the girl who's moved, and a couple of people that we won't be seeing for a bit when we all take off for Bowling Green, so it was nice.

MONDAY: 14 days before

And now, I'm caught up! I'm almost done reading Deathly Hallows and, therefore, almost done with my complicated hero's journey analysis of the book. I was back to "work" today, although I'm done with private tutoring, for the most part. This week, I'm helping out with band camp at my old high school again, working with the trumpets to get them sounding better. I've also got to spend some time packing, as I leave on Friday to move into my apartment. Lots to do, lots to do . . . But on the other hand, just four short days, and I'm outta here.

Oh, I almost forgot! I'm going to be the bell choir director at the church in Bowling Green that I attended while at college. I got the call while in Canada. Apparently I got recommendations from the choir director and the former bell director. It's nice when they already know you. =) So, I'll have a job, of sorts. Not a high paying one, but something. And something I enjoy doing, moreover.

And, that's all. Hope this makes up for the week I didn't post. Until tomorrow!

-Matt