But now that the can has been opened... a request for more worms. (or worm hints. or even pieces of worm, really.)
Honestly, getting into it is like wrestling the proverbial pig. You just end up dirty and the pig likes it.
Let’s just leave it at this; I think Kat has always been criminally underused by that place, and she is really, really comfortable spinning yarns for hours at a time out of thin air. She’s the perfect Woman in Bar/Heath hostess without even trying, and she can do other things too.. I’m a big fan, and always have been since the day she wandered over in Gallow Green and kept me entertained for 45 minutes telling me bullshit stories about her cousin Violet. :)
I sadly haven't been able to see the play in over a year. Who does Kat Freeman play in the show?
I don’t know if you knew this or not, Anon, but you just popped the top on a can of worms, and I’m going to try to force most of them back inside the can and just answer the question.
As far as I know, Kat is only…hmm, how to say this without spoiling…she is caring for patients in a more private, one-to-one setting via a trip that requires an elevator ride. And not very often. In fact I don’t actually know if she’s doing it currently.
And that is a crime, and a waste, both of her and of the space she too-infrequently inhabits.
I’ll just stop talking now. Because I have strong opinions on wasting/losing someone that good at connecting with people.
I'm never going to get around to a "proper" recap of my birthday celebration, at least not one that fits the template! :) So here are some impressions and images.
- Gallow Green was a whirlwind of excitement and emotion. Derek, Elizabeth and Adela (sp?) were engaging and charming, and Adela just about broke my heart. I can't really say more than that.
- I also can't say enough about Annabella. Or rather Alba, who took time out of her actual life well beyond the confines of this art to make my day special. It started in the Green and blossomed from there. She let me plant a sunflower in one of the boxes. That came back to us later. She also gave me a gift...we'd been looking for holy basil for about two months with no success. She solved that problem for me.
Getting that home on the train was fun. ;)
- It was great fun spending the few minutes I was able to spend with dreamingofmanderley and her companion. I really appreciate the kindness and company of some of you tumblr folk. Y'all are good people.
- Glamis ambushing me as I exited a door and dragging me halfway around the garden with this story about how we "HAVE TO PLANT THESE RIGHT AWAY WE'RE LATE COME ON" was brilliant. I was led to a lovely present hidden in one of the planter boxes then rushed downstairs. I wanted to spend more time up there, but there's just never enough before the trains start arriving....
- Inside was was whirlwind, as I noticed straight off that certain people were not in the bar. When I saw Violet was absent, I wondered...but here's the thing: they called the twos right at the exact moment the first bottle of Prosecco made its intentions to leave my body known! Elevator ride was excruciating. I stepped out on 4 and made a beeline for the rep bar which was empty. I'm thinking I have time to go to two and use the bathroom in the lobby. I slip out the back side of the rep bar and find that door to two is LOCKED IN THAT STAIRWELL OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME I HAVE TO PEE PEOPLE.
Dash back up. Bar is still empty. Screw it I'm'a go for a run. Down the street, down the stairs and mission accomplished. Made it back in time to see what I'd hoped: Elizabeth as a batshit crazy, wholly mad Hecate. Take this to the porter. Yes Ma'am!. Caught the porter in the office. Take this to her. Yes sir, I accept your trust in me. FIND MY RING! Okay lady, sheesh. I'll look for your damn ring you scary, scary woman. My God I love this show.
- Ended up on five because I like trees. Is that...? Yes, it's Careena as Matron Lang. Very interesting from top to bottom. She scurries. She's so small, both in stature and in persona. Careena's Matron is frightened and mousy and so elusive, like smoke. Tormented by something. Or someone. I didn't think I had a snowball's chance in Hell of getting in the hut because there was a small wall of 1:1 hunters in front of me. Matron scurried past me into the hut and when the door opened, she locked onto me. The experience inside the hut was radically different than any other I've had or read. She was frightened. The story and the sounds scared her more than me, it seemed, and by the end I was feeling like my only job in this world was to protect her. For a fleeting moment I thought "Well I'll just be Rory Williams for her and stand guard outside this hut for the rest of time."
The Last Centurion. That's me. Guarding a woman unjustly accused of witchery.
-Got to see Isadora's Shaw in my favorite window!
- Manderley. Don't forget to drink water. Oh hello Annabella. the next hour of my life is planned for me, explained to me and blessed. The potion! She kept giving me more things to put in. We made the potions in complete silence, but I just wanted to say "Annabella nothing else will fit!" But it did. She put more, and more, and more, and the potion accepted it all. "I've never put so much in one potion." I felt like that had more than one level of meaning.
- Back into the show, walking with dreamingofmanderley. She sees Benjamin Thys coming down a hallway and WHAM. U-turn, and she just bailed on my ass! Thys has a power.
- It ends, and we pile into the Manderley, where they'd set up a reserved table for us earlier. It took time to find everyone, but we gathered a list of kick-ass tumblr folk. Dreamingofmanderley, akajakeedwardmarks, washthisblood, and fleepnomore and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone but by now I was into the second bottle of Prosecco.
-Calloway. Nature Boy. Basically Calloway in general, but that in specific. Getting to see him sing twice in one night was perfect.
- The rest of the night was a whirlwind of cast & tumblr folk wishing me a happy birthday, a swell as a gift exchange. I'd been planning something for Elizabeth for ages, and with the help of freegina's incredible artwork it became a reality:
The look on her face! Amazing.
Austin has been someone that really makes a show if you spend time with him, so I wanted to say thank you to him as well. During a previous conversation he told me "They call them 'Boy Witch Eyes." And they are. So...he got a custom aromatherapy potion designed for him with something added:
AND THEN THEY GAVE ME THIS OH MY WHAT THE I CAN'T EVEN PROCESS THIS RIGHT NOW.
It was amazing. Natalie, Joe, Chelsea, Isadora, Zach, Alba, Elizabeth, Careena, Marla, Eric, Felix...the guy at coat check who's name I forgot because I'm a goddamned tool when it comes to remembering a name...Darkness, Mallory's Baby Jane, Good Lord there's no way I can thank everyone who went out of their way to make my night special. Everyone who works in the garden and the Manderley bar, you are all wonderful and patient and kind and I love you all.
- How'd I forget this: watching Glamis stumble and ramble at Marla while Marla laughed and grinned the entire time was frigging amazing. Marla Phelan, you kick a lot of ass, girl. Thank you for the few stolen moments inside the hotel. I keep each and every one.
- I just have to say that Alba Albanese is an all-star, along with Elizabeth Romanski and Careena Melia. You three. YOU THREE! For me, the McKittrick Trinity. If I could paint, I'd paint the three of you on the door. Or some door, becaus ethey'd get mad at me if I painted over what's there now. The wall. I'll paint you on the wall!
So we're closing the place down and Alba is about dragging us back up to the garden. We have to see something. Okay!
About ten minutes after I planted my sunflower, and before she went downstairs to prepare, Annabella went to water the sunflower. Ten minutes after it was planted. Maybe fifteen. In those few minutes, some little spider set up shop:
Hard to see it, but it was a full web. Concentric circles, fully created, not just a few strands. Annabella says it means something, information for another time. The next day: it was gone. I received a telegram letting me know that also has some meaning. Can't wait to find out what my little transient spider was trying to tell me.
In summary: Awesome. Magical. A good time was had by all. I'm not sure I've ever hugged so many people in one night. Tumblr folk is good people. The staff at this show is incredible, and the cast is ridiculously incredibly outrageously wonderful and generous and giving and may they all have everything they ever dream of.
I may be right, I may be wrong,
But I'm perfectly willing to swear
That when you turned and smiled at me,
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.
