the drowned man recap - wednesday 11th june
I haven't done this since my second show but I think last night deserves a small recap, as it was my final visit and also concluded in the most unimaginably perfect way. So in true throwtherose style, snapshots of Trip Seven.
BIG SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR PHOEBE AND MR STANFORD
* Second in the queue to keep my friends company, and properly meeting and chatting with other Spoilers for the first time in all my visits. You're a great bunch, it was lovely to meet you!
* Grinning as I catch my friend Josh wide-eyed after Phoebe's prologue (his second trip, and first time exec)
* Kath McGarr's Seamstress is enchanting, though it seemed to me that she was perhaps more guarded than Annabeth's? A white mask strolls past, mask up, phone out. Kath raises her eyebrows, we share a disapproving nod.
* Frankie swoops through, and jee-jee-pers-pers creepers, I can see why Conor is such a big deal. I'm totally sold, but there are other things I need to see. Why can't there be four or five or thirty-two loops in a show?
* Marshall and Dolores' snow dance leaves me in tears. So glad I got to catch it again, six shows later.
* The magic trick in Studio 3, which I've never seen before. Clinking glasses with Conrad, then resuming seat to hear Jo's fantastic Telephone Man, followed by Delilah Jones by The McGuire Sisters. Locking gaze with Alex's Stevie, swoon.
* Half of the hoedown, then wandering down to greet Phoebe. She watches me as I peruse the files (which were all there, including Badlands Jack's!), then beckons me to her desk, explaining who every figurine is as The Pink Room plays through the stereo, before sending me off the the orgy.
* Red string room, finally. Sunflower room, FINALLY! Playing with things in the Foley Prop room, although I was actually unable to find the demon summoning book.
* Bumping into Anoushka as she follows the doctor. I can tell how big her smile is behind the mask. I squeeze her hand and then we're off our separate ways again.
* Third loop, I have an appointment with Mr Stanford. He hands me his inkblot from the doctor and I resist the urge to give Sam a little wave. Scenes I hadn't seen before - the phone call, the shredding.
* That 1:1, the question (I give the answer I thought of in a dream - "You do, Mr Stanford"), the orange, the red light. Blimey, Sam knows how to hold a stare. Then, Frankie, breaking. Dolores, breaking. Sarah's Romola has such a bright smile - my heart, breaking.
* Sprawled on the checkerboard floor before the orgy, a stuttered command - so different to James' clear, almost surgical precision in his instructions.
* The PA, Lila, and then, a rose. I trip up the stairs, Stanford helps me up but doesn't stop. "I know who you are," he whispers to me, and I have to force myself not to stop dead to hear him better. "I know why you come here. Do you like riddles?" Sam is tall. I am not. I'm on tiptoes as he squeezes my shoulders. I hurl my rose, desperately wanting to airpunch as it lands high up the murder mound.
* A slice of cake in hand, Stanford leaves me sitting on the far left of the stage. My view of the finale dance: every pair of legs, stomping, swinging, one in front of the other. It's utterly magical. Laure's Mary walks in, lies perfectly still in the pool. (So that's how they do it!)
* Stephanie's PA comes towards me with a stare that could cut holes through metal. I take her hand, and we walk calmly to a room I never knew existed at the back of the bar. Stanford smiles, offers me a seat. "If there's anything we can ever do for you, you know where we are." We toast to a wrap - the night, the show, and my personal ending, too. And then I'm alone with her, and she echoes Stanford's words, calling me by name. We toast again. I have tingles.
