Sunday, June 24, 2007

Thoughts on Ireland after 2 weeks, from Deb

From Deb:

I have come to accept that if one travels to Ireland in June, one must expect to be wet. All the time. No, strike that. God laughs and allows periods of mere grey in which your clothes dry out (almost), and you walk thru the streets feeling lucky and happy to be alive. And then it rains. RAINS. Sideways and vertically. Feet squish due to sodden shoes. Water soaks up your pants hems to knees. Hair slicks to your head. You are amazed that thru it all, you are sweating and your glasses fog up due to the humidity. Paper shopping bags disintegrate and dump your treasure in puddles. Your umbrella bends inside out in the wind, and the fabric tears off the frame, leaving a spider skeleton of flimsy imported-from-China wires. You wonder how you could have ever thought that an umbrella would be enough protection from the rain, not a rubber suit. You look at other tourists from America, students in their flip flops, middle agers in their golf jackets with zip-on hoods, drenched to the bone with no umbrellas and wonder – what were they thinking?? I wonder if any of them live in Seattle and are used to this? David describes this weather as "torturous". Makes him want to read Sylvia Plath and open a vein.

I love Ireland. The people are so wonderfully friendly; there are great places to see and things to do. The culture is rich and the adventures are many. But I think I am growing webs between my toes...

Had another day of props/costume shopping with David. Went to the 2 Euro store (our equivalent, although not monetarily, of the Dollar store) and bought things like paint, brushes, hair clips as cheap as we can. We can't find blankets ANYWHERE! They all use duvets and covers, mucho euros. And we need 3 small ones for show. So we went to the good folks at Murphy Sheehey fabric shop, where we've been about 4 times now for other needs, and bought the remains of a moth eaten bolt of fabulous hounds tooth checked wool at a discount to make our own. I bought the 3rd pair of boots to try for Ashlea - a used pair of Eastern European combat boots that I pray will fit her. Lots of interesting conversion tables consulted between the clerk and myself to determine her size in Communist codes. Shop keepers here are all so nice - let you return things. Antique dealers here rent to theatre companies and films on a regular basis, and seem happy to do it. Folks all say thank you many times over, and are glad to put some show fliers on their counter. Even the semi-porn JOKE SHOP where we found stage blood and liquid latex right next to the fake penises!!

We are almost on first name basis with folks at Lonegan's hardware store. Been to the charity shops on almost a daily basis - and we know certain parts of town quite well now. It's fun to have a mission, but we are really ready to get into Smock Alley and get this sucker mounted! Know we will have more problems to solve this coming week.

1 comment:

Theresa said...

I admire your attitude facing such a difficult task. Creativity comes in many ways...Good luck. Can't wait to see the production - in Milwaukee, of course.