The Cadi Corner: Unnecessary Blog
Crabfest 11 is over folks. There was seafood, there was corn hole, and there was beer. Oh yes, there was beer. As always I was the pinnacle of moderation and good behavior. As for everyone else I work with, well all I can say is...have you seen Unnecessary Farce yet? Seriously, we were laughing so hard in the rehearsal hall I thought I was going to pee my pants or in the very least I thought my asthma was going to come back. Alas, my pants are as dry as a cracker and my inhaler stayed buried in the bottom of my makeup case. But enough of how funny the play is. This blog is about the backstage folk so let me tell you about woes of building this set.
As always Fouchard has designed a beautiful set so you would never think to look at it that it is hated, NAY, loathed by a one Ms. Liz Brietling. Ms. Brietling is our resident paint charge and a fellow Louisianan so that girl is a few cards short of a deck anyway but this wallpapering business just about put her over the edge. You may be wondering what on earth is so complicated about wallpapering. Well, friends, I was wondering that too! So I asked Liz,
“What’s the big deal? Isn’t it just like gift wrapping your walls?”
She didn’t give me a totally straight answer but her face flushed red, her lips curled away from her teeth and she went a little cross eyed. I backed away slowly and decided to revisit the subject a little later. Turns out wallpapering, especially with graphic patterns and bold colors gets a little tedious and dizzying. I am also told that corners are (expletive) and whoever the psychotic interior decorator is that invented the stuff can go (expletives).
In addition to the pains of wallpapering, our scenic staff is still busy repairing all the inevitable damage inflicted by our band of physical comedians. We actually had to go so far as to install metal plates across the doors so that we weren’t repairing holes everyday. The baseboards also take a good beating but these can be repaired with a few strokes of paint. But after Wallpapergate ’10 I take a deep breath before finding Liz and cautiously whispering ”paint note”.
Now if I’ve turned you off of the show with these war stories here are some testimonials to get you back on the chuckle train. Here is what Alex Webb (of The Coward and Glory fame) heard leaving the theatre the other night:
“I laughed so hard my face hurts”
“Funniest show I’ve ever seen here”
“I only fell asleep twice”
Now that should go on a billboard. See you at the playhouse!
