I don’t why I have always had such difficulties with printers. Maybe writers and the printers we depend upon always have an uneasy relationship. When my old printer died (it was an HP and owed me nothing) I was actually quite excited to get a new one. Well, the one I got on sale at London Drugs proved to be a nightmare. I said on Facebook I would have been happy to chuck the thing off my balcony. But I took it all back to London Drugs and came away with a Lexmark that now seems to be working just fine, so I guess I survived another round of printer wars.
The young lady who looked after me at London Drugs is someone I’ve noticed for a few years now, mostly because of the fact that she smokes a pipe, which you don’t see too often these days, especially a young woman. Turns out she’s an ACAD grad in design, working at LD to pay the bills while she establishes herself as a designer. So I not only got my printer fixed, but I feel like I made a new friend.
Now, back to the play that I was supposed to be writing. This search for a new printer was a good diversion, but time to get back to work . . .
I have been out of town for the last couple of summers and had no idea how much the little Calgary Fringe has grown. They’ve closed off 9th Ave SE from 12th Street SE to 15th Street (I think) so parking can be a bit hairy. Once you’re into the Fringe compound as it were, it can feel a bit at times like the same old same old, with the same suspects in attendance as at the Lilac Festival and the Salsa Festival. You know, the bubble makers and the Elephant Ears, it all gets a little old in a hurry. Fortunately at the Fringe, there is theatre to see. On Saturday afternoon I went to Venue 1008 to see my friend Stuart Bentley and his fellow actor Mike Johnson perform David Mamet’s The Duck Variations. It’s always good to see an early Mamet play, and the boys did a good job of it for a packed audience. There’s lots of worthwhile productions to see here. Some are on the circuit, on their way to Edmonton next week, some are local one-offs.
A nice little moment after the play today in the mini-beer garden at 1008. A lady asked Stuart if he had also directed the play. Stuart said he hadn’t, and that in fact it had been directed by Richard Michelle-Pentelbury, who had actually won an award for his troubles. She considered this and then asked him, “Did you write the play?” He did not take credit for writing it. He told her David Mamet had written the play, but that didn’t resonate for her at all.
It reminded me of the time when I was playwright in residence at Alberta Theatre Projects. We had just seen Tony Kushner’s Angels in America when an elderly patron, on being told what I did at the theatre, asked me, “Do you write all the plays?” I only took credit for the plays of Stephen Massicotte, Michael O’Brien and myself.
The beauty of the Fringe is the plays are short and the opportunities to drink beer are many. It runs until next Saturday.
You can find out more at http://www.calgaryfringe.ca
eugene stickland 