Playgrounds: My Home & Mind

Basil's wig on his costume top.

These are Basil's and Sterling's pants.
Sadly, as with Vivicean's wig, you cannot see
the full glittery wonder/horror.

I love being at home. I have boxes full of ribbon and doodads, a sewing kit, miles of white fabrics, velcro, glue sticks and textural materials since embarking on this mission to do the costumes, wigs and properties for my play, Trudeau. Now, besides cooking and writing, I have become an avid sculptor working with soft materials and kilometres of thread.

Kim, the director of Trudeau and Artistic Director of Presentation House Theatre, has written to say he is open to the idea of my Rita play for next season.I have a meeting with him tomorrow. Trudeau ends mid June. I am going to propose he give me until the end of August to write a rendering before he decides.  Heaven: My many summer walks will be to ruminate on a form and structure for the Rita play.

My goal is to develop a play a year and I would love to do them at Presentation House.

Basil is Almost Done

Basil's Wig

I will finish Basil's wig today, but Allan is no longer Basil. Poor Allan broke a bone in his foot and got an infection so he has had to drop out of the show as well as the show he is currently in. So tomorrow we are having a production meeting to decide who we will cast and what we will do about the set±two problems that remain.

With Basil's wig almost done, only Sterling's wig remains to be done. Very soon, then, I will have completed all four wigs and costumes.

I have kept track of the time I have invested in the designing of this modest little theatrical experiment of mine, and so far I have put 656 hours into the set, costumes and wigs.

Easter Sunday

Yesterday was emotionally overwhelming due to two unexpected events.

First was my brunch with Jan. I ran into her on a bus. We had not seen each other for a long time—perhaps two or three years, but we have known each other for decades. Jan has been a craftsperson her whole life and supported herself as such; she makes hand-made paper in a fabulous studio downtown.

Lunch was overwhelming because it was so wonderful. It was like we had been in regular touch; we bounced off each other. The room was full of our energy. And then she announced we'd be eating something she had never made before. It was Dutch Baby, a favourite dish I call Oogen den Hague that I discovered from my beloved Ex.

But it was our increased compatibility that took things to the emotional heights I still feel. The whole time I had a "twins separated at birth" feeling with Jan. It was my first experience with her as a creator, like her, and we talked process together in a way I have with no one else.

There will be no more gaps in our wonderful friendship.

And then I met Rob. I don't talk much about Rob here. We share a complicated relationship because—OF COURSE—it is a relationship with benefits and yesterday we had a tiff and I came home aching. I had no idea how attached I was until I walked away yesterday. Now I know. We are fine, thank God.

The most powerful of yesterday's epiphanies, however, was in my conversation with Jan about anxiety. I have never talked about my anxiety with anyone before except a doctor and in my conversation with her, out of the blue, I said: "When I use marijuana, I don't feel alone."

It shook me to hear myself say that. I have absolutely no doubt that that is why I use it and I had no emotional understanding of that until yesterday. The revelation took my breath away, and when I breathed in, I thought to myself, the next thing I said was this: "I'll bet that is why I have this increasing passion for God, too, because if I bring God into my life I am not alone either."

When I started going to that counsellor who I soon quit, one thing I said to him very early on was: "I am sick of always being alone." I remember that now, but I did not realize when I said it that my use of THC (the essential medicinal ingredient of marijuana) was linked to my sense of solitude.

And now I know that I need to develop my relationships with Rob and God, not a counsellor. How apt for Easter Sunday, resurrection day.

Vivicean Wig #2 Done

Actually, this wig is unfinished but I may leave it like this. I have 2 birds and a nest to put on her head, and my original design called for a different (ridiculous) element, but I like it like this. I may add a silly element later, but the dingle dangles at the temple seems to me to be enough.

I had planned to use rolled interfacing for the hair coils on this wig. You can see the idea in the previous post and in the poster of Vivicean in the column to the right. But last night, out of the blue, inspiration hit: Roll up some batting in the glittery ribbon I saw in the dollar store.

The photos do not do the wig justice. It is very pearlescent in appearance and it is very glittery. In stage lighting, it will be stunning I think.

Wigs Two and Three: Vivicean #2 and Basil.

Fingers ache and the thumb on my right hand wants a divorce. I cannot understand why my thumbs hurt so much from sewing, but they do.

I am working on wigs #2 and #3 at the same time so that my hands get a rest. In the photo of Vivicean's wig for her second scene (with the pearls), you can see some terribly unimpressive cord sewn onto the crown. That took three conscientious days of sewing and that is why everything hurts. The cord is sewn onto a wire grid.

I am also working on the pants Allan will wear as both Basil and Sterling. They were very bland compared to the tops, so today I started tarting them up and I am really pleased with the way they are going.

Basil, on the left, is at the very beginning stage.
Vivicean #2 at this stage, is two days in.

Vivcean #2 after three days. What you cannot
see is the cording on the back. The cording
was brutal work as far as sewing goes.

New Suit: No Course

I am very happy to be an early riser, particularly in Spring as sunrise, with its attendant birdsong, moves earlier and earlier in the day. I fell in love with birdsong when I was very young—less than four years old—and quarantined due to Scarlet Fever. I remember that feeling of imprisonment and the sense of escape I felt when hearing the robins’ morning song.

Yesterday I bought my first suit. I will wear it at my party and on stage for Trudeau. I absolutely love the suit we ordered made. Yes, I bought a custom-made suit. It is grey, with hints of blue (which is perfect given the tones of my Ermenegildo Zegna shirts), and I got elegant blue suede shoes to wear with it.

And GOOD NEWS! I won’t know for sure until Tuesday, but I believe the course I am supposed to teach April 23-27 in Penticton will be cancelled. They pay was good, but having to lecture for six hours a day, four days in a row, is brutal. It would have been very hard on my voice.

Vivicean's Wig for Her First Scene

It took two days and, as usual, there was a learning curve, pricked and burned fingers and blood stains, but I am done one wig and I am on schedule. This is not the way I expected to make the wig, and there may be problems, but I am more than happy to add ribbons as chins straps. In fact, I love the idea. I just cannot sew them on myself without someone to hold the wig while I do it. I won't add them unless I must.

I am beyond happy with this wig and loved making it. Friend, Christine, lent me incredibly handy tools: long T-pins and a swivel clamp that the styrofoam heads can be stuck onto for easy turning and bending. How I love and admire craftsmen and their tools.