The Post Show Blues


It is a certain as day follows night; when you do a live theatre show, there is a mourning period once it has come to an end. Sure, while you are in the throws of 21 exhausting performances, there are a million details to be dealt with, worries over whether you might get sick, worries over whether your voice might get fatigued or fail you, even worries over seats sold, weather and parking not to mention the individual conflicts of your fellow actors you have to contend with, placate and resolve. All of these swirl in the tornado of activity that is “The Show”. Then, in an instant… it’s all over. Done.  Finito.

This last show, Sentimental Journey – a 1940s Radio Show was most definitely my baby. I wrote it back in 1998 in Stratford Connecticut and this (the third time around), I directed, co-produced and performed in it along with 6 other very fine actors here in Kelowna. The show was fast-paced and funny with period-authentic skits, songs from the era and fourteen jingles that I wrote for local businesses. The jingle component was unique and one of the most financially lucrative parts of the show, bringing in almost $4,000 in corporate sponsorship dollars before we had even opened. The show was well attended and set a record for the 65 year old theatre club for money made in that theatre space.

Then, as is so common with many performers comes the question “So, what are you going to do NOW?” That’s a great question and I have many ideas currently percolating – ranging from a Part2 of the last musical to a serious drama to a 1-woman show or a cabaret act. I have also been contacted by other theatre groups asking about producing Sentimental Journey themselves

Finding excitement in one’s day-to-day life after a very large event has come and gone is challenging and there most definitely is a period of ‘post-partum depression’ once the curtain has gone down for the last time. Sure, it’s nice to have my evenings and weekends free again, but this enjoyment of freedom is short lived as very often, nothing that I decide to do with my Saturday night can compare to the rush of performance. The point is to persist and find balance and entertain myself. As Susan Cooper, in Silver on the Tree said:  “All life is theatre,' he said. 'We are all actors, you and I, in a play which nobody wrote and which nobody will see. We have no audience but ourselves....”