My Time at Temple Studios, Part 20

Show #20

Thursday, May 15: 7 pm

I never intended to return to Temple Studios so soon. I figured I'd make my way back sometime toward the end of June, roughly bisecting the time between my March trip and what I presumed would be the end of the run in September. When the actual closing date of July 6 was announced, however, I had to do some emergency rescheduling, and booked this trip to, again, roughly bisect the time between my March trip and the end of the run, which I will of course be returning for. Perhaps it's all for the best – what with all of the exciting cast shuffling since my last trip, I was getting pretty antsy waiting for June to roll around.

Things got off to a bit of a rough start for me – a delay in my flight meant that I landed only a few hours before I got into the queue, with no time to pick up tickets at the NT or rest and recover. Then in said queue, and with only five minutes to go, I tore my right contact lens, meaning I would have to spend the show half-blind. Or half-blurred, at any rate. Not exactly the condition I wanted to be in for my triumphant (hah!) return, but hey – you play the hand you're dealt. As soon as I walked through those big red shutters, I found myself caring very little about these issues.

My plan was always to start with Romola. She's one of my favorites, and I had largely done without her during my previous trip. For once, I was unconcerned about who would be playing her – all of the currently active versions were on my to-do list. In this case, it turned out to be Sarah Sweeney. My experience with her to this point was pretty limited – one night as Phoebe, and a few lift intros (since I never spend time in Studio 3 during the show). I liked what little I had seen, though, so I was excited to see what she could do out in the show proper.

The last time I tried to catch Romola right out of the lift was at Show 10, way back in December. At that show, I tried to follow her path through the likely locations (trailer park, Horse and Stars, Grocery), only to find, after cycling through them twice, that she had somehow bypassed me entirely and made her way to the grocery without passing me. This time, I figured I would go the opposite way – run backwards through her journey, and intercept her somewhere along the way. So I passed by the grocery – no sign of her. Took the tunnel around into the Horse and Stars – no sign of her. Into the trailer park – no sign of her. So much for that plan. I continued making my full loop back into town, and what did I find? Romola, in the grocery, mid-scene with the grocer (Monsur Ali), How did she get there? I'll never know (actually, I do know – see show #25, coming soon).

There was enough of a crowd already in there that I wasn't able to make it inside, so I sadly only caught bits of the scene. Oddly enough though, once she left the shop and headed for the Studios, I was the only one that went with her. Throughout the whole time in the office, only three other white masks came in, and two of them left almost immediately. It was in here that I first started to get a feeling for what Sarah's Romola is like. She seems to be much less of a complete person than the others I've seen. All of them are obviously missing a part of themselves, but in most cases it's just the memory, while with Sarah, it seems more like she doesn't quite think and process correctly. It puts me in mind of the older conception of Romola, as revealed by the drafting room file, as a literal automaton (in the vein of Olympia from The Sandman). When I first read that, I knew the idea must have been abandoned along the way – it just didn't fit with what I was seeing. With Sarah's version, however, it seems very plausible.

Another thing she did in the office, which I loved, was the way she took a child-like glee in some of what she found there, particularly zipping around the room on the rolly chairs and spinning herself in circles. It's the sort of thing I previously mentioned liking in Sonya Cullingford's take on the roll – little bits of joy to contrast the doom and gloom – but to an even greater degree. On a side note, once she finally got down to typing, she was really churning out quite the tome – but I sadly never got the chance to see what it was, as she left it in the typewriter instead of passing it on to the nearby white masks (or white mask singular, in this case). I guess I could have lingered to check it out, but we all know how I am about following people. Probably just the grandmother's story or something like that anyway.

Moving on, deeper into the studio, we came across James Traherne's deceptively friendly Doctor, who I hadn't seen for a while but always enjoy. He has a way of seeming so nice, but making your skin crawl at the same time. When he cornered Romola by her shrine on the way down, he was also the first person I've heard actually speak the Doctor's name (Justus Leibig) aloud in the show, even if he did mispronounce it (he said Lee-big, rather than Lie-big).

Next up was the Stanford (Sam Booth) scene. Even though it seems like Sam has been slowly leeching the empathy and warmth out of it in favor of evil and manipulation in the months since I first saw the scene, it still feels very different from his interactions with every other character in the show. As for Romola, this scene was where I really took notice of just how well Sarah was selling the timid, fragile side of the character – especially impressive considering how tall she is. She was completely overwhelmed by Stanford.

The scene ended with another bit of a surprise change – although I'm not sure if this is a case of something changing, or a case of “Brian, you idiot, you just failed dialogue comprehension 101.” One of the last things Stanford says to Romola is “you put all humanity to shame.” I've always taken that to be a simple statement of fact – he believes she is something special. It played well into all of my early Stanford theories. This time, though, it went a little something like this: “Put them all to shame. You put all humanity to shame.”

My god. It's an imperative. He's basically saying “go get 'em, tiger!” That. . . has an effect on the landscape.

We returned to the first floor and had another run-in with the Doctor, who did not get Romola to “autograph” the petite plan application. Amusingly, he signposted this fact, commenting that he wanted to get her autograph, but forgot his pen. Then it was into Studio 5, where I saw the new Seamstress (Annabeth Berkeley) for the first time. She is definitely the loudest, perkiest Seamstress I've seen, with a lot more southern flavor than the others.  Definitely want to see more of her.

Then came the scene with Conrad (the newly moustached Adam Burton). In another interesting bit of acting that made Romola feel less like a person and more under external control, when she went to get the keys from behind the picture, she kept her arms frozen in position from massaging Conrad's shoulders, looking kind of like a classic/stereotypical hypnotized person. All of the Romolas play that bit as if they're somewhat mesmerized, but Sarah really brought that aspect to the fore.

Soon Romola was made-up for her car crash and dosed (surprisingly quickly and roughly) by the Doctor, and headed out into town. By this time, we had a pretty good crowd. I mean, of course we did – it was nearly 1:1 time. We burst out into the town, and it dawned on me that the soundtrack for Romola's journey to the motel was Walking in the Sand. No wonder I get so emotionally keyed up right there. Not far from the door into town, Romola fell to the ground and wrote in the last bit of her notebook. Then she looked up and locked eyes with a girl who had been with us since around the Stanford scene. Looks like I'm going to be left out on this one. But then she turned and locked eyes with me for a moment. Looks like I'm in.

Then she ran off. Hmm. Surprise, surprise. She made it almost to the motel and then stopped, surrounded by a throng of masks. She turned back and caught my eye again, then approached, parting the crowd. “Help me?” she asked. “Will you help me?”

Don't have to ask me twice. Even though I guess she did anyway.

After the 1:1 concluded, she brought me to the car. I'd done this bit twice previously, and all three of my experiences have been very different. Katie Mcguinness slowly fell asleep in the car, rousing herself and drifting off again repeatedly until finally, there was no more rousing to be done. Miranda Mac Letten died suddenly, before any sort of realization could sink in. Sarah also met her end quickly, but managed a brief moment of realization before it happened, turning to me with pleading eyes just before her collapse and whispering “it's a trap.” This is definitely my favorite version, as that final moment of realization made it much more painful. It was effective enough that it kept the scene from being ruined by an overzealous white mask who didn't think that watching through the window was enough, and actually had to stick her head into the car right behind Romola, holding her face just inches behind the head. Had Romola leaned back at any point, it would have been disastrous.

That same white mask also decided that, as long as Romola is dead, she may as well reach down between her legs and swipe her purse. Fortunately, after rummaging through it for a few minutes, she decided to return it. But still. Damn vulture, show some respect for the dead.

Eventually she woke up and the loop began anew. I followed her into the woods – or, I should say, almost into the woods. She caught a glimpse of Miguel (Georges Hann) up ahead and stopped short, then turned back to hide amongst the laundry behind the motel, a course that took her straight through me. This was actually about the fourth time during the loop I had managed to (unintentionally, I swear) position myself exactly in her way, and even I was getting frustrated with myself. Or maybe it's just something to do with Sarah Sweeney – after all, I had managed to do the exact same thing in the lift with her Exec (see show #16).

Anyway.

While she was hiding, I glimpsed one of those moments that I wish I could have taken a picture of. The way the shadows fell across her face looked like bruises and massive trails of running mascara, enhancing her already bloody and bruised (with makeup) face. She was grotesque – completely destroyed – but also beautiful, all at the same time. One of the most striking images I've seen in the show, and it was probably just serendipitous positioning – an inch or two in either direction and the effect would be lost.

Thinking Miguel was gone, she emerged into the woods – but there he was, sneaking and circling. Last time I saw this scene it was more of a dance, with the both of them swinging around the trees in concert. This was very different – Romola was somewhat stationary, while Miguel looped around her in wide circles, disappearing into the dark and reappearing in the light. It was very difficult to keep track of him – he just kept popping up somewhere else. The overall effect was almost like a horror movie. Very effective. Eventually he caught her and put her briefly to sleep, dropping a note that said “don't close your eyes” on to her lap.

When she awoke, she stumbled over to Dwayne's trailer, where she found two people already inside. She threw them out, then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me in for the other 1:1. Incidentally, while this one occurs prior to the other in the loop, I actually found it very effective to experience it afterward. It almost felt like she recognized me/remembered me from the motel earlier, rather than just from some nebulous point in the past.

After the 1:1, she ejected me from the trailer and remained inside for a moment. I decided to explore for a bit while I waited, and settled on her trailer as the best option. I stood just inside the doorway, reading a letter from her family in some small town that I can't remember, when I felt a rush of air behind me. I turned to see Miguel, having impossibly slipped past me, settling in to sleep on her bed. Ah-ha – uncharted territory. This is when the Badlands Jack eviction scene is supposed to happen – but now that there's no Jack, I was going to see something new.

Or new-ish, anyway. Romola emerged from Dwayne's trailer and immediately joined us. She laid down next to Miguel and ran through the text of the 1:1 I'd just had, only with him in my place. It actually played like a different scene, though, not just because of the different blocking, but also because of how she played it emotionally – much warmer and more loving, less sad. Still felt a little weird to basically see the same thing twice in a row, but it worked.

This marked, essentially, the end of my Romola loop. There was a bit more – she cleaned herself up, started a new notebook page, and asked the Barman (Ygal Tsur) how to get to Temple Studios. But I decided against sticking with the crowd and trying to get a space inside the Grocery to completely finish out my loop. It felt complete. So when she left the Horse and Stars, I peeled off from the others and headed for the studio gates.

My plan, originally, had been to move on to the Doctor for my middle loop. Or middle half-loop, anyway, as I had somewhere specific I wanted to be by the time the next reset rolled around. I realized the problem with this during my Romola loop – the particular portion of the Doctor's loop that I would catch is the exact same portion that overlaps heavily with hers. It would be mostly (70%? More?) repeats. I still wanted to do a loop with Traherne's Doctor, but I would just have to wait and hope I would have another opportunity (Spoiler: I didn't. Oh, well).

Instead, I decided to check in on one of the newer cast members, Pascale Burgess as Alice. I found her mid-way through “That's an arm” in Studio 5, and watched from a distance. My snap judgement? Solid, but she's not going to make me forget Emily Mytton. Not that I could really tell much from where I was standing – but at least her voice projected well. One of the fringe benefits of not trying to push my way to the front, though, was that I was well-positioned to follow her and Claude (Omar Gordon) out of the room – for all the good it did me, sicne the first thing they both did upon arriving in the basement was disappear into the changing rooms. With a couple of minutes of downtime, I circled through some of the back rooms of the basement, which I was largely unfamiliar with, then made my way back to my usual spot in the Masonic Temple for the initiation. It felt a little different than I remembered – a little looser, perhaps, with the movements and choreography not as crisp – but it was also more aggressive. The moment that best typifies this is Stanford's miming of slitting Frankie's throat – it used to be a clear series of movements – put the finger up, pause, run it across his throat, pause, drag him away. This time it all flowed together and was really a bit more frightening, a little less of a performance. Also, this new Frankie (Daniel Whiley)? Seems like a good fit. He comes across as really, really young – a kid, really, surrounded by all of these adults.

After it was over, I followed Alice out and she brought me in for her 1:1. For those of you who have had it, all I will say is that they seem to have eliminated the button at the top of the zipper. Either that or I just failed to find it and completely embarrassed myself. In the end, she remained in the room after ejecting me, so I wandered over to the back room of the Temple and poked around until she emerged for the rolling desk dance. I have to confess, this is a scene that's lost some of it's luster for me. I'm not sure why – it used to be one of my favorites – but now it just doesn't excite me like it used to. Maybe I've just seen it too many times. Of course, one of the upsides of seeing it so many times is that I know how to watch it. There are two really good vantage points – between two pairs of pillars that stand close together. Plant yourself in there, and you'll be right near a lot of the action, but you'll never get run over by the desk. The rest of the people in there were not aware of this trick, and I was treated to an ongoing display of white masks leaping out of the way as the desk swung their direction.

Since I was following Alice, I remained in the room after Stanford left for the first time since. . . wow, since my first batch of shows in September. I had forgotten how much that dance took out of her, as she seemed on the verge of collapse, barely able to return the desk to its starting position. She perked up quickly enough, though, and was perfectly able to manage a quick jaunt through the hallways to retrieve Stanford's wheelchair. We brought it back to the Temple and then. . . orgy time. This was actually a very exciting moment for me, because suddenly I was faced a vast array of newness. I saw Stephanie Nightingale's PA for the first time – she's absolutely tiny, but has a very commanding presence. There's a new Dolores, Bryony Perkins – she looks good, real movie star quality, but so, so young. Kirsty Arnold (Andrea) has a very fetching new haircut! And then there's a familiar face in a new role, Omar's Claude. I had seen a bit of him earlier, but this was my first good look – it was definitely weird to see him all cleaned up.

Come the end of the orgy, it was time for me to take my leave. As I mentioned before, I had somewhere to be – I was going to spend the rest of the night with Faye (Sonya Cullingford). Of course. Now, you may be asking yourself why I scheduled things like this, rather than just doing a loop with her as soon as I finished up with Romola. The reason is that I've come to an important conclusion, and that conclusion is that I never want to follow Faye for anything other than a third loop. I just don't like the idea of the story petering out as she goes to bed sad. But the third loop, with the alternate happy ending. . . that's a bit of magic right there. That's something I can get behind.

I found Faye just heading into the Horse and Stars for her song, so I took off and explored the town for a couple of minutes – had to save that scene for the end of the loop. This mostly involved me poking around the motel office until I suddenly realized Romola and her chosen white mask were making a beeline for the door, and I needed to skedaddle before I ruined everything.

I returned to Faye just as her song was ending and Harry (Edward Halsted) was trying (and failing) to cheer her up. Although I've seen Sonya's Faye before on multiple occasions, Edward's Harry was new to me. He's different from the others – a little older, seems a little more crotchety. I'm not entirely sure, but I think he may be putting on a little bit of a Burgess Meredith voice. The biggest difference, though, is that his Harry feels more like a stage performance, where as the others I've seen are more film-like. That is to say, they're pitched to a closer audience, while he seems to be playing out a bit more broadly. Totally legitimate direction to take it, but I have to admit, not really my preference.

One thing I was very interested in was the differences between Sonya's Faye and Katie Lusby's Faye, who I last followed in show #16. While I was writing that show up, I spent a lot of time thinking about what made Katie's Faye distinct from Sonya's, and I was curious to see how well those impressions held up while revisiting the other side of the equation. Turns out: they held up pretty well. Sonya's Faye feels older than Katie's, certainly much more self-aware and more openly sexual. Case in point for that last comment – I was watching during the Dwayne/Faye/Mary number to see if Sonya would duplicate that moment where she popped the top button of her shirt before trying to get Dwayne's attention. Somewhere toward the end of the dance, I finally realized that she couldn't do it, because the shirt wasn't buttoned at all- instead, she had tied it off, leaving a bare midriff. Her interactions with Harry in the motel room also felt a little more like conversations between equals - doubly surprising, given that the last time I saw Katie's Faye, she was paired with a Harry who was her brother, not her father..

On the way into the studios, I caught another little bit of amusing new business – the Gatekeeper (Paul O'Shea) shining his light on Faye's chest rather than her photo when checking her credentials, causing her to angrily cover up. New material or something I just never noticed before? Beats me. This, of course, led into the Codfish Ball audition, which I always enjoy. Again, the power differential here is so different from how it is with Katie's Faye. When Sonya's Faye decides to take charge, she really takes charge, if only temporarily. There's a certain bit of glee in watching her stomp around Claude's head after she throws him to the ground.

Coming out of the audition, I started to notice just how tired I was. Thirty-two hours since I had last been in a bed will take it out of you. But there was no way I was going to let that get me down. After all, it was the last loop. Besides, after a brief stop-over in the Horse and Stars, a little something special I like to call, “Bulldog,” was going to happen. And so it did. As usual, there's not much to say about it that I haven't already said, but I do want to mention one extra touch – Faye and the Drugstore Girl (Lucia Chocarro) decided to bring a teddy bear with them over to the kitchen cupboard, making it an equal partner in their singing, head-dancing routine over there. Very cute, as were Faye's expressions every time she looked over at the bear.

Not long after, we were outside in the street, watching Dwayne (Oliver Hornsby-Sayer) and Mary (Kate Jackson) dance on the car. Faye winced at every major hit in the choreography, a nice touch. Then we were in the motel and it was time for the booze to come out. In an interesting contrast to how I've described her thus far, Faye seemed really unused to drinking like that – she kind of gagged, and coughed, and generally seemed unhappy with it. . . but kept drinking because she's Just. That. Upset. Then we headed out to Dwayne's trailer for her dance in the doorway. Prior to my last loop with Katie's Faye, this was not a scene I ever thought much about – it was just there, a moment in between plot points. Filler. But during that loop, I found it completely compelling and fascinating, so I was excited to revisit it and see how differently Sonya performed it – the answer is, completely differently. The choreography was the same (or so I thought. . .see show #21 for more), but the style and the tone was a full 180 from what I had seen before. Where Katie's dance was all about the short, twitchy, aggressive movements, Sonya's was smooth, graceful, and flowing. If I had to pick one word to describe it. . . dreamy, I think. Katie's dance was all about her anger and pain. Sonya's dance was about what could have been. . . until the harsh turn at the end, reminding us that it's a fantasy. Faye was also more openly flirtatious with Andy (James Finnemore), whereas Katie's version had seemed a little more uncomfortable with him.

Next up was a trip to the desert to confront Dwayne. This was the point where I was really starting to fade. . . I almost wondered if I was going to make it through the rest of the show (sheesh. . . all twenty minutes of it). I wound up hanging back a bit and not really getting a good look at the desert dance, sadly, but on the way out, I did pick up on yet another fascinating difference between the performances. Here, Faye ran off, laughing, and singing “Catalina La O” in a taunting fashion. When I saw Katie play the part, she only made it a few steps before stopping to throw out a venomous “Screw you, Dwayne Shoop.” One kept the strategic high ground, running off and pretending like she hadn't a care in the world. The other let her anger get the better of her and sabotaged her whole strategy, letting Dwayne know that it was all about him. One comes from a place of understanding the game, the other is new to it.

I realize I'm spending a lot of time discussing these performance differences – but what can I say? I find the whole subject utterly fascinating, and Faye is the character I've seen the most of - and thus is the best candidate for such musings. 

But enough about that – back to the action. Next up: Hoedown. It's great. Nothing much else I can say about that, but it was interesting to get my first look at the Grocer's involvement (replacing Jack), as well as his funny new hat. I followed Faye and Miguel out of the hoedown, and down the street as they slowly, distractedly, made their way to the motel. Now, up to this point the crowd around Faye had been pretty thick. But to my surprise, by the time Miguel took his leave of her, nearly everyone had left. There were maybe three white masks remaining in the room, including me. As Faye sat down to drink some more, I took a seat on the bed (ah, bed. . . ah, sleep. . . ), which also afforded me a new perspective on the scene (normally I stand behind her and watch her reflection in the mirror). Perhaps I shouldn't have done so – when Faye got up to leave, she caught my eye and stared at me the whole way out of the room with a look of shock and horror that I still haven't been able to completely interpret. Was it as simple as her starting to see the ghosts that are following her around? I guess I have to assume so - but it was absolutely chilling, one way or the other.

She made her way back to Dwayne's trailer and had a further drunken breakdown there, then caught my eye one more time. She stumbled over to me for a repeat of that moment in December (show #13) where she asked me to dance – but this time, she didn't ask. She just threw her arms around my neck and kind of hung there. Last time, I agonized a bit about whether or not to respond to her request to dance, ultimately deciding in the negative. This time, I decided to give it a tentative try, narrative appropriateness be damned. She didn't seem to notice, and finally pulled away just as before. I guess my first instinct was the correct one.

After that came Walking in the Sand, another scene with a different context, as the dialogue with the bartender framed it as a sad attempt to prove that she really does have what it takes to be a star. Mid-way through, Harry turned up, and we were off into my beloved alternate ending. I really enjoy how the dialogue seems to be completely different every time I see it. In this case, Harry had a whole spiel about how the Studio people told him to bring Faye, even though he really, really wanted to bring a different guest – but no matter how many times he begged, they insisted that he bring her. It's a really nice bit that showcases that teasing yet comforting dynamic between them that I love so much. Once we got to the murder, Faye grabbed my hand and watched it with me, then danced with me onstage. I'm proud to say that I've almost reached the point of handling this interaction competently. Not quite there yet, but at least I've progressed from “agonizingly embarrassing.” She did still make sure to spin herself right at the beginning, before I had the chance to foul it up, though. She's a clever one, she is. Then, in the blink of a (blurry) eye, it was all over. One down, five to go.