My Time at Temple Studios, Part 21

Show #21

Friday, May 16: 5 pm

One of the side effects of my late flight on Thursday was that I didn't have a chance to run down to the National Theatre and pick up my tickets for the rest of the weekend, so I (unusually) had to hit the box office before each show. This led to moments like the one before this show, where I walked up to the box office and barely got an “O-” out before the nice lady behind the counter cut in with “Omura, right. . . “ and handed me my ticket. As the song says, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Other times, you wonder whether that means you've been too many times, then immediately dismiss the idea because, honestly, is there such a thing as too many times?

My target out of the lift was obvious as soon as I saw the cast board: Adam Burton as Stanford. As much as I love Sam Booth's Stanford, I do enjoy that we're finally branching out into some solid alternative interpretations (such as James Traherne, see show #16) – and Adam seemed an inspired choice. I found him in the Temple, setting up for the initiation. We were quickly joined by a small handful of white masks, who followed him around the room in circles as he did his work while I smugly positioned myself next to the platform, in a spot where I could watch him on either side of the curtain by moving only two steps to one side or another. Or maybe I was missing out on the fun. At any rate, Adam's Stanford seems much more particular about his work here, making sure everything was positioned just so, even taking time to adjust the angle of the baseball bats. Then he did an intriguing little dance, mimicking a knight chess piece, and grabbed one of the other white masks for the 1:1. Uh-oh. Dilemma. I want to follow Adam's Stanford. I don't want to spend a chunk of magic hour waiting for him to emerge. I also don't want to be that jerk who leaves just because he didn't get a 1:1. But. . . magic hour. So few shows left. Aaaargh. . . .

Honestly, when I lay it out like that, it's two arguments for staying against one for leaving. So of course, I left. Why wouldn't I choose the option that makes no sense in retrospect? I suppose I figured that I'd only been there for five minutes, so it's not like I was backing out of a loop I was invested in.

I rushed upstairs and came across Wendy (Leslie Ann Kraus), just as she was pulling the scissors out of the pool. Here we go – Wendy is one of those characters you need to follow for the first loop, on account of crowd size as the night wears on. And I had meant (and failed) to follow her during my March trip. New plan initiated.

I followed her to the dressing room, watched her hide the scissors, and then the PA (Fania Grigoriou) showed up. Even in just those few short seconds, she was incredibly intense and frightening – and had, amusingly, already amassed quite the crowd. She took us in to the bedroom, where I was treated to the most intense Wendy/Marshall (Fionn Cox-Davies) fight that I have yet had the pleasure to witness. There was, in particular, a great moment when Marshall was standing atop a dresser and lifted Wendy up into the air by her neck. From where I was standing, I could just barely see that he had his foot in the small of her back, supporting her weight, but it was still tremendously effective. And then the whole thing concluded with her going after him with a candlestick holder – not something I remember from 2013.

After that, I got my first glimpse of the Leslie/Kirsty Arnold pairing as Wendy and Andrea. They are absolutely adorable together. There's a spark to their friendship that I never quite felt with any other pairing. And visually, they just look like they belong together. It's wonderful. I followed them up to the Infidelity Ballet, which was, as usual, great. I think Sophie Bortolussi will always be “my” Wendy, but I can't deny that Leslie's Infidelity Ballet is unimpeachable. She owns the entire scene, top to bottom, so much so that my attention didn't drift over to Andrea and her red dress even once (I have a bad habit of doing that). It's really fascinating to watch her flip back and forth between her natural exhausted/terrified/distraught state and her peppier on-camera persona.

On the way downstairs afterward, we got to hear an unfamiliar bit of crazy speak in the stairwell as she stopped, looked at a few of us, and said “I can hear them. I can hear them everywhere.” Then Andrea caught up with her and we were treated to the lovely walk-and-talk where they get excited about the party. It's all about the emotional peaks and valleys, here. The tragedy wouldn't be as tragic without these moments of light to contrast.

Not much to say about the orgy – not only have I seen it a bazillion times, but I've seen it with Leslie's Wendy several times as well. After we returned to the dressing room, I did really like the way her focus gradually shifted more and more toward that spot in the rafters where the scissors were hidden. The murder itself was interesting, as it was the first time I'd seen an interim murder since the last time I did a Wendy loop, all the way back in December. It's a very different, much more compelling experience watching it with a crowd that numbers in the dozens, not the hundreds. I also got a bit of a kick seeing Alice (Emily Mytton) skulking about near the bottom of the hill, guiding her white mask around. I'm not sure exactly what it was about her body language, but I found the image absolutely hilarious. I'll definitely need to do another loop with her before it's all over.

Post-murder we ran up the stairs to the studio gates, and then right back down again to Studio 4. I still haven't figured out the ideal spot to watch the gate scene from, and I don't think I've ever felt it's impact as fully as I should. It seems like it should be a big deal, but it always winds up feeling kind of like an interlude before we get back to starting the story over.

After the snow room scene, which again benefited from the wonderful chemistry between Leslie and Kirsty, we were off to the birthday tent, which was already packed with white masks and is, sadly, the one scene in the show that I would actually call poorly staged. Cramming that many major characters into that space, and then having several of them sit down? For anyone other than the first dozen or so white masks to arrive, half of the people in that tent may as well not exist. Fortunately, Wendy spends much of her time up on the stage in the corner, so I could at least keep track of the person I was following. But still, it's tough. Other than the above, two things stood out to me about this scene. First, Leslie was absolutely dwarfed by Frankie (Daniel Whiley) and Eugene (Monsur Ali), which worked very well for the scene, as it made it more clear (for those of us in the cheap seats) how much she's being bullied into participating. Secondly, I think we may be at a point where every single guy who dresses in drag (and there are maybe 7 or so, across the two characters) has either a beard or a moustache. Which is not particularly meaningful, but I find it just a touch amusing.

Next up was her scene with the Doctor (Ira Siobhan), which was creepy and uncomfortable as usual, as well as absolutely rammed. When Stanford appeared behind the screen, I was really impressed by how simultaneously menacing and effete he looked, and was painfully reminded that I had originally intended to follow him for this loop. Ah, well – it's not as if I didn't enjoy my Wendy loop. Speaking of which, this was the point where I decided to bring it to a close, two scenes early. I did really want to watch her tree dance, but not with second loop crowds. That scene in particular needs a lot of space to be fully effective, and I kind of feel like it's the sort of scene you catch at the top of the show or you don't catch at all. 

Based on some enthusiastic queue discussion, the other person I really wanted to catch this show was Alex Mugnaioni's Conrad. But I wanted to catch him from the beginning of his loop (or close to it, anyway – starting with him in the Seamstress shop would do), which meant I needed to wait until third loop. So I decided to do something a bit atypical for me – I didn't do a second loop at all. I just wandered, catching bits and pieces of things, and exploring a few rooms. I started this by sticking with the Doctor, but he disappeared into a 1:1 very shortly after Wendy left. Next up, I headed into town by way of the board room, and took a peek into the semi-hidden large room with the pile of scripts for the first time on my way. In town, I decided to check in on Tuttle (Ben Whybrow), as I hadn't seen his Tuttle before – but the shop was empty. I wandered into the bar, thinking I might spend a few minutes with the Barman, but he was nowhere to be seen. I headed over to another room that I'd never set foot in before, the small triangular one off to the left of the chapel. Finally, I realized that we were nearing time for Faye's dance at Dwayne's trailer, and decided that was where I needed to be. I didn't really want to do a loop with Katie Lusby's Faye, and probably never will again – the loop I did at show #16 was so absolutely perfect that any attempt to recreate the experience would be doomed to failure. But I was very excited about checking in and revisiting some highlights. I headed into the motel room through the back door, but it was empty. Apparently my sense of timing is not what it should be (then again, when has it ever been?). I was just about to give up and try something else when Faye stormed in, followed by a mercifully small crowd of masks. I watched her seethe for a bit and make with the drinkin', then we were off to the trailer. The dance there was amazing, and very different from Sonya's the night before, just as I had thought. I was mistaken about one thing, however – when I saw Sonya do it, I thought it was the same choreography, just performed in a very different style. Revisiting Katie's dance so soon afterward, I realized it was not at all the same thing, they just had a few common touchstones (like that dangling crossed-legged swing, which strikes me as one of those things that is probably harder to do and more impressive than it might seem at first glance). I also noticed that she pulled that landing-next-to-a-mask-and-looking-over-her-shoulder trick, thus confirming that it was indeed deliberate last time (and as far as I can tell, unique to Katie).

Toward the end of the dance, some newcomer started pushing his way through the crowd, apparently unclear on the concept that we were all trying to give Faye enough space to dance. He actually walked all the way up to the trailer, and stood right next to her! Unbelievable.

Even more unbelievable? The fact that it took me so long to realize that this guy wasn't wearing a mask at all, and was, in fact, the new Andy (TJ Lowe). D'oh. This was my first look at him, and while there wasn't much to go on, he seemed like solid casting. He has a very kind face. I thought about picking up with him for a bit, but to me, Andy is more of a full loop sort of a guy, rather than a setpiece guy, so I decided to wait until someday when I could stick with him for longer. Instead, I left Faye as she headed upstairs and went off to check Tuttle's shop again. I arrived to find the door locked and Tuttle disappearing under the counter with a white mask. Ah, timing. Fortunately, just about then Harry (Edward Halsted) showed up, rambling drunkenly. So I watched him for a bit. He handles this scene quite well, as it plays into that more crotchety demeanor that he has. When he sat down in front of the camera, I also noticed for the first time that he makes explicit reference to George Buchanan, the missing character. I'm sure all the Harrys do, but this was the first time it stood out to me.

When he wandered off I headed back to Tuttle's shop, where I found the door still locked – but Tuttle himself was sitting in the window, writing in his notebook. I took up a position to the side, where I could read what he was writing – it was a double page spread of character names. Every time he saw someone walk by, he put a question mark after their name. When William came by, he directed him over to the hoedown, shouting through the glass. Kind of an odd effect. I also noticed that when Faye passed by, he spent an awfully long time staring after her, which I appreciated. The Faye obsession is something I like about Tuttle, but which doesn't seem to be present, or at least isn't prominent, in many of the incarnations.

Eventually Tuttle emerged from the shop, red paint in hand, to go to work on the motel wall. It's a fun scene, mostly because running away from the Gatekeeper with him adds a touch of visceral excitement. Afterward, he let us all inside the shop just long enough for him to put his paint away, then closed up again, keeping one lucky white mask inside. Time to move on again.

Fortunately, I didn't have to go far to find my next scene: William (Greig Cooke) and Andy were already standing just a few feet away, beginning their post-hoedown scene at the fountain. Two new performers in one place? Sign me up. The scene played well – both of theme seemed very comfortable (of course, Greig wasn't brand new), although I didn't hear a lot of effort going into the American accents (or lack thereof). Certainly enough to pique my interest in spending some more time watching both or either of them. I wound up following Andy into the Drugstore when he rushed off, as I wanted to take a look at Lucia Chocarro's Drugstore Girl.

I made it inside just in time for the most epic postcard spill I have yet encountered. When Andy hit that rack, the cards flew EVERYWHERE, and the mess stretched all the way into the phone booths. Oftentimes in the drugstore, one wonders whether it would be appropriate to help her pick them up. That was not the case this time. Three or four of us all joined in, and even then, we didn't get it all done before the Grocer (Monsur Ali) showed up. The look she gave me when I handed her my stack was incredibly tragic, and it was right about that time that it dawned on me that I was really enjoying my piecemeal loop, which I found a little bit surprising.

The scene between her and the Grocer played out largely as I remembered, with a couple of minor twists – the most significant being that she took the script with her over to the phone booth. The timing was also a bit off, as there was a long, awkward pause between the Grocer saying “It's for you,” and the phone ringing. This was actually the least crowded the Drugstore had ever been for this scene, at least in my experience, so I took the opportunity to follow her over and try to get a better idea of what happens over there. Her dialogue wasn't particularly revealing (“yeah. . . okay.”), but I was close enough to just barely pick up a male voice on the other end of the line – which means that somewhere out there, elsewhere on the set, it must be possible to see and hear the other side of the conversation. I have no idea who it could be – Stanford seems the obvious choice, but I've followed him and he has no such phone call. It's a mystery, and one that we are running out of time to solve, sadly.

After her collapse, the Grocer dragged her across the floor and left her in the middle of the room (which is a really unpleasant thing to see), then left. After a brief visit from Harry, she revived, completing her reset, and then took a white mask into the third phone booth (that's new!). Well, well, well. Things are always changing in Temple Studios. It was a good stopping point anyway, though, because it was time for me to catch up with Conrad. I headed over to the Seamstress's shop to wait for him.

As has become the norm for me, my timing was slightly off – specifically, I was early. I poked around the shop a bit, then poked around some more, and finally decided to go outside – which happened to be exactly the moment that he came to the door. Of course. There was no way for me to get out of his way, and he had the look of a man on a mission – he wasn't stopping for anything. So I immediately backpedaled, retreating into the far corner of the shop and standing awkwardly beside him,staring out at the rest of the audience, as he changed into his drag outfit. This also meant I was the one who wound up zipping up his dress, a task I concluded with a quick double pat on the shoulder, as if I was letting him know it was okay to drive away. I guess I wasn't sure he would be able to tell that I had successfully zipped him all the way up, but looking back, I'm not sure why I thought that. What a weird thing to do.

At any rate, I was pretty well on board with Alex's Conrad right from the get-go, even though I hadn't seen him do much of anything yet. He just had a certain presence about him that felt right for the part – smooth and suave, but kind of off-putting as well. That last part is really important for Conrad.

We headed out to the Horse and Stars for Conrad's cabaret, which was quite impressive. I was particularly intrigued by how rough he was with William – when he climbed over him on the bar, he looked like some sort of wild beast preparing to devour its prey. A lot less flirting, and a lot more aggression than I was expecting. Afterward, he stuck around as usual to seduce the Barman (Ed Warner) – or at least, take a stab at it. Last time I did a Conrad loop, I discovered that the curved end of the bar was easily the best spot to watch this scene from, as the intense backlighting produced a very striking image, so that's where I settled in. This had a second, unexpected benefit – it meant that I was only a couple of feet away when Conrad finally leaned in to kiss the Barman, and at that moment, I got to hear him say something that made me laugh out loud for only the second time in the show.

“Pal, we're going to level three.”

But of course, it was not to be. There would be no level three that night. The barman rejected him, Conrad stormed out, yelling about enlightenment or advancement or something like that, and stomped through town in his underwear. He led several of us into one of the motel rooms for his cult/self-help instruction session. He wasn't fooling around – when the person he instructed to hold the door shut failed to do so, inspiring someone else to hold the door instead, he refused to continue until the original person he selected took over. After that, it was time to remove his high heels and stockings. And guess who he picked for that task?

Let me tell you, the rest of the room LOVED it when he stuck his foot out at me. Now, removing clothing from another man is not something I generally have much (any, really) interest in doing. But on the other hand, I do enjoy getting to participate and interact with the characters, so I certainly didn't mind doing it in this case. But since everyone else was so amused by the fact that Conrad was making me undress him, I decided to play up the discomfort quite a bit, making sure to pause and look around at everyone before I removed each shoe. Conrad was clearly on the same page, playing the sequence for all of the humor he could muster. When he offered me the first stocking, he pulled it down partway and pulled the end far away from his leg, so that I could pull it off without getting that close. The second stocking, however, he left right on the leg. The rest of the audience was eating this right up, and I have to admit I got a real kick out of their amusement.

The second stocking almost came off without a hitch, but then it caught on his heel and began to tear. “Don't break it, baby,” Conrad said, producing one more peal of laughter in the room before he dove into his lecture. It was the usual – life and death becoming one, things looking different in the light and the dark – but he delivered it with confidence and a surprisingly light touch, then ended it with a dramatic zipping of his fly immediately after the concluding statement. This very nearly resulted in my third out-loud laugh. But not quite.

In case it isn't clear at this point, I really, really liked Alex's Conrad. Every step of the way, he was just nailing it. I never thought I'd say this, but he might even be better than Adam Burton's version (clearly, I'm going to have to revisit that one to see for sure). His take on the character definitely leans closer to Adam's than Ben Whybrow's, but with a little added kick – a fire, an animal side that shows itself on occasion and stands in stark contrast to Adam's colder, slow burn.

With the lecture concluded, we headed into the studio, pausing momentarily for the Gatekeeper (Paul O'Shea) to extort a bit of cash from Conrad – an attempt which failed, since Conrad had no money on him. Oops. First stop inside the studio was the dressing room, where he pulled me in for a rather intense 1:1. Afterward, we came out and joined Andrea (Kirsty Arnold) for a walk to Studio 3. This was a pleasant surprise – it had slipped my mind that Conrad's loop meant I was going to see the magic trick.

I settled into a seat near the stage, briefly catching Larry (Matthew Blake)'s eye as they set up for the trick. He arched an eyebrow at me – in recognition? Or does he just do that to everyone? No matter – back to the magic trick. It was just as fun as it always is, and spun off in a slightly new direction toward the end. Once he speared Andrea's dress, Conrad got angry. Really, really angry – much more so than I've seen before. Each subsequent spear through the box was shoved in more quickly, more roughly, more aggressively, until the final spear – the one straight through the center. He really took his time with that one, twisting and pushing like he was actually trying to stab her to death. It was almost uncomfortable to watch (and by “almost uncomfortable,” I mean “totally awesome.”).

After the performance came to an end and Andrea popped out of the box in her underwear, the two of them had their usual fight about not sticking to the plan. It amuses me to no end that some Andreas lose their dress and some don't, but Conrad always chews them out for it either way. You just can't win with this guy.

Once Andrea was gone, it was time for the PA to come have her little fight with Conrad – and once again, I was amazed by Fania's ability to walk into a room and just take ownership of it, even before she does much of anything. That's presence right there. Once the PA got what she wanted and departed, Conrad awakened and began to prep for his scene with Romola. He started dressing, pausing for a moment to say, “Honey, you look tired. Why don't you sit down?”

Well. I've been to this rodeo before. I know what's going on. I'm not falling for it. Let someone else take him up on his suggestion – ideally someone who hasn't seen this. But no one else moved. I made an awkward, half-hearted move as if looking for a chair, but left it at that.

Conrad was not willing to leave it at that. He fixed me with a glare in the mirror and repeated himself: “Why. Don't. You. Sit. Down.”

Okay, then. I pulled out the chair next to him (the only option, really), and had a seat. He continued running his lines, soon reaching “baby, could you give my shoulders a rub?” I obligingly reached up, but as soon as my hand made contact he took off. I do really like that scene, as I'm a big fan of any time the actors mess with the white masks. But I do wish one of the newbies (or maybe that's it - maybe there were no newbies in the room) had taken the bait, instead of me having to play along as if I didn't know what was happening. Ah, well.

Next stop was Studio 5, where I got my first look at Lily Ockwell's Romola. I had come into the trip very excited to do a loop with her, and the only reason I didn't follow her at this show was because I had just done Romola at the show prior, and I figured I'd have another opportunity later in the weekend (spoiler: I didn't. Curses.). Can't say I got much of an impression of her take on the character, since this was the one scene where she is least herself. I did notice that she also seemed to play up the mesmerized/controlled angle when she went for the keys to a greater degree than I remember from the early months of the show, but not quite as much as Sarah Sweeney did. And that's sadly about all I can say. Next time, Lily.

After the scene concluded, Conrad wandered off to the side of the room, where he was instructed to head to Studio 8. His response – a brief but aggressive dance sequence. Or sort-of dance sequence. It started out similar to how I remember Adam's reaction went, but quickly devolved into a total collapse. One could make an argument that he just died, then and there. I suppose it's a way of giving some closure to those of us who are not lucky enough to make the journey into Studio 8 with him.

Speaking of: just as we left the Studio, I noticed that we had picked up a 1:1 Hunter. He had all the telltale signs – he showed up just prior to the upcoming 1:1, he was suddenly sticking to Conrad like glue, and, most tellingly, every time we turned a corner or paused, he made certain to get slightly ahead of Conrad – that is to say, where Conrad could see him. Once we reached Studio 8, Conrad took a look at everyone around him. . . and grabbed the hand of a girl I didn't recognize. I won't lie, I was disappointed not to see that final scene with him, especially after kind of being his guy for the rest of the loop. . . but hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles. And I have to admit that any disappointment I felt was heavily mitigated by schadenfreude at the fact that the new hunter didn't get it either.

With very little time left in the show, there was no point in wandering far, so I headed back to the dressing room to watch Andrea for the last few minutes. I'm pleased to say that when she went into the kitchen area, I managed to not stand between her and the cupboard when she went to get water! Fifth time's the charm, apparently. I'm so proud of myself.

Soon we were all herded back into Studio 2 for the murder. I hung back and watched from the stage, which has become my usual plan anytime I don't have a walkdown, then got myself a nice seat right at the front of the steps for the finale. While I stood there, awaiting the signal for everyone to sit down, I suddenly felt a rain of creepy spider-fingers on my shoulders. I turned around to find the PA standing there. She slipped past me to the stage, holding my gaze with a classic Punchdrunk stare as the walked by.

When the lights came up at the end, I was treated to a pleasant surprise – Larry, standing above me, his hand extended. It was my very first spontaneous walkout, after 21 shows. Granted, I've had walkouts before (just a few), but only when my walkdown has specifically planted me somewhere and come back for me. I'd never been selected for a walkout 'just because.' Until now. What a nice feeling.

He took me into Studio 3, where Luna (Kathryn McGarr) was waiting. She removed my mask and they both immediately started gushing over my performance, and telling me how much of a crime it would be if I don't get the academy award. They've really got that Hollywood exuberance thing down pat – the way they stood together, heads side by side, leaning in aggressively with big smiles and wide eyes – it's just a little bit scary. Which means I loved it. A fine end to a solid show, although the spectre of missing out on Adam's Stanford and Lily's Romola did cast a little bit of a shadow over it.