the head of the chicken

It's day five - or is it six? - of the Ottawa Fringe, and I must say, I feel a little bit like Joe Mal (Rachelle Elie's clown in her Fringe show JOE: The Perfect Man) when he collapses in a middle of a Macbeth audition, cowering from the imagined ghost of a chicken that he once accidentally killed. I believe that I feel a similar mix of adrenaline, fear, anticipation, and confusion about the things that my mind throws at me. And oddly, though I should say I feel also like a chicken with its head cut off - I think I feel like the head, watching my body run around blindly from Fringe show to Fringe show and perhaps just thinking "...chill."

I've seen some farmtastic shows: "Boat Load" (from Jayson McDonald of "Giant Invisible Robot" fame), "Circumference" by Amy Salloway, new shows from TJ Dawe, Keir Cutler and Gemma Wilcox, and a moving monologue about mother-son relationships ("The Girl in the Picture Tries to Hang Up the Phone") from writer-performer Hume Baugh. And I've spent the last bunch of nights chatting with performers in the beer tent - which might sound to an outsider like weird recursive conversations of Fringe talking to Fringe about Fringe - but is really balm for the soul. I've missed these people. The great thing about being a touring Fringe artist is that these people - even the Fringe-famous ones above - are my friends.

But I'm TIRED. I keep talking to Amy Salloway for far too long. We knew this would happen. There is just so much to talk about. Last night I declined to walk her the two blocks home to her billet's house, hoping to avoid the three-hour conversation that neither of us ever plan to have. Alison Williams (my director) walked her instead. And they talked for three hours.

As for "Old Growth" - we've had three shows, we've had some reviews... and now we are in the middle of a four-day-off period. Which is great. We're taking out a few minutes of text so that the show can breathe more - and I suspect this will work very well, and allow the show to reach more people.

Back to publicity for me! And a couple of hours of rehearsal - and going to shows - and talk and talk and talk...