MAIN     |    ON STAGE     |    WINTERLING TRIP

I left on April 14th and arrived on the 16th. The trip over the ocean wasn't as bad as that sounds since we left from SFO quite late at night. Nicholas reading the new audiobook "John" put me very promptly to sleep, which was great for two hours until the guy in the window seat woke me for you know what. Urologists never get too upset over this and so I just rewound the book two hours and went back to listening. I never did get back to sleep but the flight went fast enough and bus transfers from the airport to St. Kilda were just about as simple as could be. I was about an hour early for my check in time at the lovely Tolarno Boutique Hotel on Fitzroy Street. So, I "checked in" instead with goings on in California only to discover one of my cats wasn't doing well. Having euthanized my 19-year-old cat just two days prior, this was disheartening news. But I was determined to stay positive. The hotel was as colorful as advertised and beautiful artwork adorned the hallways and my room. I grabbed a quick nap in hopes I'd be a bit more awake for the evening's activities--dinner and "The Winterling" at the Red Stitch Theatre.

My Melbourne friends Will and Jenn, who I know because Will and I are both long-term supporters of the San Jose Earthquakes, came to fetch me from the hotel. I delivered a couple of the Quakes t-shirts that had filled a significant percentage of my luggage. Luckily we had some time to spare since Will led us on a little adventure of riding the trams randomly around St. Kilda before we figured out how to get to Chapel Street and the restaurant. Little did Will know that riding trams on intuition would set the tone for the remainder of my interactions with Melbourne public transport. If you picture yourself as a ball, soccer and Melbourne public transit have a lot in common.

We had dinner at a Chapel Street restaurant called "Tusk" that had been recommended by Tim from the Red Stitch theatre. The food, the company and weather were perfect for eating outdoors. Unfortunately, the folks at the restaurant did not know the directions to the theatre and I had forgotten the map. We tried to walk it on a good guess, got lost, caught a cab but the cabbie didn't know where it was either, and got further lost. Luckily Will called someone for directions and we got there with about five minutes to spare, allowing our heart rates and blood pressures to recover before the show began. We had great front row seats and the show was nearly sold out even though it was mid-week.

The play was as fabulous as all the reviews had promised. I'm a fan, not a theatre critic; but the cast were all excellent. It was fascinating to see Martin Sharpe as a character other than Scooter Secret Agent. Adrian Mulraney, whom I had enjoyed recently in Satisfaction, was amazing in his long monologue. I didn't recognize Steve Adams from television, but he is clearly a quality actor. And the back-and-forth reminiscence with Nicholas Bell's West was a highlight scene of the production. Jenn was particularly impressed with the performance of Ella Caudwell and her character's fear of West. Nicholas Bell had the lead, and he was indeed the star, commanding the stage whenever he was on it, even at times when he said nothing. As I had hoped, I picked the perfect play to see him do his thing live. It was dialogue intense and dramatic and the character of West had two distinct phases created by the present time and the flashback scenes. The seats are right at the stage so sitting in the front row allowed us feel like we were stuck right in it, which added to the drama. Jenn and Will had a great time as well and plan to attend other performances at Red Stitch. It's not the closest theatre to where they live; but they were impressed by the company, so I suspect it'll become "their regular theatre" for much the same reasons as The B Street Theatre in Sacramento has my ongoing loyalty. I'd surely go back if I could.

At the intermission, we saw Nicholas' NEWStopia castmate, Shaun Micallef, in the lobby. It was an absolute pleasure meeting Micallef because it was totally unexpected and he was so nice. We talked about NEWStopia and although Shaun had no news on a renewal at that time, he did mention the possibility of an Inspektor Herring spin-off special. He was interested in how I'd been able to see the show in California. Of course we talked about Will's favorite movie, Bad Eggs--Shaun had played Premiere Cray. I also had the opportunity to tell Shaun that I became a fan initially watching him in SeaChange, explaining the show became all the more watchable when his character was added. Since almost all Australian fans, and Micallef has legions of them, first discovered him as a comedian, I hope he was pleased to learn that I became a fan initially due to a straight acting role. I discovered only later that he is Australia's funniest man. You can see some videos of Shaun Micallef and Nicholas Bell together in NEWStopia.

After the show we waited for Shaun Micallef to congratulate Nicholas on his performance and talk a little shop. Then Shaun informed Nicholas that some groupies were waiting for him. Like Micallef, Nicholas was very friendly and seemed to carry no appreciable actor's ego off stage. Despite what must have been a tiring performance, he signed programs and posed for pictures. I don't really know why he signed it "Nicholas Bell x1" though. Hopefully he didn't think I'd be expecting him to sign a program all four nights that I'd be attending?

Our Bad Eggs mini-convention began with an explanation for Nicholas that front row seats had led us to speculate we'd be close enough for the "plum jam" maneuver. Nicholas seemed unphased that plum jam is the legacy of his Bad Eggs character of Wicks. You can see a video of Shaun and Nicholas together in Bad Eggs but be warned it's a spoiler if you haven't yet seen the movie. I don't know if Shaun and Nicholas were surprised, or just baffled, when Will explained he'd seen the movie more than 100 times; but everyone agreed that writer-director Tony Martin was the person who really needed to hear that. And of course, we did remember to tell Nicholas how much we had enjoyed The Winterling as well. Jenn remarked that she hadn't seen live theater in ten years and we'd enjoyed The Winterling so much that that would need to change. Will got us all on the correct tram after the show. But I failed to figure out the connection and walked half way back. This was fine because it was a very pleasant evening and Fitzroy St. was still awake.

On Thursday, I did a day trip touring the Yarra Valley, riding the Puffing Billy train and visiting the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. You can see my parrot and Healesville Sanctuary photos at Flickr. I had my first taste of vegemite with morning tea. Can't say it's really my thing. I had lunch with a nice English couple that lives now in Scotland. After hearing the story of my Melbourne trip, they convinced me my next trip should be to see a Shakespeare play at Stratford.   I had different seats for the Thursday and Friday performances, but didn't stray far from the front row. All the performances were remarkably consistant on the subsequent nights. I'm sure this is exactly what they aim for and it didn't matter to me--the show was just as enjoyable every night. I tried to concentrate on various things within the show on the different nights.

What's this koala doing out of its tree?

The stage after the play.

It seems that the NEWStopia cast must enjoy working together as another of Nicholas' castmates was on hand for Thursday's performance. I would have liked to say how much I enjoyed NEWStopia but he wasn't particularly approachable. This just reminded me how special it was the previous night that the two bad boys of Bad Eggs were such classy gentlemen! At intermission on Friday I sat across from two women who were discussing the first act of the play; and although they thought the cast were excellent generally, that it was Nicholas Bell that had an uncommon stage presence and "created a space around himself on the stage." This of course, made me smile, and I suspect they saw that and asked me my impression of the play. I told them about coming from the U.S. to see this play and Nicholas specificially. They really couldn't disagree that for a fan, it was a performance worth coming all that way for. With some prompting from me as to where they had seen Nicholas Bell before, we discovered it was Noise and all agreed it was a top-notch Australian film.

On Friday, Will fetched me from the Flinders Street Station for a trip to the 'burbs. During the train trip, Will showed me where the final scene of Bad Eggs was filmed. He remembers the scene for the romantic dancing on the balcony. I remember it mostly because by that time, I was hoping Wicks had escaped from jail to allow for a sequel...Revenge of Wicks? We had a nice lunch and I met Will and Jenn's cats. Then it was off to ACMI to see Nicholas' short film Art of Drowning, which is only available there. I had an "isn't it small world" moment as well, seeing again the couple from Scotland I'd had lunch with the previous day.

On Saturday, Jenn and I rode the train to Geelong to see the Cats. The stadium was sold out so the atmosphere was fabulous. It took me the first half of the reserves match to figure out the game play and the gist of the rules. It surprises me the game hasn't caught on more in the U.S. given the wide-open play and fast action. I had my first taste of Australian meat pies, which are far superior to vegemite. The game was tight for awhile but the Cats prevailed.

		For closing night, I got to the theater a little early to take some photos. Luckily the folks at the Red Stitch Theatre provided perfect weather and a friendly red mackeral tabby to keep me company.
Cast members Steve Adams and Adrian Mulraney were out front before the performance and gave me the go-ahead to take a photo during bows at the end of the production. The photo I got leaves a little bit to be desired since they were never all still at once. Even so, I treasure it. Sure it was my 4th night in a row, but it was a little sad it was closing since it's likely the only time I'll see Nicholas Bell do live theater. Maybe if he decides, like Olivier, to give King Lear a try at seventy-five, I'll have saved enough frequent flyer miles...

These were some colorful murals I discovered one of the times I got lost riding trams on the way home from the show. Saturday night after the show, I didn't get lost so much as ride a little longer than planned. I was riding with a fellow patron who asked if I thought the play was a bit confusing. I answered that it was a little bit the first two times, but by the third and fourth, I was all squared away. She was friendly and wanted to hear the story of why I'd come across an ocean to see a play four times and consequently I forgot to get off the tram at my stop. Walking back, I was questioned as to the lyrics of Yankee Doodle Dandy. I'm not sure how they knew I was an American? I don't see that my being the only sober person on Fitzroy Street was a tip off, but I was happy to help them out. Missing one's tram stops never really was a bad thing.

I arrived back in San Francisco to the same sunny day I'd left in Melbourne. My thoughts.... It's a great thing that a soccer team can bring you good friends from around the world. Only a urologist would think a photo of a koala urinating was the coolest shot you got on a trip downunder. Shaun Micallef is as nice as he is funny and smart....fingers crossed for a third series of NEWStopia. Nicholas Bell is larger than life on the stage. The word "astonishing" used by a blogger to describe his performance in The Winterling couldn't have been more correct. And all the better that he's a friendly, unassuming guy off the stage. If there's a play or performer you really need to see but it requires the trip across an ocean, go for it.

	In memory of two very fine kitties, Honeysuckle and Thomas.
Honeysuckle, June 1989 - April 2008		Thomas, ? - April 2008
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