Rio stories part dois
Sods law plays a large part in theatre, yesterday, which was theoretically a day off, although the supervised meal-breaks made this more of a concept than a reality, the weather was humid and overcast, today, when we are supposed to be in a dark theatre, the morning is clear and bright, the Atlantic sparkles appealingly, and even the traffic seems benign. We were told last night that the crew at the Theatre Carlos Gomes didn’t want to work today, they couldn’t see why we couldn’t put the show in tomorrow. This kind of thing is common outside the UK, people make assumptions about your show based on the most tenuous knowledge, in many ways it is better than the attitude of stolid indifference that you encounter in most UK venues; at least it is safe to assume that they have looked at the technical information they have been sent. In this case we need to get-in early because the show hasn’t been performed for nine months, and is quite technologically specific (not complicated), not to mention that I haven’t actually seen it. What paperwork I have has conflicting information on it, and so on. On the other hand, it won’t be a disaster if we can’t get-in today, just an inconvenience.Nature notes; As I haven’t yet strayed far from Copacabana beach, there isn’t much to report, the beach front is lined with palm trees of various sorts. The coconut palm is common, and coconut sellers are ubiquitous. Further away from the sea the streets are planted with mango trees and a form of chestnut. Apparently, in season, which isn’t now unfortunately, one can just pick a mango from the tree as you walk down the street. I haven’t seen much in the way of birdlife, there are some magnificent birds that fly very high, large, with swept back wings and a long straight tail, our minder assures me that they are the Brazilian condor and feed off carrion. I’ll take this with a pinch of salt, because he has a tendency to tell you what he thinks you want to hear, charming but infuriating. I’ve also seen a very tiny pink pigeon, about the size of a starling, and in the distance some very large hawks patrolling the mountains that rise about a couple of miles out of town.
Update: my researches inform me that the seabirds are in fact the 'Magnificent Frigate Bird'.
If you were to read a little further back in this blog you will find several references to Monkey Puzzle trees (Araucaria Araucana), well I am delighted to report that in the better class of Rio greengrocer they have little nets of Monkey Puzzle seeds for sale, evidently a seasonal delicacy. When I bought some fresh seed earlier this year the Nottingham correspondent and I did actually eat one, by way of an experiment, not unlike a fresh hazelnut in taste and texture.
Late news, we’ve actually seen the theatre, although they have a show in tonight and were never going to give us access. All of which begs the question, why were we sent out three days before the get-in? I’m not objecting to being sent out here, far from it, but the office does seem to have been very slack with this one.
posted by Lampy @ 10/05/2006 09:25:00 pm
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