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Still here: While They Were Waiting - Upstairs At The Gatehouse

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As the song goes, time heals everything. Or as another song says, it's time after time. Yet waiting—for a moment, a minute, or even a while—can feel like a chore. In Gary Wilmot’s slightly absurd and silly While They Were Waiting, the focus is on waiting and wordplay. No opportunity is missed to find more than one meaning in what is said. A debate arises about the difference between a smidge and a whisker. There's a playful riff on how you can be here and over there at the same time, depending on your standpoint. If this piece has a point at all, it depends on what you find funny. The concept of waiting-related language is, in itself, amusing, and there is plenty to laugh about in this show. It’s currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse . The premise is simple: Mulbery (Steve Furst) arrives for an appointment and is kept waiting. What the appointment is for, we are not clear about but he is waiting for a yellow door to open. Nobody answers when he rings. He’s joined by th...

Le film du jour

Film: Belle Du Jour Saturday night I caught the Film Belle Du Jour (not to be confused with the blog) with A which is showing as part of a Catherine Deneuve retrospective. During the movie I was impressed with the number of cableknits on display, but it was an interesting tale about a bored French housewife who despite being married to Jean Sorel decides to dabble in prostitution. At this point I was ready to slap Deneuve's character. She could have all the Yves Saint-Laurent dresses and cableknits in the world, but what she really wanted was big fat Asian men and gangsters with metal teeth. What is wrong with the woman??? Still it was a fascinating movie that holds up well nearly forty years after it was made. After the movie A asked me what did I think the moral of the story was. I suggested that the moral was that one should not take up prostitution in the afternoon. It would be probably safer to do it in the morning when you get the milkmen coming off shift rather than creepy gangsters. I wondered if A was concerned that with my newly found holiday time that he was thinking that I may be considering a similar career choice. Of all things!

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