Sign Your Name Here....
We ( Us Stagehands.....) Have this tradition. We sign our names on the theatre walls. A secret internal Graffiti. We work on all these artistic en devours. Mostly feeling like the coal boys in some English manor house. Such is the Caste system in theatre here in this sad British colony that is Canada. And our only claim to immortality is a scratched name in paint or sharpie on the wall of the fly tower. For all of what we've done.
Really, once the show in question has come and gone. We are the only real witnesses of it's perfect existence. That opening night that went so well. That last perfect performance after weeks of rehearsal. Or the SNAFU that went on forever. The show that taxed our existence. Made us deal with devils for a paycheck. All and in between. In that sense we are the recorders of this theatre's history and time. An eternal Greek chorus. High up in the gods, helping grunt and sweat to perform that perfect Deux E Mechanicus. We are the empirical memory of that space. We exist past the fact of that expression of time, thought and space and art. If theatre can be thought of anymore as a form of art. And I find myself wondering this as I work the show I'm currently on. I feel I'm just retreading tires.
Until tonight....While out drinking in a bar I met a group of workers who were the Asbestos removers of the theatre that is currently shut down for reno s. They were based in our spot booth as they lunched between that terrible job of pulling asbestos fiber walls from the interior of the QET. And they saw all our crew graffiti from past shows throughout the venues inner walls. And they chose to add their own to ours. And I found it humbling. I'm lucky. I don't do what they have to do every day. I exist in this neither world. This fantasy behind all the sweat and tears. Which harms no one. entertains all and is this perfect escape from the reality of life. these guys felt bad that they'd signed their names beside ours. But, I didn't feel that way. I bought them all a round of drinks. And thanked them for all their hard work to keep us safe and all the other times I felt nameless and under appreciated.