As a part of my effort to not be focused on my thesis to the point of complete and total dullness (and because by the end of the day Friday I was so wrung out I couldn't have worked if I'd wanted to) I actually did something non-academic and entertaining last night.  I was still home by midnight, but it was something, at least.

The Melbourne Fringe Festival has been on for a week or two now, and my friend Flor has a friend who is an actor who had a show on at the festival called Penny Machinations.  It's a really interesting concept - performances of a few minutes' duration, set mostly in tents that allow for only 1 or 2 audience members, and which may require interaction with the actors.  We started out by going on a 'tour' of North Melbourne with a demented guide.  It was fun, improvisational humor that traded on awkwardness and public embarrassment.  It was a fun way to start, and a good way to ease in to the show because it involved a small group, not a one-on-one interaction. 

I saw 'The Silhouetted Lady' alone, and was scolded by Flor for picking 'The Bell Witch' for my performance, instead of the highly recommended 'Buried Alive', but I've never liked stories about being buried alive or otherwise confined in small spaces.  'The Bell Witch' was creepy enough for me.  I was impressed by how effective it was - it's a simple enough story, but having it told by someone whose silhouette was all I could see was unsettling.  

Flor and I saw 'The Barina of Mystery' together, and I was glad for the company, because I might've gotten a bit maudlin on my own.  It's an odd little piece that takes place in a car.  It's sort of a dance - set to music, predictable patterns, no dialogue.  And it was so evocative of all the summer road trips I've taken with Kat,  sitting in the back seat, watching as she and Mar, or she and BP bitch and banter and mess with each other and carry on.  It made me wistful for those summers.  

Finally, 'Pick-A-Chair', in which the chair you pick, out of three possible options, determines the story two actors perform for you.  I happened to pick the chair that went with a piece about two friends saying a prolonged and difficult goodbye.  Which, ouch.  It wasn't all that long ago I had scenes like that with some of my friends, and it won't be long at all until I have to go through it again.  It was very well done - I felt voyeuristic, almost intrusive, sitting not three feet away from the actors.

The final event of the evening involved me and Flor cramming ourselves into a repurposed wardrobe with three strangers as part of the Melbourne Photobooth Project.  Nobody had tried to fit five people in there before.  It was snug, and hot, and the bass from the band playing outside made the booth vibrate to the point where it felt it would fall in on us, but we did it.