More Eggs. First on toast. Later to gather.

"Think Egg" (by meppol of Deviantart.com)

It amused me looking back at my latest entry that I not only wrote, but also supplied photographs of, eggs.  I must have really wanted to blog that night.  Or else I was just under a sort of eggspell.

It was eggs again this morning.  Poached, in the wonderful wee egg poacher my Sister gave me, and then dropped over some wonderful toast, and then gobbled up very wolfishly by me!

Then it was eggs of a different sort that kept me up last night until three in the morning.  Brain eggs.  Idea eggs.  Eggs sort of being laid, and then being rejected or being stored away for secret safekeeping where none of the thought-predators can get at them.  And I think it’s important to say that nothing has hatched, yet; but, a queer turn-of-events these past few weeks has sort of caused me to collide with what might be a way to get the theatre functioning again. 

Neil {He played Renfield when I directed Dracula some years ago, when Discovery Theatre Lab was much more active} keeps calling or emailing every few months, wondering when I’m going to do more theatre.  I’d sort of not had any option but to put him off a bit, and then I finally just wrote to him a week or so ago and said sorry mate, can’t do anything.  The process of writing him such a letter, to finally respond to all of his comments and questions on Myspace and so on, may have been more of a let down for me than for him.  Whenever I write “No, I’m not doing any theatre just now,” there’s something in my brain that spasms very subtly and says “hang on, why aren’t you?” 

Well, the short answer is that there’s more than a wee bit of gardening to do, so to speak, as far as the general health and infrastructure of Discovery Theatre Lab before it will be possible to produce any really successful theatre. 

A few eggs did plop down into my brain from eggland last night, however, we’re still a ways out.  One of the first important decisions to make, is whether it would be best to fix the Lab, or abandon it and start a new company? 

Sadly, at this point, Discovery Theatre Lab, is a program that has a varied history, sometimes a good, sometimes very very negative reputation depending upon who you talk to.  At the moment sits defunct.  Now, is it best to say: “yes, I realize nothing was perfect, but we have done some good work too,” and work to repare the broken ties?  Or should I let go of that, let it lie, and start a whole new company with a whole new name and build new relationships? 

I’m inclined to bugger on, fix what needs to be fixed, and take responsibility for this now half-sunk ship I started almost ten years ago.  Part of that may be a more internal desire I feel to sort of redeem myself as well.  If I let The Lab just lay where it lies, it would mean not righting what was done wrong in the past.

If I continue with The Lab, it really will need to evolve into a pheonix and climb out of its ashes, a new creature.  That’s what I sort of keep having my attention redirected to recently. 

First with writing to Neil.
Second with seeing a license plate that said “KBO”.  (I asked the driver, “what does the license plate stand for?”, and he confirmed it was the reference to Churchill, keep buggering on!) 
Thirdly, with the recent anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and death day.  Most recently, or significantly with the few the gathering eggs last night. 

I may do nothing whatsoever.  I may be too tired and too sort of ‘afraid’, by this point to really return to doing theatre.  But my mind really does keep being picked up and put down in a nest of theatre thoughts, so, I may not be able to ignore that. 

Whatever happens will be announced here, of course, and as I said earlier, if I do get up off my couch and start working again, it will be many months before any plays are actually being produced. 

    ©  Jeffrey Puukka, 2009

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