Joke’s On You!

There are a number of practical jokers in the troupe, so it’s not at all uncommon to find yourself in the middle of some strange war or other. For example, the two clowns seem to be going through a phase where they place each other’s belongings in trees. Camping chairs, bicycles, and such like…

Well, one Sunday matinee where the levels of concentration were particularly low, A bested everyone. He managed to pull a doozy on… himself.

We were getting into position for his number. At this time, I cross paths with the bass player. Normally he makes some silly face or weird noise to try and make D and I laugh. But this time, he made awkward hand gestures and a big sad frowny face.

Uncomprehending, I turned to face centre stage when I saw A with a face like a deer in the headlights. He was holing the bass player’s bow in his hands and it was quickly dawning on him that his really awesome joke might not be so awesome after all.

Incredulous, I stared at him unsure how to proceed. I know I’ve mentioned in the past that I actually love a little bit of on stage drama, and this kind of situation was right up my alley. His act involves a lot of personal torment (don’t ask) and there’s a lot of maniacal swinging involved, so the bow was definitely in danger. Plus, L kind of needed the thing to play the music properly.

A’s first instinct was to place the bow in the middle of the stage. Not the best choice, if you ask me. Then he considered trying to slide it over the few meters it needed to travel in order to get to where the bassist was standing. Seeing as a bow isn’t the heartiest of objects, it’s a good thing A quickly thought better of that attempt.

In the meantime, I kept mouthing to D that I was going to get it. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know when, but I was going to get it. Finally, a moment presented itself, and in act that I can only hope made sense theatrically, I retrieved the bow.

Of course now I was brandishing the bow like an idiot with a sword. Plus, it still had to find it’s way to the bassist’s hands. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember at what point the bow was needed for the music, so it had to happen fast. With some more quick thinking and what I thought was some pretty smooth moves, I got the bow to L.

L’s reaction to the whole thing was something along the lines of “Whatever, man. It’s his own music that he’s screwing up. Not my problem.”

A, on the other hand, staggered into the next scene in a daze muttering something about being fired…