28.2.06
i'm a skank. it's official.
anywho, opening night of our week of performances was...nice...i'm not sure, but the artistic director loved our work, though it's a bit of a mixed audience because they weren't sure to clap or not etc...feel good, i'm doing what i'm there to do...some people interacted with me. which was great!
ok, back to the abbey the skank story. so naturally to do a show, you must have make up on. and to do makeup, you need a makeup area. newtown theatre is not "the" ideal space for a big group of actors, and lighting isn't great when it comes to make up. it's basically dim lighting. i have a choice. i do my stage make up at home and drive in, or i do it in front of other people at a pub opposite the venue. i thought it was a good idea to do my make up at home, and drive out. i was wrong.
so i had make up on (ok, a bit more than normal but less than those alanah hill sales girls), in casual top and loose jeans, and walked into the elevator. at 7:45pm, most people would have gone home, been eating dinner and contently watching some FTA tv. but no, i had to stop at level 11, and level 10...where a mainland fob grandma and her 2 very average teenage grandkids gave me the "you poor thing, you look like a clown and you don't even know it" look. (was it really a grandma, or did she just look that old...? i wasn't sure)
looks i am happy to take. looks happen all the time. i don't mind so much. old grandma here, while i wasn't quite looking, spoke in clear mando, commenting on "what a shame it is that she's wearing that kind of make up" and condescending giggling at me. the girl followed suit, because she, was a thing of class and beauty herself. the guy didn't seem to give a shit. i turned around as if i didn't understand the grandma, and she smiled at me as if she was actually a nice person, and had the nerve to maintain eye contact, and i smiled back in that asian innocent way, up until it was long enough for her to realise that i understood every word she said.
no shame. she was right. i was made up like a skank. because stage make up always looks skanky in normal light. it looks like someone took a liberal stroke of the artistic brush and went all eager.
see, i wasn't sure if i should try to explain myself. i'm not a skank. this is just for stage, and i am on my way to the car to drive there so there'll be no one else staring at me, i'm sorry i offended your eyes...so sorry, so sorry won't happen again.
if it was the girl making the comment, i'd tell her off (just coz i can, and she wouldn't be expecting it). tell her she had a bad upbringing, a mum who didn't teach her manners, you don't say mean things about people. but i was dumbfounded when it's the elder teaching the young to behave that way. then you realise that sometimes you do blame the parents...
and i was getting insecure, thinking i must be a skank look-alike. once i got to newtown, in that pub where all the actors were doing makeup, costume, and i was greeted by all the cross dressers in the other plays, everyone with lots of make up...i was home. all the public who went to that pub KNEW why we were all dressed the way we were, and looked the way we were. it was unspoken, and we were treated normal. er....because we ARE normal. we're not normally like this ya know!
note to self: people are much more open and better in newtown than chatswood.
but then i already knew that. i just happen to be stuck in chatswood.
Post a Comment
Powered for Blogger by Blogger Templates
anywho, opening night of our week of performances was...nice...i'm not sure, but the artistic director loved our work, though it's a bit of a mixed audience because they weren't sure to clap or not etc...feel good, i'm doing what i'm there to do...some people interacted with me. which was great!
ok, back to the abbey the skank story. so naturally to do a show, you must have make up on. and to do makeup, you need a makeup area. newtown theatre is not "the" ideal space for a big group of actors, and lighting isn't great when it comes to make up. it's basically dim lighting. i have a choice. i do my stage make up at home and drive in, or i do it in front of other people at a pub opposite the venue. i thought it was a good idea to do my make up at home, and drive out. i was wrong.
so i had make up on (ok, a bit more than normal but less than those alanah hill sales girls), in casual top and loose jeans, and walked into the elevator. at 7:45pm, most people would have gone home, been eating dinner and contently watching some FTA tv. but no, i had to stop at level 11, and level 10...where a mainland fob grandma and her 2 very average teenage grandkids gave me the "you poor thing, you look like a clown and you don't even know it" look. (was it really a grandma, or did she just look that old...? i wasn't sure)
looks i am happy to take. looks happen all the time. i don't mind so much. old grandma here, while i wasn't quite looking, spoke in clear mando, commenting on "what a shame it is that she's wearing that kind of make up" and condescending giggling at me. the girl followed suit, because she, was a thing of class and beauty herself. the guy didn't seem to give a shit. i turned around as if i didn't understand the grandma, and she smiled at me as if she was actually a nice person, and had the nerve to maintain eye contact, and i smiled back in that asian innocent way, up until it was long enough for her to realise that i understood every word she said.
no shame. she was right. i was made up like a skank. because stage make up always looks skanky in normal light. it looks like someone took a liberal stroke of the artistic brush and went all eager.
see, i wasn't sure if i should try to explain myself. i'm not a skank. this is just for stage, and i am on my way to the car to drive there so there'll be no one else staring at me, i'm sorry i offended your eyes...so sorry, so sorry won't happen again.
if it was the girl making the comment, i'd tell her off (just coz i can, and she wouldn't be expecting it). tell her she had a bad upbringing, a mum who didn't teach her manners, you don't say mean things about people. but i was dumbfounded when it's the elder teaching the young to behave that way. then you realise that sometimes you do blame the parents...
and i was getting insecure, thinking i must be a skank look-alike. once i got to newtown, in that pub where all the actors were doing makeup, costume, and i was greeted by all the cross dressers in the other plays, everyone with lots of make up...i was home. all the public who went to that pub KNEW why we were all dressed the way we were, and looked the way we were. it was unspoken, and we were treated normal. er....because we ARE normal. we're not normally like this ya know!
note to self: people are much more open and better in newtown than chatswood.
but then i already knew that. i just happen to be stuck in chatswood.
Post a Comment