Shrek, the Musical ~ Live Theatre Play

Shrek, one of my favourite characters in the world of animation, was brought to life at the Conexus theatre in Regina last evening. A cast of local young actors filled the stage with life, energy, music and dancing. Fairy tale characters from Cinderella to The Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and The Three Blind Mice, and so many more danced in and out of the story being played out in front of us. 

The audience was filled with children of all ages - toddlers to those of us white hair, all of us clapping and singing along with the songs. Local musicians provided the live music that carried the story of Shrek, the big, green, ugly, scary ogre that had been challenged to find the Princess Fiona for Lord Farquaad. If Shrek wanted every single fairy tale character removed from his swamp, that was the job. Dragon fighting was part of the challenge if he was to save Fiona. 

The set was back dropped by changing scenery from Shrek’s swamp to Lord Farquaad’s castle and a field of sunflowers in between. Two structures, with a balcony atop, set the stage for castle, dungeon or a bridge depending on the scene. 

Were there flaws in this production? I certainly have a bad habit of watching for what could or should have been different, but that was the premise of this play, that differences are always with us. I just know I had fun - not only the play but loved the 7 year old beside me who clapped and danced for the 2.5 hours of this production. There was a 15 minute break and popcorn to ease the length demanded. I’m afraid the toddler did not manage, and fell asleep in her grandma’s arms. 

“After a while you learn to ignore the names 

people call you and just trust who you are.”

~ Shrek

Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire

Music by Jeanine Tesori

Based on: the DreamWorks Animation Motion Picture 

and the book by William Steig

All authorized performance materials are also supplied y MTI. www.mtishows.com

Conexus arts centre: conexusartscentre.ca

**haze, loud noises and flashing lights may be part of this experience

Child's Play

Never more grateful than 

when I know that 

balance is flexible. 

I watch children running up and down a teeter totter, 

laughing and revelling 

in the joy of their balance. 

Never standing still 

in the centre of the game. 

We can try 

to stay rigidly balanced, 

but when life tips up or down, 

we may be headed for a big fall

unless we take our balance with us.

“Balance is not something you find, 

it’s something you create.”

~ Jana Kingsford, entepreneur

Spring Tease

Sidewalks dry 

down to the cement; 

until they are mushy 

or under water. 

Streets clear and open; 

except for muddy lakes at 

street corners or 

sidewalk to sidewalk. 

The sun was warm, 

the wind - well it was windy
but not full of icy fingers. 

But the sunshine on a bus
full of serious passengers, 

played peek a boo with me 

while her grandparents watched and smiled. 

Probably a year old, 

all dressed in pink, 

she saw me smiling at her.

Her brown eyes twinkled, 

she covered her pudgy face with little fat fingers,  

splayed them into the air and 

we played across the aisle 

while the mud splattered bus rumbled on.

“Although the world is full of suffering,

 it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

~ Helen Keller

Setting a Stage

Letting words drift 

through my mind to have 

their own melody is pleasant. 

The lyrics are choppy and don’t make much sense;

a salad of the events of the day. 

Writing, reviewing, editing; 

making granola after supper; 

reading The Promise of Canada, 

out in the sun to push winter melt towards the drain, a bit of laundry ~ all mundane, necessary things to keep body and soul healthy and happy.

With each minute and hour that passes, 

global events and the characters in that play 

bully their way in and 

threaten a discordant melody.

And they may have their way, but not this day.

Today is for home ~ 

the strength for all the ‘morrows to come.

“In love of home, the love of country has its rise.”

~ Charles Dickens

Time for Play

Play date: March, 2022

In the game of Hide and Seek, there are always places to hide. Even if one if “too big to hide”! This was my quandary yesterday. I had been told: “You’re too big to hide!” Our game was limited to only a few rooms, but I fooled this four year old! I found two places - one was a pretty tight squeeze. The next problem was the little sister - just shy of two years old, she always found each of us first and very helpfully told the seeker! Wonderful fun, I have regrouped and recovered today with great memories of smiling faces and happy times.

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Then to Now

 

Toys and teddy bears

then to now

playful ties to memories.

“A teddy bear is the kid’s first friend and the memories 

they make with them stays longer than their childhood.”

~ Sarvesh Jain, philosopher

On Stage

Snow lightly nestles

in the overture to

A Winter’s Play.

“Before the play begins, observe the theater.”

~ Jules Michelet, Histoire De France 

Jusqu’au Xvie Siécle, Volume 15

The Weather Deals

Endeavouring to play with the cards dealt can be most curious. This time it’s just weird. Two of the potatoes I stuck in the dirt last February just sprouted. Why did I plant potatoes in February in Saskatchewan? For February, it felt like it was almost spring? What do I do now? Let the beautiful plants keep growing? Pull them out? I guess I’ll just protect them from any frost, get them inside pretty soon - but I hear we’re due for some warm weather soon! 

Where is the dedication in all this? In my farmer genes. Haven’t much of a green thumb, but if the weather just hints at me, I’ll plant something!

“When all is said and done the weather and love are 

the two elements about which one can never be sure.”

~ Alice Hoffman,  Here on Earth

Exhausted!

Laughing and playing gives 

relief that no amount of sleep can offer

until laughing and playing 

provides its own exquisite exhaustion.

“Laughter feels like our flotation device - - 

it won’t pull us out of the storm, 

but it might carry us through if we can just hang on.”

~ Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

The Art of Play

Around 2006, maybe a year or so earlier, I joined a small art group. Our first assignment was just to get colour on the page. Any colour. Then, if we wanted to, add another colour or design. Just three of us, we sat at a picnic table at Willows Beach in Victoria on a sunlit day, children and their families playing in the sand and water. I think we brought our own paints - not sure of that memory detail. Paints were not from an Art Store but from a drugstore. At the time, wandering the isles for who knows what, I came upon an art small set of water colours with one brush. I chose some inexpensive watercolour paper. From there, my hobby of water colour painting began. For most of the next decade, I painted and I wrote on my days off. It was not only play for me but focus and distraction. When words were stuck inside me, I would get up and paint. Just the movement of the brush, the colours magically appearing, images suggesting a horizon, a bird, a cloud, the night sky……..anything. Slowly and sometimes suddenly, the right words started dancing in my head and I could go back to my writing. 

Years later, someone said that watercolour painting was really hard! Maybe for an acclaimed artist, but I have never set myself to that standard. It’s only the images in my head that I try to put on paper. In the last couple of decades, I let that colourful play grow fallow. My tubes of paints ~ from a genuine Art Store ~ completely dried up. Today, shopping for household items, I took my time. Up one aisle and down the other, I look for what I might want for my great grand daughters. But what caught my eye was this paint set ~ definitely for me. I will share, but it’s time to get out to play on my own time. Every day, I see my real paint brushes growing dusty in jars or dry in their cases. My stack of paintings from those first years are hidden in a closet. The little portable easel sits atop a wicker four drawer cupboard, it too gathering dust. In the busy, noisy mall today, besides the parchment paper and lid for the cat food, I found this little corner of joy. I keep routine in my life that includes writing. Painting now has its place beside my writing.

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, 

or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.”

~ Charles E. Schaefer

More Child's Play!

Here’s another blast from the past, a watercolour from about 2006. I think I named him Herman or Howard or some H name. Propped on my desk,  I see him every day. He’s a nice guy and makes me smile!

“For a moment at least, be a smile on someone else’s face.”

~ Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

Child's Play? ~ 4

An early watercolour painting

 ~ playing with nature’s colours

An early evening sky

~ a play of colours on the prairie.

“Adults play too (or should).”

~ Julie Lythcott-Haims,

Contemporary American educator

Taking a Risk ~ CHILDREN ~ Theme for October 2022

My October theme is: CHILDREN! My own children raised and flown, now I get to re-learn how to play (maybe for the first time). My teacher? Three years old with as much hands on experience as she can share with me.

Curiouser and curiouser…….

Hungry hippos have really big……

Imaginary friends have big noses……

Lying down in the grass tickles……

Designing with colours and ……..

Running as fast as…….

Every big idea is…..

Never-never land is right……

“It’s a happy talent to know how to play.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Play With Me!!

I was going to write an essay about 

the value of real fun playdates ~

about how after we’re schoolyard kids

and teens on trying to be grownups

and adults whose lives are scheduled

with meetings, and family, and sometimes friends

but essays have fun taken out of them

Too serious

Too boring

all that other stuff is really important

but today I sat on the floor all afternoon

 ~ except when I didn’t ~

my companion a mere three years old

we sang the Alphabet song a hundred times and made an Alphabet puzzle, ate chocolate chip waffles with apples and maple syrup

chicken strips and lots of strawberries

sang the Alphabet song two more times and played roll the rings

drew happy faces and just lines with all the marker colours

when we got bored ~ for two seconds ~ all the hats came out!

~ we tried them all on ~ then

home time came too soon but we’ll play again soon.

“Life is more fun if you play games.”

~ Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

Who is Harvey? - At the Museum

Who is Harvey? - At the Museum

“Harvey always believed in himself.” His mother had known that he would stand tall in the world one day. Even so, she would have been surprised to see where his great feet had landed. Shiny tiles and vaulted ceilings for her offspring, so different from the grasses and trees they had roamed. Young children and their mothers, fathers, or grandparents surrounded him each morning. Some children were frightened by his great size ~ big sharp teeth and long, long tail. That is until one youngster showed another youngster how to push buttons to hear him roar; use the colour table to colour in a little picture of him; put the wooden puzzle together making his many different sizes. Harvey was content when his home grew quiet at the end of the day, and all the big and small humans went away. But his favourite time was in the morning when the young children came to play around him, be excited and curious about how things worked. Their laughter echoed in Harvey’s grand space, like night birds in the trees. 

“It’s the things we play with and the people who help us 

play that make a great difference in our lives.”  

~ Fred Rogers