Chocolate Day
2005-09-23 @ 11:56 p.m.

So I did win the $50 Kinokuniya voucher after all. It's just that the SWF people contacted me nearly one month after they were supposed to have done so. Merci beaucoup tout le monde! Despite what Claudia says about "real writers" not needing to pimp their writing, I humbly beg to differ. I'm sure J.K. Rowling didn't somehow miraculously become a market sensation. Anyway, I just wanted to win. It's the little victories that matter to me these days. Haha! Vaish brought us to Cafe Iguana today, which she later realised was not where she'd intended to bring us for dinner. Didn't matter, since the Mexican food was nice. I discovered I don't mind the taste of tequila either. Vaish can be really weird sometimes. She kept going on about how one of the Indian waiters looked really familiar. So I suggested it could be her animus, which she naturally vehemently denied. Before that, she was quite certain that a waitress was someone she'd seen at a Starbucks, whom she remembered because she was checking out her outfit. Anyway, turns out that the waitress who served us is Thea's best friend. You see, Dan was in uniform, which made it rather obvious where we all came from. (Maybe it was all the talk about universities that clued her in too?)

After not a few confused minutes trying to get to SRT and make sure everyone else who wasn't at dinner made it there too, we inserted ourselves into a crowd of people who were obviously all older than we were. (Every time I go to the theatre, I always have the sneaking suspicion that I'm the youngest and poorest person there. It is most certainly not paranoia.) Okay, so it was an R18 play and the number of 18-year-olds who watch plays regularly probably isn't very high. Quills was brilliant. I think only three plays that I've seen are in the same league, speaking in terms of personal taste: The Woman In Black, Dead Certain and Dangerous Liaisons. The nudity was very cleverly managed, as was the stagecraft. The set was really elaborate, and put to very good use, especially in that scene when Lim Kay Tong's character talks down to the washerwoman's daughter. Powerplay, anyone? If you want a more detailed description of what exactly went on, go here. The one thing that really struck me was the scene when the Abbé hacked up the Marquis, which was the point where he truly descended to the level of the Marquis's tales. Plenty in the play to shock, but also thought-provoking in terms of its examination of the nature of art and censorship. By the way, a little factoid for you, the patient reader: The Marquis's name was Donatien Alphonse François de Sade.

This week:

Autumn Leaf Festival (Washington)