Cape Breton's Magazine

one- or two-hour break in the afternoon, depending upon the nature of the facili? ty. Some are very easy. Others are, like, walk down fifteen concrete steps carrying a 200-pound cable box. So, that gets a little wearying. And the hard part about it is knowing at the end of the night, when you have to tear it down and pack it all up again, you have to walk back up those fifteen steps, re-load that truck, and then drive to the next place. And usually what we'll do is we'll drive overnight. An average show finishes at 10:30. An average tear-down will get you out by midnight, with the truck loaded. Say if we're in Antigonish, and our next show is in Pictou--well, we'd drive that hour and a half drive at night, and get into our new accommodations. Whenever feasible, we try to drive at night. When we first started out, it was all one- nighters. And then that just got to be too much. We went to two-nighters and things of that nature. Now, we go into Halifax and we stay seven nights. So, you have one hard day coming in and one hard day going out, but in between times, it's quite en? joyable. So the growth of the show--its expansion and broadening its audience base--has made things easier in a way. But then we took on the challenge of going to the West. The first time we went to Ottawa: The crew finished at Ottawa, and our next show the next night was in Markham, just outside of Toronto. We arrived in Markham about 4:10, 4:30 in the morning, by the time every? thing was done (in Ottawa) and the driving done. And then had to be at the theatre at 10 o'clock in the morning. And of course, when you do that, your adrenalin is zing? ing along. It's really hard to sort of, like, lie down and relax and get a good night's sleep. I guess you do just run on ad? renalin. Especially for these one-nighters, One- nighters are really very hard. More so on the crew than the cast. But the cast, then, of course, they have to produce such energy that you sort of go out of your way to make sure that they're not exhausted. That they've got that energy to really produce a product. Sometimes the crew sort of shakes their head and says, "Oh, those guys!" You know-- "They don't know." Even, I don't think a lot of the cast appreciates the effort that goes into it. In the sense that, they're focussed on their own art and craft. .1 Gerald Taylor Maybe those who've been on the road and done different sorts of work, other than producing the product--singing, comedy, things of that nature--they have a little bit better idea. But, you know--The Re? vue's one thing, but there are separate little worlds within it. HEADING WEST Stephen MacDonald: And so, of course, an? other development--is of course two years ago (1993), when we first went outside the Maritimes. We took the show to Ontario. And had such a great success. COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL G. Landry's Vacuum Service Ltd. ?? SEPTIC SYSTEMS CLEANED INSTALLED & REPAIRED ?? BACKHOE BULLDOZER RENTAL ?? PORTABLE TOILET RENTAL & SERVICE Front Lake Rd. Sydney 564-8413 ?? / SERVING ALL OF CAPE BRETON jf' Regional Development Commission Inverness' Vfciorfa & Richmond Counties Towns of IVIulgrave and Port Hawkesbury Serving the Counties of Inverness, Richmond & Victoria and the Towns of Mulgrave & Port Hawkesbury STARTING OR EXPANDING A BUSINESS? • A dedicated staff with over 50 years of business experience to provide you with business counselling & market information. • Information and assistance made available on the type of government programs designed to support your organization. • Working with community economic development & industry groups. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION 609 CHURCH STREET, SUITE 201 P.O. BOX 2200, PORT HAWKESBURY, NS BOE 2V0 PHONE: (902) 625-3929 FAX: (902) 625-1559