fajrdrako | Cricket bats and suitable attire

I have just learned that we don't have a cricket bat in our theatre here.

I am astounded. Some things you just take for granted. We have a sizeable props department, always trying to overflow the confines of the cupboards and closets and warehouse. And what, no cricket bat, not so much as one? Didn't we do Charly's Aunt within the last eon? Don't they talk about cricket? Or am I thinking of Oscar Wilde?

We do have a lot of wonderful items. I love wandering and looking at them, not just because they are strange and interesting objects, but because a lot of them are fake - papier mache mock-ups of interesting objects, or strange beasts that are half one thing and half another.

I love the swords. Funny how they won't let me play with them on office time.

I love the costumes. Funny how I don't care what I look like in terms of everyday clothes, but put me in costume and I'm in heaven. I love sewing costumes. I need to find more excuses to do so - looks as if the Tolkien gathering in December will be the next chance.

I once made an outfit that would fit with a cricket bat quite nicely - a white Edwardian dress, long narrow skirt, wide sash, probably with a bow or two, high-collared neckline, parasol. I went to a picnic at Vincent Massey Park wearing this, and, come to think of it, they really did play cricket at this picnic - everyone was in Edwardian clothes. I wonder if I still have photos of that. I wonder what the play was that we were producing at the time. It was obviously something British and Edwardian, and I bet it wasn't Charly's Aunt.