Bethany Simons’ Touring Life – Edi Upper

The thing is, there exists in the world places that send your GPS or Google maps into a bit of a tizz. Yep, little pockets located at the base of green rolling hills, places that have no population, places that are more ‘tin shed and tennis court’ than ‘town’. That’s the sort of place you want to take a theatre production, isn’t it?

We welcome Bethany Simons, actor, writer and producer of the two-time Green Room Award nominated play The Weather and Your Health as a regular contributor to AussieTheatre.com. In her first column, Bethany gave us an exclusive insight into life on tour. Today, we continue the journey…

The thing is, there exists in the world places that send your GPS or Google maps into a bit of a tizz. Yep, little pockets located at the base of green rolling hills, places that have no population, places that are more ‘tin shed and tennis court’ than ‘town’. That’s the sort of place you want to take a theatre production, isn’t it?

Well, it’s always been a dream of mine and earlier this week, it came true. My team and I had the delightful experience of performing for the community of Edi Upper. Located about 30mins south of Wangaratta, Victoria, our 16th stop on this 40 show regional tour for my play The Weather and Your Health was something special.

After taking a few wrong turns – finding ourselves at the back of someone’s farm, being chased by big black dogs – we ventured around the other side of the hill and were blown away by the location of our venue for that night. Nestled on a slope and surrounded by hills and green pastures, the Edi Upper Community Hall is home to decades of history and activity for the region.

We bumped in our set (those trusty 5 chairs) and familiarised ourselves with the small stage while the tech crew from Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre focused the lighting. An extension had been used to make the stage a little bigger. It was slightly different in height to the rest, so a piece of carpet was used to cover the stage…this was then slightly bigger than the stage itself, so tape was used to mark the boundary of the actual stage to ensure we didn’t walk straight off the edge – ingenious!

We had considered driving back to Wangaratta for dinner, as there were literally no options for food in the area. As I mentioned before, Edi Upper is not a town, but a name for the valley and surrounds. Not a shop in sight. Thankfully a few of the ladies from the local hall committee had prepared dinner for us: a tray of lasagne, potato bake, pumpkin risotto and Venison stew. Couldn’t decide, so I had three dinners. Yes, I did.

One of the many highlights of this stop was being shown our outdoor dressing room/tent. Located behind the hall, it consisted of a truck tarp that had been tied around the awning of the building. Complete with mirror, table and lace cloth, Persian rug, and flowers on a stand, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I think the presenter was concerned that we would be horrified, but Andrew Dodds (Actor), Ryan Barwood (Production Manager) and I all thought it was fabulous! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to get ready in that space. My heart leapt as I took in the sound of the utes and buses arriving, the ‘walls’ flapping in the breeze, the sun setting over the hill and peeking through the gaps in the tarp…

I found myself marvelling at how much some people must miss out on by demanding certain levels of comfort. If we were anything like those outlandish stars you hear about who request only red M&M’s and their water at a certain temperature, well, we wouldn’t be touring throughout regional Victoria for a start, but we’d also be missing out on real life and the opportunity to converse with these down to earth, generous and sometimes wild characters. Really, that’s the message of my play. My Nan was poor and grew up in a simpler time. Things were tough, but they made do. They soldiered on and looked at what they had rather than what they lacked. Make the most of what you’ve got. After all, that’s where creativity is born.

I came out on stage to see a packed hall. Almost 120 people had piled in to experience a night at the theatre! We had 2 year olds and 90 year olds, men and women, theatre lovers and first timers. The performance bubbled along as the audience giggled and gasped at the stories being told on that little, uneven and creaky stage.

After the show and raffle we moved into the supper room. I must have looked shocked as I took in the five tables laden with food because a gentleman next to me laughed and said, “You’re in the country now. This is how we do things!”

The team collected more stories and lovely responses to the play as we nibbled on slice, cake and home made sausage rolls. Towards the end of the night, a lady with two cochlear implants approached me to say that she spends her life trying to work out what people are saying, but she heard every word I had said on stage. She thanked me for my facial expressions and stories. I can’t thank her enough for making the long hours, hard work, and years of planning worthwhile.

(Happy to report that I’ll be contributing to aussietheatre.com on a regular basis. I look forward to sharing more news from the road, as well as insights from my experiences as an actor, writer and independent theatre producer. See you online! bethanysimons.com)