Fredricton to the Magdalene Islands and back to Fredricton!

We decided to make the trip to the Magdelene Islands on Saturday so we would have a bit of time to look around on Sunday. Our ferry was set to leave at 2pm so we left at 8am and made the five hour drive in order to arrive an hour early.

As 3 pm rolled around and we were still stuck in our van in the pouring rain in the lineup waiting to be let onto the ferry, James suddenly had the inspiration to ask someone why we were still waiting. Apparently they had decided to wait until 6 to depart and had conveniently neglected to mention that important fact when James had called earlier to ask if the ferry was still on schedule.

Of course, they weren't about to let us onto the ferry before then because, as we were told, it's "not a motel" (by the way it basically is the closest thing to a floating motel that there is), so we had to sit in our van for four hours staring at the ferry as it mocked us from meters away. Luckily we had some company in the gigantic moose carcass strapped to the trailer directly beside us like some absurd parade float.

Again James had an inspired idea, this time it was to have a pizza delivered to our van as we waited. 20 points for James!

Eventually they did let us on, and we bid farewell to our decomposing new friend, and made our way to the relative comfort of the ferry lounge area readying ourselves for a peaceful journey.

Unfortunately about 20 minutes in to the ferry ride it became apparent that we were in for a wee bit of a bumpy ride. I later likened it to being on roller coaster that didn't stop for five hours. Upon our arrival Charlotte (who spent almost the entire ride trying not to move and looking rather green) was heard to remark "that was the worst experience of my life".

But in the end it was all worth it, and kind of fun in a ridiculous way. We had the Sunday to tour around the islands (archipelago?) and let me tell you they (it?) are (is?) beeeeeoooootiful, although unbelievably windy. We then had two shows on Monday in Grosse Ille, which included our first performance of I Don't Like Mondays in two weeks. The audiences were very attentive but also the quietest audiences I've ever not heard.

It was a little weird for us, but afterwards the kids were genuinely appreciative. We even got to be interviewed for the school yearbook by the graduating class which consisted of two students. It was too bad we didn't have more time to spend there but we had to get the ferry back on Tuesday. Luckily the ferry ride back was much smoother and we spotted what we decided was a dolphin. Then it was back to Fredericton for 7 shows in three days.

- Adam

Meanwhile, From New Brunswick...

Hi Folks,

I know the office staff must be going ape with For Art's Sake and all, so someone had better be keeping this blog up!

We all are doing fine in Fredericton right now. Two more shows here tomorrow before we head off to the Magdalen Islands on Saturday. We're hoping for good weather. Here are a few photos, taken with my iPhone, mostly from the last leg of our tour through the Lower North Shore of Quebec.




Waiting for the water taxi at 6:30am in St-Augustine's


One of the only times we had to string up the backdrop between the basketball net and the wall!, in St-Augustine's.


Getting a lift by ATV in Harrington Harbour


A small audience for I Don't Like Mondays in Harrington Harbour


Story Wars at Kingsclear School in New Brunswick - with a rare shot out the window of the elusive fourth member of the School Tour Team, The Van.



Good spirits all around, Charlotte loves the fact that there is both a Boston Pizza AND a Swiss Chalet a few minutes from our hotel here in Fredricton.

Adam almost fell on his face today during Story Wars at Kingsclear School, because the bedsheet got caught on his foot. He had to take his shoes off to finish the show. Both of them had trouble not cracking up.

We have not been doing I Don’t Like Mondays that often but we will have our chance next week: one on Monday and then three times in one day in Fredericton! Need to brush up!

- James.

No I'm not mad at the blog...I was just a little busy that's all.

It turns out that finding the energy to be barely clever and slightly entertaining after days and days of performing is kinda hard to pull off.

But I will not quit, let's see how much of our adventures I can remember...

After our first leg on the coast we realized how amazing our homes really are.

That first week home went by really quickly, and before we knew it we were in the van once again, on our way to New Brunswick.

Much to everyone's surprise we all fell in love with Fredericton. Not that we were expecting to reenact scenes from Escape From New York (the Kurt Russel classic) but we never expected Fredericton to be so great.

The city is full of fantastic people, just to give you an idea here is an example by comparison: in Montreal pedestrians cross the street when, where and how they want. It doesn't matter if the little red hand on the street light is solid, flashing or upside down spinning round and round. Fredericton must be swarming with Olympic hopefuls because while driving through the town all we saw were flashes of people sprinting across the street in order to make your drive less "annoying". They almost seemed apologetic for crossing the street - and they only did so when the little white man on the street sign made his presence known.

While there we performed back to back to back Smokescreens in the Commonwealth's second largest High School, Fredericton High School. That was an experience in itself for many reasons, the main one being that none of us have ever performed one show three times in a day. I would like to send a special thank you to the entire theatre production crew who helped us out. That week turned out to be a tough one, and it was a true reminder to all of us how important family was. If you ever had a reason to doubt her, believe this, Vanessa is stronger than most people I know or will ever know. To see her perform that morning showed us just a small piece of this incredible woman.

The weekend came quickly and it was time for us to make our way to the Magdalene Islands.

But before we got there we stayed a couple of nights in P.E.I. One of those nights was Antoine's 25th Birthday. So we kept the tradition alive and held our best fireworks show yet. In the company of three great guys we met that day, Jonathan, Sven and Luke we laughed the night away.

I will definitely go back to the Magdalene Islands. It was incredibly beautiful. Cliffs and crashing waves everywhere you look. But one day it started raining, and it didn't quit. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.

So we were stuck inside our rooms...but next time Magdalene Islands you will have sun, I'll make sure of it, I know a guy.

Eventually we made our way back to Montreal for another week and before we could say "Home Sweet Home Sweet Home" we were in the van traveling to Ottawa.

Ottawa was nice, although most of our shows were outside the city, we managed to spend most of our nights in town. Some of us chose a more conventional route, bed and breakfast type places, while others spent the night confined in a 6 by 6 cell. Before you go off telling people that someone in the Geordie touring troupe was arrested...STOP!

Just to be clear, years ago the city turned an old prison into a student hostel. You can, if you so choose, buy a night in a single-double or triple cell. although it was a little creepy it was also a little cool. But I was very happy where I was, thank you A-TEAM!

After our time in the Ottawa/Gatineau region we made our way north, where we had our most memorable show to date.

Description:

One show. Two huge turbine fans. One Blackout. 5 dogs. 30 swarming students and a partridge in a pair tree.

We love you Rapid Lake!

We made our way back home and had some incredible shows in some incredible places.

We will never forget the P-scene at FACE (an amazing theatre space transformed from an old swimming pool) or the Bell at Marie de France (a wicked 7 second hip-hop beat)

After a quick week in the Quebec City region, we are now home. It has been a heck of a journey so far and it isn't even half way done.

So if you have seen us along the way please feel free to send us a line, and if we are scheduled to pay you a visit...we look forward to it.

Until next time, I'm Jimmy Blais for the G-Team.