Friday, October 27, 2023

HI Revisited - Act 7 - Breaking of the Cast (sort of)

Opening Scene: Offloading an Offspring

Today the script called for the inevitable cast dispersion. This always happens in any play that leaves a lasting impact on the players and audience. Someone who everyone holds dear to their hearts decides to exit the storyline early, causing distress among the consumers of the tome and thus raises the emotional attachment they have to the piece. This helps bind the viewer to the product and thus increases potential revenue streams through ongoing advertising etc. No doubt OS.No.2 had all this in mind as she decided to exit a day early and become a Mexican again, residing south of the border, eating paella in a wide brim hat whist contributing to the café culture that is Melbourne. Probably frequenting a rave or two was also on her mind.

<queue the Audio Visual dept>

Before she left though, she and Blogger did a round on the island, captured yet again on the latest GoPro – this time to the beats of Rufus in order to provide another level of cinematography without having to bother with studio dubbing.

<let the AV dept go (we’ve run out budget)>.

Leaving OS. No.1 Companion back in the castle wing the other four members of the cast headed off in convoy to the airport where we went through the standard farewell scenes …

“I’ve had a great time”

“I’ll miss you much”

“We’ll miss you too”

“See you Tomorrow” was the line that just goes to show how good the delivery was on the previous two.

And so, with one cast member cast away into the wide blue yonder the rest spent the day the best they could making the most of the last few hours they had left in paradise.  

 

Play of the Day Scene: In the Moat

The Castle (as affectionately known in the script) is an amazing piece of engineering, reminiscent of the days of yore when human ingenuity and sheer bloody mindlessness of the elite forced many workers to spend thousands of hours creating fortresses to protect the upper classes from the ravages of the weather, the wrath of the envious lower classes and the ability to lord over the surrounding lands.  Same here thing here, the only difference being the construction methods.


Instead of carving out the side of the steep hill, they impaled hundreds of steel beams into the ground, thus preserving the shape of the land and creating air flows beneath the dwellings. Presumably also allowing the local fauna to wander around underneath the Lorders whilst they perform their lording. We can’t really tell what’s down underneath us as it’s a long way down, thick vegetation and no pedestrian access.

Everyone gets up and down the castle by a terraced road (also perched on the poles) which zig zags through the enclave exactly like in the ancient fortresses. There are no gates at each level in order to defend them from invading armies, this is because these armies have evolved and are now airborne. The road is covered in cobblestones (just like the olden days) – the only problem with these is that instead of being laid to survive the ages, they were laid to trip the aged (as they lift and shatter over time).

The end result of this modern-day engineering marvel is a complex of many single residences (aka Wings) cleverly lining the terraced path, all with private views from the many balconies. We all look out across the hidden cove to the water and islands beyond and (currently) no one looking in at us from the other side of the hills surrounding the cove. The lower section of the view is defined by the roof below, thus obscuring the beach when the tide’s in. When it’s out we can see the sand flats and the jet skiing warriors beyond - snaking their way across the passage, trying to dislodge their passengers whilst showing off how well they can follow their captain.


Inside the wings, the entrance is significantly higher than the living quarters, a grand (i.e steep) staircase leads down to the level where the action happens. Suspect there have been a few mishaps on these stairs as they are vertigo inducing. The quarters are extremely well finished with polished stone everywhere, 3 luxurious sleeping quarters, one with an en-suite as big as an entire inner-city apartment, spacious entertaining area with bi-folding doors opening up to the grand balcony.


This is where the woven throne resides. We are the only wing that has a throne (of this type outside anyway) and thanks to some MacGyver type ingenuity it no longer squeaks as the royalty luxuriate in it whilst performing their royal lording duties.

It’s probably a good thing that the local aerial wildlife has adapted to this environment and thus keeps the inhabitants on their toes by constantly trying to invade an unguarded entrance. Just like the days of yore – all entrances must be guarded at all times, if you drop your guard there’s a good chance you will be invaded. If you are invaded in an unguarded moment, you feel invaded, and have to suffer the consequences of cleaning up the mess and restocking those vittles that the thieves managed to pilfer during the invasion.

Like all good castles, a moat protects the buildings by creating a difficult to cross barrier for the invading hordes, also being a body of water, people used them to cool down. In the modern era the concept is still the same except that as the hordes are now airborne, keeping cool is the main use. The moat in this castle is impossible to get to from the outside so it meets the first historical reference criteria as well. Child proof fencing also provides a significant level of protection.

The moat was therefore the destination for the remaining cast members in the remaining afternoon they had. Blogger was the last to arrive (having penned the above before doing so) and a very relaxing time was had whilst consuming the endless stream of useful information pouring out from a fellow moater.



As it transpires – Deer are on the island, pervasive in the locale and indeed spotted from our balcony only an hour later. A herd of them… go figure. Cute little Bambie sized critters, same colour as the local wallabies and all vying for the same green vegetation – no wonder the hills are bare and the sound of crashing through the undergrowth at night permeates the stillness of the evenings.

The wonders of this castle just go on and on, such a shame we have to leave tomorrow.

 

Closing Scene: Final Fling

In order to tick another sensory experience off the list – the script directed the remaining cast members to the local yacht club for pre-dinner aperitif’s. With our previous visits experience we knew getting in early was vital to a successful scene and thus we did. Luxuriating in the salubrious surroundings of the balcony to the bar we had a fabulous time watching the beautiful people of the world watching the beautiful sun set over them and the world they reside in. Their boats shimmering in the harbor casting a back light to their perfectly matched outfits as they peered in awe at the majestic universal forces being put on show – just for them.

 


Ok – admittedly that was directly from the script and the <extras>/<Wardrobe dept>/<Lighting dept> all let the <production crew> crew down on that one. <Editing> offered to keep it in. <Producer> had given up by then (stopped being paid) and so it slipped through to production.

We were there as well:

 


Kate Winslet saying hello to the <camera crew> (i.e. going off script)



After that, we headed back to the Castle where we had a pretty good BBQ on the balcony above the deer and started the somewhat deflating task of packing up and getting ready for departure. Still in very high spirits though…..



 

 

 

 

1 comment:

Margd said...

Standing ovation from the audience (well who else!)