Walt stayed at the hameau with Reed the other night and ate with the technicians while the rest of us piled in some cars and drove to a nearby town where there was a kind of potluck buffet meal (repas) of mediocre quiches and pizza and then a poetry reading of two poems that had to do with bulls and maybe Picasso written by one of France's most famous poets. Of course I can't remember his name but one of the poems was called La Corrida. I didn't understand much but I enjoyed the setting - in the garden of a beautiful little chateau - and the performance; it was more of a dramatic reading than just a poetry reading. For La Corrida, they passed around glasses of red wine before they started. Since the performers were wearing red and black and had red cloths to drape on the chairs and the candleabras were full of red candles burning brightly, it was all very dramatic. Even better were when the bats started flying around because of all the insects attracted to the lights. Afterwards the twilight view over the hills dotted with lights from hamlets and villages was really beautiful, I could see how a nobleman surveying his territory would have felt like a king in that chateau in the evenings.
This is all part of a Open Skies (Ciel Ouvert) series of summer artistic events in this region held in unusual outdoor spaces that Michel and Helene have helped facilitate. The next night we quickly washed up the dishes after dinner and piled in the cars again, this time for a film being shown inside an actual old quarry, or carriere. It was immense, and once we got inside, a little chilly; cave temperature of course. If I'd realized I would have worn socks. The film was a collection of 5 short films made by one director; a couple of them it was easy to understand the gist of it but a couple of them were absolutely inscrutable unless you understood French well. The funniest one was a couple about to get married, who suddenly were confessing to each other all the things the other person didn't know. The man doesn't like meat, he broke a vase on purpose, etc. etc. Then the woman admitted - and in this part I was so excited because I could understand it all and I could even laugh - that everything she had ever served him to eat she had bought at the deli or traiteur; the worst part was getting rid of all the packaging. And the final blow - she was brunette, not blond. Completely brunette. The look on his face was priceless.
Eric, the WWOOFer from Lille, told me he was looking forward to seeing the film because he hadn't been to the cinema for a long time; he also said he hoped it wasn't too highbrow, although he didn't use that word because there isn't a translation for highbrow in French. Then, just as I was about to say facetiously, but isn't everything in France highbrow? he said but of course, everything in France is like that!
The actors and musicians are pretty pleasant to have around, many of them are downright friendly and will in good spirits correct your French nicely and others are simply pleasant. Last night their dress rehearsal was delayed by the rain and everyone was gathered in the big room downstairs where a few of us were playing a dice game called Yams and Reed was painting with watercolors and loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher and putting away the clean ones. Tonight is the big spectacle, a piece called La Mouette based on something by Chekhov. I'm very curious to see everyone in their parts. We will eat dinner early tonight and then have borscht afterwards. Today the person who seems to be the person in charge of all the paperwork, Cecille, presented Helene with a big bouquet of flowers and she gave us WWOOFers a couple of chocolate toolboxes. Everything in finest chocolate, the box, the wrenches, the tape measure, bolts, etc. These are tucked safely away in the pantry for us to share later.
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