Icicle is actually quite a tricky word to spell, so by the time you come to write Bicycle, you are confused and unsure. After both words, you lose your confidence as a speller, so that you start hesitating before writing every few words.
Anyway! I was quite looking forward to my son Ky seeing Icy-cle By-sickle, a show at our local arts centre, which I presumed would be full of trapeze artists and circus type cheery fun stuff as the write up seemed to
imply. Ky went into the auditorium with no problems which was good. I thought he might get flashbacks of Christmas, where I tried to take him into three different Santa’s grotto’s; all the anticipation of queuing up at the prospect of something exciting about to happen would get him on edge, so by the time we walked into a grotto which, if you are an edgy 2 year old with reservations, looked nothing more like a dark cave housing a fat old man.
Once inside, we had great seats which is a bonus and the one thing that gets my goat during the whole performance, the rest of the day, and normally a few days afterwards. The show begins. After a minute, Ky exclaims very loudly “It’s dark”. Pause. “It’s dark”. Pause. “It’s dark in here.” I tell him it will get lighter in a minute which I hope it will. Then the second actor to come on is an adult pretending to be a small child, and he is really, really intense. Does this child character he is playing have ADD? I can see he is trying very much to be like a child but as he is clearly an adult, he just looks demented. At this point Ky announces “Let’s go.” I managed to encourage him to stay, telling him there would be a circus soon, sat him on my lap and kept him busy with biscuits, of which he nervously scoffs many. The show does not get any better. Three actors tell the tale, which very basically is this; Two children who are twins and living with their gran, wonder what has happened to their mother. The gran then explores different possibilities within a circus; could she have been a trapeze artist who fell off the swing? Maybe she was a tight rope walker and fell off the rope? Or maybe a clown (who was the only one lucky enough to forgo a fatal accident). But don’t worry, the twin’s mother hasn’t died at all. She just ran away and joined the circus to ride an Icicle Bicycle. The End.
When I saw the poster advertising the play (see image above), I did not realise the colourful character was actually falling to her death. Luckily, Ky was unable to really understand this morbid story about a mother abandoning her small children. Halfway through, his apprehensiveness gave way to boredom, because although the show was advertised for being suitable for 2 year olds, no 2 year old would really have understood the storyline, (thankfully), but apart from that it was nowhere near visually entertaining enough for toddlers.
Maybe I should have walked out, but after the possibility of the mum falling to her death from the top of a circus tent, I was hanging out for a happy ending. I’m not sure which is happier. Your mum’s dead, or your mum’s not dead, she’s just ran off and you’ll never see her again. It was a strange performance, almost like it was a special show for children who had problems with abandonment issues. Even then I’m not sure if it would have been a good thing. “So, child victim of abandonment, could you relate to this performance?” “No sir, my mum didn’t run off to ride an Icicle Bicycle, she ran off with my uncle.”
I, along with three other mums complained to the duty manager afterwards who took our numbers and promised us a call back from the manager who booked the show. I shall be expecting complimentary tickets to another show.
It wasn’t all bad. Ky had an excellent time in the café afterwards, frolicking with another little girl, a little bohemian chick she was, who kept offering him fluffs of dirt from the floor, to which he would politely refuse “no thank you.”
Then when we arrived home, I realised three things simultaneously:
1. When I arrive home, after unlocking the front door I always put my keys back in my bag and never in my coat pocket. Apart from yesterday.
2. I have, since October, been wearing the same coat. Apart from today when it was unusually mild.
3. On my way out, I always check my keys are in my bag before closing the front door. Apart from today.
I called my mum, who has a spare set of keys, to tell her we were locked out and then we went to a local pizza restaurant for dinner. My mum arrived half an hour later and and as were chatting she told me that my aunt, who had been clearing out my grans room, found a sealed card addressed to me, which she obviously meant to have given me before she died. I burst into tears, which then nearly got my mum going, so I managed to stop the rest of the tears from flowing; we were after all, in the middle of a pizza restaurant.
On our way out, ky got distracted by the waitress waving goodbye, then quickly turned to head out of the door, unaware there was a pane of glass before him which he whole heartedly walked into. This gave my mum the fit of giggles which I was kind of pleased about, after all I had dragged her from her online poker game to come and rescue us, the least we could do was to make her laugh. Ky went all stiff and expressionless as he does when he is embarrassed.
Once inside, we had great seats which is a bonus and the one thing that gets my goat during the whole performance, the rest of the day, and normally a few days afterwards. The show begins. After a minute, Ky exclaims very loudly “It’s dark”. Pause. “It’s dark”. Pause. “It’s dark in here.” I tell him it will get lighter in a minute which I hope it will. Then the second actor to come on is an adult pretending to be a small child, and he is really, really intense. Does this child character he is playing have ADD? I can see he is trying very much to be like a child but as he is clearly an adult, he just looks demented. At this point Ky announces “Let’s go.” I managed to encourage him to stay, telling him there would be a circus soon, sat him on my lap and kept him busy with biscuits, of which he nervously scoffs many. The show does not get any better. Three actors tell the tale, which very basically is this; Two children who are twins and living with their gran, wonder what has happened to their mother. The gran then explores different possibilities within a circus; could she have been a trapeze artist who fell off the swing? Maybe she was a tight rope walker and fell off the rope? Or maybe a clown (who was the only one lucky enough to forgo a fatal accident). But don’t worry, the twin’s mother hasn’t died at all. She just ran away and joined the circus to ride an Icicle Bicycle. The End.
When I saw the poster advertising the play (see image above), I did not realise the colourful character was actually falling to her death. Luckily, Ky was unable to really understand this morbid story about a mother abandoning her small children. Halfway through, his apprehensiveness gave way to boredom, because although the show was advertised for being suitable for 2 year olds, no 2 year old would really have understood the storyline, (thankfully), but apart from that it was nowhere near visually entertaining enough for toddlers.
Maybe I should have walked out, but after the possibility of the mum falling to her death from the top of a circus tent, I was hanging out for a happy ending. I’m not sure which is happier. Your mum’s dead, or your mum’s not dead, she’s just ran off and you’ll never see her again. It was a strange performance, almost like it was a special show for children who had problems with abandonment issues. Even then I’m not sure if it would have been a good thing. “So, child victim of abandonment, could you relate to this performance?” “No sir, my mum didn’t run off to ride an Icicle Bicycle, she ran off with my uncle.”
I, along with three other mums complained to the duty manager afterwards who took our numbers and promised us a call back from the manager who booked the show. I shall be expecting complimentary tickets to another show.
It wasn’t all bad. Ky had an excellent time in the café afterwards, frolicking with another little girl, a little bohemian chick she was, who kept offering him fluffs of dirt from the floor, to which he would politely refuse “no thank you.”
Then when we arrived home, I realised three things simultaneously:
1. When I arrive home, after unlocking the front door I always put my keys back in my bag and never in my coat pocket. Apart from yesterday.
2. I have, since October, been wearing the same coat. Apart from today when it was unusually mild.
3. On my way out, I always check my keys are in my bag before closing the front door. Apart from today.
I called my mum, who has a spare set of keys, to tell her we were locked out and then we went to a local pizza restaurant for dinner. My mum arrived half an hour later and and as were chatting she told me that my aunt, who had been clearing out my grans room, found a sealed card addressed to me, which she obviously meant to have given me before she died. I burst into tears, which then nearly got my mum going, so I managed to stop the rest of the tears from flowing; we were after all, in the middle of a pizza restaurant.
On our way out, ky got distracted by the waitress waving goodbye, then quickly turned to head out of the door, unaware there was a pane of glass before him which he whole heartedly walked into. This gave my mum the fit of giggles which I was kind of pleased about, after all I had dragged her from her online poker game to come and rescue us, the least we could do was to make her laugh. Ky went all stiff and expressionless as he does when he is embarrassed.
2 comments:
Have you seen this card yet?? I am gobsmacked..Make sure you let me know, aaaahhhh Anneanne Miss her badly :-(
It was a Christmas card, with her usual little message on it. It's weird, it almost made her a little bit alive again, receiving a message from her after she's passed away. Know what I mean. I miss her too x x
Post a Comment