A year ago tonight, Dance The Colour Blue played to its last audience. My first professionally produced play was an entirely unexpected affair…as well as something of a revelatory experience!
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There is a poem which threads through Dance The Colour Blue, refering back to The Odyssey. A plea from Penelope to be heard. Although, thanks to Homer, we can never be sure we are hearing this enigmatic character clearly.
The poem appears here in full. The third stanza is added for completeness. It did not feature in the play.
Penelope
Once on a overcast morning, I asked the messenger Hermes
Is time a dancing boy whose legs move bright with speed?
Tenderly taking my hand, he affirmed my familiar fate
Denizens, five score men, claiming a tenure of nature that’s yours
Me; tears stain my face entering more deeply into my heart
Swiftly days pass, Odysseus, for the dark chases them away
Three years last you laid by my side, must yet I prepare for three more?
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Barfly Don didn’t much care for them…but here were the sounds on the jukebox in Dance The Colour Blue:
Home At Last - Steely Dan
Counting Backwards - Throwing Muses
I Want More - Can
Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies
Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
Felt Mountain - Goldfrapp
Reelin’ In The Years - Steely Dan
Dress You Up - Madonna
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
Tom’s Diner - Suzanne Vega
Lovelight - ABBA
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Looking back on the run of Dance The Colour Blue is like recalling a dream: you’re convinced it happened, you just can’t point to or touch it. What I do know is…the production was smooth…the cast were exquisite…the audiences were appreciative… and the direction was flawless. And even though the world views everyone in its same unwavering regard, there is a change in my perspective as I look round. It was a beautiful production. A professional production. And that is…something.
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