Spark

Tuesday night I took my mom to The Belfry Theatre to see a show at their Spark Festival. A Festival of "new plays and new ideas". I took her to a play I have been looking forward to seeing for a while called A Brimful of Asha.  

The synopsis from the Spark website is: 

Real-life mother and son, Asha and Ravi Jain, each defend their side of this true (and very Canadian) story of generational and cultural clash. When Ravi takes a trip to India his parents decide it is the perfect time to introduce him to potential brides. Ravi is not sold on the idea of getting married-at least not yet-but Asha fears that time is running out.

I first heard about the show on CBC's Q with Jian Ghomeshi (my CBC boyfriend) and was completely taken with the idea. The interview with Asha and Ravi is wonderful and funny. And despite the cultural differences, Ravi and Asha sounded just like most Canadian mothers and sons.

The play proved to be every bit as charming. It is immediately brought to every ones attention that Asha (mom) is not an actress and doesn't intend to be one either. It is really 90 minutes of story-telling and conversation. The lights even stay up for the first 3/4 of the play making you feel like you are in their dining room. (They handed out Samosas to start and shook peoples hands as they walked through the door!).

This is by no means a review, but I really wanted to share the experience with you. What a fun play to take my mom too, while they talked about generational differences, parents always being right, and at one point Asha even stops Ravi mid story as he has absent mindedly leaned against the table and she makes him get up and find a chair! Obviously it had all been well rehearsed, but they were so charming and honest with each other (as only a real life mother and son could be) that it was easy to believe that this argument about marriage changes every night, and is fuelled by new fires.

Listen to Ravi and Asha on Q here:

Interview – CBC Radio – Q with Jian Ghomeshi – Ravi and Asha on Q

And this is what I wore  -->

This might be the bravest I've been out here yet. Its weird the amount of freedom living in a new place has given me in feeling like I can really be whoever I always wanted to be.

A year ago, you could not have convinced me I would wear a regular length top and leggings out to the theatre! But here we are. And I like it.

With jeans and a little more casual in the office.

The shirt is satiny and feels totally glamorous, even when paired with jeans. Matthew took me along to a lecture he gave at UVic yesterday and it was the first time I have ever been introduced to a University class as a theatre professional. So I was really glad I was feeling slightly more glamorous than most days.

Yesterday I was back to casual with a nice comfy half button down shirt.

It sort of feels like I am wearing the top half of a onesie and I like it, but the buttons at the top won't stay done up, so I feel a little as though I am "popping out". It's the first swap item that I have considered may end up in the next swap.

Today I am wearing another new top that I absolutely love, but I'll have to wait until Rob or Amber can help me take a photo of the back of it, because that's the best part.

Stay tuned.