Awash with "Doubt"s and Mr Zog's Sex Wax...

There has always been something reassuring about being as old as Mr. Zog's Sex Wax.  Originating from similar nether geographic regions fills me with pride.  But then, sometimes I think my ideas are weird, uncertainty sets in and there is no going back to being certain.

This is why I would like to illustrate the connection between the beautifully crafted writing of the play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley and surfing.  You thought the play was all about a Catholic school and two nuns who suspect a priest of mishandling a pupil, but you could say it's about finally getting to stand up on your surfboard after waiting in the water all morning.  You are up.  You're feeling good.  Mr. Zog provides a great grip for your feet, you feel confident and exhilarated, which is an absolutely wonderful position to be in.  You look down at the rocks zipping by through the glassy water underneath your board.  They look closer than they are.  Doubt, as is surfing, is the dawning on you, that although this ride is great, you could fall and crash into the rocks.  You lean forward and feel that you are about to lose your balance.  You steady yourself again and enjoy the ride.  Still standing feels great.  (Out of nowhere you hear the words of Doubt's Father Flynn: "Even if you feel certainty, it is an emotion, not a fact"). Quite suddenly, you don't know where you are.  You are underwater looking for the way up.  You burst your head out into the air again.  You take your first breath as if you've just been born.  You've just wiped out.  This may involve getting sand under your eye-lids and in other unspeakable places.
Oh dear readers, I have been awash with "Doubt".  I have not written because I have been busy, not surfing but something almost as good: making costumes for a well-written piece.  You can see Upstart Entertainment's version of it when it opens on the 18th of March at the Schönes Haus in Basel, in English, with Stephanie Németh-Parker, Meredith Buser, Frédérique Anklin and Sharon Harris, directed by Andy Tobler.
Check out the web-site: Upstart Entertainment
This crocodile has all her own teeth.  That much I know.
Yours,
Mrs Crocodile

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How to make something seemingly boring actually quite interesting.

I'm not very good at giving advice, since I refuse to take my own. But here's how I've made something seemingly boring into something which is actually fascinating.  I had thought doing the costumes for Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley, would be an easy one. How hard could it be? I was thinking to myself: four characters, all of whom don't actually express their character in the dress, two nuns, a priest and the boy's mother, right?  I mean it's not going to be a question of a mini-skirt for the younger one and a knee-length skirt for the older one.  There's no choice of color, like how does hot pink work for the younger nun?  Or how does antique rose fit for the older nun?  There may be some question of color in the priest's over garment he wears for sermons, non?  No.  It's not all as regimented as all that.  But then it is.  And then again it's quite individualistic when you start getting into the different orders of nuns.  To my surprise there is a lot of leeway.  I'm telling you this is ice-berg material here and I'm having fun.  So here I am: only four days into 2011 and I'm wild at work researching nun's habits, muslin undergarments, slips, blouses, bodices, white linen boarders, veils, tunics, wooden rosaries, wooden crucifixes, black scarf or brown cape, cowl neck, how to cut it on the bias, white caps, cassocks, those shiny scarf things that priests wear over their shoulders, the belts, the white collars and what a priest would wear for basketball practice. Who knew there was so much choice?  And who knew that one could be a dandy and still be devoted to God. Oscar Wilde missed his calling. Check out this amazing website in English and Italian for some of the garb: http://www.mariobianchetti.com/productList.asp?id_subcat=12
And if you want to get your hands on a veil or habit made in the good old US of A, check out this site: http://www.wrightscatalogue.com/
And more: http://www.glenfont.com/
But the best is this forum on how to make a nun's habit, maybe it's just me but everything is said here: http://anunslife.org/2008/03/24/how-to-make-a-nuns-habit/
Even some friars checked in on that forum.
Okay, okay don't take my advice, just go straight to that last forum and breathe in the world of someone else's world and if you're like me you might even have the realization that it's a lot like over here. 
Here in my world, have a wonderful 2011!
Mrs Crocodile

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Sick Horses and Doubts...

I'm in bed with a sick horse next to me.  And life is rapidly changing all around me, going from one day knowing what the hell I'm doing to the next day, having no clue.  First, our dear friend Lassamp has come down with something, so when the children left the house for school, they put me in charge of her to take care of and give her medicine, so I crawled back into bed with the horse, since it said on my list (see my post from yesterday) that drinking coffee in bed while slowly waking up was feel-good.  It didn't say drinking coffee in bed with a sick horse was feel-good however, so I'm questioning the list and the symbolism of lying in bed with a sick horse has got my mind racing.  What does it all mean?  The horse is not dead and I'm not beating it, but you can't really say it was alive ever either since she's only a little white stuffed horse, so does that mean she's dead anyway?  Oh well.  There are too many uncertainties and it's better just to pretend to give the stuffed horse her medicine, get up, go to work and hope that she gets better soon and we won't really have to take her to the vet.

Speaking of doubts and uncertainties, you can watch this space for updates on   Upstart Entertainment's Spring production of Doubt by John Patrick Shanley.  I'm working with director Andy Tobler as the costume designer.  And the following quote particularly hit me while I was reading the play again, next to Lassamp: "I have been longing for the return of my peace of mind. "  It is spoken by Sister James, a young nun, who incidentally is a warm teacher and full of educational bravado as only a young teacher can be, about her teaching style, but also something else.  I think I was like that once, but not anymore, since the doubts crept in and made me ask if I should really be teaching anymore at all.  And now I've said it, what I've been trying to put into words for the better part of a year now.  The cat's out of the bag and the horse is still sick.  Stay with me readers and watch how the blog unfolds to reveal the real Mrs Crocodile.

Yours, doctoring sick and recently released animals,
Mrs Crocodile

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